My go-to dessert recipes

Want to impress with simple vegan dessert recipes?  Me too!  My favorite two are peanut butter chocolate chip blondies and fresh apple crisp.

Feel free to undercook these babies for pure gooey heaven. (Recipe)

I used oats instead of bran cereal.  Apples courtesy of 93-yr-old neighbor Clara. (Recipe found by Lisa.)

Cooking with eggplant: Part 2

If you haven't figured out by now, let me fill you in: I'm from Wisconsin.  Most of my family still lives in WI - and they get to have REAL gardens!!  So when my beloved cousin Lisa came to visit, she brought along one of my favorite vegetables: an eggplant from her garden.  After searching online we found a delightfully simple recipe that included farmers market heirloom tomatoes.  We made a variation of these roasted eggplant/tomato stacks with a side of fresh corn on the cob, and sauteed corn and Anaheim pepper.  Again, i find that fresh basil sprinkled on top is the best.

Cooking with eggplant: Part 1

While perusing some cookbooks from the library, I got inspired to make my own concoction of ingredients floating around my kitchen.  Here was my "kitchen sink" meal centered around roasted eggplant...

From my garden: basil, rosemary, pepper, tomatoes.
From the farmers market: eggplant, garlic, torpedo onion, cipolini onions.

I sliced the eggplant, soaked and cleaned the cipolinis, and concocted a dressing of EVOO, red wine vinegar, minced garlic, rosemary leaves.  Roast in oven around 400 degrees for ~30 min. (If you just want to roast the cipolini onions, check out this easy recipe.)
In a frying pan, I sauteed the thinly sliced torpedo onion and the chopped Anaheim pepper.  This is what happened after I sprinkled fresh basil on the stack:

YUM.  Yeah, I totally ate several stacks.

Google's bday present to me

Every year on my birthday, Google gives me a free hour-long massage.  Nice, right?  Well, this year it got even better.  Not only did I get a massage credit, they turned all the micro kitchens in my building into EXTREME HEALTHY Micro Kitchens!  For the month of September, they've swapped out the overly processed and sugary foods for fresh fruits, hummus, house-made energy nuggets, and sparkling waters.
Added bonus?  They've decided to try Meatless Mondays for September at our 2 busiest cafes.  I'm very excited about "my gifts!!"  26 will be a fantastic year!

Young at heart

I just turned 26.  It has been a bitter pill to swallow.  I'm practically 40 years old.  Am I really who I want to be by now?
However, my actual birthday was great!  I felt the love from friends and family.  My coworkers even got me a vegan chocolate cake from Whole Foods.  Everyone who sampled it loved it!  It was very rich, moist and chocolatey.  My manager prides himself on being closed minded, so he refused to try it and claimed it smelled like rubbing alcohol.  Purely a mental reaction/aversion, since no one else agreed.  Today I miraculously convinced him to try it, and he didn't vomit or shudder.  His face was not pleasant, but he said it wasn't horrible - just weird tasting.  I told him how proud I was of him for trying it!  Progress, people.  Progress.
Have you heard of the term "real age?"  If you take the test at www.realage.com, they'll ask you a billion questions about your life.  My results tell me that my real age is 19.5 years old.  Nice!  I think some of their rationale is bogus, but apparently I need to improve my flexibility and get a dog.  Maybe I need to do more yoga instead of DDR.  At least I feel young at heart!  Let me raise a glass to always improving my health - no matter what my age.