Strawberry Cinnamon Pancakes

I love pancakes for breakfast and I wanted to have cinnamon strawberry pancakes. I decided to go with this recipe. I think the next time that I make these I will use honey instead of the brown sugar the next time that I make these, and I also used one egg in this recipe. I also used about 1/2-3/4 tsp. cinnamon. So here is that recipe written out the way I make them.

These are not my photos ^

Strawberry Cinnamon Pancakes

1/2 cup each whole wheat flour and AP flour

dash salt

1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup egg beaters or one egg or 1/4 cup plain applesauce

1 tbsp. honey or King Syrup

3/4 cup milk of choice

3 tbsp. melted butter, cooled

1 cup pureed strawberries (I got 12 ounces of frozen strawberries at Dollar Tree)

Combine dry ingredients, add wet ingredients to dry. Stir to combine. Heat griddle (set at 350 degrees) and use about 1/4-1/3 cup pancake batter per pancake. Cook about 2 minutes or until bubbles break. Flip and cook about 2 more minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with real maple syrup or as desired.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan)

Decided to make up a batch of cookies, just because. I was craving some chocolate chip cookies but decided to make some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, it called for less fat (the chocolate chip recipe that I use calls for 1 cup butter/margarine and this recipe uses 1/2 cup) and somehow eating an oatmeal cookie seems healthier LOL ;) I made my cookies with this recipe, however I used vegetable shortening instead of the margarine/butter and in place of the egg 1 tbsp. ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp. water. These are so delicious, soft, cinnamon-y and chocolate-y. I love making cookies because they are so easy to make and were perfect on a wintry night. Chris and I loved these and it made about 18 cookies total, it says it makes 2 dozen but I tend to make larger cookies. The website has a lot of the "in a jar" recipes that would be perfect for gift giving and they are easily veganized. I used walnuts, what I happened to have on hand. I love pecans but I just used the last of them up in the whole wheat pancakes Chris and I had for breakfast. Feel free to use your favorite nuts in this recipe if you make it, and I always use vegetable shortening in cookies because it tends to have the best baked result, again use butter or margarine if that is what you prefer.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

When I found this recipe , I knew I had to make it. Spicy Pumpkin Granola is one of my favorite cereals and I have not had it in so long and besides, I love pumpkin anything. I was not sure that it would work out for me because my previous attempts to make Pumpkin Granola at home ended in failure, but then I am a much better cook now. I made this recipe last night and added in some Craisins that I happened to have in the house. It is very easy to make and I highly recommend it. I love the fact that this granola has no added fat (like oil or butter) in the actual recipe. I don't think that it needs any nuts but feel free to add them if you make it. I had mine with some vanilla yogurt this morning and it was delicious. Crunchy, slightly sweet and just sweet enough at the same time, and heart healthy. I didn't place it on parchment paper and it didn't stick. I know that you are all envying my Hello Kitty bowl =^ ^= If you have no Pumpkin Pie Spice, make your own

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Ingredients:

* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients. If you make extra, store in an airtight container.

Banana Cranberry Cereal Muffins

Are your taste buds salivating yet? I found
Cereal Muffins and decided to make these as I have some bananas to use up. Cinnamon, brown sugar, cranberries, Cheerios, bananas....These smell so good cooking, and they were so soft, the cranberries complement the banana-cinnamon flavor. Great for grab and go mornings. As stated in the recipe use whatever cereal you have on hand. I think that these would be also good made as Pumpkin-Cranberry (Pumpkin replacing the banana), Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip, Banana-Chocolate Chip or Apple-Raisin(applesauce instead of the banana).

Here are some bonus pix of my male bunny, Stitch. He is a Netherland Dwarf and his color is otter.

Olivia's "To Die For" Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Olivia's "To Die For" Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup Smart Balance Light (or regular Earth Balance will work fine too)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 heaping Tbsp. flax meal
1 heaping Tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups vegan chocolate chips (Guittard is my favorite)

1.) Preheat oven to 375 F.

2.) In a small bowl, mix soy milk VERY WELL (until creamy) with Ener-G egg replacer and flax meal using an electric mixer or hand (immersion) blender. Set aside.

3.) In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Set Aside.

4.) In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil, Smart Balance and sugars. Add soy/flax mixture and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.

5.) Gradually add flour mixture to liquids. Stir in chocolate chips.

6.) Drop by well rounded teaspoonfulls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 - 10 min. until lightly golden. (Can also be made into bar cookies in 9 X 12 pan)

I found this from an old post on www.veggieboards.com from Tofu and Sprouts, her daughter made these up for her with ingredients they had on hand! They are some of the best vegan cookies I have ever tasted, not oily at all and soft, they don't stick to the pan and the dough is the right consistency, they are perfect and I am thinking about trying these made into PB cookies also. I made mine with 1/2 tbsp. milled flax seed, I made mine with 1 cup chocolate chips and baked at 350 degrees F but those are the only things I did different. Olivia, you rock! The family all loved these, BTW.

Nutella Rum-Rums

Yo, ho, ho a pirate's life for me. Why is the rum always gone? Oh that's why, they are in these cookies and I drank it LOL. Oh my gosh these are one of the best cookies ever. I based these cookies off of this recipe

1/3 cup Nutella
1/4 cup oil (mild olive oil or vegetable oil)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp. ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I actually forgot to put this in mine)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup nuts of choice, I used walnuts
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
3 tablespoons rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak the cranberries in the rum while you are making the rest of the recipe.Place Nutella, oil, milk, brown and white sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Mix well. In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt and allspice. Add in small additions to the wet mixture. Add cranberries and rum, white chocolate chips and nuts of choice. You may need to add a bit more soy milk if mixture is crumbly. Spray your hands with cooking spray and form into balls. Leave plenty of room for these, they spread. Cook about 6-8 minutes or until set and crispy. Remove from pan and let cool.