I hate cooking.

For my next cooking conquest, I decided to try this recipe: vegetarian stew and dumplings

I definitely deviated from the recipe but the finished product was FANTASTIC. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed it. It was seriously delicious. We went out tonight and bought more parsley and another onion so that we can make it again tomorrow night. 

My deviations:
-I only used one 1 stalk of celery because I’m not a celery fan. My boyfriend thinks we should’ve done both stalks (and will tomorrow). I didn’t taste any celery anyway, so I think that adding a second one will be fine. 
-I added an extra half cup of peas to make up for the lack of celery and it was just fine. I will probably still add the extra half cup tomorrow because I love peas.
-I used less salt, only about half the amount that is called for and thought it was kind of salty. I’m going to try using none tomorrow as the veggie bouillon we use (to make the broth) is pretty salty. 
-Tomorrow we’re going to try it with kidney beans instead of chickpeas/garbonzo beans (Jon doesn’t like them very much).

The dumplings didn’t cover the top of the stew as called for because I only had a very large pot, but they came out perfectly. The very kind RunDreamLive suggested I make them very small as to keep them from being too “biscuity” in the middle and it was definitely a good suggestions to make. Keeping them the size that’s the top of a spoon made ‘em nice and soft and perfect.

It took me like an hour to prepare everything (I don’t have a food processor or Slap Chop or whatever else so I cut everything by hand and I’m no pro so I was slow!) and then cook it all.  

I would highly recommend this recipe to any level cook, it’s fairly easy to make and you feel pretty damn good once you’ve made it, because it seems more complicated than it actually is. 

Perfect for a cold evening or any time comfort food is needed.  

Enjoy!  

So I decided to try the no-bake energy bites recipe that has been floating around the fitblr community (http://nofrieskinnythighs.tumblr.com/post/10458141120) 

Basically the recipe is as follows:

-1 cup oats
-1/2 cup ground flaxseed (also known as flaxseed meal) 
-1/2 cup nut butter (I used peanut butter)
-1 cup coconut shreds/flakes
-1/3 cup honey (I used light agave)
-1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 

Combine all ingredients in medium sized mixing bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then take out and roll into balls before storing and refrigerating in an air tight container. 

Prep: The rolling part was very difficult for me. I tried doing small balls but they were having trouble sticking together and it was taking a long time. Eventually, I started to make larger ones (using a spoon to scoop out the dough) and rolled them together in the palm of my hands. It was still difficult to get them to stick together but it got the job done faster. As you can see, my balls (haha) are not very pretty and are pretty lumpy looking in general. 

Taste: As I mentioned, I substituted the honey with agave and I found them to be very sweet. I’ve never tried them before but Jon and I agree that it’s probably the right sweetness as the agave tastes identical to honey. I would probably use less agave in the future because with the coconut and chocolate, it’s kind of overkill. They’re tasty as hell though.

Random note: My hands were covered in an oat-y, agave-y, brown, sticky mess but once I washed them, they felt very soft.

Would I make it again? More than likely. They’re tasty and although a bit of a hassle to roll, I think they’ll be the perfect sweet tooth killer.

Other thoughts: I think children would enjoy eating and making these.