The truth is, here at home, I just make lists of wet and dry ingredients, with recipe titles at the tops. I don't instruct myself, at all. Why? It's actually fairly simple. I don't need to be told, anymore, how to cook or bake. I was raised being taught the old techniques, be they Low German, English, Low French, Dutch, Italian, or Native American. And of course, be they Julia Child (Gourmet French) or Betty Crocker :)
I'll touch on a sensitive topic here, one that other women in their 30s today who have been cooking all their lives can probably attest to: my mom was a sadist in the kitchen. In the same way that a psycho dance instructor just can't let it go if her star pupil breaks an ankle. Etc. She wasn't. Nice. But she knew a lot, and I wound up learning a lot, regarding basic techniques. However, there is more than one way to do just about everything. That's actually where she and I started parting company, really. We don't talk anymore. There actually just isn't anything left that can be said, or even trusted. It's just. Over.
That's actually been a big controversy for me - should I leave hordes of instructions for anyone who wants to learn at least a way of doing things? After all, if someone doesn't want to follow them, they can choose not to! I'm no sadist: my motto is, do what makes you happy. I just don't believe in modulism, where everything has to be done the same way all the time. Such thinking is not the mother of invention. There is the thought that, if you tell someone how to do something your way, then that's the only way they'll ever know. And, history has shown that often times, that's exactly what happens. But... For some people, they don't know any way at all, they want to learn to do at least something somehow, and they don't have any creative ideas to start with. Some people never will. I'd like to ensure that those people won't be in the dark, nor wasting tons of extra hard earned cash on microwaved dinners, even the "healthy" ones, which really aren't any healthier than anything else out there, if you read the ingredients and Nutrition Information panels, and know what you're doing.
Thus, I've left the long, drawn out, complicated instructions in the recipes posted here, in case anyone out there does need them. However, I'd like to encourage everyone who reads this blog to start coming up with your own instructions and ideas for yourselves. Even if you're not sure if it will work! Just don't spend too much money on the ingredients you'll experiment with. Start small, maybe 1 cup of flour at a time, a couple tablespoons of sugar, or whatever. Use cheap, easy ingredients first, like white flour instead of barley meal, just to get the hang of things. I promise you, the first few tries will fail. But you won't - if you keep good notes on what you did, what you wanted, what went right, and what went wrong -- and what you're planning to do next time.
See, the thing is, food isn't only an art. It's also a science, both in the physical/chemical worlds, and in the biological world. When you make food, you aren't just making something to eat. Nor even something to keep you healthy. Or, just something to appear pleasing and hopefully be somewhat tasty and satisfying. You're dawning a giant white hat worn by millions of chefs who've gone before you and dared to do something that only they could do, in their own specialized ways. And I do hope that you're making that hat fit your head, and not only trying to grow into it as it already is.
And no, I don't really wear a chef's hat. LOL. Those things look so silly!
May 23, 2010
Almond Sugar Cookies
Nope - no almond butter. Instead, I'm working on using up the almond meal I had previously spent almost $10 on before I realized I don't need it for the Almolate I was working on. Anyway, this recipe's a real keeper. It's not sickeningly fattening - nor is it fat free. Same thing with the sugar. Instead, I've mixed yummy with healthy and I really like the results. Btw, if you remove the Baking Powder, you have a great sugar-based, edible-once-baked modeling clay, and possibly also a better pie crust than I came up with last time. I do intend to try using the almond meal in a separate pie crust recipe though.
Even though this is a cookie recipe, I'll be using the standard "mix wet into dry ingredients" technique. It's a real keeper, when properly employed. Also, a touch of Iodized Sea Salt is optional, and should be mixed into the dry ingredients.
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 C White Flour (1/2 C can be substituted with Soy Protein Isolate for added protein)
1 C Almond Meal
1/2 C Fair Trade Organic Sugar (I used the white kind - it's a tad sweeter)
4 packets Sun Crystals Stevia
1 1/2 T Baking Powder
Wet Ingredients
1/4 C Sugar Free Apple Sauce (Tree Top has a good one) [Carbs/Cellulose/Fiber - Puffiness]
1/4 C Egg White [Protein - Congealing]
3 T Nucoa [Fat - Fluffiness/Runniness]
4 drops Fair Trade Vanilla
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together all dry ingredients, in order.
3. In a blender, add the Wet Ingredients, in order. Blend on low for a few seconds, and then on medium for about 30 seconds, until generally smooth, though the butter won't completely blend in - nor should it. This is for a fairly non-pliable cookie. For a softer cookie, add a tablespoon or two more of any of the liquid ingredients, excepting the Vanilla. I've noted which main health and physical properties you'll be increasing next to each ingredient, for your convenience.
4. Pour liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix in until all the dry ingredients are damp. Small clumps should start forming but not really sticking together without pressure. If this is for a softer cookie, then a sticking-together dough ball should start forming from the clumps. If the dough is too runny for your purposes, add more almond meal or flour. Don't instantly revert to adding more sugar: it's not necessary to add more of that first.
5. Using your hands, mold the dough into a ball, and then place the ball on a sheet of wax paper, then choose one of the two methods in step 6 for forming your cookies.
6a. Cookie Cutter Method. Push the ball down to being about 2" thick and relatively flat, then cover with another piece of wax paper. Roll the dough out to being about 1/3" thick, then pull the top layer of wax paper up. Use a cookie cutter to make nice, professional looking cookie shapes. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, or spray it down with pan spray or else with oil in a Misto container. Do not use flour in this procedure, as it will only burn later. Once all the rolled out dough has had shapes cut into it, carefully remove the excess dough from around the outside edge of the dough, and place it into a small, clean bowl. Then carefully pull up each cookie and place on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving about 1/4" or more between each cookie. (Remember to place any bake-able toppings on the cookies before putting them onto the prepared cookie sheet, or if they can't be baked, withhold them until after the cookies are done baking and off of the cookie sheet.) Make sure that the thicker cookies are placed furthest from the center, and the thinner cookies closer to it, to help prevent burning and increase baking consistency. (Kind of like turning food in a microwave.)
6b. Hand Rolled Method. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, or spray it down with pan spray or else with oil in a Misto container. Do not use flour in this procedure, as it will only burn later. Using a melon baller or small ice cream scoop, break off a piece of the dough that's about 3/4" cubed, and roll it into a smooth ball with your hands. Place the ball on the cookie sheet and move on to making the rest of the dough into balls, all lined up on the cookie sheet, with about 1 1/2" between the ball edges. Or, make whatever shape you wish. (Remember to place any bake-able toppings on the cookies before putting them onto the prepared cookie sheet, or if they can't be baked, withhold them until after the cookies are done baking and off of the cookie sheet.) Once the cookie sheet is filled with balls of cookie dough, use the smooth bottom of a clean cup to flatten each dough ball. The cup shouldn't stick, but if it does, either greasing it or coating it with sugar will keep it from sticking to the dough. Optionally, you can use your fingers to make different designs in the dough while flattening each ball down. Ideally, even a clean (never used) rubber stamp (with larger, non-fine designs in it) should be fun to play with here! Use a candy mold to make shapes and then transfer each cookie back onto the cookie sheet. Whatever. Have fun with it!
7. Once the cookie sheet is full, place it in the oven and bake the cookies for 12 minutes (13 if you want them slightly toasted). Pull the cookie sheet out with oven mits and place on cool stove burners to start cooling, but keep the oven at 350 degrees.
8. Using a wire mesh strainer (I use my globe tea strainer for this), optionally sprinkle some fair trade organic powdered sugar on top of the cookies. If wax paper was used to line the cookie sheet, then it's a great idea to do this while the cookies are still sitting on top of it. Otherwise, place the cookies on a cooling wrack first, and have some old newspaper or something under the cooling wrack to catch the excess powdered sugar. Other toppings, syrups, etc., which could not be baked (or they would have burned), can be added during this stage. If wax paper was used to line the cookie sheet, then remove it carefully (to avoid a lot of mess) and discard.
9. To finish baking the excess dough, repeat steps 5 through 8, but baking the cookies for 2 minutes less than you did before, because there is that much less dough that the oven will now be too hot for 12 or 13 minutes, and they would otherwise burn.
Serve stacked on a regular plate or a nice candy display, etc.
Even though this is a cookie recipe, I'll be using the standard "mix wet into dry ingredients" technique. It's a real keeper, when properly employed. Also, a touch of Iodized Sea Salt is optional, and should be mixed into the dry ingredients.
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 C White Flour (1/2 C can be substituted with Soy Protein Isolate for added protein)
1 C Almond Meal
1/2 C Fair Trade Organic Sugar (I used the white kind - it's a tad sweeter)
4 packets Sun Crystals Stevia
1 1/2 T Baking Powder
Wet Ingredients
1/4 C Sugar Free Apple Sauce (Tree Top has a good one) [Carbs/Cellulose/Fiber - Puffiness]
1/4 C Egg White [Protein - Congealing]
3 T Nucoa [Fat - Fluffiness/Runniness]
4 drops Fair Trade Vanilla
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together all dry ingredients, in order.
3. In a blender, add the Wet Ingredients, in order. Blend on low for a few seconds, and then on medium for about 30 seconds, until generally smooth, though the butter won't completely blend in - nor should it. This is for a fairly non-pliable cookie. For a softer cookie, add a tablespoon or two more of any of the liquid ingredients, excepting the Vanilla. I've noted which main health and physical properties you'll be increasing next to each ingredient, for your convenience.
4. Pour liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix in until all the dry ingredients are damp. Small clumps should start forming but not really sticking together without pressure. If this is for a softer cookie, then a sticking-together dough ball should start forming from the clumps. If the dough is too runny for your purposes, add more almond meal or flour. Don't instantly revert to adding more sugar: it's not necessary to add more of that first.
5. Using your hands, mold the dough into a ball, and then place the ball on a sheet of wax paper, then choose one of the two methods in step 6 for forming your cookies.
6a. Cookie Cutter Method. Push the ball down to being about 2" thick and relatively flat, then cover with another piece of wax paper. Roll the dough out to being about 1/3" thick, then pull the top layer of wax paper up. Use a cookie cutter to make nice, professional looking cookie shapes. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, or spray it down with pan spray or else with oil in a Misto container. Do not use flour in this procedure, as it will only burn later. Once all the rolled out dough has had shapes cut into it, carefully remove the excess dough from around the outside edge of the dough, and place it into a small, clean bowl. Then carefully pull up each cookie and place on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving about 1/4" or more between each cookie. (Remember to place any bake-able toppings on the cookies before putting them onto the prepared cookie sheet, or if they can't be baked, withhold them until after the cookies are done baking and off of the cookie sheet.) Make sure that the thicker cookies are placed furthest from the center, and the thinner cookies closer to it, to help prevent burning and increase baking consistency. (Kind of like turning food in a microwave.)
