Merry Christmas and Soup Mix

VEGAN BISCOTTI (plain anise flavored) with awesome dark chocolate brushed on top and sprinkled with ground up english walnuts. My base recipe came from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Nonna's Italian Kitchen Cookbook, Only I made mine a plain anise flavored variation.
Here's a free recipe that I found though:
Fat Free Vegan's Cinnamon Biscotti Recipe

Now that I have your attention with my tantilizing favorite holiday treat -

Merry Christmas!

I've been trying to post for a couple of days, but I guess NOW is my lucky moment to accomplish the task. After the ice storms came a wonderful Christmas day with highs in the 50's, and sunshine. It was awesome. We had a great Christmas day brunch before opening presents, which we already knew all that there was because we shop together and get what we want .... we just don't get it until after the Bible reading by DH followed by the brunch. Without further ado, I'm going right to the food pictures. Here is my first round Christmas day. The pizza is BREAKFAST PIZZA by Bryanna Clark Grogan Oct/Nov/Dec Vegan Feast Newsletter. Every holiday season since I started subscribing we have had a new awesome main course brunch dish to feast upon. I have been subscribing since the beginning and will not stop. The ideas and personal connection is worth every penny. Bryanna is a kitchen goddess, NO... wait! I take that back, because of Bryanna I AM A kitchen goddess! :) I served the pizza with a sliced pear and a soymilk (made in my soyajoy) cappuchino.

Next trip to the kitchen allowed me to get some of this TENDER BANANA BREAD from Bryanna Clark Grogan's cookbook, FIBER FOR LIFE. I love this because the fat is replaced with a silken tofu mixture which is also great protein and it is made 100% whole wheat pastry flour, yet is still wonderfully tender. The cookbook offers the option to use dates in this, but I use vegan chocolate chips which my family adores, I like that if I am going to add a little fat it comes from chocolate. Mmmm-my kinda fat.
More cheers for Bryanna and the VEGAN FEAST Newsletter again. Here is a picture of her seitan "salami/ pepperoni", I did the pepperoni version. My meat eating sister ate 10 slices of this with crackers and said, I love this stuff! I wasn't a big fan of the seitan o'greatness awhile back due to the fact it was so dry, but this salami / pepperoni is not. The crackers you see on this plate are actually pretzel flats with an everything seasoning, new find at the grocery store and they are not to bad. Back to the seitan, every issue of the newsletter usually has one new way with seitan that I get the pleasure of trying.
I need to back track just a bit. Here is my counter setup for the breakfast pizza. The crust dough, vegan "sausage" crumbles (Bryanna's kielbasa seitan recipe from my freezer that I crumbled up), the tofu frittata mix in the food processor, red peppers, shredded sweet potato, and shreds of Bryanna's sharp chedda' cheez. The crust is interesting, it is like a thick batter that can sit in the frig for up to two weeks until you are ready to use it. The recipe calls for enough to make two pizza crusts. I am going to try a mushroom onion style pizza with the other half, I found a recipe for this that I really want to veganize in a weight watchers magazine.
Okay, I am sure that you are probably thinking Bryanna again? .... yes, I say again. There are so many recipes I still have to try from all of her cookbooks and other vegan feast newsletters that I could sing her praises for a long time. This is my version of CHRISTMAS STOLLEN, the dough has no fat but is not dry. I used the sweet bread dough from her Al-most No Fat Holiday Cookbook. To make it stollen I added cardamom, coriander, orange peel, pecans, english walnuts, rum soaked raisins, cranberries, chopped dates and dried prunes. More backtracking. Here is the seitan salami after it finished cooking in my clay pot, it is wrapped with cheesecloth. It cookes in a small amount of very flavorful broth, which does not get completely soaked up as you can see a small amount is left over.

Last idea to share. I like to make a batch of a recipe I found many years ago called Be Prepared Soup Mix, I call it Five Bean Soup Mix. When I want to make some I take 1 1/2 cups of the beans, 1/4 cup of the seasoning mix and a can of diced tomates. Sometimes I make it in the crockpot, somtimes on the stove top, but all the time when I make it do I enjoy it.

