Vegan 'Puppy Chow'

Super easy to make, cheap, and delicious. Plus, it makes a ton! You can't go wrong with this stuff. It's a finger food, it's a kid food, it's an ice cream topping, it's a popcorn add-in, it's a pretzel mate, it's everything you dream of and more. There's no baking involved so feel free to let your kiddos get in on the preparation.

Here's what you'll need:

1 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup nut or seed butter of choice (I used sunflower seed butter)
1/4 cup vegan butter
1 12.8-ounce box of rice chex or crispix-style cereal
1 cup powdered sugar

• In a double boiler, or in a metal or ceramic bowl placed over an inch or so of water, melt the chocolate chips, nut or seed butter, and vegan butter. Stir gently until smooth and well-mixed. 
• Pour over cereal and gently stir, folding chocolate into the cereal, coating each piece. If you have a large Tupperware container with a tight-fitting lid, you can gently shake the mixture until everything is evenly coated. 
• Once the chocolate has cooled slightly, go ahead and toss in the powdered sugar. Gently stir or shake again.
• That's all there is to it. Enjoy!

P.S. We're experimenting with a hybrid of the gluten-free and Feingold diets to try to curb my daughter's ADHD symptoms before school starts back up. So, you'll be seeing lots and lots of gluten-free and low-salicylate recipes over the summer. If it works, you'll be seeing them indefinitely! Wish us luck. 

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Shake

It's already getting steamy in the great state of Texas. I started pumping the AC somewhere around mid-February, which means it's finally time for some cold drinks up in here! Enter this bad boy, the one containing the holy trinity of sweet flavors - chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas. Woot woot! Try it. You'll never be the same, friend.

2 ripe bananas
4 dates, pitted*
1 cup non-dairy milk
4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
10 ice cubes, or more to taste

*Sometimes you can find dates at a decent price (Trader Joe's has them pretty cheap) and sometimes you can't. If your budget doesn't allow for dates, replace them with a liquid sweetener, like agave or maple syrup, about a teaspoon of sweetener for each date. Or just leave the sweet stuff out altogether! If your banana is ripe and your peanut butter has sweetener in it, you may not need extra sweetener at all. But if you can swing the dates, I highly recommend them. They add a lovely touch of natural sweetness to this drink. Some rum would be nice too...

• Place bananas, dates (or liquid sweetener), milk, peanut butter, and cocoa powder into the blender and blend until nice and smooth. 
• Add ice cubes, a few at a time, until cubes are crushed and drink is chilled.
• Makes one large glass (think Mason jar) or two smaller glasses.
• Enjoy!

Christine's Premium Motor Oil

Christine's Premium Motor Oil tastes oddly like chocolate syrup...

There are those perfect vegans in the world whose taste buds are so pure, unadulterated and refined that they claim to never crave any unhealthy foods. They might say, for instance, "I used to Jones for ice cream 24/7, but now all I ever want is kale." To this I say both Piff and Twaddle. C'mon, guys. Are you seriously telling me that you never crave slumber party food? Like, never?! 

Well, the opposite of that is me - I am a junk food enthusiast who could live on homemade popcorn drenched in vegan butter and nooch, and who loves to bake bake bake! Yes, I do try to control my intake of junk food, and I eat my fair share of kale, but I would be straight-up lying if I said I never had a sharp craving for the rich stuff - sugary, chocolaty, richy rich, ooey gooey, yummy stuff. Yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about!

Luckily, thanks to the absolute necessity of learning to cook if you want to be a healthy vegan, I can make my own versions of just about anything I'm craving. That's where this li'l awesome recipe comes in.

My six-year-old daughter, Lila, wanted ice cream with chocolate syrup. (She has two boxes of Ruby's Rockets in the freezer, but - no! - it had to be ice cream.) We all know the frozen banana ice cream trick (if you don't know it, scroll down to the bottom of this post), and it always suffices. She loves the stuff. But what about the syrup? I could probably find something that's technically vegan at the grocery store, but I don't want my little toot gobbling up gallons of HFCS and artificial dyes. What to do? Keep reading and you'll find out...

Christine (1983)

Anybody remember the movie Christine? The book was by the great Stephen King, the movie by the equally great John Carpenter. If you've never seen it, it's honestly really good. And, like so few horror films from the 80s, it stands the test of time. If you have cable TV (I, myself, do not *sigh*) I'm sure you'll be able to catch it in October when AMC starts running horror films all month. I highly recommend that you DVR it. Also, the title character, Christine, is a car. Thus, the motor oil association.