6b. Hand Rolled Method. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, or spray it down with pan spray or else with oil in a Misto container. Do not use flour in this procedure, as it will only burn later. Using a melon baller or small ice cream scoop, break off a piece of the dough that's about 3/4" cubed, and roll it into a smooth ball with your hands. Place the ball on the cookie sheet and move on to making the rest of the dough into balls, all lined up on the cookie sheet, with about 1 1/2" between the ball edges. Or, make whatever shape you wish. (Remember to place any bake-able toppings on the cookies before putting them onto the prepared cookie sheet, or if they can't be baked, withhold them until after the cookies are done baking and off of the cookie sheet.) Once the cookie sheet is filled with balls of cookie dough, use the smooth bottom of a clean cup to flatten each dough ball. The cup shouldn't stick, but if it does, either greasing it or coating it with sugar will keep it from sticking to the dough. Optionally, you can use your fingers to make different designs in the dough while flattening each ball down. Ideally, even a clean (never used) rubber stamp (with larger, non-fine designs in it) should be fun to play with here! Use a candy mold to make shapes and then transfer each cookie back onto the cookie sheet. Whatever. Have fun with it!
7. Once the cookie sheet is full, place it in the oven and bake the cookies for 12 minutes (13 if you want them slightly toasted). Pull the cookie sheet out with oven mits and place on cool stove burners to start cooling, but keep the oven at 350 degrees.
8. Using a wire mesh strainer (I use my globe tea strainer for this), optionally sprinkle some fair trade organic powdered sugar on top of the cookies. If wax paper was used to line the cookie sheet, then it's a great idea to do this while the cookies are still sitting on top of it. Otherwise, place the cookies on a cooling wrack first, and have some old newspaper or something under the cooling wrack to catch the excess powdered sugar. Other toppings, syrups, etc., which could not be baked (or they would have burned), can be added during this stage. If wax paper was used to line the cookie sheet, then remove it carefully (to avoid a lot of mess) and discard.
9. To finish baking the excess dough, repeat steps 5 through 8, but baking the cookies for 2 minutes less than you did before, because there is that much less dough that the oven will now be too hot for 12 or 13 minutes, and they would otherwise burn.
Serve stacked on a regular plate or a nice candy display, etc.
May 22, 2010
(Fake) Bacon Bombs
Kids who love Battleship will love this one!
Dry Ingredients
2 C White Flour
1 T Vegan McKay's Chicken Seasoning
1 tsp. Hickory Flavored Seasoning
Wet Ingredients
1/2 C Egg Beaters
1 T Oil
1 C Water
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners. Spray the paper liners with pan spray or oil in a Misto container.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
3. Mix all the wet ingredients in a 2 cup measuring cup.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. A hand mixer might prove useful here.
5. Ladel the batter into the prepared paper liners in the cupcake pan until they are each about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Cupcakes should come out looking like bomb-clouds hovering over the bottom halves of the cupcakes.
Dry Ingredients
2 C White Flour
1 T Vegan McKay's Chicken Seasoning
1 tsp. Hickory Flavored Seasoning
Wet Ingredients
1/2 C Egg Beaters
1 T Oil
1 C Water
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners. Spray the paper liners with pan spray or oil in a Misto container.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
3. Mix all the wet ingredients in a 2 cup measuring cup.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. A hand mixer might prove useful here.
5. Ladel the batter into the prepared paper liners in the cupcake pan until they are each about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Cupcakes should come out looking like bomb-clouds hovering over the bottom halves of the cupcakes.
May 19, 2010
Better Crackers (High Carb though)
I posted a cracker recipe before, but I can say without a doubt that this recipe works a lot better. I wanted something I could quickly add onto the McKay's Vegan Chicken Seasoning based "Chicken Noodle Soup" I made myself today, after spending the whole day being very, very sick with Vertigo.
Dry Ingredients
1 C White (All Purpose) Flour
1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 T Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
Wet Ingredients
2/3 C Water
1 T Oil
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add all the dry ingredients together, in order, in a medium sized bowl, then stir until well mixed.
3. Add all the wet ingredients together, in order, in a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup. (I recommend just getting a set of 2 cup and 4 cup measuring cups, and not messing with the 1 cup size.)
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until all the dry ingredients are damp.
5. Lay out a layer of plastic wrap, overlapping if necessary, that's just a couple inches bigger then the surface of the cookie sheet you'll be using. This recipe is meant for a single standard cookie sheet, but don't use that yet. Spray down the plastic wrap with either pan spray or oil in your Misto oil sprayer, and then put the cracker dough, in a ball-like mound in the center of the plastic wrap layer, and press it down a bit. Spray the top of the dough mound well, and then duplicate the original layer of plastic wrap with another layer, which you'll then lay down on top of the dough mound, matching the corners of both layers of plastic wrap together.
6. Roll out the dough, repositioning the top layer of plastic wrap, and respraying the top of the dough under it, as necessary before laying the top plastic wrap layer back down. The dough should be rolled until it's about 1/4" thick, or less, and to the same general shape and size of the cookie sheet you'll be using, though it isn't likely to be quite as big (and shouldn't be bigger). The thinner it is, the less time you should bake it, and you may also need to turn down the temperature a bit. You'll have to work that out "by ear" though. One note: the thicker the layer of dough is, the more "dried-pancake-like" it'll be. The thinner, the more cracker-like it will be.
7. Once the dough is rolled out between the sheets of plastic wrap, pull the top layer of plastic off the rolled out cracker dough. Spray down the full inside of the cookie sheet. Lay the cookie sheet, upside down, over the top of the cracker dough so that the length of the sheet matches up with the length of the dough, and slide your right hand under the layer of plastic wrap that's below the cracker dough. Once you have a steady right arm ready to do this, flip everything over so that your right hand is now on top of the plastic wrap, the dough, the cookie sheet, and your left hand, which should be now below the cookie sheet. You may need to reposition parts of the cracker dough at this point. Try to keep the dough and the plastic wrap together while doing this, and work with the dough, not the plastic wrap. Once the dough is completely flat against the cookie sheet, lay the cookie sheet down and pull off the remaining layer of plastic wrap, carefully, being sure not to tear the cracker dough. This shouldn't be too hard if everything was properly sprayed down.
8. Use a pizza cutter and a spatula (for the edges) to cut lengthwise and widthwise cuts into the dough, forming crackers. Then use the end of a spoon handle or some other long, blunt but thin and sturdy object, to poke random dents into the cracker dough.
9. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for a couple minutes, and then use a pancake spatula to remove the crackers from the pan to finish cooling.
The crackers can be used as oyster crackers, or can have Nucoa spread on them. A little salt can be sprinkled on them as well. Don't overdo that though. Any other seasonings would also work. For sweet crackers, replace the whole wheat flour with either sugar or more white flour+Sun Crystals (probably 2 packets would do it). To make them into Oreos, replace another 1/4 or 1/2 cup of the white flour with Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa. To make it into a nice sweet pie dough, make it into the sweet dough from above and then bake it for only 10 minutes instead of 15.
Which reminds me. The meringue pie dough recipe from before will be fun when I make it, but I think I'll be augmenting this recipe for that most of the time in the future. I'll probably also replace some of the white flour with soy protein isolate.
Dry Ingredients
1 C White (All Purpose) Flour
1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 T Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
Wet Ingredients
2/3 C Water
1 T Oil
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add all the dry ingredients together, in order, in a medium sized bowl, then stir until well mixed.
3. Add all the wet ingredients together, in order, in a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup. (I recommend just getting a set of 2 cup and 4 cup measuring cups, and not messing with the 1 cup size.)
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until all the dry ingredients are damp.
5. Lay out a layer of plastic wrap, overlapping if necessary, that's just a couple inches bigger then the surface of the cookie sheet you'll be using. This recipe is meant for a single standard cookie sheet, but don't use that yet. Spray down the plastic wrap with either pan spray or oil in your Misto oil sprayer, and then put the cracker dough, in a ball-like mound in the center of the plastic wrap layer, and press it down a bit. Spray the top of the dough mound well, and then duplicate the original layer of plastic wrap with another layer, which you'll then lay down on top of the dough mound, matching the corners of both layers of plastic wrap together.
6. Roll out the dough, repositioning the top layer of plastic wrap, and respraying the top of the dough under it, as necessary before laying the top plastic wrap layer back down. The dough should be rolled until it's about 1/4" thick, or less, and to the same general shape and size of the cookie sheet you'll be using, though it isn't likely to be quite as big (and shouldn't be bigger). The thinner it is, the less time you should bake it, and you may also need to turn down the temperature a bit. You'll have to work that out "by ear" though. One note: the thicker the layer of dough is, the more "dried-pancake-like" it'll be. The thinner, the more cracker-like it will be.
7. Once the dough is rolled out between the sheets of plastic wrap, pull the top layer of plastic off the rolled out cracker dough. Spray down the full inside of the cookie sheet. Lay the cookie sheet, upside down, over the top of the cracker dough so that the length of the sheet matches up with the length of the dough, and slide your right hand under the layer of plastic wrap that's below the cracker dough. Once you have a steady right arm ready to do this, flip everything over so that your right hand is now on top of the plastic wrap, the dough, the cookie sheet, and your left hand, which should be now below the cookie sheet. You may need to reposition parts of the cracker dough at this point. Try to keep the dough and the plastic wrap together while doing this, and work with the dough, not the plastic wrap. Once the dough is completely flat against the cookie sheet, lay the cookie sheet down and pull off the remaining layer of plastic wrap, carefully, being sure not to tear the cracker dough. This shouldn't be too hard if everything was properly sprayed down.
8. Use a pizza cutter and a spatula (for the edges) to cut lengthwise and widthwise cuts into the dough, forming crackers. Then use the end of a spoon handle or some other long, blunt but thin and sturdy object, to poke random dents into the cracker dough.
9. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for a couple minutes, and then use a pancake spatula to remove the crackers from the pan to finish cooling.
The crackers can be used as oyster crackers, or can have Nucoa spread on them. A little salt can be sprinkled on them as well. Don't overdo that though. Any other seasonings would also work. For sweet crackers, replace the whole wheat flour with either sugar or more white flour+Sun Crystals (probably 2 packets would do it). To make them into Oreos, replace another 1/4 or 1/2 cup of the white flour with Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa. To make it into a nice sweet pie dough, make it into the sweet dough from above and then bake it for only 10 minutes instead of 15.
Which reminds me. The meringue pie dough recipe from before will be fun when I make it, but I think I'll be augmenting this recipe for that most of the time in the future. I'll probably also replace some of the white flour with soy protein isolate.
May 18, 2010
Pavlova-Graham Pie Crust
I've decided to come up with a decadent, low fat pie crust substitute. I love the fluffiness of high-fat Crisco-based crusts, and the yummy wheatiness of a high-fat oil based crust, and I do believe that no good desert is fat or sugar free (unless you work really hard at it), and yet, well, those should always be options as well. This recipe will NOT be vegan, as it will contain things like eggs and honey. I'm sure there's some agar-ish or egg-substitute way of making this, and I'll deal with that later. I will however ax all the milk containing ingredients -- after all, I'm allergic, and I have to eat what I make. Anyway, at the moment, I'd like to work with what's at least already readily available on the sane side of the Universe.
