pumpkin cookies (with optional chocolate chips!)

These pumpkin cookies are delicious on their own, but I really love the addition of chocolate chips. This recipe makes about 45 cookies.



In a bowl, thoroughly combine
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup oats (quick-cooking)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

In a second bowl, whisk
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup okara
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 tsp. vanilla
until thoroughly emulsified.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until they are thoroughly incorporated. The dough will be quite stiff. Drop by the Tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet that has been lightly misted with vegetable spray. They don't spread out too much; I liked them best when I didn't flatten them out and instead let them stay in little rounded domes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

okara pumpkin muffins

In a bowl, thoroughly combine
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. salt

NB: I'm sure you could substitute regular flour for the soy flour. The reason I threw it in is because I have a big bag of it that I'm trying to get rid of!

In a separate bowl, combine
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup okara
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup soymilk
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tablespoons molasses
and whisk vigorously until well combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Fold in
1 cup chopped walnuts

Distribute batter evenly between the wells of a lightly oiled 12-muffin pan, filling the wells completely (there's a lot of batter!). Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from tins.



Verdict: These are great! There is way too much maple syrup though. Next time, I'll try making it with 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup, rather than with 1/4 cup.

chocolate-beet muffins

I had leftover beets, and the obvious choice was to sneak them into some chocolate muffins. This recipe is based on this chocolate-banana muffin recipe, so if you're wary of getting beets in your chocolate I highly recommend trying that one instead! (Or in addition to.)

I'm not sure whether to classify this as a dessert or not. It has a great flavor but really isn't very sweet. Next time I make it I'll add more sugar and maybe even play with some spices, but I think this is a nice recipe as is, and might be especially appealing to people who don't like super-sweet desserts or snacks.



In a bowl, mix together
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
and stir until well combined.

NB: I'm sure you could use all whole-wheat pastry flour instead of a combination of that and spelt flour. The reason I threw in some spelt flour is because I happened to have 1/4 cup of it to use up!



In a blender or food processor, mix until completely pureed:
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup okara
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soymilk
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. cooked, peeled beets
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted



Add chocolate-beet mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Distribute batter evenly between the wells of a lightly oiled 12-muffin pan. The wells will be pretty full!



Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 23 minutes. Allow to cool for at least a few minutes before removing from pan.

potato lima-bean soup

Place
3 1/2 cups cooked white lima beans
1/2 cup okara
2 cups vegetable broth
in a blender and puree completely. You might need to do this in two batches, depending on how powerful your blender is. Set the bean puree aside.

Heat
2 Tablespoons olive oil
in a pot over medium heat. Add
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 potato (about 10 oz.), finely cubed (about centimeter cubed)
to the oil and saute until vegetables are covered with oil. Cover the pot and allow to cook over medium-low heat, stirring often to ensure the vegetables don't burn.

After 15 minutes, add
1/2 cup soymilk
and stir. Cover pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes, continuing to stir often to avert burning. Then add
2 Tablespoons white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried thyme
black pepper, to taste
to the vegetables and stir until they are coated with the mixture. Add another
1/2 cup soymilk
and stir until the mixture thickens a bit. Then add
the pureed lima beans
to the pot and stir until ingredients are well incorporated. Heat through, stirring occasionally, until it is hot enough to serve.

Verdict: I liked this a lot, except some of the carrots and potatoes were a bit undercooked. I blame myself -- I didn't chop these vegetables into uniformly small pieces as I should have. Chalk that one up to laziness. Maybe I could have shredded them in the food processor -- then they'd be in even smaller pieces! Learn from my mistake, and be sure to chop these veggies up into very small pieces. Or, if you want to add an extra step, you can precook them in boiling water until they have softened.