Well, it began in the morning with the sautéing of an onion in butter ( can you smell that?) and splitting it into two as my starters for first my lentils, tomatoes and corn in the slow cooker. Added some Garand masala, coriander, and chilli powder for fun-it’s pretty tasty!
Once it was cooked and transferred into jars, I used the remaining sautéed onions with the navy beans that had soaked all day and some brown sugar, mustard,soya sauce and water to get the baked beans going- oh, with some pre cooked bacon. No pics yet as it’s still cooking.

On to random ginger cookies -when you have been baking cookies since childhood-thanks Mom-you realize that once you get a basic foundation going for your dough – you can play.
And if you have seen any of my previous baking experiments, you know I do this all the time.
This wasn’t complicated playing but I did use coconut oil for the fat, and grated fresh ginger for the flavouring along with some cinnamon. They are whole wheat and have egg and brown sugar, so a pretty standard journey in the baking realm.
And they be crunchy-so hubby likes em!
Ok-back to your regular day!

So, I care a lot about what foods I offer to my friends and family.  And I care what I offer to my husband too.
And so, I send a lot of time researching and trying out/ creating/ experimenting with a variety of recipes that are:

• Nut free
• Dairy free
• Sugar free
• Gluten free
• Egg free
• general vegan

 
And then sometimes I just need to pull out my old cookbook from before I met all of these amazing people who have food restrictions and bake.
I won’t bother with posting recipes because you can just do a search on standard recipes from Betty Crocker, Joy of Cooking, or one of those women’s Community group cook books that are full of crazy classic recipes!
Today I used BUTTER! EGGS!  WHITE FLOUR! PEANUT BUTTER! BROWN SUGAR! ICING SUGAR! GROUND ALMONDS!!
And as soon as I’m done putting everything away, I’ll be doing a full cleaning of all surfaces and tools and utensils to make sure they are all cleaned up before I start my batches of Conscientious Baking for our annual gathering this coming weekend.
I’ll still label things as I cannot limit everything, but I can make things clear and safe!

Party-time!
”Tis the season for potlucks and I’m trying to find simple and healthy ideas and this one is a variation on one of my go-to slow cooker recipes.

Cabbage “roll” casserole
In the bottom of a slow cooker, layer:
¾ cup quinoa
¾ cup dry lentils ( rinsed-I used red)
1.5 bags of pre-grated coleslaw mix or about 4 cups
1 large can stewed tomatoes
In a fry pan, sauté
one chopped onion and
4-5 mushrooms in
butter/oil of your choice.
Flavour with oregano and basil -to taste-I used 1 tsp each, dry.
Add that to the slow cooker, mixing with the tomatoes a bit but don’t fuss.
Add enough water to full halfway and turn on low.
Cook for 6 ish hours.
Scoop out and enjoy/ transfer to a serving tray that can be reheated or take your slow cooker to the party!

yesterday’s marshmallow fluff was intended to be more like fudge. I think I would need to either use more maple syrup or cook it to a higher temp to achieve that – future experimentation !
I had dropped out about 24 blobs of the fluffy onto wax paper hoping it would possibly harder if I put it into the freezer…
 Looks great but is still sticky to touch.
Today, I melted some organic bittersweet chocolate chips in hopes of maybe creating a chocolate – but the fluff is too soft.

So now I have decided to try to create a cookie base to maybe slide the blobs onto and maybe get a bit more chocolate on them, or just enjoy a great tasting but sticky mess!
Chick pea orange spice cookies

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
¾ cup chick pea flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder
mix dry ingredients then add:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tablespoons orange juice
Mix and roll into a log about 3 cm in diameter  and chill for at least 15 minutes.
Slice into 24 discs and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
bake 6-8 minutes at 325 degrees F.

 
Let cool on rack and flip over to place the fluffy blobs onto the bottom of each cookie.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Final look is super cute, but they will stay frozen until I serve them and they will be slightly messy.
So whoever is coming to my place in the next few weeks will get a chance to try these!
 
 

Why vegan? No reason.
I’m an omnivore with vegetarian tendencies but with many friends who have more limited diets.
So I like to play.
And after I finished up with bridal clients ( days jobs), I was able to have some fun in the kitchen today!
Here are today’s adventures without further ado!
1st-avocado chocolate mousse:

4 ripe avocado-peeled and pitted
¼-½ cup cocoa
¼-⅓ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla
Put it all into a big mixing bowl and puree it until it’s all mixed. Start with the minimum for the cocoa and syrup.
Give it a taste and add more cocoa or maple syrup if you like!
2-Maple Marshmallow Fluff

Chickpea juice from 1 can of precooked chickpeas ( approx 1 cup)
Approx 3/4-1 cup maple syrup
Heat the maple syrup without stirring, in a heavy saucepan (with room for it to bubble up ) until it hits 260degrees on a candy thermometer or forms a soft ball when a tiny bit is dropped in cold water.
While this is reaching its happy place, beat the chick pea juice on high speed into a stiff-peaked meringue.
Continue beating and pour the maple syrup in a slow stream, into the meringue. Continue to beat it until it’s either turned into fudge ( which was the original plan) or becomes and amazing marshmallow fluff!
Part 3- peel clementines, or chop bananas, berries, or any other fruit and have ready to add in!

Assembly- use 4 awesome bowls/wine glasses/anything that will show the layers!
Option 1- mousse then fluff, add fruit on top.
Option 2-fluff, then mousse the fruit.
Option 3- fluff, mousse, then marble the two; top with fruit.
Pics of that laters!

We tried the French Press Vanilla Stout a few days ago and @wtl rated it an abomination. I was not so harsh, I deemed it bread worthy.

So I poured it into a bowl and added about 3 cups of white flour ( it’s what I had on hand). I also added about ¼ cup cocoa and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.
I stirred it and left it to percolate. 
For 2 days.
I was really busy.
This morning I looked at it – added enough flour to get a good kneaded bread texture.
Then instead of trying to let it rise any further, I figured just bake it already.
350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
The top sounded hollow so I took it out.
But it was not really full baked.
So I sliced it like biscotti and baked it for about 10 minutes each side.
Icing sugar and vanilla glaze when it came out.
Not too bad.

Some days I need to settle my molecules with the calming effects of baking. Building heat is off making it hard to focus on work. So dual benefit of warming part of the space plus…cookies! 

Original recipe :

Oven 350 degrees; bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes ; makes 30 cookies.
My variation- same baking info:

• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups ground almonds/almond flour
• 2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons white chocolate mini chips 

66 calories per cookie.
Enjoy.