And now, let's get to the chocolate syrup recipe... Nom nom nom.

Christine's Premium Motor Oil

1 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)

1 cup sugar, or more to taste

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla
A few drops/squirts liquid stevia (optional)

• Bring the milk to a gentle boil in a small saucepan, stirring frequently with a whisk. 
• Add the sugar and whisk to dissolve.
• Add the cocoa and salt. Whisk to mix. Reduce heat to medium-low. 
• Let mixture simmer for a few minutes, stirring or whisking occasionally, until it starts to thicken a bit. It will thicken more as it cools.
• Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla.
• Grab a spoon and try some. If it's not sweet enough, you can stir in a few drops of liquid stevia to pump it up.
• Allow to cool before pouring on ice cream or stirring into milk. This stuff makes a fantastic glass of chocolate milk!!
• Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

Oh yeah, buddy! Banana ice cream with homemade chocolate syrup.
Life is gooooooooooood.

Side Note: We have begun homeschooling our daughter and this recipe was a fantastic cooking lesson for a six-year-old. It didn't have a lot of ingredients, but it did involve actual stove top cooking and mixing. She loved it!

Banana Ice Cream

If you've never made the banana ice cream, you must try it! It's so wonderful, and so insanely easy, you will never look back. Peel some bananas, break them up into two or three pieces and freeze them. When you're ready to make the ice cream, just toss the frozen bananas into a food processor and whirl until smooth - no sugar needed. My kid eats it right out of the processor tub and this is the reaction I get every time.

 A smile worth every dollop of ice cream dropped on the kitchen floor.

Evil Dead Delights

I work in a church and the sales rep from a giant corporate Christian book supply company just happened to stop in a few days ago to check in and see if we needed to order anything or whatever. He's a really nice guy, but I don't know him very well. I've only met him one other time in the year that I've worked there. Being a hospitable Southern gal, I offered him a muffin (vegan banana chocolate chip) and this sparked a nice conversation about vegan food and my blog and, of course, my MoFo theme. And then, get this, he says, "I have an idea for you. Evil Dead Delights." 

You have to picture it. This is a corporate Christian book supply guy in a button down shirt with a name tag on, not at all someone you'd expect to know what the heck The Evil Dead is. That's what I get for judging the book by it's cover, V'egg in my face! And I, of all people, should know better because nobody would ever look at me, in my dorky mom clothes, and think I love sci-fi and 80s horror films. 

So, this one's for you, really nice corporate Christian book supply guy in a button down shirt with a name tag on! I applaud your taste in 80s horror films. 

The Evil Dead (1981)

If you are unfamiliar with The Evil Dead trilogy, allow me to introduce you to it. It is the creation of Sam Raimi, whom you may know from the likes of Xena, Warrior Princess; SpiderMan; and Drag Me to Hell. The brilliant thing about The Evil Dead trilogy is that it starts off in all seriousness, with the first film being gory, gross and really spooky. Then the second film, The Evil Dead 2, starts to get a bit comical toward the middle - ridiculous amounts of blood, Ash's hand turning against him (this is where he gets his famous chainsaw arm), among other silly things. The third film in the trilogy, Army of Darkness, just goes balls out with zaniness. Ash is a total bad ass and he says tons of hilarious stuff. You can find literally thousands of Ash and Army of Darkness t-shirts, posters, toys, action figures, comics and so much more. It's a cult sensation. And it's totally delightful, just like these Evil Dead Delights.

Army of Darkness has a fabulous tagline:
"Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas."

I have a confession to make. I am one of those degenerate regulars you see in the clearance section of Half Price Books. You know, that shadowed section full of weirdos way back in the butt end of the store, right next to the bathrooms. Yeah, that's the one! Well, you may not know it but there's a cookbook section back there. And it rocks! My most recent score was a clean hardback copy of Skinny Bitch Bakery. Guess how much I paid for it. Go ahead, guess! Two bucks, my friend. It even has the dust jacket on it. Yeah, it's missing a few pages in the middle, but that ain't no thang. I can cook around that.

How can your mouth not water just looking at these things?!
And, yeah, they taste every bit as good as they look.

So, here's the recipe I chose to represent my Evil Dead Delights - Kim Barnouin's "Sanctuary Tracks Cookie Bars" from the Skinny Bitch Bakery cookbook. My personal baking notes are written parenthetically to the side of each ingredient. Deeeeee-licious!