BEAN MIX:

1 1/2 cup pinto beans

1 1/2 cup white benas

1 cup kidney beans

1 cup baby lima beans

1 cup chickpeas

SPICE MIX:

1/2 cup dried minced onion

1 Tbsp paprika

2 tsp salt

1 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp garnulated garlic

1 Tbsp Frontier chicken flavor bouillon powder
3 Tbsp Frontier beef flavor bouillon powder

1 Tbsp parsley

1/4 cup vegan bac'un bits

1/4 cup dried Frontier mixed vegetable soup flakes

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the beans and place in a large jar with enough room to add the baggie of spice mix.

1 "batch" = 6 generous servings of soup

To make a batch soak 1 1/2 cup of beans overnight, drain and place them in a 3 quart saucepan (or crockpot). Add 5 cups of water and 1/4 cup seasoning mix, you can add the tomatoes now or at the end of simmering time. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer 2 - 2 1/2 hours until beans are tender or crockpot cook them on low all day.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:

Per serving: 187 calories, 12 g protein, >1 gram fat, 465 mg sod, 33 g complex carbs, and 9 grams fiber.

Individual batches can also be prepared separately, add a nice label with instructions, and give as a gift.

Food for life....

CHECK OUT THIS HEALTHY WINE LINK

Since I got some for Christmas and was sharing with friends I just had to do a search to find out the best way to enjoy it. My exploration of wine allowed me to find out....
1) A person does not drink wine to get drunk.
2) Usually wine is most remembered by a special event and the people it was celebrated with.
3) It's okay if a person says I do not like red wine or any other for that matter, no need to convince them otherwise. I don't like most wines either, but the fruit wine we bought is pretty tasty.

2007 is here.

Empty Red Raspberry Wine and Blushing Pink
Champagne bottles complete with empty glasses.

Bringing in the new year, we anticipated the event with two neighboring families whom we played Yahtzee (I won) and Clue (I accused and lost early in the game). One neighbor couple brought their three children so they watched the movies THE INCREDIBLES and SPY KIDS. About 9:30 pm we opened and shared the fruit wine between the 6 of us and then at midnight we popped open the bottle of bubbly. I had Dreena's Mushroom and Wild Rice soup in the crockpot to munch on through the evening. One neighbor brought some organic blue corn chip along with a cheesy salsa (non vegan) combination and the another brought chocolate pretzels, probably not vegan.

RESOLUTIONS ...
To begin the year I have a few personal growth goals as well as a few family financial goals.

#1) Personal goals: DH and I are at a time in our life when we transition into me going back to work after leaving the workforce to be a homeschool mom for seven years. I used to be a social worker before going pro mom, but over the last couple of years I returned to school to prepare myself for the transition of children beginning to grow up and out. Of course I will be going into a food and family related work now with my family and consumer science degree and teaching certification, but for personal satisfaction and enjoyment I blog. Thank you for an enjoyable 2006 and I look forward to inspiring and being inspired by fellow bloggers out there whom I might otherwise not have the opportunity to meet.

#2) Food goals:
Okay over the past month we have went all out on sugar and wheat in our house. My clothes still fit, but I feel the sluggishness of what I have done to myself. I'll offer some recipes and thoughts about this below. I'd love to understand more about cleansing or fasting ... tips and links welcome.

A LITTLE HISTORY ...
Concerning goal #1: I left the paid workforce seven years ago when I discovered a I had a son with special needs... actually, several of them... Asperger's syndrome, ADD w/o hyperactivity, social anxiety disorder, asthma, food allergies, and hypoglycemia. For us we realized that there came a time in life that QUALITY of life was more important than staying in the mainstream system where our evenings and weekends were set by assignments given at school which in actuality had nothing to offer his life after this "education". This journey lead me into exploring food "cures" and I learned a great many things. Unfortunately food has not been the "cure" but our whole family has benefited as we changed our diet and lifestyle into an organic, back-to-nature with home grown produce, whole grain, vegan, etc and still learning. My son is improving and he is able to attend a college level computer networking and technology program in "the big city" living the week away from home and returning on weekends. He still has some issues, but they are more manageable and we have found that food does have a very important role but is not the only factor.

Food has been good to us. As a family we started the small whole organic grain bakehouse and worked it for the past five years. It was not the sole source of our income as DH works elsewhere but managed all aspects of our business, my job was to learn to live on his one income, and together we worked baking, selling, growing, living, etc. A couple of years ago we were to the point that we either needed to hire employees (and start a small factory) or reduce and stay a specialized mom and pop business that we could enjoy. We decided to down size and continue to do only what we enjoyed. Now that my children are growing up I intend to take my knowledge of food and business into the public sector to help students and later families with my experience and area of knowledge. This is the year for this to begin and today I look forward in anticipation.