So then, I'm playing around with the following recipes:
Pavlova (read more about it here)
Graham Crackers (I'll substitute a few milk-ish ingredients to make the dough Parve)
The basic idea is to make the graham crackers first, sans the topping (unless it's for apple or pumpkin, or perhaps a pear/peach/vanilla-containing pie), and then crumble them fairly finely. Then make the Pavlova ingredients, without baking them. Instead, hand-folding the crumbled graham crackers into the Pavlova, in the right proportions, to make a fluffy yet well-binding dough. I'd thought about just using the Pavlova as a pie crust shell, but I just don't feel that it would really support a good batch of pie filling, even if it where all magically baked "perfectly." It would be too - either too flexible or too crumbly, with no "mortar" to hold the Pavlova together once it was baked.
The idea actually came because I got to thinking, "What if I made an egg-white based pie shell?" Then I thought, "Ik. Who would eat that?!" Well, if it's a meringue-based shell, just with some good support structure built into it, then it should work. My other option is to make some kind of cookie-dough, but really, even that is fairly high-fat, and often the fats required are just not defendable at all. Well, high-fat anything isn't actually defendable unless you're already thin and spend all day running around, but whatever. For most of us, we ought to be more careful about it. That, and the carbs.
Obviously, this starts out as a high-carb recipe. But you know, a lot of that really isn't necessary. I'm planning on substituting tapioca starch for the powdered sugar in the Pavlova (and then adding a few packets of Sun Crystals Stevia), and pulling a similar stunt on the graham crackers. Stevia's sweetness doesn't change when it's baked, and really, the powdered sugar in the Pavlova just provides volume and something for the Cream of Tarter to work with for stiffening: Tapioca starch can do the exact same thing, while being a complex carb, rather than a simple sugar. Yes, Sun Crystals contain trace amounts of sugar. Honestly? In that small amount? A person would have to have severe diabetes in order to really care about that. The point is, Stevia, in an essentially no-calorie way, adds tons of sweetness and hyper-volumizes the sweetness of any sugar that is present. Probably even a bit of the complex-carbs as well.
So, I'm going to seriously mess with both recipes, once I have the ingredients ready. I'm still working up the nerve to attempt the SNLish Betty White Muffin. Somehow, I just... I don't have the courage! Ak! That, and just, what, a week or two ago? I totally fudged up the fudge beyond belief, and have had to suffer through eating all that, since money's tight and I can't afford to just throw away even remotely edible food. Anyway, I've been on kind of a chocolate-free diet lately. It's just... Going to have to wait. Anyway, this pie crust recipe is also going to have to wait a bit. I don't -have- to have pie right away or anything. It was just - an idea :)
PS. Hat tip to this site! Excellent!
So then, I'm playing around with the following recipes:
Pavlova (read more about it here)
Graham Crackers (I'll substitute a few milk-ish ingredients to make the dough Parve)
The basic idea is to make the graham crackers first, sans the topping (unless it's for apple or pumpkin, or perhaps a pear/peach/vanilla-containing pie), and then crumble them fairly finely. Then make the Pavlova ingredients, without baking them. Instead, hand-folding the crumbled graham crackers into the Pavlova, in the right proportions, to make a fluffy yet well-binding dough. I'd thought about just using the Pavlova as a pie crust shell, but I just don't feel that it would really support a good batch of pie filling, even if it where all magically baked "perfectly." It would be too - either too flexible or too crumbly, with no "mortar" to hold the Pavlova together once it was baked.
The idea actually came because I got to thinking, "What if I made an egg-white based pie shell?" Then I thought, "Ik. Who would eat that?!" Well, if it's a meringue-based shell, just with some good support structure built into it, then it should work. My other option is to make some kind of cookie-dough, but really, even that is fairly high-fat, and often the fats required are just not defendable at all. Well, high-fat anything isn't actually defendable unless you're already thin and spend all day running around, but whatever. For most of us, we ought to be more careful about it. That, and the carbs.
Obviously, this starts out as a high-carb recipe. But you know, a lot of that really isn't necessary. I'm planning on substituting tapioca starch for the powdered sugar in the Pavlova (and then adding a few packets of Sun Crystals Stevia), and pulling a similar stunt on the graham crackers. Stevia's sweetness doesn't change when it's baked, and really, the powdered sugar in the Pavlova just provides volume and something for the Cream of Tarter to work with for stiffening: Tapioca starch can do the exact same thing, while being a complex carb, rather than a simple sugar. Yes, Sun Crystals contain trace amounts of sugar. Honestly? In that small amount? A person would have to have severe diabetes in order to really care about that. The point is, Stevia, in an essentially no-calorie way, adds tons of sweetness and hyper-volumizes the sweetness of any sugar that is present. Probably even a bit of the complex-carbs as well.
So, I'm going to seriously mess with both recipes, once I have the ingredients ready. I'm still working up the nerve to attempt the SNLish Betty White Muffin. Somehow, I just... I don't have the courage! Ak! That, and just, what, a week or two ago? I totally fudged up the fudge beyond belief, and have had to suffer through eating all that, since money's tight and I can't afford to just throw away even remotely edible food. Anyway, I've been on kind of a chocolate-free diet lately. It's just... Going to have to wait. Anyway, this pie crust recipe is also going to have to wait a bit. I don't -have- to have pie right away or anything. It was just - an idea :)
PS. Hat tip to this site! Excellent!
May 15, 2010
Vegan Fruit Cream - No Machine, Maker, or Added Starch
I first started learning how to make this YEARS ago. It's kind of a strange story, but essentially, there's an older couple out there who owes me a Champion Juicer, which they told me to put frozen fruits into along with bananas (either frozen or fresh, I don't remember which). Anyway, that experience inspired me to try again.
The blender I'm using is the Oster Fusion. In my opinion, loud and odd as it might come across - it's the best blender I ever used. I got it at Wal-Mart, though it didn't come with the extra food-slicing attachment. That's ok, I have a tomato holder and knives.
Anywho, I actually... Well, had a very bad morning this morning, and seriously needed some comfort food. So, I just threw a bunch of stuff together and accidentally came up with what I've spent years trying to duplicate without the Champion Juicer's help! I feel better already :) What I love about this recipe is that it's all natural, no significant added sugar (there were a few grains in the Stevia), and it's also fat free which means that it's not super-high-cal and off limits to me. I could probably have added some soy protein isolate to this, but wanted to eat something for once that's purely a desert and not something that tastes a little off for "health's sake." Health be damned! I wanted comfort food! And comfort food I certainly got :) And it's even healthy, even without the added vegan's perfect-protein, lol.
Some Important Notes
The best idea is to just buy a couple bunches of bananas, coin them to 1/2" thick coins, buy one of those 7 lb. boxes of bulk giant strawberries grown in CA and cheaply sold at Wal-Mart and then stem and quarter them, freeze the bananas in single layers per quart-sized bag, and the strawberries in maybe two or three layers per quart-sized bag, and then you'll have all the frozen bananas and strawberries you'll want throughout the May-September "West Coast Summer" season. Oh sure, you can call March-May "Spring" if you want... Haha. We had hail last night and the ground was dry by 10 am this morning and now it's a beautiful, hot, sunny day. You tell me what that is! Anyway, it's just best to catch the bananas and strawberries at their peak for both ripeness, size, and sales: in mid-late April, and then just prep and freeze 'm all at once. You won't regret it, and you'll gain back your freezer space in no time, once you've had this tasty treat ;) Especially if you have kids. In fact, you can even make the liquid heated ingredients ahead of time as well, and just freeze those (after cooling them) in ice cube trays, and then it's all good to go at the last minute. Total prep time for a WCS season? About an hour.
Honestly, of everything I've ever made, I think I'm most proud of this one recipe, simply because I've waited so long to finally come up with it. And what's so hilarious is that I really wasn't trying for anything like ice cream at all. I figured I was just making another smoothie. This is sort of like a smoothie - but not. It's a LOT more like real soft-serve ice cream. I haven't tested it for freezing yet, and would probably need to add some almond butter to it in order to make it less likely to turn into a solid block when frozen over night. But I do suspect that re-chilling it after first making it would bring it to a more "real ice cream-like" and solidified state.
Frozen Ingredients
2 1/2 C Frozen banana coins, 1/2" thick, single layer when in freezer
2 1/2 C Frozen Strawberry quarters, stemmed & prewashed/dabbed dry before freezing
Liquid Heated Ingredients
1 C Almond Breeze Original Almond Milk
1 tsp. Fair Trade Vanilla
2 T Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa
4 Pkgs. Stevia
1 T Fair Trade Coffee Grounds
Tea Ingredients
1 bag Celestial Seasonings Red Tea (With Vanilla)
1 bag Celestial Seasonings Goji Berry Pomegranate Green Tea
Instructions
1. Pre-freeze the strawberries and bananas for at least 6 hours in ziplock freezer bags. Ideally at least 12 hours.
2. Over medium-high heat, bring liquid heating ingredients almost to a boil.
3. Strain hot liquid into a large mug (at least 2 cup capacity).
4. Steep tea in the hot liquid for about 3 minutes, then pull out tea bags and lightly squeeze their remaining liquid back into the cup.
5. Allow liquid to cool at least to room temperature, but refrigerating it until cold, then freezer-chilling it for about 5 minutes is better.
6. Place 1 pint frozen strawberry chunks, then 1 pint frozen banana chunks in the Fusion blender, in that order, then pour the cooled liquid over the frozen fruit chunks, cover the blender top and then use the "frozen drinks" setting and a rubber spatula (stop the machine often, and before using the spatula, to help rotate the frozen chunks), to create an ice cream like consistency.
7. Use the lowest regular setting (furthest down button on the right) to make the Vegan Fruit Cream a bit smoother. A higher setting is not recommended, due to wear and tear on the motor and also because the fruit cream will melt too quickly.
The blender I'm using is the Oster Fusion. In my opinion, loud and odd as it might come across - it's the best blender I ever used. I got it at Wal-Mart, though it didn't come with the extra food-slicing attachment. That's ok, I have a tomato holder and knives.
Anywho, I actually... Well, had a very bad morning this morning, and seriously needed some comfort food. So, I just threw a bunch of stuff together and accidentally came up with what I've spent years trying to duplicate without the Champion Juicer's help! I feel better already :) What I love about this recipe is that it's all natural, no significant added sugar (there were a few grains in the Stevia), and it's also fat free which means that it's not super-high-cal and off limits to me. I could probably have added some soy protein isolate to this, but wanted to eat something for once that's purely a desert and not something that tastes a little off for "health's sake." Health be damned! I wanted comfort food! And comfort food I certainly got :) And it's even healthy, even without the added vegan's perfect-protein, lol.
Some Important Notes
The best idea is to just buy a couple bunches of bananas, coin them to 1/2" thick coins, buy one of those 7 lb. boxes of bulk giant strawberries grown in CA and cheaply sold at Wal-Mart and then stem and quarter them, freeze the bananas in single layers per quart-sized bag, and the strawberries in maybe two or three layers per quart-sized bag, and then you'll have all the frozen bananas and strawberries you'll want throughout the May-September "West Coast Summer" season. Oh sure, you can call March-May "Spring" if you want... Haha. We had hail last night and the ground was dry by 10 am this morning and now it's a beautiful, hot, sunny day. You tell me what that is! Anyway, it's just best to catch the bananas and strawberries at their peak for both ripeness, size, and sales: in mid-late April, and then just prep and freeze 'm all at once. You won't regret it, and you'll gain back your freezer space in no time, once you've had this tasty treat ;) Especially if you have kids. In fact, you can even make the liquid heated ingredients ahead of time as well, and just freeze those (after cooling them) in ice cube trays, and then it's all good to go at the last minute. Total prep time for a WCS season? About an hour.
