Moroccan-Style Tagine, and Pumpkin Spice cookies

Here is a meal that I had been wanting to make for about 3 days! I bought all the ingredients... and then kept being too busy to make it. Yesterday I finally decided that I would cook dinner in the middle of the day, if that's what it was going to take! This dish is called "Moroccan-Style Vegetable Tagine with Charmoula Baked Tempeh", from the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. It's so yummy! My friend Jenna mentioned last week that she had made it... so I did too! The tempeh is really good (although I reduced the salt by 1 t and reduced the oil by 1/4 c), a strong, spice-filled flavor... A real flavor-punch! The veggies were delicious, cooked slowly with a variety of spices, including cinnamon, which was a nice touch. I even got Musty to eat sweet potatoes (unbeknownst to him!)... hee hee! Very sneaky. I also made some quinoa to go with it.
Here are the spicy tempeh nuggets after coming out of the oven.
Here are all 3 flavors in one dish. I found it was best to break up the tempeh in smaller pieces, and get a little bit of quinoa in every veggie bite. Yum yum!
I am so tired tonight... I hope you'll forgive me for this sideways picture! Ha. My eyelids are feeling too heavy to bother with these little details! Yesterday, with our fridge nearly empty, I turned to the freezer for lunch - and made a veggie burger patty and had a smoothie : frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, hemp meal, water, plain soy yogurt, and a little bit of maple syrup. Yum!! It has been about 80 degrees here for the last few days, so a smoothie felt really nice!
Today there was a big celebration for my grandfather, who just recently turned 90. In honor of that big day, many family and friends raised enough money to buy a boat for the Cal Berkeley Rowing Team, with his name on it. Crew was (and is) a very special part of my grandfather's life, so this was an important thing for him. Today we had the boat dedication and it was really neat. At the festivities, we wanted some vegan cookies... with the Cal Crew logo on them... so I made these "Pumpkin Cut Out Spice Cookies" with a few modifications. I got this recipe off the internet a long time ago, and I can't find it again. I'm sorry I don't know who to attribute it to. Let me know if you do.

These cookies are like a pumpkin-pie flavored ginger snap... light and very tasty! Highly recommended... and the recipe made TONS.

1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c Earth balance
1 "egg" (I used EnerG)
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 T pureed pumpkin or winter squash (I used butternut, from our own garden!)
2 c flour (I used 1 c regular and 1 c whole wheat pf)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves or allspice

Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper. (Or butter them if you don't have paper... though, I gotta say... you should really just go buy yourself some parchement paper!).

Cream together brown sugar and Earth Balance with a fork until light and fluffy. Add "egg", vanilla, and pureed squash, mix well.

Add in the flour, baking powder, and spices and mix the whole thing very well.

Divide the dough in two parts, and place each half onto a large piece of waxed paper. Place another piece of waxed paper on top (one at a time), and roll the dough out to about 1/8". Then do the same with the other half. This technique keeps the rolling pin clean, and prevents the dough from getting too tough with rolling it out on floured surfaces. Place the rolled out sheets - waxed paper and all - in the fridge to cool & harden, at least 30 minutes... (I even left them in the fridge overnight... but mostly as a time-saving measure!).

Preheat the oven to 350. Take out one cookie dough sheet, and remove the top sheet of waxed paper. Cut out the cookies with cookies cutters and put them on your cookie sheets. The dough should be firm and easy to handle. Bake for 11-12 min. until golden. Remove quickly to a cooling rack, to prevent excessive drying.

Decorate as desired or eat plain. These cookies are spicy, snappy, and delish!

:) Amey