TO MEET GOAL #2: BREAKFAST
OATMEAL WITH FRESH CHOPPED APPLES and cinnamon

I use 1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick), 1/2 cup water, 1 cup water, and a sprinkle of cinnamon sweetened with KAL stevia extract powder to taste. I microwave the dish for two minutes on high (watch to make sure it doesn't bubble over and leave it sit for 2-3 minutes while I prepare coffee and make a sweet tofu yogurt sauce to eat on top of my dish. This is a wonderful weight watchers core recipe and with lite silken tofu and a little xanthan gum you can make an incredible VERY low calorie, satisfying drink. ( LINK TO 1 point: MOCHA SMOOTHIE and more oatmeal recipes) You may think to yourself that you ate an very big meal, but if you are a ww point keeper the total meal is only 3 points.... of course you will be hungry for a snack later, think of how few calories your just ate. Want to make it a few more points to make it to lunch add 4 - 6 English walnuts or almonds. Maybe a square of my favorite dark chocolate will be satisfying also... this will only add a point or two (depends what kind you use).

NEW YEARS DAY WAFFLES AND OUR FAMILY TRADITION:
LINK TO WAFFLE RECIPE also includes another smoothie recipe

Every new years DH and I are up on New Years Day preparing healthy waffles (which happens to also be a ww core item), Bryanna's TVP S'SAGE patties, and strawberries (which we use as syrup). I buy some sweetened strawberries and some whole without sugar and sweeten them myself with stevia. I melt a little of my homemade sugar free chocolate syrup for the top and also use my homemade soy yogurt, however one of my family members brought their own organic dairy yogurt.

The best thing about this day is that I have the time make up a bunch more. I multiply the recipe by 4 and make up a bunch ahead to freeze. The pile of waffles in the picture are actually leftover after feeding 9 people. They are also ww core or 1 ww point (i believe) and in general plain healthy and full of fiber. They are not your typical light and fluffy buttermilk stuff, but they are light enough very tastey. I do sweeten my batter with a touch of KAL stevia extract powder and have left the sugar completely out of it.

FROM DECEMBER BAKING ...
I know that the holidays has probably got most of us thinking about less food or more veggies due to all the rich treats we ate over the past month. However, I want to add that I do enjoy baking and I rarely ever buy snacks, because of it. After that introduction I present (with anticipation of the next cookbook) more baking...

Drumroll for Dreena ...
Here I share a couple of cookie pictures for her upcoming book that I had the opportunity to test in December and they were wonderful.
CHOCOLATE MINT MELTAWAYS

JAM-PRINT COOKIES
She says the new book will be out in Fall 2007. I'll be waiting... I have really enjoyed cooking from the two books she currently has out.


The following muffins come from the book Vive Le Vegan
Orange Poppy Seed Muffins. They are made from 1 1/4 C oat flour and 1 cup barley. Weight watchers fans will like that these flours are CORE foods, although they do contain a minimal amount of oil I think this could be subbed easily. This muffin batter started rising immediately in my mixing bowl, so I really heaped it in the muffin cup. .... obviously a good thing I did because they did not rise much in the oven. I have discovered several of Dreena's muffins have this "poofy" nature. These muffins made a pretty presentation and the oat flour gave them a somewhat nutty flavor, they were filling also and had that "stick with you" quality. If I personalized this recipe I would do away with the syrups and use stevia, maybe add some real oranges so that the orange pulp would be included .... however you know this is the season for cranberries. Family rating: C-, they didn't care for the lack of flavor but texture was good as long as you had a drink to sip on with it. I guess I am not as picky with foods... I liked the ingredients in it and went to the work of making them so of course I ate them. I did add fresh cranberry relish to the top in place of jelly foer added flavor and I had to freeze them until I could get through them since I am the only one who ate on these.

I am a thief (second attempt with pictures) .....

I'll try this again and hopes that blogger doesn't "thief" my pictures. In order to do this I deleted the last blog page which also deleted comments. If you left a comment there I did see it, but it is gone now.

Hi! Christmas has been and I am glad. It is worth the fuss.

I have a confession to make. This Christmas I received numerous gifts including the three cookbooks you see me pictured here with (I dig my Christmas moose overalls). No, I did not steal the cookbooks - they were gifts, but I did borrow the following ideas and have no intentions of returning them...

