100,000 and counting

My publisher contacted me recently with a couple of bits of news. First, my Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookie video clip has received over 100,00 hits on YouTube. Very cool... let's do the math... let's say even just 10% of those people baked just one batch... that's 120,000 VEGAN chocolate chip cookies satisfying those sweet teeth... maybe many more! Hoo-Ahh!

Also, they are starting the 4th printing of eat, drink & be vegan! To celebrate these bits of good news, I will be doing another giveaway... not on this post, though. Stay tuned for my next post for details to enter.

One other tidbit is that my "Wheat-Free Holiday Treats" article (mentioned in this post) is in the current (December) issue of alive Magazine. It includes two of my cookie recipes, and the new, gluten-free Raspberry Almond Torte recipe. Pick up your copy of alive in your local health food store now!

Get Your Sweet Tooth Ready!

Recipe Testing Update: Thank you to everyone that e-mailed with interest in testing the Gingerbread Folks. The requests came in quickly, and so I no longer need any testers. There'll be other goodies to test out in the future though!

It's time for the sweetest thing about being vegan - desserts! As I say in ed&bv, "sugar and spice and all things nice... that's what vegan desserts are made of". Vegan desserts... and girls, of course! :)

Starting with the topic of girls, I made a batch of my Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies this past week for a drive and outing that we had with the girls. I knew they would become fidgety in the car, so at the right time I pulled out a cookie for them to enjoy. Our 4-year old (who has her mom's sweet tooth), said "mommy, you are really kind", with a big chocolate-coated smile. Melted my heart. I love baking for the smiles it brings to people - especially the ones I love the most!

And, do you notice these cookies look rounder than most of my chipper posts? I used a cookie scoop... for the very 1st time! I've been wanting a cookie scoop for a while, so I bought myself a good stainless steel one. Fun to use, because all the cookie dough looks like miniature scoops of ice cream (mmmm). And, of course, all the cookies are uniform. I didn't press these down before baking at all, just for an experiment. Next time I will just a little, since I prefer the taste and texture of the cookies when flattened slightly. I love using the scoop though, and if you decide to buy one, be sure observe for the right size. Some are too tiny for my use, and others too large. But, you may want smaller/larger ones for your own use.

And, did you get a peek of the plate beneath the cookies? My mom had these plates done for our family years ago. One for every member in the family. I have five sisters, and we all have one with our name and with a slightly different looking girl. Don't forget you can get this chipper recipe here.

On to chocolate bark. If you are fairly new to my blog, you need to know that making Sublime Chocolate Bark is my Christmas tradition. I made a large batch this week and have it all ready for packaging and gifting! I sometimes make a couple of batches to vary flavors, but for sure I always make my signature flavor, which is almond-cranberry-ginger. It is outstanding when you use a high-quality chocolate. The recipe is here. It's easy, go make it and gift it (if you manage to keep it long enough to give away)!

Next, I received an e-mail from Christine, who sent this adorable photo to me. That's right, folks, you're looking at cupcake veggie burgers! You knew they were veg burgers, didn't you? :) She mentioned that she baked my vanilla and chocolate cupcake recipes, and her sister D'Anne decorated, following an idea they found in a book called "Hey There Cupcake!". (anyone familiar with this book?) This photo was just too darn cute to keep to myself! Thanks for sharing, Christine!

Finally, like many of you, I've been doing some holiday baking. Though, admittedly, I've been eating most of these so far... a new recipe for (wheat-free) Gingerbread Folks.

Not only wheat-free, they also don't have margarine. I really love these, though the decorating portion is not my passion, so I'm not winning any awards with my decorating skills here! Nevertheless, simple is always good, and these folks are no exception, imo. They are especially delicious dunked into soy nog!
You can see I've used my KitchenAid mixer for this batter, and the batter is just ready here in this photo. See how it's come together and moved cleanly away from bowl? It's now ready to roll out, cut, and bake! Now, I've *just* finished tweaking the recipe, and I really need to run through it once more myself. But, if any of you have a desperate need for a wheat-free or margarine-free gingerbread, e-mail me and I'll set you up as an official tester! I may only need a couple of testers, so get your e-mail in soon to dreena@everydayvegan.com.


If you're wondering about some other cookies for holiday baking, don't forget that my Chocolate Mint Melties, Coconut Raspberry Squares, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are all great choices that won't having you slaving away at the stove for hours. Skedaddle... get baking!

Chickpea Sensation Patties

Unlike my last post, these patties won't hold up on the grill. But that shouldn't keep you from making them, because these Chickpea Sensation Patties from ed&bv are really delicious.

They are a combination of chickpeas, brown rice, and oats blended with sauteed veggies and seasonings including thyme and a scattering of capers. And this is how I like to eat them - not in a bun, but served on their own, with warm Balsamic Maple Sauce (*get recipe through vegan.com link, scroll down after rolls) on the side. They are just so moist and flavorful, that for me, a bun (or wrap or pita) is just not needed. Instead, serve a side of spuds with these patties - like Lemon Rosemary Potatoes from Vive, and a salad. You can't go wrong with that.

Then, if you're needing to keep that sweet tooth happy, maybe a reminder that it's time to bake up a mountain of Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies like so...

Luvy-Duvy Cookies

Cupid drew back that bow, and struck my Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies this week:

I made cookies for our older girl's Valentine's Day party at school. I reduced the size a tad, and tripled the batch. There was a definite request for making the cookies look "special" for V-Day. I am no decorating diva. First to admit it. I think I'm too fast-paced and in 'multi-task' mode that intricate decorating irks me. I appreciate and enjoy seeing others do it... just don't want to do it myself!