Honestly, of everything I've ever made, I think I'm most proud of this one recipe, simply because I've waited so long to finally come up with it. And what's so hilarious is that I really wasn't trying for anything like ice cream at all. I figured I was just making another smoothie. This is sort of like a smoothie - but not. It's a LOT more like real soft-serve ice cream. I haven't tested it for freezing yet, and would probably need to add some almond butter to it in order to make it less likely to turn into a solid block when frozen over night. But I do suspect that re-chilling it after first making it would bring it to a more "real ice cream-like" and solidified state.
Frozen Ingredients
2 1/2 C Frozen banana coins, 1/2" thick, single layer when in freezer
2 1/2 C Frozen Strawberry quarters, stemmed & prewashed/dabbed dry before freezing
Liquid Heated Ingredients
1 C Almond Breeze Original Almond Milk
1 tsp. Fair Trade Vanilla
2 T Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa
4 Pkgs. Stevia
1 T Fair Trade Coffee Grounds
Tea Ingredients
1 bag Celestial Seasonings Red Tea (With Vanilla)
1 bag Celestial Seasonings Goji Berry Pomegranate Green Tea
Instructions
1. Pre-freeze the strawberries and bananas for at least 6 hours in ziplock freezer bags. Ideally at least 12 hours.
2. Over medium-high heat, bring liquid heating ingredients almost to a boil.
3. Strain hot liquid into a large mug (at least 2 cup capacity).
4. Steep tea in the hot liquid for about 3 minutes, then pull out tea bags and lightly squeeze their remaining liquid back into the cup.
5. Allow liquid to cool at least to room temperature, but refrigerating it until cold, then freezer-chilling it for about 5 minutes is better.
6. Place 1 pint frozen strawberry chunks, then 1 pint frozen banana chunks in the Fusion blender, in that order, then pour the cooled liquid over the frozen fruit chunks, cover the blender top and then use the "frozen drinks" setting and a rubber spatula (stop the machine often, and before using the spatula, to help rotate the frozen chunks), to create an ice cream like consistency.
7. Use the lowest regular setting (furthest down button on the right) to make the Vegan Fruit Cream a bit smoother. A higher setting is not recommended, due to wear and tear on the motor and also because the fruit cream will melt too quickly.
May 11, 2010
Salute to Betty White: Muffins :)
First, watch this.
Then make this.
I'm planning on coming up with a giant muffin recipe that looks kinda like the one used in the SNL skit, 'cause man, I gotta have some o' that!
Pray for me :)
So, here's the recipe I'm going to try out, once I have all the ingredients. It's loosely based on the Ball Recipe for Sunrise Muffins.
SNLesque Betty White Giant Muffin
Step 1: Combine:
Step 5: Grease giant muffin pan. Fill the pan 1/2 Full with batter.
Step 6: Dot batter with:
Step 8: Combine using blender, using "Chop" mode, to create topping:
Step 11: Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until long skewer comes out clean.
Step 12: Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan, and cool completely.
Step 13: Sprinkle on top of muffin:
Then make this.
So, here's the recipe I'm going to try out, once I have all the ingredients. It's loosely based on the Ball Recipe for Sunrise Muffins.
SNLesque Betty White Giant Muffin
Step 1: Combine:
- 1 C White flour
- 1/2 C Fair Trade Dagoba Cocoa
- 1 C Chopped Almolate
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 1/4 C Softened Almond Butter
- 1/2 C Fair Trade Sugar
- 1 Egg or 1/4 C Egg Beaters
- 1 C Silk Original Creamer
- 1/4 C Rose Petal Marmalade
- 2 tsp. Celestial Seasonings Red Tea Concentrated
- 1/2 tsp. Fair Trade Vanilla
- 1 tsp. Cherry Tea, Concentrated
Step 5: Grease giant muffin pan. Fill the pan 1/2 Full with batter.
Step 6: Dot batter with:
- 12 Almolate Covered Cherries
Step 8: Combine using blender, using "Chop" mode, to create topping:
- 1/2 C White Flour
- 1/2 C Fair Trade Sugar
- 1 1/2 C Chopped Almonds
- 1/4 C Almond Butter
Step 11: Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until long skewer comes out clean.
Step 12: Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan, and cool completely.
Step 13: Sprinkle on top of muffin:
- 1 C Sifted Fair Trade Powdered Sugar
Omegas 3 & 6, and Cancer: Oxford Journal
This is just too interesting... Apparently, Omega 3s are found in flax seed oil and some fish oils and are good for you. The Omega 6s are found in common vegetable oils, and may help cancer grow once it's present. According to some web pages out there, the vegetable oil is scary stuff, apparently especially for post menopausal women. You be the judge. I'm tempted to reconsider my oil consumption. Will have to learn more about this.
May 10, 2010
Umpteeth Try Works Better: Almolate
(Almond and soy based chocolate)
Instructions/Ingredients
1. Heat double-boiler to high until water boils, then add and evaporate the water from:
4 drops Frontier Fair Trade Vanilla
2. Add the following fattening ingredients, and melt together in double-boiler over medium heat:
1 T + 2 tsp. Almond Butter
1 T + 1 tsp. Soy Lecithin
3. Sift the following dry ingredients, into a cup or small bowl:
2 T + 2 tsp. Fair Trade Powdered Sugar
3 T Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa
*1 tsp. Tapioca Starch
4. Turn the double-boiler temperature down to low. Add the sifted and mixed dry ingredients, one tablespoon at a time, to the completely melted fattening ingredients. Mix in thoroughly before adding the next tablespoon of dry ingredients. When all dry ingredients are mixed in, turn the double-boiler back up to medium. Stir until thick, and in nearly a "ball" state. It may also be a bit sticky: that's ok, though not ideal. Do NOT candy the ingredients! Remove from heat as soon as the chocolate has formed and is "shining" with a waxy melted appearance in places.
5. Add to candy molds, freeze for at least 2 hours. Can also be used to coat dabb-dried fruits or candies. Can also be used as a soft fudge once it's set in the freezer or fridge.
Of course, I'm sure these people have a better product than me! I don't yet know if it's processed on dedicated equipment. They say it's vegan and fair trade. I've contacted them to get more info and will have to wait for their response. This one also looks promising, as does this one, who I also asked for more info from. This may be my chocolatier's dream come true. These all are spendy, but if you just want a sweet morsel once in awhile, and if the info I asked for from Life by Chocolate and Nicobella comes back clean, I say, just go order from one of these groups :) However, if you use chocolate all the time... I say then, save yourself the $ and just make your own. Store it well packed/sealed in the freezer (leave no air or air bubbles), and this ought to keep for ages. If you're super serious about using tons of Dagoba Cocoa, you might want to buy it in bulk.
Also, please note that while Sunspire, (which does have [undedicated] "vegan" chocolate), claims to uphold Fair Trade principles they neither claim that their practices are 100% Fair Trade and also, if you read the fine print, they are not Fair Trade Certified. There's always a reason for that, and it's never really excusable, no matter how much any company can "talk up" (that's marketing babble, full of distraction, nothing more) their product.
I'm also currently checking into a supplier of Almond Wax and Cocoa Butter. I've used their contact form - but it merely refreshed, so I don't know if there's something wrong with the form, or if that's their version of a thank you page. Anyway, we'll have to see about that. Kinda hoping the cocoa butter is what I'm really looking for here.
* I'm still playing with this, but so far, it seems to work out alright.
** I found a number of these stores here. MOST of the stores listed on that page are just not stores I would buy from. But the page does serve as a good, ongoing resource for finding new stores that are note-worthy.
Instructions/Ingredients
1. Heat double-boiler to high until water boils, then add and evaporate the water from:
4 drops Frontier Fair Trade Vanilla
2. Add the following fattening ingredients, and melt together in double-boiler over medium heat:
1 T + 2 tsp. Almond Butter
1 T + 1 tsp. Soy Lecithin
3. Sift the following dry ingredients, into a cup or small bowl:
2 T + 2 tsp. Fair Trade Powdered Sugar
3 T Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa
*1 tsp. Tapioca Starch
4. Turn the double-boiler temperature down to low. Add the sifted and mixed dry ingredients, one tablespoon at a time, to the completely melted fattening ingredients. Mix in thoroughly before adding the next tablespoon of dry ingredients. When all dry ingredients are mixed in, turn the double-boiler back up to medium. Stir until thick, and in nearly a "ball" state. It may also be a bit sticky: that's ok, though not ideal. Do NOT candy the ingredients! Remove from heat as soon as the chocolate has formed and is "shining" with a waxy melted appearance in places.
5. Add to candy molds, freeze for at least 2 hours. Can also be used to coat dabb-dried fruits or candies. Can also be used as a soft fudge once it's set in the freezer or fridge.
Of course, I'm sure these people have a better product than me! I don't yet know if it's processed on dedicated equipment. They say it's vegan and fair trade. I've contacted them to get more info and will have to wait for their response. This one also looks promising, as does this one, who I also asked for more info from. This may be my chocolatier's dream come true. These all are spendy, but if you just want a sweet morsel once in awhile, and if the info I asked for from Life by Chocolate and Nicobella comes back clean, I say, just go order from one of these groups :) However, if you use chocolate all the time... I say then, save yourself the $ and just make your own. Store it well packed/sealed in the freezer (leave no air or air bubbles), and this ought to keep for ages. If you're super serious about using tons of Dagoba Cocoa, you might want to buy it in bulk.
Also, please note that while Sunspire, (which does have [undedicated] "vegan" chocolate), claims to uphold Fair Trade principles they neither claim that their practices are 100% Fair Trade and also, if you read the fine print, they are not Fair Trade Certified. There's always a reason for that, and it's never really excusable, no matter how much any company can "talk up" (that's marketing babble, full of distraction, nothing more) their product.
I'm also currently checking into a supplier of Almond Wax and Cocoa Butter. I've used their contact form - but it merely refreshed, so I don't know if there's something wrong with the form, or if that's their version of a thank you page. Anyway, we'll have to see about that. Kinda hoping the cocoa butter is what I'm really looking for here.
* I'm still playing with this, but so far, it seems to work out alright.
** I found a number of these stores here. MOST of the stores listed on that page are just not stores I would buy from. But the page does serve as a good, ongoing resource for finding new stores that are note-worthy.
The Positives of Protein
This isn't one of your typical "dietary" articles on the woes of carbs and/or fat, nor on balancing them with protein. It's a very simple, short testimony to the power of protein, regardless of what form it comes in. At the end, I'll list the most common sources of protein to vegetarians. Here's some info on complete proteins.
