Macadamia Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is a keeper. It’s made from spelt flour and rolled oats. If you’re unfamiliar with spelt it’s a whole grain and you can find it in the bulk flour section at the natural food store or pre-pacakged by Bob’s Red Mill at Fred Meyers (in the health food section). The recipe also calls for tapioca flour which you can find in the same place. I like this recipe because of the whole grains and you don’t need to use any kind of egg replacer – the tapioca flour takes care of that. I discovered this recipe in The 30-Minute Vegan cookbook. What a great book. I’m hard pressed to complete a recipe in 30 minutes but I tend to dawdle in the kitchen. The recipes I’ve made from this book tend to be complex in flavor and quite tasty! In all honesty, I have to tell you I left out the cinnamon, nuts, and used canola oil. They were delicious! Makes 24 3-inch cookies. Reprinted with permission from veganfusion.com.

Ingredients
1-3/4 cups whole spelt flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup dark vegan chocolate chips
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
2/3 cup safflower oil
2 TB water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the spelt flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Whisk well and add the oats, nuts, and chocolate chips, stirring again.

In a 2-cup measuring container, combine maple syrup, oil, water and vanilla and whisk together. Add to the dry ingredients and stir well.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and scoop out your preferred size. I like to use a 1 tablespoon scoop; leave about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly browned on edges. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Low-Fat Tabouli

This is my favorite recipe for tabouli that I've been making since the mid-80s. It is an altered recipe from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book – Living the High Carbohydrate Way. Gee, how times have changed. When the book was published in 1985 carbohydrates were not evil. They were considered good for you. I have always liked carbs and this is one reason why. This is a delicious and healthy recipe.

Ingredients
1 C bulgur
2 C boiling water
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2 tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
1 C parsley, finely chopped
3 TB fresh mint, finely chopped
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1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 TB olive oil
1/2 tsp salt, optional
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ground cumin
dash allspice
dash coriander
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Directions
In medium bowl, pour water over bulgur and let sit for one hour. In the meantime, chop up tomatoes, parsley and mint in large bowl. In small jar, add lemon juice, olive oil, and spice and mix well. After one hour, drain bulgur into strainer and press to get rid of excess water. Place in bowl with tomato mixture and mix. Add dressing mixture and serve within a hour. If you’re not going to eat it right away, don’t add the dressing until about an hour before serving.