Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was a lazy day. Went to work, came home and slept. My wonderful acid reflux was acting up and I did what I normally do when I feel sick, attempted to sleep it off. It is a hit or miss method, and today it worked! I woke up craving chocolate chip cookies for some reason. I honestly don't know where I got this recipe from. I printed it out a few years ago, probably from either a website or an email. The recipe is great! Whenever I make chocolate chip cookies I always think back to the cookies in elementary school. They were half baked, white cookies that were perfection. Wednesdays were 50 cent cookie day, by far the most exciting day of the week. I'll never be able to put my finger on what made those cookies so good (probably the sweat of lunch ladies), but these come close. I don't bake them fully. You'll notice in the photo they rise, but then fall because they are not fully baked. It gives them that gooey, soft  consistency we all love so much. I take them out while they are still white, but starting to brown at the edges.

You need:
2 and 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Egg replacer for 2 eggs (I use ENER-G egg replacer, but really any works)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips to taste (i use about half a bag, depends what you like)

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat together margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.
3. Add egg replacer one "egg" at a time (this is important! make sure to mix the egg replacer and water together as well before adding it in.)
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture. I do it in thirds.
5. Stir in chips.
6. Drop balls of dough onto a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees.
7. Enjoy!

Black Salt On Everything!

Tonight I unexpectedly went to hear a photographer talk after class. I was super pumped to hear him speak, he is an Argentinean whose brother was disappeared. His focus has been on using photography to represent memory, specifically to recount the dirty war. Totally up my alley. He ended up being completely crazy and impossible to follow. A total bust. Not having planned to attend this gathering, I had not eaten lunch. By the time he started answering questions with long drawn out tangents that never reached a real point, my stomach was coming up my throat demanding food. So I ran over to the grocery store before going home and purchased the makings for vegan alfredo. This is a recipe I have been trying to perfect for a while, constantly merging different recipes people advise me to try to create a super hybrid vegan alfredo. I'm able to make a good, light white sauce but not that alfredo taste. Tonight was by far the closest I have come thanks to my new friend black salt. The recipe is still being worked on but tonight I included tofu, soy milk, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, margarine, garlic, black salt and toasted pine nuts. Minus the black salt, this is basically a hybrid of two recipes I have separately been playing with in vain attempts to reach perfection.

Dinner:

Vegan "egg" mcmuffin

This is my new obsession! I made these on a whim and oh man they are tastey! I also took a suggestion from the internet and purchased black salt from an indian market. Black salt? Black salt is an Indian spice that smells and, most importantly, tastes like egg. I put a little of that in this recipe and it blew me away.

You need:
1 block of tofu
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Spices to taste (I use black salt, turmeric to make it yellow like egg, onion powder and garlic powder)
Vegan Cheese (daiya rules all)
Vegan English Muffins
Vegan Butter

Mix the apple cider vinegar, olive oil and spices in a rimmed cookie pan. Drain the tofu and cut it into slices (either 6 or 8 depending on how thick you want it). Put tofu slices into your mixture, making sure to coat both sides. Back at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping the slices at 10 minutes. Toast and butter both sides of your english muffin. Melt the cheese on your tofu patty, put together the sandwich and enjoy!

Black Salt
I put avocado on mine, but you could also put fake bacon on there. No matter what it will taste awesome!