Pomegranate White Chocolate Macademia Nut Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup turbinado
1/2 cup rice syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup pomegranate arils (to see how a monkey can get those seeds out of the pomegranate look HERE)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.

2. In a bowl, combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, turbinado, and salt. Set aside.

3. In small bowl, combine 1 egg and vanilla. Set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and rice syrup together until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.

5. Using a rubber spatula/scraper, stir in the nuts and white chocolate. Fold in pomegranates gently being careful not to pop them. *

6. Use your clean fingers to pull out tbsp-sized dollops (for small cookies) of dough and gently roll into a little ball and place on your parchment, obviously using more dough if you prefer big fat cookies. **

7. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes for small cookies, or 10-12 minutes if you are making larger cookies, until the cookies are light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on parchment for 2 minutes, transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling (if you have one).

Spiced Coffee with Cinnamon
Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis

We saw Giada make this on the Ellen Show the other day. Being monkeys, we like to copy things so we will be trying this for the holiday season.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups double strength brewed coffee Vegan whipped cream

Directions:
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and reduce heat to low. Add the allspice, cinnamon, and ginger and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved.

Take the pan off the heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the spiced syrup to each cup of coffee and stir to combine. Optional: Top each cup with a dollop of vegan whipped cream.(Yeah, optional, as if a monkey would EVER make it without whipped cream!)

Dust with additional cinnamon and serve. OOOOOOOooooooops, you got a little whipped cream on your nose there!

Serves: 4 monkeys

Bloody Monkey

Servings: Serves 4 (about 3 cups)
Ingredients
Fresh Yellow Tomato Bloody Mary Recipe
1 pound ripe yellow tomatoes (about 4 medium tomatoes)
3/4 cup (6 ounces) best quality organic vodka
5 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
20 dashes hot green pepper sauce , such as Tabasco
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. finely grated, peeled fresh horseradish
3/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Celery hearts , for garnish
Yellow and red cherry tomatoes , for garnish
Directions
Puree yellow tomatoes in a blender. Press through a fine sieve into a small bowl; discard solids.

Stir together tomato puree, vodka, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, green pepper sauce, horseradish to taste, salt and pepper in a pitcher. If not using immediately, mixture can be refrigerated, covered, overnight. To serve, divide among 4 large glasses filled with ice.

Garnish each glass with celery and cherry tomatoes on toothpicks.

Stolen DIRECTLY from Martha Stewart because this monkey knows a good thing when she sees it!

PS:
Add some extra punch to your Bloody Mary bar with some homemade infused vodka. All you need is a bottle of your favorite vodka and pieces of your favorite fruit or vegetable. Martha recommends cucumbers, cubanelle peppers with jalapeños or lemon peels. If the fruit or vegetable you like has seeds, remove them before adding them to the vodka. "Don't leave it out once you put the vegetables or fruits in it, because it could spoil," she says. "It doesn't get solid; it just gets syrupy."

If you're working with pineapple, Martha says to only use the core. "Take that hard core and cut it into thin strips and put it in the vodka," she says.

Once your flavors have been added to the vodka bottle, let it sit it in the freezer for two to four weeks before serving, she says.

John's Spicy Toasted Chickpeas


2 cans chick peas - drained and rinsed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh rosemary – finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl coat the chickpeas with the olive oil. Add spices and toss until evenly coated. Spread out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring about every 10 minutes. When finished they should almost resemble the texture of a peanut and we know how much monkeys like peanuts. YUM!!!

Thanks to John!!

MABON BREAD

This Recipe is from Starhawk's book, Circle Round, and has been a bit of a tradition in our home.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup cooked and pureed pumpkin (or one 15 oz can pumpkin), drained
1 cup condensed plain yogurt (nonfat or lowfat is fine)
2 tablespoon frozen orange juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal

Directions:
~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the eggs and sugar. Add the pumpkin, condensed yogurt, and orange juice.
~ Sift the cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour together. Add the cornmeal. Incorporate this slowly into the wet mixture.
~ Grease two loaf pans. Divide the batter between the pans and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour. Test for doneness by inserting a knife or skewer into the center. It should come out clean and dry. Let the loaves cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.
~ This batter also bakes well as muffins, with the baking time of about 40 mintues.

Note:
~ To make condensed yogurt, place 2 cups of plain yogurt in a colander lined with cheesecloth or a sturdy paper towel. Let the yogurt drain for six hours or over night. You'll be left with 1 cup of

condensed yogurt.

This monkey says, "You don't have to have a glass of wine when making Mabon Bread with a four year old - but it helps."

