Sweets and Comfort

I am not doing a great job of posting every day. Oh, well. That's life. I am, however, eating every day. Last weekend I had to bring a pan of bars to my husband's grandpa's 80th birthday party. Since I knew damn well I would have nothing else to eat while there, I made mine vegan. I used a recipe I found on the Post Punk Kitchen website for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Just so you know, I only use 1 cup of sugar in them instead of the 1 1/2 cups called for. Instead of shortening I use canola oil (or appleasauce if I feel like being healthy). Instead of soy yogurt, I add about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to some soy milk. The cookies always turn out so cake-like and moist that I like to make bars out of them. They are the perfect bar, and I have received so many compliments from people who can't believe they are vegan. And they are AMAZING. So AMAZING that I probably gained a few pounds that day. I love to make things with pumpkin. And chocolate. Which reminds me, I still have some pumpkin in the refrigerator that I need to use up.

Last night I was in a casserole mood. It's cold and snowy here already. I remembered a creamy baked risotto that I made last year at some time and really loved. I dug through my recipes and found this one, hastily scrawled on a recipe card, no title or anything. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, especially at the end where it said 2 tbsp chives et. al. WTF does that mean? And it called for parmesan cheese. I don't know what I used last year (probably nooch), but I added some of the Buffalo Mostarella cheeze I made last week because I need to use it up. It turned out really creamy, comforting, and delicious.

Creamy Mushroom Spinach Risotto

2 cups brown rice
5 cups vegetable broth
3 tbsp vegan margarine
3 cups (or so) mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup vegan parmesan, or nutritional yeast flakes
2 cups fresh spinach
salt and pepper to taste
dried herbs of choice (I used basil and oregano)

Toss everything into a baking dish except the spinach and herbs. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes, stirring ocassionally, until rice has absorbed all the water. Remove from oven and stir in the spinach until it's all wilty. Add the herbs as you please and enjoy.