I'm focusing on protein because of two major positive affects it's directly had on me personally. First, I was, at age 24, while on a life-long high carb, low fat, and low protein diet, diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Disease/Syndrome). Essentially, I was told, due to my blood tests, that I couldn't have kids. When hormone treatments made me so sick that I was literally slowly dying after a year of them, I just outright stopped taking them and opted to live, even if that meant I couldn't have kids. Irony is, I now no longer even want to be a parent. Waisted time and money. I had been told at the same time to increase my protein in my diet and lower my carbs, which meant also increasing the fat. I wasn't comfortable with the later, due to twice the calories per gram and twice the body fat storage likelihood as well, so I just upped the protein beyond belief. For awhile. I got lax after a few years, slipped back into old high carb ways, and again was tested, this time not to be positive for PCOS, but instead, it's sibling, Insulin Resistance (the opposite of diabetes, but also the precursor to diabetes type II). I was put on more pills that just made life worse, I quit taking them, and took that second Dr.'s advice, and upped the protein again. A couple years of this later, I tested negative for both PCOS and IR. Lesson learned: protein is worth the cost. They just shouldn't charge so much for it.
The other positive affect that an increase in protein in my diet has had on me is one that you just don't appreciate until it's gone. There was a point in my life not long ago when I couldn't afford ANY protein. Literally. I could afford rice, dried beans, lentils, split peas and noodles, and that was all. The dried beans, split peas and lentils are said to be "high" in protein... But not compared to their carb content. Anyway, the main things I noticed? Within 2 weeks, my nails were almost literally falling off. Chipping, breaking below the "line," peeling off practically. I took to carrying around a bottle of "second skin" that I could brush on them to seal the cracks below that line and try to hold them together: I could afford a single purchase that would last months. But not protein, of really any kind. I still have that bottle in my purse, but don't need it anymore. Why? Thank God for food stamps. I can have protein in my diet again. The other day, one of my nails should have broken off below that line. It should have snapped off, really. I won't gross you out with the details, but it was bad. Instead? Eh, whatever, it just snapped back down where it belonged, and I just wound up with a little tissue damage below the nail which is now healing. Finally, my nails are doing what they're supposed to.
You've probably noticed that I've been sneaking in a good bit of soy protein isolate into a lot of recipes. I get it in the bulk foods section of one of the local stores. It's not flavorless, but it's finely powdered and goes well with a lot of different foods, particularly baked goods. It's pure protein, and definitely increases the overall protein content of those foods, and of my diet. For those who don't like it, eh, no biggy, just replace it with flour. Maybe use some egg whites (replace 3 tablespoons liquid for each egg white used in recipes) instead. Anyway, another option is to use canned veggie-meats (Worthington, Loma Linda, Cedar Lake, Vibrant Life, Yves) if you don't mind precooked/blenderized protein options. And there's always tofu or gluten, if you prefer that instead and are vegetarian. There's more info in the above linked WikiPedia article on complete proteins.
I'm focusing on protein because of two major positive affects it's directly had on me personally. First, I was, at age 24, while on a life-long high carb, low fat, and low protein diet, diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Disease/Syndrome). Essentially, I was told, due to my blood tests, that I couldn't have kids. When hormone treatments made me so sick that I was literally slowly dying after a year of them, I just outright stopped taking them and opted to live, even if that meant I couldn't have kids. Irony is, I now no longer even want to be a parent. Waisted time and money. I had been told at the same time to increase my protein in my diet and lower my carbs, which meant also increasing the fat. I wasn't comfortable with the later, due to twice the calories per gram and twice the body fat storage likelihood as well, so I just upped the protein beyond belief. For awhile. I got lax after a few years, slipped back into old high carb ways, and again was tested, this time not to be positive for PCOS, but instead, it's sibling, Insulin Resistance (the opposite of diabetes, but also the precursor to diabetes type II). I was put on more pills that just made life worse, I quit taking them, and took that second Dr.'s advice, and upped the protein again. A couple years of this later, I tested negative for both PCOS and IR. Lesson learned: protein is worth the cost. They just shouldn't charge so much for it.
The other positive affect that an increase in protein in my diet has had on me is one that you just don't appreciate until it's gone. There was a point in my life not long ago when I couldn't afford ANY protein. Literally. I could afford rice, dried beans, lentils, split peas and noodles, and that was all. The dried beans, split peas and lentils are said to be "high" in protein... But not compared to their carb content. Anyway, the main things I noticed? Within 2 weeks, my nails were almost literally falling off. Chipping, breaking below the "line," peeling off practically. I took to carrying around a bottle of "second skin" that I could brush on them to seal the cracks below that line and try to hold them together: I could afford a single purchase that would last months. But not protein, of really any kind. I still have that bottle in my purse, but don't need it anymore. Why? Thank God for food stamps. I can have protein in my diet again. The other day, one of my nails should have broken off below that line. It should have snapped off, really. I won't gross you out with the details, but it was bad. Instead? Eh, whatever, it just snapped back down where it belonged, and I just wound up with a little tissue damage below the nail which is now healing. Finally, my nails are doing what they're supposed to.
You've probably noticed that I've been sneaking in a good bit of soy protein isolate into a lot of recipes. I get it in the bulk foods section of one of the local stores. It's not flavorless, but it's finely powdered and goes well with a lot of different foods, particularly baked goods. It's pure protein, and definitely increases the overall protein content of those foods, and of my diet. For those who don't like it, eh, no biggy, just replace it with flour. Maybe use some egg whites (replace 3 tablespoons liquid for each egg white used in recipes) instead. Anyway, another option is to use canned veggie-meats (Worthington, Loma Linda, Cedar Lake, Vibrant Life, Yves) if you don't mind precooked/blenderized protein options. And there's always tofu or gluten, if you prefer that instead and are vegetarian. There's more info in the above linked WikiPedia article on complete proteins.
May 9, 2010
Vegan Plain and Chocolate Waffles
I have two recipes here, plain and chocolate. I'll admit, the chocolate one is... Different. It's good with strawberry or cherry jam/preserves. And probably topped with whipped cream, and maybe some nuts. I suppose that if you have the right kind of waffle iron, it would even make a good waffle cone, though I haven't tried that. Anyway, the plain recipe is really good - it's reminiscent of the waffles my mom made every Sunday for brunch when I was growing up. This recipe doesn't call for whole wheat flour though, because I wanted something that could be flavored any way you want, and whole wheat flour doesn't always allow for that. You're welcome to substitute up to half the flour with whole wheat if you like! I don't recommend 100% whole wheat waffles though. If you want bread, just make some bread instead. Waffles were meant to be enjoyed as more of a half-real-food/half-desert. Perfect for brunch :)
Plain Waffles
Dry Ingredients
2 C flour
1/2 C Soy Protein Isolate
1 T Baking Powder
1/8 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
1 C Almond Milk
1 1/4 C Water
1 T Oil
2 T Honey or Corn Syrup
1 T Molasis
Instructions
1. In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
2. In a measuring cup, mix all wet ingredients.
3. Spray both top and bottom waffle iron plates, then plug it in.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix well first with a spoon, then with a beaters.
5. Pour mixture into waffle iron so that 2/3 of the total bottom surface is well covered.
6. Allow waffle iron to fry the waffle batch for 3 minutes. Use a fork and a flat metal spatula to remove the waffles.
7. Repeat steps 5 through 6 until waffle batter is gone.
Now for the chocolate version!
Chocolate Waffles
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 C flour
1/4 C Cocoa
1/2 C Soy Protein Isolate
1 T Baking Powder
1/8 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
1 C Almond Milk
1 1/4 C Water
1 T Oil
3 T Corn Syrup
4 Drops Vanilla
Instructions
1. In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
2. In a measuring cup, mix all wet ingredients.
3. Spray both top and bottom waffle iron plates, then plug it in.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix well first with a spoon, then with a beaters.
5. Pour mixture into waffle iron so that 2/3 of the total bottom surface is well covered.
6. Allow waffle iron to fry the waffle batch for 3 minutes. Use a fork and a flat metal spatula to remove the waffles.
7. Repeat steps 5 through 6 until waffle batter is gone.
I realize that some people consider honey to be non-vegan. Well, it's Parve and no eggs, at any rate. Personally, the only problem I've ever had with honey is not that it came from bees, but that we haven't genetically modified bees to have no stingers or at any rate, to not sting mammals, thus undoing man's hatred for and fear of them, and his desire to put them into non-bee-friendly environments, use them grossly, and basically just tick them off. Kinda dumb, if you think about it. Anyway, if you use honey, I suppose it's best to get it from bee-keepers who treat their bees well. I suppose it's easier for some like me to not take bees seriously, mainly because they're so annoying and can be deadly, and to just run out and buy a big jar of honey without thinking about it. Also, because they aren't people or larger animals, and the only audible noise they make is with their wings. You can't form a relationship of any kind with a bee. Somehow, that just makes it easier to not care about them. But really, they're animals too, annoying (and cool too, scientifically) as they can be, so if you really care, I say show it and just buy bee-friendly honey. Or just use corn syrup, as ghastly as that stuff is.
Plain Waffles
Dry Ingredients
2 C flour
1/2 C Soy Protein Isolate
1 T Baking Powder
1/8 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
1 C Almond Milk
1 1/4 C Water
1 T Oil
2 T Honey or Corn Syrup
1 T Molasis
Instructions
1. In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
2. In a measuring cup, mix all wet ingredients.
3. Spray both top and bottom waffle iron plates, then plug it in.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix well first with a spoon, then with a beaters.
5. Pour mixture into waffle iron so that 2/3 of the total bottom surface is well covered.
6. Allow waffle iron to fry the waffle batch for 3 minutes. Use a fork and a flat metal spatula to remove the waffles.
7. Repeat steps 5 through 6 until waffle batter is gone.
Now for the chocolate version!
Chocolate Waffles
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 C flour
1/4 C Cocoa
1/2 C Soy Protein Isolate
1 T Baking Powder
1/8 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
1 C Almond Milk
1 1/4 C Water
1 T Oil
3 T Corn Syrup
4 Drops Vanilla
Instructions
1. In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
2. In a measuring cup, mix all wet ingredients.
3. Spray both top and bottom waffle iron plates, then plug it in.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix well first with a spoon, then with a beaters.
5. Pour mixture into waffle iron so that 2/3 of the total bottom surface is well covered.
6. Allow waffle iron to fry the waffle batch for 3 minutes. Use a fork and a flat metal spatula to remove the waffles.
7. Repeat steps 5 through 6 until waffle batter is gone.
I realize that some people consider honey to be non-vegan. Well, it's Parve and no eggs, at any rate. Personally, the only problem I've ever had with honey is not that it came from bees, but that we haven't genetically modified bees to have no stingers or at any rate, to not sting mammals, thus undoing man's hatred for and fear of them, and his desire to put them into non-bee-friendly environments, use them grossly, and basically just tick them off. Kinda dumb, if you think about it. Anyway, if you use honey, I suppose it's best to get it from bee-keepers who treat their bees well. I suppose it's easier for some like me to not take bees seriously, mainly because they're so annoying and can be deadly, and to just run out and buy a big jar of honey without thinking about it. Also, because they aren't people or larger animals, and the only audible noise they make is with their wings. You can't form a relationship of any kind with a bee. Somehow, that just makes it easier to not care about them. But really, they're animals too, annoying (and cool too, scientifically) as they can be, so if you really care, I say show it and just buy bee-friendly honey. Or just use corn syrup, as ghastly as that stuff is.
