Grilled Salmon with Boiled Carrots, Vegetable Medley and Brown Rice

I've been really enjoying using my time off to get back into cooking and baking.  I recently made this delicious and healthy meal and finished it off with a newly found favorite Malbec wine from Argentina.  I grilled the salmon and put it over a bed of brown rice with mixed veggies, sliced heirloom tomatoes and boiled carrots.  I hadn't had fish in a while, so it felt really good to get my iron fix.  This is something you could do any night of the week in combination with different types of protein.  I'll probably try it with grilled shrimp or chicken next time.  Anyway, I sauteed all the veggies with lots and lots of garlic and fresh basil.  I cooked the rice ahead of time and mixed in the veggies once I was done.  Sliced up teh tomatoes and plated as seen.  It was a much needed meal after such a long weekend!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Flaxseed Cookies

As promised, I found time today to do some additional baking.  I decided to go with a healthier version of the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie. I added some ground flaxseed and used applesauce in place of butter.  To my surprise, I was greatly pleased with the outcome.  I am actually a huge fan of flaxseed anything, but using applesauce was a new method for me. The cookies came out extra soft and completely held themselves together. I'm super stoked about this new recipe I came across!

Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Scones

Since I left for Telluride, Colorado last May, I haven't had the chance to bake a single thing. It's been really hard for me to get used to, so I'm really glad I was able to whip these up on my day off. I've actually got the day off tomorrow as well, so I will definitely be baking some other good treats.

This is my first time baking scones. I thought it would be a big challenge, but it was really much easier than I expected.  Aside from being one of the messiest things I've made in a while, I really enjoyed the whole process.  Since it's the season, I decided to go with Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Scones, greatly inspired by two scones served at Snack Bar in Austin, Texas. I generally try to make my baked goods vegan, just for the sake of proving to myself that vegan treats can be just as enjoyable as the real deal...... however,  I decided to do quite the opposite this time around. I used buttermilk for the first time and everything, so these are definitely not the lowest calorie treat I've ever made :/

Anyway, these turned out pretty delicious, so my next challenge will be to make them both vegan and a little lower in calorie. I was hoping they would taste as if they were really bad for me, but that wasn't really the case.  Not a huge success but not a tragedy either.