1 tablespoon soy milk or creamer
1 cup mashed banana (I used one banana)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used regular ol' salt)
3/4 cup non-dairy margarine (I used Earth Balance)
3/4 cup evaporated cane sugar (I used organic white sugar)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup crunchy organic peanut butter (I used creamy)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips
1 cup organic raspberry jam (I used apricot preserves)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9" pan and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the soy milk and mashed banana and mix well. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the margarine, sugars, and peanut butter; then add the vanilla extract and banana mixture.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the liquid mixture until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips until well combined. Evenly spread half of the dough in the pan. Spread the raspberry jam on top of the dough, and add the remaining dough mixture; smooth with a rubber spatula.
• Bake the cookie bars for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are golden on top. Let the cookie bars cool completely before cutting them into squares.

The Stuff

"Are you eating it? Or is it eating you?" 

Anyone remember The Stuff? It's a bit more obscure, I'll admit, but the message resounds still today that primarily greed rules our food supply. The basic premise is that some miners find this yogurt-y lookin' "stuff" bubbling up from the ground, they taste it and decide it's delicious, then it gets marketed to the general public, who become addicted to it, become zombies, and basically get eaten from the inside out by it, eventually dying. 

The Stuff (1985)

Now, tell me how creepily familiar this next part sounds...

So, once it's discovered that The Stuff is killing people, and John Q. Public has been warned to dispose of his stash, the food industry starts experimenting with using smaller amounts of The Stuff inside regular ice cream so that they can keep the buyers addicted,and keep making money on it, but hopefully not have the customers get eaten from the inside out, at least not fast enough to have The Stuff be blamed for it. 

MSG anyone? Processed meat, maybe? Trans fat, much?!

Now let me just step down off of my soap box, brush myself off and get composed...

Ah, there we go. Let's get down to my very edible, healthy, and non-addictive (at least not in the "bad" way) version of The Stuff.

The Stuff in the film is white, but who wants to eat white puddin', I ask you? So, mine is chocolate. I threw coconut shavings on top for some white effect. So there.

This is an even simpler version of the Vegan Chocolate Mousse we all know and love. You know, the one where you melt chocolate chips down and combine them with non-dairy milk and sugar and tofu. But, frankly, when I'm really craving chocolate, I'm also usually in a brain-state that dictates, "You are too tired and bitchy to wait for chocolate to melt!" That's where The Stuff comes in. It's just powdered cocoa, silken tofu (hell, I don't even drain it), your choice of liquid sweetener, and a touch of vanilla. And it's awesome! 

Try some!

You'll love it, pretty mama.

2 12.3-ounce boxes silken tofu

1/2 cup powdered cocoa

1/2 cup your choice liquid sweetener*, or more to taste

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• This could not be simpler. Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and whirl until it's smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides every now and then. Once it's creamy, give it a taste and add more sweetener if necessary. That's all there is to it.
• *I used raw agave with a touch of liquid stevia, but maple syrup or homemade simple syrup (probably just about anything sweet and runny) works too.  

Please take care to tighten the lid on your food processor, or this might happen...

So, Basically I'm a Genius

I discovered something wonderful. 

If you put this...

and this...

together like this...

it totally tastes like this!

You're welcome.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Welcome Vegan Potluckers!

As part of the Virtual Vegan Potluck blog tour this year, I am happy to be a part of the "Dessert Course." Last year, I was a "bread course" gal (click HERE to see last year's entry), but this year I'm goin' whole hog sugar rush with some decadent double chocolate chip cookies. DIABETICS BEWARE!

1/2 cup soy or almond milk
1 tablespoon ground flax
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla or almond extract 
1 1/2 cups pastry flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• In a small bowl, mix the ground flax with milk and set aside for about 10 minutes, then stir again.
• Cream together the sugar and oil, until smooth and silky. Add vanilla and mix.
• Add dry ingredients (but not the chocolate chips) to wet, but do not stir until all dry ingredients are in the bowl. Mix well, but do not overmix. Just mix gently until everything is moist and well-incorporated.
• Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Place by rounded tablespoonful, two inches apart, on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until crispy on the top and around the edges, but still moist in the middle. Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack before eating or storing.
• These are fabulous with an ice cold cup of almond milk!

VEG COACH

VEGAN HERITAGE PRESS

Chocolate Quinoa Pudding

It may sound weird or gross, and it may look weird or gross (my husband turned up his nose at it when he saw it sitting in the pot on the stove), but trust me and try it. It's really good! It's kind of like rice pudding or a sticky tapioca pudding, with a real kick of chocolate flavor. The same husband who wrinkled his face up at the sight of the pudding ate an entire cup of it and admitted that it was good. My daughter enjoyed it too!

