Cilantro Lime Pesto

Cilantro Lime Pesto (all measurements are approximate)

• 2 bunches of cilantro - washed and big stems removed
• juice of 2 limes
• about 1/3 cup of walnuts
• about 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• fresh ground sea salt & fresh ground pepper
• olive oil

1. pulse together walnuts, sunflower seeds, garlic, lime juice in food processor, scraping down as needed
2. add cilantro and continue to pulse until everything is all smooshed together and well combined
3. with food processor running pour in olive oil until desired consistency
   

I have added chopped fresh tomatoes, (tofutti) cream cheese and (tofutti) sour cream and used it on pasta (YUM) and tonight I added probably equal parts mayo and pesto with juice of a lime as salad dressing. We had the pesto mixed in to steamed rice. We have also used it as dip with tortilla chips.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Basic dairy-free chocolate chip cookies. The big trick with using Earth Balance for cookies is never melt it, no matter what the original recipe says. I make a big batch and refrigerate/freeze the extra dough for later use. I always add a little extra vanilla to recipes. Adapted from - Best Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1.5 cups Earth Balance

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2+ tablespoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

3+ cups semisweet chocolate chips

 

1.	Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2.	Sift/whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3.	In bowl of stand mixer, cream together the Earth Balance, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, eggs, and egg yolks until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Drop cookie dough one cookie scoop at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4.	Bake for 12-14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

 

Black Bean, Corn & Tomato Salad

half a bag of TJ's frozen white corn, defrosted
can of TJ's black beans, rinsed
half a large tomato chopped fine
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 clove garlic, minced and smashed with a few turns of fresh ground sea salt
a pinch of sugar
can of mild rotel
red wine vinegar
vegetable oil

Mix together corn, beans, tomato and onion. In a small bowl whisk together garlic, 2 tablespoons juice from the can of rotel, sugar, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar. Add more rotel juice, vinegar or oil to taste. Mix dressing in to salad along with several tablespoons of rotel to taste.

Big hit for kid #2 as long as I picked out the red onion bits. #1 was a fan too. Husband had it over lettuce and didn't complain - I guess that is good.