Bruschetta

Ingredients

sliced 12grain & seed sourdough bread
2 tomatoes diced
¼ onion finely minced
¼ yellow pepper diced
1 clove minced garlic
Juice ½ lemon
Salt & pepper to taste
Enough olive oil to mix (approximately 1 Tablespoon)

Directions

1.) Brush sliced bread of your choice with Olive Oil
2.) Bake 350 until just toasted
3.) mix remaining ingredients
4.) Spread on top of toasted bread
5.) grab one and eat it! MMmmmmmmmm! Let the juice dribble down your chin. We don't care. We're refined monkeys, we have napkins!

Couscous with Apples and Cranberries

Ingredients

Couscous:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup couscous (or barley or orzo)
2 cups low-sodium veggie broth
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 medium green apple, diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted, see Cook's Note
Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

For the couscous: Bring vegetable broth to boil. Add in couscous. Simmer 2 minutes. Turn off heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. Transfer the cooked couscous to a large bowl and set aside to cool. Add the parsley, rosemary, thyme, apple, dried cranberries, and almonds.

For the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil until smooth. Pour the vinaigrette over the couscous and toss to coat evenly.

Cook's Note: To toast the almonds, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before using.


Say "Thank-you" to Giada because we modified this from one of her recipes. We used regular couscous because some of the monkeys in our tree don't like Israeli couscous

Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

8-10 heirloom cherry tomatoes
Generous pawful of spinach finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
Olive oil
Feta cheese

Directions

1.) slice tomatoes in half and scoop out insides to form shell
2.) sweat garlic in olive oil
3.) add spinach and sauté
4.) remove from heat and stuff shells with spinach mixture
5.) top with sprinkle of feta
6.) bake at 350 or until cheese melts

Use your opposable digits and pop into your mouth! YUM!!!

Watermelon/ Crystallized Ginger Salad


Ingredients

Arugula
Fresh mint leaves
Crystallized ginger diced (we don't know how much - we're monkeys - whatever looks good)
Watermelon cubed (same thing as the ginger)
Honey Mustard dressing
Sesame ginger dressing

Directions

1.) Mix fresh mint leaves to taste with arugula.
2.) add watermelon and crystallized ginger
3.) Mix 1 part Sesame ginger dressing to 2 parts Honey mustard dressing (or to taste) We mix these dressing because we are new foodie monkeys and can't quite figure out how to perfect this vinegrette just yet.
4.) Dress salad
5.) grab fork - eat

ROSEMARY BREAD

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 cup unflavored rice or soy milk
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons brown rice syrup
1/2 cup olives (the recipe says halved, I slice mine)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnut pieces


Directions

1.)Preheat oven to 350

2.)Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

3.)Add in rosemary.

4.)Whisk milk into oil and rice syrup in another bowl.

5.)Stir into flour mixture until just moistened (sometimes depending on the weather or whatever it needs just a touch more moisture. If so, I add JUST A TOUCH of water until all the flour is absorbed - it's a very thick batter).

6.)Fold in olives and walnuts.

7.)Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan.

8.) Bake 45-50 minutes until the bread is golden and the top springs back to the touch.

9.)Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing from pan and cooling on wire rack.

10.)Eat a big fat piece and delight in the fact that you're eating bread even though you're a monkey with a yeast intolerance!

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Ingredients

2-3 mashed bananas
1/4 cup organic corn oil
1/4 cup soften organic butter (I don't usually use butter but sometimes you just need that flavor)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup rice syrup (not quite full topped off with maple syrup)
1 organic free range egg (again- I don't usually use eggs but nothing else holds things together as well)
3 Tablespoons vanilla soy milk
2-3 Tablespoons turbinado sugar (What's that you ask - look here)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking power (WHY? Here's one reason)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (fine grain)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 chopped walnuts
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (grain sweetened) (yes, you could use something healthier than chocolate chips but why would you?)

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 325

2.) grease 8.5 x 4.5 x2 loaf pan

3.) Mash bananas in a large bowl. I use a hand masher because monkeys like to have fun and this is fun!

4.) Add all the other wet ingredients except the egg

5.) taste - YUMMY!

6.) Ok, NOW add the egg

7.) In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients except chocolate chips and walnuts.

8.) Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients s-l-o-w-l-y

9.) Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips

10.) Add in a dozen or so chocolate chips to replace the ones you ate while prepping

11.) Pour batter into prepared pan

12.) bake for 40-45 minutes

13.) Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes

14.) Remove from pan

15.) Give a monkey hoot and let the other monkeys know the Banana Bread is ready!!