Millet and Sweet Potato Pilaf - Vegan + Gluten Free

It's a new year, and I think it's time to be completely honest with you.We all deserve the truth:

I do not actually live out of the cookie jar. Believe it or not, I cook legitimate meals.

But there is a sweetness to be found outside of the bakery.  Of course, fruit can do the trick. Almonds and cinnamon are helpful too. But I'm also talking about squash, onions, beets, carrots, parsnips: vegetables with a relatively-high sugar amount.

Before calling me a "wack-a-doo hippie" and snapping open a leftover candy cane, try caramelizing onions or roasting carrots - the brown color they turn, that's the sugar visibly releasing.

A balanced meal contains all five flavors: sweet, spicy/sharp, bitter, salty, and sour. When there's no sweet on that dinner plate, guess who going to be caught munching on chocolate or cereal an hour later?

When the amount of naturally-sweet and nourishing foods in the diet increases, the white-sugar addiction will diminish and eventually vanish as added sugars are eliminated. And, being post-holiday season, this is a great time to start.

I would pick the naturally-sweet yams and apricots over sugary pastries any day of the week. The ginger, cayenne, and soy sauce in this Millet and Sweet Potato Pilaf give it a nice boost to help you power through those resolutions. And did I mention there's no fat?

Millet and Sweet Potato Pilaf
Serves 2-4

3/4 cup water mixed with 1/2 cup vegetable stock (or 1 1/4 cup water with 1 tablespoon tomato paste)
1/2 cup dry millet
1 large sweet potato, medium-dice
5 dried apricot slices, slivered
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Bring stock/water to a boil in a 4-quart pot. Add millet, sweet potato, apricot, garlic, ginger, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and cayenne pepper. Cover and simmer over low flame for 20 minutes, until sweet potato is soft and all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork, let stand covered for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with parsley.

Apricot Anise Cookies ... Plus Eating My Way Through Berkeley

I've completed my internship at Millennium Restaurant and now I have a whole week to explore the Bay Area before heading back home. And by explore, I most definitely mean eat my way through. I got very used to sitting down to a gourmet vegan dinner every night, now I'm attempting to fill the Chocolate-Almond-Midnight-shaped hole in my heart.

Today I hit up Berkeley. It may not seem like a lot of food, but this was a lot of sugar, all within 6 hours, plus my body was still used to the internship eating schedule of a small fruit breakfast that lasted me until dinner nine hours later. 

First stop, breakfast at the Nabolom Bakery.
Day-old scones were 40% off, and I swear it tasted like it was an August.

 Vegan Apple Pecan Scone

And a fresh brownie, they gave me an end piece. That's love.

Gluten Free Vegan Gooey Brownie

Now for a pick me up from Razan's Organic Kitchen. Not the most informative picture, you'll have to trust me on this one.

Banana Blueberry Soy Smoothie

Lunchtime at Saturn Cafe. This is the place I want to bring my friends, because it's affordable, a good balance of indulgent and healthy, and damn cute. Glitter and comic book strips galore.

Vegan Nachos - This was a half-order!

 

Vegan cupcakes, too full to order one this time around, but they sure looked fine.

Had to take digestion break. Berkeley knows how to organize their bookstores, everything for the tortured-lovesick soul in one corner.

Pick me up No. 2: Latte. I did a thorough Google Street View check and still cannot figure out where I stopped for coffee. Can't find a receipt either. It was corner somewhere?
EDIT: Found it walking around the next day, turns out it belongs to Berkeley Espresso.

I thought I was done for the day until I came across C.R.E.A.M., which had vegan chipwiches! Probably not the best idea, should have just gone for the ice cream, the cookies were enormous. Who am I kidding, it was a great. They warmed the cookies up first which made for the fastest, messiest treat ever.

Not pictured: the long line of people that went out the door

Cherry between banana walnut chocolate chip = a meal

After a day of sugar and caffeine, I'm actually a bit more stable that I would have imagined. Still a bit wired though. And this is just Monday. Tomorrow's a chocolate-factory tour, plus my new obsession: tamales!
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Because I can't expect you to read a post unless it has a great recipe, and because I can't go on spilling all of Millennium's secrets, here's a recipe for Apricot Anise cookies that are loosely based off of a recipe I created for them.

Apricot Anise Cookies

1 cup vegetable oil, preferably grapeseed or safflower
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon anise
3/4 cup diced dried apricot

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease or line two baking sheets.

With a mixer, cream the oil, sugar, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and anise. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixer until well incorporated. Fold in apricot pieces.

Using a tablespoon, drop dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until slightly golden.