#1 Gaia's Chickpea Roll
I first thought it would be a bit fishy. It had a mild sea vegetableflavor and although I haven't cared for this before... it was very mild and I enjoyed this recipe.

Loved the crispy outside and filling innards. I served this with a wonderful vegetable filled tomatoey stew called Manhattan chowder from Bryanna's 20 minutes to dinner cookbook (p. 63).


#2 Martha Stewarts Graham Cracker houses
Melissa's awesome church (took 7 hours) and Matthew's colorful double wide trailer (took 1 hour 15 minutes). Sunspire "m&m's" make a pretty decoration that got picked off and eaten. The Christmas tree's surrounding the cathedral (deformed gumdrops painted with a permanent marker and held together with a cinnamon stick) could not be eaten.

Sorry Martha this one was fun and we're keeping it.

#3 Dreena's Carob Chip Muffins (vlv p 34)
These are made from 100% barley flour. I was absolutely amazed!!! When I first read the recipe I really thought that "moist texture" meant gummy aka unpleasant. I made them as the recipe stated, which the family really liked. But then, I must play .... I made a few changes. I omitted the sugar and syrup and all but one tablespoon of the oil, I added 3/4 tsp KAL stevia extract powder, 1/2 cup unsweet applesauce, and 1/3 cup mini bittersweet vegan chips with 1/3 cup craisins in place of the omissions. WOW! They made an awesome muffin! The "moist texture" only refers to the fact that they are not dry and falling apart ... not the gummy, squishy or otherwise "tender" I have come to find most alternative bakers describe as "moist". This one was a real treat. In place of the chips and craisins I am going to try them with about 1 cup of my favorite raw cranberry relish (in place of applesauce and the extra for flavor) next time.

Okay I confessed and now that this is out of the way
I will go on to share with you some of my gifts...

I have desired to try some wine for several years now and have wanted to visit a "homegrown" style winery for along time. I finally got the chance to and Dave bought me two bottles... although I had several to choose from I picked out the Crimson Cranberry and Red Raspberry flavors. The sales gal told me to try the red raspberry in hot cocoa - I will. Would love some other suggestion for how to use these, other than dry wines for cooking I have never been much of a drinker. I do know that these wines are very sweet.

I'm going to save these to open on Saturday night when my sis comes home from New York again. She along with my aunt and uncle, a couple of cousins, mom and niece will be having an oriental style buffet at my house. I look forward to sharing the food we make for this soon. I also got a nice gift certificate to amazon.com ... I'll be checking other blogs to find out what cookbooks others are enjoying this year before I decide.

Also in the picture I got a tin of Zhena's GYPSY LOVE tea, Mr Artsey key chain, two vegan dark chocolate candy bars, a stone nativity candle holder, a CD called HUGS for the holiday that plays nice instrumental music, and a sterling silver cross necklace. The tea is tasty and the music is relaxing.

CRAFTY REPORT . . .
This is Matthew... remember him? :)

He has been into the renaissance time period and desired a walking stick for his costume. Dave cut one out of oak, I wood burned Matt's name and his favorite bible verse on it, stained it and decorated it for a gift for Mathew. He thinks it is pretty neat.

Now he will go back to the fare in style, although he still hopes to get those ridiculously priced boots ... not this gift time.

And a recipe to share from my breakfast table to yours (restitution of a sort... for my food crimes above ;o) ...

BIG MAPLE NUT AND CINNAMON RAISIN ROLLS
I like to use my oatmeal bread dough for this recipe. It gives a more tender roll and combines a little soy flour and flax meal to offer more nutrition. My bread dough recipe follows:

Dori's Oatmeal Bread (makes 2 loaves)

I triple this recipe when I make it in my BOSCH Universal kitchen appliance.

2 cups hot tap water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup OR 1/3 cup unrefined sugar
3/4 cup quick oatmeal
3/4 cup freshly milled whole white wheat flour
2 Tbsp SAF instant yeast

Step 1: Mix all in mixer bowl until blended, cover and rest for 15 minutes to proof yeast.