May 3, 2010
Seasonings, Spices, Herbs, Flavorings, Colorings, and Racks
I picked up one, and only one, talent from my mother: the "sense" of seasonings. I'm not kidding. It's an actual sense. Based on smell, but there's more to it than that. It's kind of an inner mental formulaic perception, sort of like being the servant to the sense of smell. In simple terms, it's just knowing what seasonings and spices to mix with which others and with which foods in what proportions, and whether those seasonings/spices should be fresh or dried or both. It's also the basic knowledge of what a seasoning is vs. what a spice is.
I'll start with that, because really, that's kind of level 1 in this training course :) It's fairly simple, and I'm sure there's tons in WikiPedia all about the differences, the locations of origin, the seasons of bloom, and the farmers who pick and process them all... But really, when it's just you and your spice wrack duking it out over your kitchen counter - it's important to just be able to at least identify what is a seasoning and what is a spice. Both by vision and by smell or taste, even by touch, once you get really good at this.
Essentially, a seasoning is pretty much any ground or chopped leaf, dried or fresh, which is commonly grown in most North American gardens and can be tastefully added to a tomato based sauce intended for Italian or German cooking. Oregano, Basil, Thyme... Three staples of any "spice wrack" (seasoning section) which I don't suggest any kitchen attempt to do without. Thanks to -mart stores everywhere in the US, there is NO excuse -not- to have at least some small quantity of these (it's best to buy large quantities of very fragrant versions of these three seasonings, as you'll use a LOT of them throughout the years once you taste how wonderful they are)! A fourth "great" is cumin. Vegetarians in particular love cumin: it's the main seasoning in canned veggie-burger and beef-flavored TVP (textured vegetable protein, mainly gluten). A fifth staple, though rarely actually used in most North American cooking, is dried Bay Leaves. You'll never see them ground, only whole. Leave 'm that way -- just remember to pull them out of your lentil stew when you're done cooking it. And never make lentil stew without them unless for some reason you can't stand it with them, of course. Anyway -- it's just not the same without them, in my opinion.
Four more seasonings really aren't seasonings at all. They are "bulbs" by nature, though sometimes confused to be roots. Onion, garlic, chives, and green onions. These are the four bulb seasonings known to be edible and not poisonous, and are the most commonly found in stores. There are other variants you'll sometimes find in some produce sections - go ahead, try those shallots! But I think in the end, you'll find that it's cheaper by far to focus on these other 4 bulbs. Other seasonings that are good to keep on hand include a few good mixed seasonings (Italian, salad bends, poultry seasoning...) and a few "strays" that are good to keep on hand but hardly ever get used (parsley, celery seeds, toasted sesame seeds, and alum, which is really a baking agent). Pretty much anything that's easy to grow in North America, is a leaf, a bulb, or a vegetable of some kind and is sold in any US produce section, that -isn't a spice- is a seasoning.
Spices on the other hand... Absolutely - do think of Arabia! Think of Asia, India (especially India), even Africa... Think Marco Polo and the rotting meat back home in Europe which he was about to "cure." Think Mexico and South America, where "spice" takes on a whole new meaning... This isn't all to say that there aren't some spices that grow in North America. But Anise is hardly technically a spice. It's what they flavor most cheap licorice with these days, if I'm not mistaken. Also root beer. Too sweet - it's hard to call that a true spice. Nor other similar nearly-non-spices. A true spice? That my friends comes with a similar history to all truly good tea, coffee, and cocoa/chocolate. Which can be a sadness, when you include the knowledge of the slavery that not only used to go into making these delights mainly for European and North American enjoyment, but still does even now. I'm not going to rant about that here. But I will not let you ignore it, either. It's a fact until we all stamp it out of existence and can actually be proud of ourselves. Only we can do that.
In any case, spices include things such as what I call the "Pumpkin and Apple Pie Klan": cinnamon, cloves, ginger, all-spice, and pumpkin spice. You can pretty well add at least one of these spices to nearly any pie or cake out there. They are your sweet spices (as are mint and spearmint, though those don't usually go with most pies or cakes, unless there's chocolate involved - just use mint, not spearmint, with it though). I wouldn't suggest adding them to blue berry, cherry, or some citrus flavored foods/beverages though :p Oh do, go ahead, have fun with that -- just DON'T blame me for your puckered, puking mouth! Want to make it really fun? Add some olive oil and OJ to the mix! Sorry, just thought I'd untempt ya early. Hopefully.
Of course, there are other spices which aren't sweet, don't go with sugar at all (at least not for most Americans anyway), which deserve mention and which some chefs would be dismayed that I don't tend to focus on. A number of them are Asian, Indian, or Latin American. What can I say? I was raised on Italian and German foods, primarily, as well as some French. I enjoy Chinese take out (sometimes making it myself, particularly more-so these days than say in my 20s), and while I love the peanut flavor in Thai food, I can't stand how spicy it is... So I don't tend to do Thai food (I should learn to just make it from scratch, I know, and eventually, I will). Recently, I found some Paprika at Wal-Mart that wasn't hot, and I love adding it to the Ball Recipe for Ketchup, as well as to my pizza sauce. Aside from that though, I haven't found a good use for it in my own kitchen. One thing you won't find in my kitchen is curry. Even "mild" or "not hot" curries are still far too spicy/hot for my taste and they cause me to suffer from severe acid reflux. It's just. Not. Worth it, for me personally. Of course, jalapeños are off my personal list, in all forms, though they are beautiful to look at in paintings and such. I suggest at this point just finding some other cooking blog out there if you want to focus on using these kinds of spices in your cooking. I simply don't use them here: as uninformative as that makes my blog.
And then, of course, you have non-hot, non-seasoning, non-spices which I just classify as herbs that have tastes which I don't prefer. Cilantro being one of them. Tastes like metallic soap. Particularly in vinaigrette laden salads. Or even fresh. I'm aware that there are two or three other such herbs which have such a gross taste that I really will just spit them out, no matter where I am, though no one's ever been able to identify which ones were the culprits. In any case, there are other herbs out there which really don't go with anything that I'm aware of.
Also worth mentioning are your (liquid) "flavorings" and "colorings." A lot of people have a problem with food colorings, both health-wise and aesthetically, though Wilton has seriously improved the coloring quality of it's food colorings. I recommend those for people who want to use food colorings, far over any other food coloring system. I've even used them as water-colors: they're superb in that respect, as far as color goes. (I don't know about longevity/acidity though). Some people, including myself, have a problem with a lot of flavorings out there because of their very high alcohol content. Sounds silly, but it's a matter of principle, especially if you have young children around who don't and can't yet understand the concept of "moderation." If you have to have black and white rules at home, then live black and white yourself, or your kids will eventually catch on the dad and mom aren't really serious after all, or else they have double standards, and that won't make sense to your kids either. At least that's my reasoning, though I don't have kids myself: I just was a kid once upon a time, I held my mom to it one day, and from that day on, well, we just always avoided flavorings that had alcohol: and now I just don't use them 'cause I'm not used to them and don't really need them. Particularly now that there are many flavorings available which don't contain alcohol. Heh.
With all that said, it's worth it to keep whatever flavorings on hand that you'll use most and find it hard to get in any other form. Vanilla is a main staple in my home. I now purchase only Fair Trade Vanilla. Two or three others are good to have on hand, though I'm finding I use them a lot less these days: mint (I now have mint tea) and Almond (are you kidding me, lol, read my blog!) Some people like rum or other spirit-flavored flavorings, and if you can find a good butter-flavored liquid or powder, both have their uses as well. Personally, I just get butter flavored pan spray and spray that along with sprinkling some salt on my pop-corn. It's a fake flavor, but with the salt added, it's close enough to theater quality that I don't feel the need to complain about it. My mother always kept a bottle of cherry flavoring around (btw, most if not all of these are of the Schilling variety in my home), but it's so close to Almond flavoring (and more expensive) that it almost never got used. I kinda think she still has the same bottle of it that she had before I was born. Someone probably gave it to her.
You can pretty much find whatever is needed in the average serious kitchen in the three different "spice wracks" I have. Two came from Good Will (a square spinning upright, and a long, thin, 2 tier wall-hanging model, about $2.00 each), and one came from Wal-Mart for (then) $18.00. I must have bought all three during a total 15 year span of time. Of them all, I have to say, the one from Wal-Mart wins, hands down. But I need the extra storage and can't afford to buy more spice racks at full price like that, so I'm keeping the others as well :) There was a fourth, but sadly, it didn't make it in the running, so it had to go back to GW, from whence it came. Ground leaves to ground leaves, flavorings to flavorings.
Anyway, truth is, I have TOO MANY seasonings and spices! Mainly because, though I started out with just a jar of powdered onion and another of powdered garlic, then some Italian Seasoning... When I bought the spice rack at Wal-Mart, guess what?! There's a reason for why it's that spendy. It's got all the seasonings/spices right there in the rack! But, see, by the time I was in need of the rack... I already had all the seasonings and spices I wanted -- and then some! But, with a little picking and choosing which ones to keep or add to older bottles, and which ones I just didn't want at all, and some re-labeling and so on... I got it down to where I actually only needed 3 of the 4 racks I now had. Why didn't I just take the new one back?
Heh. Just look at the rack. Then at the jars. The rack will hold a greater variety of jars that come off the shelf from the store, and the jars it came with are small enough to fit into the holes in my upright square spinning rack... Now, the wall hanging 2 tier model is awesome - it'll hold even more jars of varying sizes! I kept it because I had more odd-sized jars than uniform sized holes in the upright square spinning rack. Thus, I played Towers of Hanoi with my seasonings/spices and my racks, and won ;)
Ideally, one rack should be enough, and I suggest just getting the one from Wal-Mart. Beware though - some of the seasonings just... Weren't as fragrant or flavorful. They're still worth the $ shelled out, but they aren't a great steal, as far as that goes. Really, what you'd be purchasing is the rack and jars. Believe me, those will carry you well into the future, and in that way, will pay for themselves. I recommend this rack to any recent college grad or emancipated aspiring young chef, if you have the $ to fork over for it. Of course, the alternative is just start small, use a drawer or desk organizer to keep your tiny collection in, at first, and then, when you really need it, upgrade to some rack found at a local thrift shop such as Good Will. Don't put in for the more expensive racks until you are more stably employed, etc.
The truth is shocking: it's just food. You could live on plain rice and beans if you had to, and the rest is just icing on the cake. Always at least try to get in some veggies and fruits daily, and remember that while all the extra flavors can make all the difference in the world, you don't always have to have them, and certainly not all of them. Go by cost and need first, and add the extra "for fun" items later on. And if you know you won't use something often, go for the smaller size. Eventually, all seasonings, spices, herbs, flavorings and even colorings do have to be replaced, even if they were dried to begin with. Same thing is true with your oils, your flours/grains, even your noodles and cereal (if you have any old cereal, that is). Even that wholier-than-holy granola or trail mix will have to be replaced sometime. Just to remind you of that.
