Fresh Lavender-Lemon Sugar Cookies January 19, 2009

Lavender-Lemon Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance or any vegan margarine
• 1 cup vegan granulated sugar
• Egg Replacer (2tbsp water mixed with 1 1/2 tsp EnerG Egg Replacer)
• 2 tablespoons soy milk
• 2 tsp good vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp fresh lavender buds
• 3 drops lavender essential oil

Directions:

• Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, and lavender buds) in a medium bowl.
• Cream margarine, essential oils and sugar with an electric mixer.
• Mix your egg replacer and set aside – do not make too early or it will not be as effective.
• With food processor or mixer running add the dry ingredients a cup at a time and mix until well incorporated.
• With the mixer running add the vanilla extract, egg replacer and soy milk and mix until it is a consistent dough.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and roll the dough into small balls that are slightly flattened (they will not spread much during cooking).
• Sprinkle cookies with sugar
• Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Bake until very lightly golden; do not allow to brown (unlike conventional sugar cookies they will not be as golden due to no eggs, for more yellow color add a pinch of turmeric to the dough).
• Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Blood of Nature January 19, 2009

We have been receiving our organic fruits and vegetables from CSA – Community Supported Agriculture (Inland Empire) on a weekly basis.  Not only have we gotten a beautiful arrangement of vegetables, greens and fruits, it’s different every week. We are supporting our local organic farmers and lighten our footprint on this earth while doing our part to help the community in the ways we feel best fits our lifestyle.

In these boxes, we have receive lots of greens, beets, wild spinach and broccoli rage. I have not yet figured out how to cook all these items, so we have decided to start juicing again. Every morning, I pull out a variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs, and juice them into a beautiful drink to start our day.

Today’s Juice was the BEST I have mad yet, Really, so good, it tasted like it was the blood of nature. Here are the ingredients:

• 2 baby beets
• wild spinach
• collard greens – a few leaves
• arugula greens
• broccoli Rabe
• ginger – a little square piece, maybe a teaspoon (pealed)
• half of a cucumber with peal on if organic (peal the skin off if it’s not organic)
• 3 Fuji apples
• 3 small carrots, washed but not pealed

Unbelievable!!! Yummy!!!

Two Thumbs UP!!!