Peachy Keen Green

Mom's easy recipe for zucchini bread, except with about half the sugar, using whole wheat flour, and with flax "eggs" to make it vegan (you can use regular eggs if you're not vegan). Moist and delicious. Thanks, Mom!

Ingredients
Dry:
3 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Wet:
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup canola oil
3 flax "eggs" (which means 3 T flaxseed meal dissolved in 9 T water*)
2 t vanilla

Instructions
Grate the zucchini. Make the flax eggs using warm water; let the mixture rest for 5 minutes. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Then mix in the wet ingredients. Pour into greased and floured loaf pans.

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Makes 2 medium loaves, or 1 medium loaf and 3-4 teeny loaves for gifts!

*One flax egg = 1 T flaxseed meal dissolved in 3 T warm water, allowed to rest for at least 5 minutes

Adapted from a recipe on Oh She Glows, you can use all kinds of vegetables and different kinds of beans in this soup. I like the spice/broth mix, and the kale. You can change it up a fair bit if you make it closer to the original version one time (red lentils, no cauliflower, no barley) and make a more chunky mixed vegetable version (white beans, plus cauliflower or other veggies, and barley) the next. It's all about the broth, 'bout the broth, 'bout the broth.

I often double the recipe to get a big 5-qt pot full of soup, and freeze some of it!

Ingredients
1 T olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 carrots, diced
(opt.) cauliflower, chopped

14-oz can of tomatoes (or fresh)
5-6 cups veggie broth
1 cup red lentils, or other legume
        (garbanzo, calypso, etc.)
A big bunch of kale, chopped
(opt.) 1 cup of barley (TJs fast, or pre-cooked)

Spices (double for full pot):
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 …

The avocado in the dressing makes this, as does massaging the dressing into the kale for a few minutes to soften the leaves. I got this idea from Judy Stern in May 2014. I had tried to make kale salads but they never tasted as good as ones I had at restaurants. Judi said massaging in the dressing, including an avocado, was key. She was right!
Ingredients Curly kale leaves  Toasted pine nuts or almonds Fresh blueberries (optional) red peppers for color (optional) cooked wheat berries or farro
Dressing  2-3 T olive oil 1 lemon 1 T white balsamic vinegar Salt & pepper
(optional) a little mustard 1 avocado (the key!)
Instructions
Wash the curly kale leaves, and rip them off the stems in small pieces. Discard the stems. Mix up oil, lemon, vinegar, spices. Cut up avocado. Add dressing and avocado and massage into leaves for a few minutes to soften kale. Add toppings!

Judi found this Hearty Cookie recipe and tweaked it a little; then I tweaked it, too. I took them down to Larry's family for his dad's birthday. They were a hit, yay! They are vegan, of course, but also gluten free, in case you need that. And just yummy, generally, with all the nuts and seeds.

This recipe makes about 16 cookies. Often I double it and freeze some of them before cooking so I just take them out and cook when we need more!

Ingredients - dry
1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, blended into oat flour
1/2 cup almond meal or almond flour
1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup of flax
(If you like coconut, add some--up to 1/4 cup shredded. I don't like it and I didn't add it.)

Ingredients - wet 
1/4 cup "drippy" raw almond butter
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
up to 1/2 cup of water t…

Judi just gave me a sample of this at work. Oh my. It's delicious. And soooo simple to make. Just oats, flax, peanutbutter, maple syrup, salt -- and optional chocolate chips.

See Judi's Peanut Butter Granola (dangerous!)

Slightly adapted from the wonderful Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook, an easy, yummy vegan pesto. Larry had missed pesto; it's so hard or impossible to find without cheese in it; we've purchase a few vegan versions, but they weren't very good. This one is great. Serve it with whole-wheat pasta; we like Garofalo Fusilli or Spaghetti Whole Wheat Pasta. You can also serve it with fresh grated parmesan cheese on the side for non-vegans. See a video demonstration.

Ingredients 1/2 cup walnut pieces
3 cups packed basil leaves
3 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Instructions Fry walnuts and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, until walnuts are slightly browned. Combine the walnuts and garlic with basil and salt in a food processor or blender and process, adding olive oil as you go. Add the lemon juice and pulse to combine. The sauce should be the consistency of a slightly gr…