Sunday, May 31, 2009

Babycakes Biscuits



I have been overjoyed that my favorite bakery, Babycakes, has finally put out a cookbook!!! Babycakes is awesome, everything I have ever had from there has been wonderfully tasty, and dairy, sugar, and (mostly) wheat free. Not a bad choice for someone with a slight addiction to baked goods... not that I know anyone like that.

So, a couple of weeks ago I made raspberry scones from the cookbook, which provided me with a reason to get up the following morning. In preparation for the week ahead, I made cinnamon sugar (yes, I cheated and used a teaspoon of sugar, sue me) biscuits this afternoon. I only allowed myself to try half of one, but the results were not disappointing, even though I used whole grain spelt flour instead of white spelt flour which was called for. Whoops!

Anyhoo, I can't wait to bake my way through the rest of this book! Most of the ingredients are kinda pricy and require a hike to find, but so far it's all been worth it.


Indoor Grillin'





Just because I don't have access to my backyard (and yes, our building does have one, ugh!) does not mean I have to be denied the privilege of a nice meal of grilled tempeh and veggies! I marinaded the tempeh in tamari, garlic, salt and pepper for a few hours, then we threw it on the grill with some zuchini, onions and red pepper. We served the whole shabang over couscous, and it was healthy and yummy. If only I had the energy to wash that indoor grill every night of the week, imagine the possibilities!


Saturday, May 23, 2009

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding




Sometimes, I think about devoting a blog entirely to veganizing recipes from The Food Network, especially Ina Garten's recipes. I think I have seen every episode of The Barefoot Contessa, and many of her recipes lend themselves easily to veganizing, and they almost always turn out great. This morning I decided to take a crack at her breakfast bread pudding.

I was a little nervous about how this vegan version would work ou
t, considering the original recipe is made with a custard of eggs and heavy cream. But, the results were so yummy I ate half of the whole thing in about ten minutes. I guess I can feel a little less guilty about it knowing the vegan version has way less fat and calories than the original one.

Below is the recipe with a bunch of modifications. To the top I added
earth balance for some rich buttery goodness, and cinnamon sugar to give it some nice caramelized crunchiness.

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding


*I loaf (vegan) challah, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
*2 cups soymilk (I used vanilla)

*2 tbs. whole wheat pastry flour
*3 tbs. corn starch
*1/3 cup agave nectar

*1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
*Generous pinch salt
*Handful of raisins
*1 tbs. earth balance (or soy butter of your choice)
*Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soymilk, flour, corn starch, agave nectar, vanilla and salt.


Line the bottom of an 8x8 inch glass baking dish with half the challah slices. Sprinkle raisins in an even layer on top of the challah. Layer the rest of the challah on top of the raisins, and press the whole thing down as far as you can into the dish with your hands.

Pour liquid soymilk mixture over the everything until it just barely covers the top of the challah slices. Dot the top with small pieces of earth balan
ce (just as you would when baking a pie), and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the liquid has formed a custard-like consistency. Serve with real maple syrup. Try to n
ot to eat the whole thing in one sitting, although I won't judge you if you do ;-)




Thursday, May 7, 2009

If you're sick, eat this.

I don't have swine flu, but I have been at home under the weather for the past two days. In the past I would have been jealous of those who can enjoy a nice bowl of Jewish Penicillin when they are sick, but Amy's No Chicken Noodle soup has come to my rescue. Thank you, Amy's.

Sunday Night Setian


Here's last Sunday night's country-fried-seitan dinner. Full disclosure: the setian was store bought, I still haven't found a solution for the icky tasting vital wheat gluten I was using. A shout out to Phil for the delish mushroom gravy and snazzy plating skills.