So, I melted dark chocolate, let it cool down to just warm, then poured it into a small ziploc bag and squeezed it into the corner of the bag. Snipped the tiniest edge of the corner, and used that to pipe heart shapes on the cookies. That was fun, easy to do, and our daughter loved seeing them all finished!

Of course, I couldn't forget Mr. Man, so I used a large heart-shaped cookie cutter to form the batter of this cookie, and then piped on my V-Day message. I snuck it into his lunch in a ziploc container, so he would get the surprise at work!

So, I was feeling quite good about my cookie decorating day. "Not bad, not bad!" (I'm thinking of that line from Notting Hill.... the roommate that's looking at his butt clad in his grey boxer briefs in the mirror and saying "not bad, not bad at all... chicks dig grey". Loved that butt, er bit, in the movie). hee.

Anyhow, I was feeling proud as a peacock, and then I get this photo from Angela:

Now, isn't THAT gorgeous? THAT is decorating! Plus, not only did Angela decorate this cookie from scratch, and make the batter from scratch... she also used the gluten-free version of my cookies from ed&bv (the "Gluten-Be Gone Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies") to make this big ol' cookie! Who says gluten-free AND vegan can't be deliciously fabulous? Obviously her daughter was thrilled (and ahem, I didn't show this photo to our daughter -ha!)

What fun. Plus, a couple of days before Valentine's, I received a Vegan Love Letter. No... not *that* kind of love letter. No romantic or flirtatious intent. It was a vegan foodie love letter, for my cookie recipes. I don't know if you want your name mentioned, so I simply thank you again. That was a most special V-Day treat. :) I would dearly love to write a vegan book just for cookies... maybe someday... the words 'another cookbook' are the equivalent of four-letter words in this household right now - ha!

So, it was a luvy-duvy day all around. Though, I miss the days of Valentine's when we exchanged little cards at school, sometimes homemade ones, and that was it. Not little cards with a Hershey kiss attached. Or gummy worms. Or lollipops. Or gum or candy or sweethearts, etc, etc. I know the parents are well-intentioned and want to do something extra-special. It's just so overdone now. I remember the preciousness of simply bringing home my envelope of Valentine's and just enjoying going through them over and over. Don't you? No candy was needed - and that's from the biggest sweet tooth of all time! Though, my daughter received a tiny stuffie from a friend in lieu of a chocolate treat, and let me tell you, that has been with her every moment since V-Day!

One more luvy-duvy vibe before I sign off. Most of you know that Urban Vegan was featured in a NY Times story, along with her husband 'omniman'. Congratulations, Dynise! You are a big bright light in our lil' vegan world. Thank you for giving some good press to being vegan. "Yeah... props baby, vegan props!"

Photo Shoot Fun

Glorious day it is! It's raining (pouring, actually) here in the Vancouver area, but it is still wonderful. I finished up my work of the photo shoot the weekend, and you know, you are lovely people!

Even though I wasn't blogging last week, and didn't even get to reply to any of your comments, I was energized by the kind and enthusiastic comments you folks leave here on my posts, when you e-mail, and through your reviews on amazon. Really, you are lovely to share such good words, and I am grateful for that.

I'll move on now from the love fest!

How many of you know these darlings pictured? Come on, 'fess up, I know you do! Of course, they are my Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vive.

I made them for snacking during the ED&BV cover photo shoot on Saturday. We had lots of other food there, but some of it was "off-limits" because we were using the dishes to take a couple of food photo shots after the cover shoot was complete.

It was a LOT of work, and much to prepare and organize the weeks beforehand. On Sunday, I seriously felt like I had been on a bender the night before, and I didn't even have a drink during the shoot! But, what a superb time we had! We had a little 'party' of people for the cover shot, including my hubby, my sister (I have one sis that lives in BC), one of my dearest friends that sometimes comments here (Vicki) and her husband, and also my naturopath (whose food introduction schedule became part of the feeding infants/toddler section in Vive).

We first did the cover shoot, which took about 2 1/2 hours. The photographer arrived at 11:30 am to get set up (lights/equipment/setting the scene), and then we started taking photos at around 1:30. So much preparation and detail goes into an event like this, it is difficult to even describe. I can only imagine the hours of work and levels of detail that must go into larger projects like a Food Network cooking show.

Anyhow, after we did a few different scenes and lots of photos, we wrapped up the cover shoot and proceeded to take some photos of the food that I made. Once we finished with a dish, we let everyone dive in!! Unfortunately, some of the food was still in photo time when my friends were leaving, but I think they sampled enough goodies to keep them happy.

The cookies were one of the nibblers, and then for the photos, the photographer took a beautiful shot of this chocolate pie and cream. We also did a trio of hummus dips, which were my Peanut Sesame Hummus, Chipotle Lime Two-Bean Hummus, and White Bean Dip with Fresh Thyme and Basil (pictured here by Carrie). It was so much fun to watch everyone sample the three dips and notice how each person had a different 'favorite'. I love them all, and on any given day I cannot choose which I like best. But, for most of my friends/family, they could definitively say that one of these dips was a clear favorite. Very cool! We photographed one other recipe that I will keep a secret for now... a girl's gotta' have a few secrets, right?

All in all, what a spectacular day. I cannot wait to see the final pics from the cover shoot and food photos... and I still have another day or two of food photo pics to come! We are including 16 color photos in total in ED&BV, and some of these 16 photos may include more than one recipe from any given section. Lots of work when we finish these food photos, but also lots and lots of fun!

While you're waiting for Eat, Drink and Be Vegan, go make a batch of Homestyle Chocolate Chippers. Come on, I know you wanna.
give in.
soooooo tender and yummy.
mmmmmm.