Step 2: Add remaining ingredients while mixing on speed 2 (I have a Bosch compact that has 4 speeds which I use when I make a small batch like this. It is similar to a kitchen aid, but I have never used a kitchen aid).
2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp ground dried ginger
3 Tbsp flax meal
1 1 /2 C great river milling bread flour (partially refined to remove some bran, but germ is intact)
1 1/2 cup more freshly milled white whole wheat flour

Cover and allow to knead 8 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough in half. Shape into loaf. Roll into extra oatmeal to coat loaf all over. Place into oiled 8 x 4" bread pan. Rise 20 minutes while covered with an oiled plastic wrap to avoid drying out. When doubled in size place in oven and spray oven sides and bottom with water from a water bottle to create a steam. Bake @ 350 (I have a convection oven, so you may need to bake in a non-convection oven for 30 minutes) for 25 minutes. Remove from pan and place loaves on a wire rack to cool.

To make the rolls, I section the dough into portions.
For maple nut I combine 1/3 cup unrefined sugar with 1/8 tsp maple syrup and 1/4 cup coarsely chopped English walnuts. Roll the bread dough into a rectangle onto a Crisco greased counter with a little crisco'd hands. Spread the sugar mix, roll up and cut into 6 pieces. Lay these into a greased 9" round cake pan. Allow to rise 2o minutes, bake for 20 minutes (I use a convection oven lined with stones on the top and bottom rack). Remove from pan onto a cheap paper plate and cool on a rack.

To frost: Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 - 2 drops maple favoring and a little water to make a nice frosting drizzle (not to much, it is better to add more water after creating a to dry "drizzle", but you can always add more sugar if needed to get the consistency right.

For cinnamon: 1/3 cup unrefined sugar with 1/2 tsp high quality cinnamon

Last picture is of Melissa's ornament cookie. We created the red sugar by adding drops of red food coloring to regular sugar granules and stirring it until we got the desired color.

Lemon Coconut Ginger Bran Muffins

These are fat free, tender, very low in sugar, full of fiber and about 175 calories for a handful. If that hasn't scared you away yet, then let me add they are full of fresh chopped ginger, coconut, and lemon juice. Still there?

Good! I'd like to share my new muffin flavor today. I am into bran muffins for breakfast lately. I have made the basic, changed it and added pumpkin, and today I wanted to try something unique for me. It was inspired by a carrot ginger breakfast cookie recipe I saw, but was out of carrots. I did have large ginger root though and I wanted to find a way to use this up.

Seeing all the Thai flavorings in various food blogs I have been reading, especially the GINGER LEMON COCONUT FLAVOR . . . I decided that is what this weeks muffins would be, only I added a small amount of mini vegan chocolate baking chips. I like to stay away from meals that just give me alot of unrefined starches, so my morning muffin must be bran. These turned out well. I think I need to work on the flavoring a little to become a favorite. I'd love ideas on what other spices readers of my page today might use.
My recipe makes up a very large amount, 2 dozen large bakery style muffins. I use a Tupperware Thats-a-Bowl (12" wide and 8 " deep) to mix the batter.

The Recipe:
www.thebakehouse-recipes.blogspot.com

I mound the batter into the muffin liner, remember these are fat free and will stick horribly to paper liners. I use the "If you care" unbleached baking cups pictured above. They really are non-stick, really.


This is the end product. See the picture above, they made the perfect bakery style crown. I lightly oil my muffin pan (for ease of cleaning), but not the baking liners. The liners just fall off if they are oiled, but come off easily when you want them to without it. I picked up my commercial muffin pan at a commercial restaurant store for $24. I really like it and use it in my home oven all the time. I like the way my pan gives the BIG bakery feel to my muffin.

I take them out of the pan almost immediatey to cool on a wire rack. Well, all but one and that is what I eat immediately... after I track the points in my food log (weight conscious here). I also freeze them what I cannot eat within three days and always keep what is not frozen in the refrigerator. ENJOY!!!

Big Beautiful Bran Muffins

Top O' the Morning to all who read this!

This post is the beginning of my very own blog. I love to cook and am especially interested in low fat vegan cooking. I wanted to give all who are wondering what is up with the "bread lady" an opportunity to see what's cooking at Dori's place.

The picture here is my breakfast this morning. It is a vegan, fat free bran muffin (click for recipe). Not only is it fat free (but moist with applesauce), it is reduced sugar but sweet with stevia herb as well as whole grain and 175 calories (2.5 weight watchers points). I ate mine with low sugar orange marmalade that I made after happening upon a great orange sale last year and coffee.