Butterless (or vegan) Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies can be vegan if egg replacer is used instead of egg and soy milk is used in place of milk.

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp dark molasses
3 tbsp milk or soy milk
1 egg (or equivalent egg replacer, with water added if called for)
3/4 cup flour (all purpose or whole wheat, or you can experiment with gluten-free flours!)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Grease two cookie sheets (you may need another depending on cookie spacing). Preheat oven to 350˚. Combine peanut butter, brown sugar, and molasses in small sauce pan. Heat over low heat, until peanut butter softens, and sugar granules disappear. Remove from heat. In separate bowl, sift flour and baking powder together. Beat egg into peanut butter mixture. Stir in vanilla. Pour peanut butter mixture into flour mixture, and combine throughly. Place granulated sugar in a small bowl. Roll about a tablespoon of cookie dough between palms, then coat with sugar. Place each ball on the greased cookie sheet, and flatten with a fork, so that the marks of the tines cross perpendicularly. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges begin to darken slightly. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.

Vegetarian Chili with Root Vegetables

1 beet, diced
1 turnip, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
5 large cloves garlic, minced
1 24 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 cup of vegetable stock
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika

Boil the diced beet, turnip, and carrot for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 3 tbsp of water into a large pot or kettle (big enough to fit the entire batch of soup) over medium high heat. Cook the onion, jalapeño, and bell pepper for 3 minutes. Add garlic. Drain the root vegetables. Add onion mixture to root vegetables, as well as the cans of tomatoes, black beans and kidney beans. Bring to a simmer, adding a cup of broth or more if necessary (chili will boil down and get thicker). Stir in spices. Simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve hot, topped with cheddar cheese.