Bulgur Veggie Chili with Kidney Beans

A bit of a different chili option by Naturally Ella.

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno 
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium parsnip (roughly 1/4 pound)
1/2 c. bulgur wheat
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
Pinch of cloves
Salt (to taste)
1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 1/2 to 4 c. vegetable broth
1 15- oz. can kidney beans (drained and rinsed) or about 1.5 c. pre-cooked

Directions
Chop the onion, garlic, and jalapeno into large chunks. Place in a food processor and pulse until everything is minced. Drain any liquid that may have formed.

Heat a stockpot over medium heat. Add olive oil and onion mixture. Cook until onions are fragrant and transparent, 5 to 6 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the parsnip into large chunks and pulse in the food processor until the pieces are the same size as the bulgur. Transfer to the pot with the onions.

Stir in the bulgur and spices, cooking for 1 to 2 minutes or until you can smell the spices. Add in the tomatoes, chocolate, and 2 1/2 cups of the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, stir in the kidney beans, cover, and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. Bulgur should be tender. Taste and adjust the salt/seasoning. Add more vegetable broth if a thinner consistency is desired.

Serves 4.

1 serving = 437 calories

Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 c. vegan butter
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. non-dairy milk (I used almond)
3.5 oz. dark chocolate chips or chunks

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Add the vegan butter and brown and white sugar to an electric mixing bowl and cream together. Add the vanilla and mix in.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and mix in the baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing in by hand until crumbly.

Add the 1 tbsp. milk and mix into a thick cookie dough. Add the chocolate chunks and mix in. Your cookie dough will be very thick, but sticky enough to easily roll into balls. Roll into small balls and space evenly on a parchment lined baking tray.

Bake for 10 minutes. The edges will be firm but the cookies will still be soft in the middle. This is fine, they will firm up as they cool.

Makes about 16 cookies.

Recipe credit to lovingitvegan.com. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 c. vegan butter
1 c. white sugar
1 c. creamy, salted peanut butter
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
6 oz. chocolate chips

Directions
Add the vegan butter and white sugar to an electric mixer and cream them together. Then add in the peanut butter and vanilla and mix together until well combined.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Then add in to the wet ingredients and mix in with a spoon (don’t use the electric mixer for this part) until you reach a thick crumbly dough. If at this stage you are able to mix it into a cookie dough, so what you have is a proper cookie dough instead of a crumbly dough, then you may not need to add any soy milk, but if you have crumbly dough, then you need the soy milk. This usually depends on the moisture content of your brand of vegan butter and/or peanut butter.

Add in the milk, only as much as needed to get to a thick cookie dough that is able to roll into balls. Add in your chocolate chips or chunks and mix in.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll into big balls and place onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim for around 20 cookies from your batch, a couple more or less is fine.

Bake for 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown. The middles will still be very soft, this is fine, they will firm up as they cool. Let the cookies cool and firm up on the baking sheet before moving them.

Makes about 20 cookies.

Recipe credit to lovingitvegan.com. 

Brown Butter Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 c. cake flour
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/4 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-1/4 c. (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, browned
1-1/2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. bourbon
2 eggs, at room temperature
10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
First, brown the butter by melting it in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. The butter will begin to bubble and foam and then quickly after, turn a golden brown with amber specks in the butter. Immediately remove from heat and pour browned butter into a small bowl and place in the refrigerator until cool to the touch.

In a large bowl whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

When butter is cooled, cream together with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla extract, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, mix in the bourbon.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. (You may think you can skip this step. You cannot.)

When the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat baking sheet. Scoop dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon (golfball-sized) balls (I used an ice cream scoop). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 24 large cookies.

Moose Munch

Ingredients

1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. mixed nuts
6 c. (1 bag) buttered popcorn

Directions

Prepare popcorn and put in large bowl. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk butter and brown sugar until smooth and combined. Pour mixture onto popcorn until completely coated. Spread coated corn evenly on cookie sheet (or two). Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts evenly over corn.

Bake at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool completely and serve.

Special Birthday Icing

We never liked sickly-sweet icing on our cakes growing up, so my mom concocted this recipe for our birthdays. Best with a chocolate cake, of course!

Ingredients
1 pkg. Jell-O Instant Pudding (white chocolate!)
1 cup whole milk
1 container Cool Whip

Directions
Beat milk into pudding with a whisk or fork. Let sit for three minutes. Fold-in Cool Whip. Store in the refrigerator and frost your cake just before serving!

Savory Chocolate Barbeque Sauce

Some of you may have heard the rumor that I participated in a chocolate cookoff with Sky's family... this dark, intensely flavorful sauce won 1st place in three categories! While I served it over pork tenderloin, I'm anxiously anticipating some very special chicken wings to follow!

Ingredients
1 tbsp. butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ Spanish onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced small
1 ½ oz. dark brown sugar
3 tsp. chili powder
4 oz. apple cider vinegar
8 oz. of basic BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)
14 oz. vegetable stock
¼ tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
2 oz. very dark chocolate (I used 1/3 of a bar of Lindt’s 70% cocoa)
2 tbsp. fresh, chopped cilantro
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. fresh, ground pepper

Directions
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and sauté until golden brown (or if you get impatient, translucent and starting to brown). Add tomatoes, stir, and sauté an additional five minutes. Add sugar and chili powder, mix well, and cook for five minutes. Add vinegar and reduce (on medium-high) for five minutes. By this point, the mixture should have a thicker, pasty consistency. Add BBQ sauce, stock, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper. Mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce to a slow simmer for 30 minutes. Add chocolate and cilantro and then allow to simmer for an additional five minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes to cool. At this point, you may choose to puree the sauce, but I like it better with the chunks of tomato and onion, etc.

Transfer to a clean container and cool. For best results, allow to refrigerate 12 hours before using.