I just happened to get lucky yesterday and find cheap, organic quinoa at the salvage store. $1.59 for a 12-ounce bag! Can you believe it?? Needless to say, I bought more than one bag. Now I have quinoa coming out of my wazoo, but - hey - I sure don't mind!

2 cups almond milk
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup sugar (optional, if you don't mind it not-so-sweet)
1/2 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Unsweetened, shredded coconut (for garnish)

• Heat almond milk, quinoa, and sugar in a medium saucepan until boiling, stirring often. 
• Reduce heat and allow to simmer until quinoa is soft and much of the liquid is cooked off. 
• Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Once chips are melted and well-incorporated, give the mixture one more stir then place a lid on the pot. Allow it to rest for five to ten minutes before spooning into bowls and topping with a sprinkle of coconut.
• Enjoy!

Low-Guilt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Please take heed that I titled these cookies "low guilt," not "NO guilt." So, yes, there is a small amount of guilt involved with the consuming of these cookies, but I just love eating cookies so much, I will accept an extra dimple or two on my butt as a token of my affection for this confection.

I do still love whipping up Dreena Burton's yummy Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies when I can, but my pocketbook does not often allow the purchase of maple syrup. Seriously, why is that stuff so expensive?!
So, I took the liberty of altering Isa Chandra's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen and tried to make it just a smidge healthier, albeit not totally guilt-free.

I replaced half of the oil with unsweetened applesauce, left out the milk entirely, subbed potato starch for tapioca starch (because it's cheaper), subbed whole wheat pastry flour for the dastardly white stuff, and added in an extra quarter cup of chocolate chips (because I flippin' love chocolate).
The verdict? Slightly less evil, but just evil enough to taste amazing. The family went nutso for these, and my husband was shocked that I'd removed an entire 1/3 cup of oil. He said he couldn't tell the difference at all between these and the wonderful Isa Chandra recipe I've been making for years.
Give these a try and let me know what you think!

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons potato starch (this sounds weird, but I promise it's cheap and easy to find)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (can sub white flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly oil two large cookie sheets. In lieu of oil or baking spray, a Silpat works well for these cookies if you have one.
• Mix together the sugars, applesauce, oil, starch, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. 
• Add flour, soda, and salt. Stir until well-incorporated and smooth, but take care not to overmix or your cookies will lose that crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside magic that makes them so good.
• Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Use a Small Cookie Scoop to scoop out your dough. Place 16 dough balls on each cookie sheet, and bake for 9 minutes. Watch the cookies closely during that last minute, to make sure they aren't getting too overdone.
  
• They will be puffy when you pull them out of the oven, but as they cool, they will flatten and crisp to perfection.
• Enjoy!

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Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

My Sweet Vegan: Delicious Vegan Cookie Recipes

The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur

Chocolate Cherry Nirvana Smoothie

You know what's hard to take a good picture of? Smoothies!
That said, this was by far the most delicious and decadent smoothie I have ever tasted. I got the recipe from my pal, Katherine Lawrence, at her sister site Delectable Planet.

Here's the original recipe:  

Delectable Planet's Chocolate Cherry Nirvana Smoothie

It's just four simple ingredients, it's packed with vitamins, and it is truly so rich and chocolatey that you feel like you're somehow "cheating," but you're not! My daughter and I knocked it back in a minute flat. Delicious!

2 cups unsweetened frozen cherries

1 banana

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk

• Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth and serve.
• Makes 2 servings.

Chocolate No-Milk Shake Redux

I've been reading a fantastic book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman called Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right. I have underlined, starred, and dog-eared at least 80% of what I've read so far. Tons of great information!
I'm bringing this up because when I was reading this morning, I was particularly struck (stricken?) by the following passage:

"Raw nuts, seeds, and avocados are also foods rich in fat, but they contain healthy fats, important for normal growth and development, and they are rich in nutrients as well. Consumption of these foods has been shown to have powerful protective effects against disease. The results are so striking that in one study men who ate raw nuts had half the heart attack rate compared to men who did not eat nuts. Furthermore, eating raw nuts and seeds has been shown to decrease the death rate from all causes, extending life-span... Eating nuts and seeds makes us live a lot longer and prevents both heart disease and cancer. Eating walnuts, almonds, pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and many more varieties is the best way for us and especially our children, to get the healthy fats we need from nature's tasty and unpolluted source...
When children obtain most of their essential fats from raw nuts and seeds, they not only get the healthier fats, but they also receive lots of beneficial minerals and antioxidants in the process."

