Dining Locally: Penny Cluse

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Occasionally the Hubz and I like to have an early morning breakfast date during the week; yesterday just happened to be one of those days.  Lately our favorite spot has been Penny Cluse Cafe in Burlington because of it’s early hours, delicious coffee and tasty tofu scramble. Yesterday morning we stopped in and had settled on the Pesto Tofu Scramble, a griddled tomato and dry rye toast, oh and of course coffee.  Well come to find out the pesto which we had asked about on our last visit and were told was vegan actually is not vegan. So we decided on the peanut-ginger sauce instead.  The waitress feeling bad about our last waitress misinforming us  brought us each over a complimentary glass of tangerine juice.

My Trio of Beverages

Peanut-Ginger Tofu, Griddled Tomato and Dry Rye Toast

The Peanut-Ginger Tofu is really delicious.  The sauce coats the tofu perfectly and you get great flavor with every bite.  Also the ginger is really a mild flavor and balanced perfectly with the peanut. “I really like how the sauce is kind of crispy too and the ginger, well you can tell it’s real ginger not just a flavor” – Quote by The Hubz

The Griddled Tomato is my new favorite breakfast item.  Cooking the tomato locks in all the juices and just creates a whole new depth of flavor; place it on top of the rye toast and you’ve got a winner.

As for the beverages I would say they have one of the best cups of coffee in town.  The water was refreshing.  The tangerine juice was surprisingly not overly sweet and I really enjoyed it- I may even order it next visit!

Just a heads up to vegans interested in eating here the homefries are not vegan.

Ratings:
Value: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Vegan Friendly: 3/5- all though not a ton of vegan options the ones they do have are delicious.
Atmosphere: 4/5

New Years Cleaning

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HI Bloggies,

Today my posts will be a little lacking because I really need to catch up on my Institute for Integrative Nutrition work (I am just loving my program only 4 more months left!) and then the Hubz and I are going to finish some Christmas shopping this evening. After that the Hubz is taking me on a dinner date- a surprise one! I love surprise dinner dates.

As for a blog update I have been combing through the survey results from back in October and the one that is currently open (they are similar but a little different) so that I can make some improvements on the blog. The improvements are honestly not just for you but for me because I know that at times this blog can seem a little crazy and I am ready to start the new year with new goals and a better blog, for me …well and for you because I love my readers. I am really loving your feedback and I am actually surprised by some of your responses, but I won’t get into that now because I am working on a post dedicated to discussing updates, improvements and what your likes and dislikes are. Thanks to all of you for reading, participating in giveaways and a special thanks to those who participated in the survey.

Now I am off to drink my tea and work on reading through more survey results.

Haven’t filled out the survey? Don’t worry you still can right here!

Hot Cocoa Pumpkin Chip Cookies

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The Hubz and I both at a craving for something sweet last night, however we are trying to watch our sweet intake as well as sugar in general. However it is the time of year for sweet treats so I decided to create something slighly lower in sugar and oil but still really tasty.

Makes 18-20 cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 1/4 cup vegan hot chocolate mix
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup spelt flour (could substitute white flour)
  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven 350F

  • With a stand mixer or electric beaters, cream the vegan margarine, pumpkin puree, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla for 4 minutes.
  • In a medium bowl stir together the baking powder, baking soda, salt, whole wheat flour, and spelt four.  In the stand mixer on low or with a wooden spoon slowly add in the dry mixture until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  • Using a measuring spoon scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, bake for 14-16 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing and placing on a cooling rack. The cookies may seem slightly soft but once they cool on the baking sheet they will begin to firm up.

Sneak Peak

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As I stated earlier this week I am working on a new e-book, which I hope to release at the end of March.  Until then you will be able to get sneak peaks of what I am creating in the kitchen.  I also will be getting a flicker page together so that my testers can post their shots as well.  Here is a sneak of last nights dinner: Rosemary-Balsamic Roasted Tempeh & Mushroom Skewers, Spicy Maple Sweet Potatoes and Cheezy Kale.

I am still looking for a few testers so if you are interested please email me.

Slow Cooker Smoky Pumpkin Chili

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As soon as the snow comes so do the chilis at our house. Yesterday was going to be a busy afternoon so I decided to get a head start on dinner before I went to work. I honestly rarely use our slow cooker and it has been in a box for the last year, however I decided that I would give it another try. Besides slow cooked food is always better especially when it comes to soups and chilis.
I have to say I used to be a little lost about how the slow cooker worked and years ago i decided I wanted to make chili in the slow cooker so I chopped everything up and placed it in the slow cooker, turned it on and then thought it was just going to cook everything perfectly…including the uncooked rice I had added to the chili. Boy did I learn my lesson- there are certain things that need to be cooked prior to being placed in the slow cooker (like uncooked rice).

That being said I learned my lesson and this chili turned out really delicious.

Slow Cooker Smoky Pumpkin Chili

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder or you can use 2 chipotles in adobo diced**
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoons pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 (15oz) can of low sodium vegetable broth, reserve 2 tablespoons
  • 1  (15oz) can no-salt added diced tomatoes
  • 1 (15oz) can brown lentils, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (150z) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon lite soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon umeboshi plum vinegar (optional)*
  • 2 teaspoons cocoa powder (make sure it’s unsweetened)
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add in the onions, carrots and celery; saute for 10 minutes.
  2. Stir in the garlic, spices and 2 tablespoons of vegetable broth into the onion mixture, cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add the pumpkin, vegetable broth, tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, lite soy, umeboshi plum vinegar, cocoa powder and onion mixture to the slow cooker.  Stir to combine and then cover and turn the slow cooker onto low for 6 to 8 hours.
  4. After 5-6 hours stir in the corn and taste for salt and pepper.

*You could use red wine vinegar.

**Chipotle is essential to make this chili smoky

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Whole Wheat- Masa Pumpkin Muffins

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I don’t bake often because all the recipes I find are usually filled with sugar and/or oil; both of which make me cringe at thinking about putting all of that in 12 little muffins.  I was thinking yesterday what can I do to make a yummy baked good without all the sugar and oil and I came up with these yummy little things.

For these muffins I used pumpkin puree instead of oil and I used a little bit of agave nectar to add a touch of sweetness.

Whole Wheat-Masa Pumpkin Muffins

Makes a dozen muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups masa harina or fine yellow cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 2/3 cups unsweetened almond milk or other non-dairy milk
  • 2 teaspoons coconut vinegar or apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon agave nectar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F and either lightly grease or line a cupcake pan

  1. In a medium bowl stir together the almond milk and coconut vinegar, set to the side for 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl mix together the whole wheat flour, masa harina, baking powder and salt.
  3. Whisk the pumpkin puree and agave into the almond milk.
  4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.
  5. Fill a 12 cup muffin pan and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.

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Hot News

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I know I tweeted yesterday about a new recipe that I have been working on for Coconut-Lime Tofu and I had planned to present you with a recipe…..but I changed my mind and decided that it was so delicious I am going to present it to my testers and feature it in my next ebook. So yes the cats out of the bag I am starting another e-book!

Please take a minute to fill out the following survey so that I can use your feedback to make improvements to my blog: http://bit.ly/fkO4u2