So, if you're not going to use something up within the next few months or year, it's not worth it to spend $20 on it. Remember that expensive bottle of cherry flavoring my mom had? I think we used it like once. And it probably cost the gifter the equivalent of $20 today. That's a lotta dough for 3 drops ever used. So, as they say, "count the cost." But, at the same time, when you can splurge a little, it's always worth it to branch out, try new flavors or flavor mixtures or just new combinations of flavors and foods (who knew that ketchup has cinnamon in it??!!) This would be such a boring world if we weren't willing as human beings to discover what there is to know, so long as we have reason to believe it's safe to learn something new. Always Google some new flavor source first, just to ensure that what you're putting in your body isn't akin to rat poison.
I'll start with that, because really, that's kind of level 1 in this training course :) It's fairly simple, and I'm sure there's tons in WikiPedia all about the differences, the locations of origin, the seasons of bloom, and the farmers who pick and process them all... But really, when it's just you and your spice wrack duking it out over your kitchen counter - it's important to just be able to at least identify what is a seasoning and what is a spice. Both by vision and by smell or taste, even by touch, once you get really good at this.
Essentially, a seasoning is pretty much any ground or chopped leaf, dried or fresh, which is commonly grown in most North American gardens and can be tastefully added to a tomato based sauce intended for Italian or German cooking. Oregano, Basil, Thyme... Three staples of any "spice wrack" (seasoning section) which I don't suggest any kitchen attempt to do without. Thanks to -mart stores everywhere in the US, there is NO excuse -not- to have at least some small quantity of these (it's best to buy large quantities of very fragrant versions of these three seasonings, as you'll use a LOT of them throughout the years once you taste how wonderful they are)! A fourth "great" is cumin. Vegetarians in particular love cumin: it's the main seasoning in canned veggie-burger and beef-flavored TVP (textured vegetable protein, mainly gluten). A fifth staple, though rarely actually used in most North American cooking, is dried Bay Leaves. You'll never see them ground, only whole. Leave 'm that way -- just remember to pull them out of your lentil stew when you're done cooking it. And never make lentil stew without them unless for some reason you can't stand it with them, of course. Anyway -- it's just not the same without them, in my opinion.
Four more seasonings really aren't seasonings at all. They are "bulbs" by nature, though sometimes confused to be roots. Onion, garlic, chives, and green onions. These are the four bulb seasonings known to be edible and not poisonous, and are the most commonly found in stores. There are other variants you'll sometimes find in some produce sections - go ahead, try those shallots! But I think in the end, you'll find that it's cheaper by far to focus on these other 4 bulbs. Other seasonings that are good to keep on hand include a few good mixed seasonings (Italian, salad bends, poultry seasoning...) and a few "strays" that are good to keep on hand but hardly ever get used (parsley, celery seeds, toasted sesame seeds, and alum, which is really a baking agent). Pretty much anything that's easy to grow in North America, is a leaf, a bulb, or a vegetable of some kind and is sold in any US produce section, that -isn't a spice- is a seasoning.
Spices on the other hand... Absolutely - do think of Arabia! Think of Asia, India (especially India), even Africa... Think Marco Polo and the rotting meat back home in Europe which he was about to "cure." Think Mexico and South America, where "spice" takes on a whole new meaning... This isn't all to say that there aren't some spices that grow in North America. But Anise is hardly technically a spice. It's what they flavor most cheap licorice with these days, if I'm not mistaken. Also root beer. Too sweet - it's hard to call that a true spice. Nor other similar nearly-non-spices. A true spice? That my friends comes with a similar history to all truly good tea, coffee, and cocoa/chocolate. Which can be a sadness, when you include the knowledge of the slavery that not only used to go into making these delights mainly for European and North American enjoyment, but still does even now. I'm not going to rant about that here. But I will not let you ignore it, either. It's a fact until we all stamp it out of existence and can actually be proud of ourselves. Only we can do that.
In any case, spices include things such as what I call the "Pumpkin and Apple Pie Klan": cinnamon, cloves, ginger, all-spice, and pumpkin spice. You can pretty well add at least one of these spices to nearly any pie or cake out there. They are your sweet spices (as are mint and spearmint, though those don't usually go with most pies or cakes, unless there's chocolate involved - just use mint, not spearmint, with it though). I wouldn't suggest adding them to blue berry, cherry, or some citrus flavored foods/beverages though :p Oh do, go ahead, have fun with that -- just DON'T blame me for your puckered, puking mouth! Want to make it really fun? Add some olive oil and OJ to the mix! Sorry, just thought I'd untempt ya early. Hopefully.
Of course, there are other spices which aren't sweet, don't go with sugar at all (at least not for most Americans anyway), which deserve mention and which some chefs would be dismayed that I don't tend to focus on. A number of them are Asian, Indian, or Latin American. What can I say? I was raised on Italian and German foods, primarily, as well as some French. I enjoy Chinese take out (sometimes making it myself, particularly more-so these days than say in my 20s), and while I love the peanut flavor in Thai food, I can't stand how spicy it is... So I don't tend to do Thai food (I should learn to just make it from scratch, I know, and eventually, I will). Recently, I found some Paprika at Wal-Mart that wasn't hot, and I love adding it to the Ball Recipe for Ketchup, as well as to my pizza sauce. Aside from that though, I haven't found a good use for it in my own kitchen. One thing you won't find in my kitchen is curry. Even "mild" or "not hot" curries are still far too spicy/hot for my taste and they cause me to suffer from severe acid reflux. It's just. Not. Worth it, for me personally. Of course, jalapeños are off my personal list, in all forms, though they are beautiful to look at in paintings and such. I suggest at this point just finding some other cooking blog out there if you want to focus on using these kinds of spices in your cooking. I simply don't use them here: as uninformative as that makes my blog.
And then, of course, you have non-hot, non-seasoning, non-spices which I just classify as herbs that have tastes which I don't prefer. Cilantro being one of them. Tastes like metallic soap. Particularly in vinaigrette laden salads. Or even fresh. I'm aware that there are two or three other such herbs which have such a gross taste that I really will just spit them out, no matter where I am, though no one's ever been able to identify which ones were the culprits. In any case, there are other herbs out there which really don't go with anything that I'm aware of.
Also worth mentioning are your (liquid) "flavorings" and "colorings." A lot of people have a problem with food colorings, both health-wise and aesthetically, though Wilton has seriously improved the coloring quality of it's food colorings. I recommend those for people who want to use food colorings, far over any other food coloring system. I've even used them as water-colors: they're superb in that respect, as far as color goes. (I don't know about longevity/acidity though). Some people, including myself, have a problem with a lot of flavorings out there because of their very high alcohol content. Sounds silly, but it's a matter of principle, especially if you have young children around who don't and can't yet understand the concept of "moderation." If you have to have black and white rules at home, then live black and white yourself, or your kids will eventually catch on the dad and mom aren't really serious after all, or else they have double standards, and that won't make sense to your kids either. At least that's my reasoning, though I don't have kids myself: I just was a kid once upon a time, I held my mom to it one day, and from that day on, well, we just always avoided flavorings that had alcohol: and now I just don't use them 'cause I'm not used to them and don't really need them. Particularly now that there are many flavorings available which don't contain alcohol. Heh.
With all that said, it's worth it to keep whatever flavorings on hand that you'll use most and find it hard to get in any other form. Vanilla is a main staple in my home. I now purchase only Fair Trade Vanilla. Two or three others are good to have on hand, though I'm finding I use them a lot less these days: mint (I now have mint tea) and Almond (are you kidding me, lol, read my blog!) Some people like rum or other spirit-flavored flavorings, and if you can find a good butter-flavored liquid or powder, both have their uses as well. Personally, I just get butter flavored pan spray and spray that along with sprinkling some salt on my pop-corn. It's a fake flavor, but with the salt added, it's close enough to theater quality that I don't feel the need to complain about it. My mother always kept a bottle of cherry flavoring around (btw, most if not all of these are of the Schilling variety in my home), but it's so close to Almond flavoring (and more expensive) that it almost never got used. I kinda think she still has the same bottle of it that she had before I was born. Someone probably gave it to her.
You can pretty much find whatever is needed in the average serious kitchen in the three different "spice wracks" I have. Two came from Good Will (a square spinning upright, and a long, thin, 2 tier wall-hanging model, about $2.00 each), and one came from Wal-Mart for (then) $18.00. I must have bought all three during a total 15 year span of time. Of them all, I have to say, the one from Wal-Mart wins, hands down. But I need the extra storage and can't afford to buy more spice racks at full price like that, so I'm keeping the others as well :) There was a fourth, but sadly, it didn't make it in the running, so it had to go back to GW, from whence it came. Ground leaves to ground leaves, flavorings to flavorings.
Anyway, truth is, I have TOO MANY seasonings and spices! Mainly because, though I started out with just a jar of powdered onion and another of powdered garlic, then some Italian Seasoning... When I bought the spice rack at Wal-Mart, guess what?! There's a reason for why it's that spendy. It's got all the seasonings/spices right there in the rack! But, see, by the time I was in need of the rack... I already had all the seasonings and spices I wanted -- and then some! But, with a little picking and choosing which ones to keep or add to older bottles, and which ones I just didn't want at all, and some re-labeling and so on... I got it down to where I actually only needed 3 of the 4 racks I now had. Why didn't I just take the new one back?
Heh. Just look at the rack. Then at the jars. The rack will hold a greater variety of jars that come off the shelf from the store, and the jars it came with are small enough to fit into the holes in my upright square spinning rack... Now, the wall hanging 2 tier model is awesome - it'll hold even more jars of varying sizes! I kept it because I had more odd-sized jars than uniform sized holes in the upright square spinning rack. Thus, I played Towers of Hanoi with my seasonings/spices and my racks, and won ;)
Ideally, one rack should be enough, and I suggest just getting the one from Wal-Mart. Beware though - some of the seasonings just... Weren't as fragrant or flavorful. They're still worth the $ shelled out, but they aren't a great steal, as far as that goes. Really, what you'd be purchasing is the rack and jars. Believe me, those will carry you well into the future, and in that way, will pay for themselves. I recommend this rack to any recent college grad or emancipated aspiring young chef, if you have the $ to fork over for it. Of course, the alternative is just start small, use a drawer or desk organizer to keep your tiny collection in, at first, and then, when you really need it, upgrade to some rack found at a local thrift shop such as Good Will. Don't put in for the more expensive racks until you are more stably employed, etc.
The truth is shocking: it's just food. You could live on plain rice and beans if you had to, and the rest is just icing on the cake. Always at least try to get in some veggies and fruits daily, and remember that while all the extra flavors can make all the difference in the world, you don't always have to have them, and certainly not all of them. Go by cost and need first, and add the extra "for fun" items later on. And if you know you won't use something often, go for the smaller size. Eventually, all seasonings, spices, herbs, flavorings and even colorings do have to be replaced, even if they were dried to begin with. Same thing is true with your oils, your flours/grains, even your noodles and cereal (if you have any old cereal, that is). Even that wholier-than-holy granola or trail mix will have to be replaced sometime. Just to remind you of that.
