Un-Schweddy Balls

Nearly everyone has seen the infamous SNL sketch. This year, I made these cookies as gifts for family and friends, layered between waxed paper in decorative containers. Larry's little girls really like these, in spite of the "healthy" quotient. Their mama has the container in the freezer and has been doling them out as treats. She asked me for the recipe, which was impromptu, but here goes: 2/3 stick unsalted butter, softened but not melted; 1 cup coconut sugar (or use medium or dark brown sugar); 1 egg; 1 tsp. vanilla; 1/2 tsp. sea salt; 1 T. plus 1 tsp. agave syrup. Cream together. Zest 1 mandarin orange without white pithy part, or equivalent amount regular grated orange peel; squeeze juice into mixture. Use half the juice if it's a large orange. Mix all until ingredients are blended and a bit fluffier. Sift dry ingredients: 2/3 cup unbleached flour; 1/3 cup coconut flour; 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (whole wheat is okay; pastry flour has less gluten); 1/2 tsp. cinnamon; 1/3 tsp. ground ginger; 1/4 tsp. cloves; 1/3 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg. Add to creamed butter/coconut sugar mixture and stir. Add: 2/3 cup quick oats; 1/2 tsp. baking soda; 1 tsp. baking powder It should be a fairly stiff, sticky dough. Add: 1/3 cup dried cranberries (I used Trader Joe's orange-flavored, but regular are okay); 1/3 cup dried blueberries; 1/2 cup chopped pecans; 1/2 cup bulk coconut (fine shreds). Incorporate dried fruit and coconut into rest of ingredients and let dough sit about 20 minutes, as the coconut flour and dried fruits will absorb some of the moisture. Preheat oven to 350. Form into 2" to 2.5" balls using your hands. If the dough is too dry to hold together easily, add a little juice or milk. If you prefer flatter cookies, flatten with a wet glass bottom or fork. (I like the round shape because they are a little denser and creamier in the middle and the dried fruit doesn't get as hard in the oven.) Space the balls on a half sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed lightly (I use coconut spray, which adds another layer of coconut flavor). Bake about 15 minutes, or until the outside surface and coconut start to turn a little brown. If they were flattened, it will be about 12 minutes or so. Cool before stacking or putting in a cookie jar. To be really decadent, these could be dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate.

Eggplant & Tofu in Black Bean Garlic Sauce

This is an approximation of what I used to get at Thanh Thao on Hawthorne in Portland, Oregon. I'm not good at exact measurements, but this is pretty close. I use my toaster oven as part of the process. Cube one medium Italian egglant or two smaller Asian thin eggplants, salt, and let the chunks sit about 15-20 minutes. Dab with a towel to remove excess moisture, and spread the chunks on an aluminum foil-lined and oiled baking tray. Spray chunks lightly with a neutral oil, then put them under the broiler. When one side picks up some color, turn the pieces and broil them some more. (The best way to pre-cook the eggplant is to do larger slices on a grill, where it picks up some char and grill marks, then cube.) You're not cooking the eggplant until it's done at this stage. Hold the chunks for a minute while you: Heat 2 T. peanut oil (or other oil with a high temperature threshold) in a wok. Throw in the same size chunks of about half a tub of very firm tofu, cubed and drained. Add the chopped white part of two green onions, saving the green for later, and gently stir fry at high heat with 2 cloved chopped garlic, 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, and 1. T. chopped cilantro (I use the stuff in a tube), plus 1 tsp. fish sauce and some red pepper flakes if you're feeling adventurous. Add the partially cooked eggplant and about 1/3 of a small jar of black bean garlic paste (Lee Kum Kee brand is available in a lot of grocery stores and it isn't bad; I get one at an Asian grocery that's a little less salty, with more distinct fermented black beans in the mix). Depending on the saltiness and moisture level of the eggplant and tofu, add about 1/3 cup broth, maybe 1 tsp. of soy sauce, and the chopped green scallion tops at the very end, saving some for a garnish. Sometimes it's also thickened with a little cornstarch. This all goes together pretty quickly. Don't cook it into mush. Serve over rice --- jasmine brown rice is perfect --- with the additional green onion pieces. Some authentic versions also use more garlic, a little dry sherry or Chinese cooking wine, a dash of Chinese black vinegar and maybe some sugar. There's even a preserved mustard root that can be added.

Mushroom Veggie Burgers

Most meatless burgers are sad, sodden affairs, necessarily camouflaged by all the condiments, lettuce and tomato that will fit on a bun. As a former macrobiotic hippie (it must have been the California/Colorado air) I have not-so-fond memories of veggie burgers made with beans and brown rice and lumpen loaves laden with lentils (yes, that was alliterative in the extreme). "Diet for a Small Planet", anyone? Growing up in a household of nine, I remember Mom sometimes using TVP in the interest of economy to stretch hamburger in chili, meatloaf, etc. I always thought it smelled suspiciously like dry dog food. A recent cholesterol screening has sent me back to the older regime, somewhat modified. Tom, the piratical chicken farmer/Vietnam vet with an eye patch, no longer has my patronage, and I am missing his free-range eggs with the bright yellow yolks. I'm also cutting back on the economical chicken legs and thighs that had been a regular feature of the simpler meals Mom will eat these days. Cheese, my constant craving, has also been pared back to lower-fat varieties. Trader Joe's no longer carries a wonderful jalapeno jack that was zero fat, but I look for parmesan and anything lower than 9 percent. One thing I do like is falafel, but its fat content depends on how much oil is used to fry it. Also, it's not one of Mom's favorite things. She does like cumin, however, and it is laden with fiber and protein as well as flavor. I decided to experiment with a veggie burger variant using falafel mix adulterated with TVP and dried mushrooms to make a veggie burger. To begin, I soaked 3/4 cup each of unflavored TVP and falafel mix plus 2 T. dried onion flakes in 1/2 cup of low-salt chicken broth for 10 minutes. I crumbled in 2 dried morels, 1-1/2 T. dried chanterelles, and 1/4 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, and added 1 teaspoon each of onion and garlic powder, plus 1 teaspoon smoked salt, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of Bragg's amino (or use soy sauce), and 1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika. After it sat a few more minutes, I added half an 11.5 oz. can of low-salt V-8 juice, which adds flavor, nutrition and a pleasing reddish hue. After letting the mixture set for a half hour, covered, in the refrigerator, I formed it into 3/4 inch patties and fried them in a little olive oil in a non-stick skillet. A slice of tomato, a little lettuce and some ketchup on a whole wheat bun made Mom happy. I refrigerated the other half of the mixture and tried some more patties a couple of days later. It had plumped a little more and was totally texturally satisfying. I popped a leftover patty under the broiler a day later and discovered it added a lovely crunch. More falafel mix is on the shopping list. Another shopping note: I buy the dried morels and chanterelles from Heidi at the local farmers' market, but Trader Joe's has resumed carrying a dried mushroom mixture that would work nicely. Sliced dried shiitakes crumble quite easily and are less than $2 a package at an Asian grocery in Vancouver. (That would be WA, not BC. There is a growing Asian contingent across the Columbia from Portland, and the prices are excellent.)