quick-and-easy brown bread, homie

Awhile back, I decided I didn't want to buy bread. Well, at least limit the bread I buy in the store. So that leaves me with either not eating bread or making bread. Since I suddenly have an intense cooking obsession, I decided to go ahead and make my bread (and day). I haven't gotten around to the real bread making... You know, the difficult-yeast-kneading-rising bread making. Instead, I made this incredibly easy brown bread. Pretty flavorful. Here it is.

Quick-and-Easy Brown Bread

1 1/2 cups soy milk or rice milk
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar (or distilled vinegar)
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup raisins

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Combine the soy milk or rice milk with the vinegar and set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, and salt. Add the soy milk mixture, molasses, and raisins, stirring until just mixed. (The batter will be fairly stiff and sticky.)
• Spoon into a 5 x 9-inch lightly oiled loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.
• Remove from the pan and place on a rack to cool.

Makes 1 loaf

boy, it's (vegan) chili in here

I had a lot of TVP that I wanted to use, so I found this recipe for vegan chili. I am not necessarily the biggest chili fan-- I don't hate it, I don't love it. But this turned out really well! It is just the right amount of spicy and the right amount of thickness. THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID. The "she" being me. Anyway, really easy to make, too. The picture below shows the splatter from the chili attacking me.

Vegan Chili

1/2 large or 1 small onion, chopped
1-2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
Dash liquid smoke (optional)
1 cup TVP mixed with 7/8 cup hot water
1 16-oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 cups cooked beans (black or kidney)
Dash ketchup
Dash mustard
1-2 cups vegetable broth (depending on desired thickness)
• Heat a couple of tablespoonfuls of water in a large, nonstick skillet. Add the chopped onion, chili powder, garlic powder, and pepper and cook until the onions are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add more water, if necessary to keep the onions from sticking. (Use oil or margarine, if necessary.)
• Stir the soy sauce and liquid smoke into the TVP. Add the TVP to the onions in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes. Next add the tomatoes, beans, ketchup, mustard, and vegetable broth and cook until heated through.

Makes 8 servings

oatmeal raisin cookies

A few nights ago I made these suckers. They were pretty good, but a little too dry. I would probably add more liquids next time, such as barbeque sauce and vegan ranch dressing. Kidding, I might add some oil or something. In the picture below, you will see that an elephant is standing on one of the cookies. Is that a real elephant and are the cookies ginormous? Or is that a very small elephant on top of normal sized cookies? I will let you figure that out on your own. You need to learn to solve your own mysteries.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup Quick oats
1/2 cup White flour
1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup Granulated sugar
1/4 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Apple sauce
2 tsp. Egg replacer powder
2 tbsp. Water

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the dry ingredients and the raisins. Mix the
egg replacer with the water. Add it and the apple sauce to the dry
ingredients. Drop onto a non-stick cookie sheet (lightly coated with oil,
if necessary). Bake for 12-15 minutes.

yeaaaaaaaaaaah blooooog

I'M GONNA KEEP IT GOING!!! MAMA MIA!!! MWAH!

a no picture post

Uh oh. I lost a reader. I may just lay this blog to rest. Or keep it going for my own entertainment.

this bread is not MADE with horses, but rather BY horses

Even though it was 11 o'clock at night, I really wanted to bake something. Something super easy and not sweet. So what did I make? Soda bread, that's what. It is ridiculously easy and rather tasteless, but the tastelessness is actually okay because it will be perfect for dipping in soups and stews. It's chewy. And I like chewy bread. It's like sacrament bread, but the good kind of sacrament bread (Jack pointed this out to me). Here is the picture and the recipe, uninterested reader(s):

Simple Soda Bread

3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the water, oil, and sesame seeds and gently stir dough until "just mixed." Pour evenly into loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan. Makes 1 loaf.

buddha quesadilla and dolphin tacos

So I haven't stopped making things. I have just made things these past few days that I have already made, such as that hippie grass smoothie, tofu scramble, and DELICIOUS pumpkin spice muffins. Friday night I was way too wiped out from creating bad puns for captions for the newspaper that I decided to make an easy as vegan pie quesadilla. Whole wheat tortilla with vegan cheddar cheese. I added some spinach and spices as well. Here is the picture:

BORING. But what's NOT boring are the TVP tacos I made for lunch today. Textured vegetable protein (TVP) is made from defatted soy flour that's been cooked, extruded, and dried. Basically, it replaces ground beef. This was an excellent recipe--a little spicy, but nothing I couldn't handle. Really, this was very good.

TVP Tacos

1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 TB. garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 (14-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup TVP granules
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. tamari
12 corn taco shells
Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes (or salsa of choice), shredded vegan cheddar cheese (or other flavor of choice), or other toppings of choice

1. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, saute onion and olive oil, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper, and cayenne, and saute for 1 minute.

2. Add crushed tomatoes, TVP, water, and tamari, and stir well to combine. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring often, for 10 to 12 minutes or until most of liquid is absorbed and TVP is fully rehydrated. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Remove from heat.

3. Meanwhile, bake taco shells according to package instructions. Remove from the oven and set aside.

4. Fill warm taco shells with TVP filling, and top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded vegan cheese, or other toppings as desired. Serve hot.

Variation: You can replace the TVP with 1 cup frozen or refrigerated meatless crumbles or 8 ounces tempeh, crumbled, and only add 3/4 cup crushed tomatoes.

Yield: 12 tacos