So, if you're not going to use something up within the next few months or year, it's not worth it to spend $20 on it. Remember that expensive bottle of cherry flavoring my mom had? I think we used it like once. And it probably cost the gifter the equivalent of $20 today. That's a lotta dough for 3 drops ever used. So, as they say, "count the cost." But, at the same time, when you can splurge a little, it's always worth it to branch out, try new flavors or flavor mixtures or just new combinations of flavors and foods (who knew that ketchup has cinnamon in it??!!) This would be such a boring world if we weren't willing as human beings to discover what there is to know, so long as we have reason to believe it's safe to learn something new. Always Google some new flavor source first, just to ensure that what you're putting in your body isn't akin to rat poison.
Dead Bread Bed
So, what do you do with bread dough that didn't rise the way it should have after all?
Make pizza :) Just ball it up, roll that ball around on some wax paper for a minute, press it down, and use a rolling pin to shape it into a circle or whatever shape you like. Let it "rise" in the heating oven (turned to 350 degrees) first and then leave it in there to bake (total of 20 minutes). Flip it over, bake for 5 minutes, and top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings, then bake for another 8 - 10 minutes.
My Pizza sauce had a little of every "meaty" or "tomato friendly" or "Italian" seasoning plus lots of cumin and paprika in it. Then I added olive oil, sliced olives, sliced mushrooms, and chopped green onion leaves right into the sauce, then mixed them together before topping the pizza with it. I would have added some vegan cheese to the sauce as well, but this wasn't a planned pizza, that stuff's expensive (if it's truly vegan: 0 casein), so I didn't have any on hand. After that, I just added tomatoes (and would have then topped them with Vegan Parmesan cheese if I'd had any) and called it good. Some finely chopped fresh oregano and basil leaves mixed with more olive oil, on top of the tomatoes, would also have been a nice touch, maybe below the Vegan Parmesan cheese.
Make pizza :) Just ball it up, roll that ball around on some wax paper for a minute, press it down, and use a rolling pin to shape it into a circle or whatever shape you like. Let it "rise" in the heating oven (turned to 350 degrees) first and then leave it in there to bake (total of 20 minutes). Flip it over, bake for 5 minutes, and top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings, then bake for another 8 - 10 minutes.
My Pizza sauce had a little of every "meaty" or "tomato friendly" or "Italian" seasoning plus lots of cumin and paprika in it. Then I added olive oil, sliced olives, sliced mushrooms, and chopped green onion leaves right into the sauce, then mixed them together before topping the pizza with it. I would have added some vegan cheese to the sauce as well, but this wasn't a planned pizza, that stuff's expensive (if it's truly vegan: 0 casein), so I didn't have any on hand. After that, I just added tomatoes (and would have then topped them with Vegan Parmesan cheese if I'd had any) and called it good. Some finely chopped fresh oregano and basil leaves mixed with more olive oil, on top of the tomatoes, would also have been a nice touch, maybe below the Vegan Parmesan cheese.
Fruity Frozen Desert
At the moment, I don't have exact amounts. Sorry, I was in a hurry last night, was famished, and just THREW stuff into the blender and called it good. I'll have to work those details out later.
1. In order, directly into the blender:
About 1/2 C Silk Soy Milk or Silk Soy Creamer (French Vanilla)
6 or 8 frozen strawberries (cubed, and stems removed, before freezing)
2. Start by blending on low, until strawberries are chopped, then gradually increase until the blender is on it's highest setting, and blend for 1 minute. Strain this liquid mixture into a large bowl, rinse out the blender thoroughly, then pour the strained mixture back into the blender.
1. Start with a low or chop setting on your blender. Gradually increase speed to medium, once bananas are chopped well. Stop every minute or so to more thoroughly mix everything with a rubber spatula.
2. Drink what you want, and freeze the rest. Use a metal bowl covered with plastic wrap for the freezing portion. About every half hour after putting the mixture in the bowl in the freezer, use the rubber spatula to scrape the insides of the metal bowl and thoroughly mix the more frozen parts into the more liquid parts. Repeat this 3 times. Transfer the mixture into a plastic container (with a lid), mix well, then continue freezing for a half hour and mixing it between freezings until the frozen desert is the consistency of soft serve. Serve immediately. Mixture can be frozen on the long term, but may need to be scooped out and re-blended before serving again.
1. In order, directly into the blender:
About 1/2 C Silk Soy Milk or Silk Soy Creamer (French Vanilla)
About 1 C Silk or Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk, unsweetened
1 lb fresh strawberries, stems removed6 or 8 frozen strawberries (cubed, and stems removed, before freezing)
2. Start by blending on low, until strawberries are chopped, then gradually increase until the blender is on it's highest setting, and blend for 1 minute. Strain this liquid mixture into a large bowl, rinse out the blender thoroughly, then pour the strained mixture back into the blender.
3. Add directly into the blender:
2 Bananas, "coined" (1" slices)
2 heaping teaspoons Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa
2 heaping tablespoons any fair trade sugar (crystals if you can get them)
a few drops fair trade vanilla
3 tablespoons any almond butter
1. Start with a low or chop setting on your blender. Gradually increase speed to medium, once bananas are chopped well. Stop every minute or so to more thoroughly mix everything with a rubber spatula.
2. Drink what you want, and freeze the rest. Use a metal bowl covered with plastic wrap for the freezing portion. About every half hour after putting the mixture in the bowl in the freezer, use the rubber spatula to scrape the insides of the metal bowl and thoroughly mix the more frozen parts into the more liquid parts. Repeat this 3 times. Transfer the mixture into a plastic container (with a lid), mix well, then continue freezing for a half hour and mixing it between freezings until the frozen desert is the consistency of soft serve. Serve immediately. Mixture can be frozen on the long term, but may need to be scooped out and re-blended before serving again.
May 1, 2010
Vegan Chocolate Brownies
I seriously freaked when I couldn't find a simple brownie recipe here at my own blog! Sure, yes, there are thousands of recipes I have yet to post - or even to invent! But... Brownies? NO BROWNIES on MY blog????? Heaven's to Betsy!
So then. I am making brownies as I write this. For now, I'll post what I'm putting in them and my instructions. If I have to alter anything, I'll do that next time. But really, it's just a simple brownie recipe. Other than the baking time, I don't really see what could go all that wrong. I put in 1 cup of water instead of 1 1/4 C, thus making them fudge brownies instead of regular brownies. I'm just a big fan of fudge brownies. Regular brownies make me think of chocolate corn bread or something. It's just... Not... Right.
And yes, next time, I'll make some Almolate bits to put in - I just didn't feel like it this time, and I'm still messing with that recipe anyway. It's fairly good but it could be better. I need edible (not chemical-filled candle) bee's wax.
Dry Ingredients
1. Mix together in a medium sized bowl:
1 C White Flour
1/2 C Organic Fair Trade Sugar
1/4 C Soy Protein Isolate
1/4 C Almond Meal
1/4 C Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa (not the drinking chocolate: it's not vegan)
1/4 C Tapioca Starch (or corn starch)
1 1/2 T Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Iodized Sea Salt
Wet Ingredients
2. Mix together in a 2 C measuring cup:
1 C Water
1/4 C Canola or Almond Oil (if they ever make a cocoa oil, use that. Cocoa butter would be cool.)
4 drops Fair Trade Vanilla
Instructions
3. Spray down or grease a clean 9x9 brownie pan. I like to use my Misto oil sprayer for this (thanks, Laura!). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
4. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the dry mixture to the wet, then stir thoroughly. This acts as a catalyst to mix and distribute the oil and water (and vanilla) evenly. Add any other wet flavorings (almond, mint, cherry, raspberry, strawberry, orange, lemon...) at this time to the wet mixture.
5. Add any chocolate bits/chips or nuts you're going to use to the dry mixture.
6. While stirring the dry mixture, add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, then stir the forming batter just until all the dry mixture is moist. It should, in the end, be thicker than cake batter but thinner than cookie dough. About half way between the two in consistency.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared brownie pan, and use the bottom of a large spoon, cup, or ladle to push the batter out to the corners and sides, making sure that the center is at least even in depth with, if not a bit lower than the depth of the batter at the edges. A nice back and forth motion, from top to bottom and back, while moving your arm from the left side of the pan to it's right side helps to create a nice surface on top as a finishing touch.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
I originally set the timer for 40 minutes. In the time it took to write this (about 25 minutes), the brownies smelled done. I tested them out, they were nearly finished (and incredibly fluffy), but I figured they needed another 10 minutes, so I tried that... They were ok enough, but really did need another 10 minutes. They were still too moist without that last extra 10 minutes. Thankfully, no eggs means I can taste test them at any point in the baking process worry free. In any case, 45 minutes was the winner :)
So then. I am making brownies as I write this. For now, I'll post what I'm putting in them and my instructions. If I have to alter anything, I'll do that next time. But really, it's just a simple brownie recipe. Other than the baking time, I don't really see what could go all that wrong. I put in 1 cup of water instead of 1 1/4 C, thus making them fudge brownies instead of regular brownies. I'm just a big fan of fudge brownies. Regular brownies make me think of chocolate corn bread or something. It's just... Not... Right.
And yes, next time, I'll make some Almolate bits to put in - I just didn't feel like it this time, and I'm still messing with that recipe anyway. It's fairly good but it could be better. I need edible (not chemical-filled candle) bee's wax.
Dry Ingredients
1. Mix together in a medium sized bowl:
1 C White Flour
1/2 C Organic Fair Trade Sugar
1/4 C Soy Protein Isolate
1/4 C Almond Meal
1/4 C Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa (not the drinking chocolate: it's not vegan)
1/4 C Tapioca Starch (or corn starch)
1 1/2 T Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Iodized Sea Salt
Wet Ingredients
2. Mix together in a 2 C measuring cup:
1 C Water
1/4 C Canola or Almond Oil (if they ever make a cocoa oil, use that. Cocoa butter would be cool.)
4 drops Fair Trade Vanilla
Instructions
3. Spray down or grease a clean 9x9 brownie pan. I like to use my Misto oil sprayer for this (thanks, Laura!). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
4. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the dry mixture to the wet, then stir thoroughly. This acts as a catalyst to mix and distribute the oil and water (and vanilla) evenly. Add any other wet flavorings (almond, mint, cherry, raspberry, strawberry, orange, lemon...) at this time to the wet mixture.
5. Add any chocolate bits/chips or nuts you're going to use to the dry mixture.
6. While stirring the dry mixture, add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, then stir the forming batter just until all the dry mixture is moist. It should, in the end, be thicker than cake batter but thinner than cookie dough. About half way between the two in consistency.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared brownie pan, and use the bottom of a large spoon, cup, or ladle to push the batter out to the corners and sides, making sure that the center is at least even in depth with, if not a bit lower than the depth of the batter at the edges. A nice back and forth motion, from top to bottom and back, while moving your arm from the left side of the pan to it's right side helps to create a nice surface on top as a finishing touch.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
I originally set the timer for 40 minutes. In the time it took to write this (about 25 minutes), the brownies smelled done. I tested them out, they were nearly finished (and incredibly fluffy), but I figured they needed another 10 minutes, so I tried that... They were ok enough, but really did need another 10 minutes. They were still too moist without that last extra 10 minutes. Thankfully, no eggs means I can taste test them at any point in the baking process worry free. In any case, 45 minutes was the winner :)