This got me thinking about the amount of nuts and seeds I eat. Not many! Nuts and seeds are expensive, and I can only get them when they are on sale or I find them at the salvage store, which happens but is rare. So, basically, I'll just have to give up something less essential (perhaps chocolate chips, for example) so that I can afford the dang nuts. And, even more importantly, I need to find ways for my daughter (who hates nuts) to do it too. And that reminded me of a no-milk shake recipe that I posted on here almost two years ago.

Here's the link to the original post: Chocolate No-Milk Shake

This no-milk "milkshake" is comprised primarily of raw cashews, and it truly does taste like a bona fide chocolate milkshake. I remember in the summer of 2010, right after I discovered how to make these, my daughter and I drank them daily. She had no idea she was chug-a-luggin' a bunch of raw nuts. So, it made me feel great because I was giving her something healthy, and she felt great because she thought she was having chocolate. Win-win! I'm definitely going to start making these again.

1 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 tray of ice cubes (about 3 cups)
1/8 cup powdered unsweetened cocoa
1 cup soy or nut milk
1/4 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

• Toss all ingredients, except the ice, into a strong blender and blend until smooth. 
• Add ice cubes through the hole in the lid one at a time, and continue to blend until nice and creamy.
• Try substituting maple or mint flavoring for the vanilla sometime. Both are equally yummy!
• Makes two large servings, or four small ones.
• Enjoy!

The *NEW* Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Anybody remember this post from a year ago? The one where I touted a certain chocolate chip cookie as being "the best?" Yeah, well that was a good cookie - don't get me wrong - but it has now been replaced by these! This is the "Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies" recipe from Dreena Burton's cookbook, Vive le Vegan!(published by Arsenal Pulp Press).

If you don't already own this cookbook, you should get it, especially if you're the parent of a young child - it's chock full of kid-friendly recipes and tips. I pull this one down off the shelf at least twice a week. And I have owned this cookbook for well over a year, but I never tried the chocolate chip cookie recipe until yesterday.

I am seriously lamenting all the months I spent not knowing how fabulous these cookies are. These are easily the best vegan chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. I just had to share this recipe! The problem with most vegan cookie recipes is that they are too cakey, not like their omnivorous counterparts whose massive infusions of butter make them so ooey-gooey soft on the inside and crispity-crunchy on the outside. I don't know how Dreena Burton did it, but she came up with a magical combination of ingredients that makes these cookies seem like they're baked with two sticks of butter. And she keeps the refined sugar to a minimum as well. Thank you, Dreena Burton. You are my new hero!

Be sure to follow the directions exactly as they are written. If you don't, your cookies may not turn out right. I know this because my first attempt at this recipe failed miserably when I went my own way with the mixing method.

Oh, and just a warning - you might want to put a lock on your cookie jar. My four-year-old loved these cookies so much she kept traveling back and forth to our Doctor Who Tardis Cookie Jar. I know this because the jar makes a sound every time it's opened and I heard that sound a lot yesterday!

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (or 1 1/4 cup spelt flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil (a little generous)
1/3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
• In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined. 
• In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined. 
• Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not overmix).
• Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a little.
• Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out). 
• Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack.

Visit Dreena Burton's website, Plant Powered Kitchen!

Other cookbooks by Dreena Burton:

Let Them Eat Vegan!

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

The Everyday Vegan

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Pancakes

These pancakes are rich, chocolatey, delicious, and jammed full of fiber. Top with a pat of vegan butter and some pure maple syrup. How can you go wrong?
 
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax meal
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon stevia (or preferred sweetener)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups soy milk
1 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 
• Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the vanilla and one cup of soy milk. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until just mixed. Add the remaining soy milk, one cup at a time, stirring after each addition. 
• Fold in the chocolate chips. 
• Drop onto a pre-heated/pre-greased griddle and cook until bubbles start to form, just one or two minutes. Watch closely! Then flip and cook on the other side for another minute or so. 
• Enjoy!

BULGING BELLY WARNING: 
This recipe makes a lot! I use this recipe to feed a family of three, and we usually have enough leftovers for at least one of us. So, if you're only cooking for one, or don't want any leftovers, you might want to cut the recipe in half. If you don't mind leftovers, your extra pancakes will keep well in the fridge (in an airtight container, o' course) and can be quickly reheated in a warmed skillet or toaster oven.

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