Bowie Pie & Crack Cookies (with recipes).

Last weekend was glorious. It was David Bowie's birthday weekend. We celebrated by listening to his albums, watched Ziggy Stardust the film and on Sunday January 10th, the new album BLACKSTAR was delivered to my doorstep. Little did I know the same night I was listening to this beautifully dark and complex album, David Bowie would die. I woke up the next morning with no knowledge as I was offline all night and had gone straight to bed. My husband came to me while I was getting ready for work: "Did you hear about Bowie?" I was confused: "No, what about him?" "He died. Last night." I was in disbelief. I stopped putting on my makeup and ran to my room to grab my phone to confirm it for myself. Sure enough, it was true. I looked at my husband with tears streaming down my face. "Oh my god."

"In our madness we burnt one hundred days. Time takes time to pass. And I still hold some ashes to me. An Occasional Dream..."

It was a very emotional week for me. One of our brightest stars is gone. It feels like an end of an era. I'm a big music fan and I am an artist/musician myself so it was a lot to accept. These artists give us so much to hope for, to believe in. Their deaths are more profound somehow. My husband said: "That's life." I know this but how very sad and tragic. Here we were celebrating his life, excited about his new music, his new direction. In the next second, we were mourning his death. He's gone forever. I think of all my other idols. They too will be gone one day. It's just that we are never ready for them to go.

So this weekend, I'm thinking of David and playing his music and spending time with myself. David's favorite dish is Shepherd's Pie so I thought it would be a good dish to make today. And I needed to have some sugar too so I baked some cookies which are called "Crack Cookies". I got the idea from my friend Hope who gave me the recipe that I adapted to make it vegan. They are basically chocolate chip cookies with added oats, coconut and shaved chocolate. What's not to love?

On to the food.

"Bowie Pie". A lentil, vegetable pie with tomato base and a fluffy and crisp mashed potato topping.

Bowie Lentil Pie

1 cup brown lentils
3 TB olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced (or you can sub celery)
1 container of cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 to 3/4 cup veggie broth
splash of white wine
3 TB tomato paste
1 TB HP Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tsp dried herbs (I used a poultry herb blend)
2 TB tamari or Braggs
For Mashed potato:
7-8 peeled potatoes boiled until tender
1/2 cup soymilk
2 TB margarine

Preheat oven at 350F.

Cook lentils in a pot of water until tender. Drain and set aside. Boil potatoes for the mash. Heat olive oil in a different pot and saute onions, garlic, carrot, pepper, celery until semi-tender. Add mushrooms and saute for a while to sweat them out. Add the cooked lentils, stewed tomatoes, 1/2 cup broth, wine, tomato paste, HP sauce, salt, pepper, herbs and tamari. Cook on medium to allow all vegetables to cook through and reduce liquid a bit. If it dries out, add a little more broth. Total simmer time should be around 10-15 minutes or so. Longer is fine. Keep it on simmer. Mash the potatoes with soymilk and margarine. Season with salt.
Prepare a baking dish sprayed with oil. Pour the lentil filling into the dish and top with the mashed potatoes. Use a fork to drag lines across the top of the potatoes. This will make the topping crisp up in the oven. Bake for 1 hour at 350F.

Turntable is in full force today.

I adapted my friend Hope's "Crack" cookie recipe by using the "Toll House" recipe from last week as a guide and making little tweaks. They came out really good! They are slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with yummy things inside!

"Crack" Cookies, Vegan Style

In a small bowl stir together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups quick oatmeal

In a larger bowl cream together:
1/2 cup margarine (Earth Balance), softened
1/2 cup shortening, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla

Then add 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce and stir.

Add in the flour mixture little by little and stir as you go to incorporate all ingredients.
Add 12 oz. chocolate chips
Add 1 cup shredded coconut
Add 1/4 of a bar of grated chocolate (I used 70% dark). Grate the chocolate right into the bowl. (EDIT: USE A FULL BAR OF CHOCOLATE! IT WILL TASTE BETTER!)
Stir together all ingredients and drop by the Tablespoon onto parchment papered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 F or until golden brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven and slap it down on the counter. This will flatten cookie a bit. Let stand for a few minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.