Today's prompt is to talk about my favorite cookbook. I thought I had close to 200 when I shot this, but afterwards I did a quick count.... I stopped counting at 200. Holy bananas, that's a lot of cookbooks.
Looking back, mom had 1 cookbook (in the video) and a very small notebook totaling maybe 12 or so of her own recipes. Most of them were pressure cooker recipes. Hello, hello... 1974 is calling. I still use a pressure cooker (just for beans), but to this day they scare me. Thankfully mom had decent luck, we never had one explode back then (many others did).
My personal collection is full of vintage conventional cookbooks, with quite a decent smattering of vegan cookbooks thrown in. Most "modern" cookbooks aren't really what I call "cooks books." Unlike vintage books, you'd be hard pressed to find a current book that covers from grocery shopping, to kitchen preparation, through the food prep and cooking, and even etiquette for setting tables for different occasions (mom's book does!) Instead, too many of today's cookbooks are rushed to press thus have tons of typos, and far too often contain laundry lists of ridiculously difficult to find ingredients with recipes that will take half the day to prepare. Good luck with that. I'm not that girl.
These days I buy most of my "new" cookbooks at the thrifts. I find that cookbooks dating from the 60s/70s and earlier are very often gems, I've gotten pretty darn good at simplistic veganizing of those many books. I also don't have to break the bank finding crazy stupid ingredients, and when my company shows up I can actually sit down and enjoy tea and conversation, instead of being stuck in the kitchen, or just being the angry vegan from spending 8 hours preparing a meal that is gone in 60 seconds.
Boiling it down to just 1 book wasn't quite possible, I'll explain why in this short video. It's interesting though how with so many books in the house, I consistently reach for just a very few select ones.
I'm older now, and realize how mom really disliked cooking. I'm also remembering how very much she enjoyed baking. This baked apple didn't fall far from the tree. One thing though.... just don't ask me to bake you a pie.... I hate pie. And, mom must've too, for we never EVER made a pie together. (We sure made lots of cakes though!)
Today our prompt is "focus on a nutrient." I'm taking you to our beach to get some Vitamin D, chill with a baby deer, and talk about magnesium. Magnesium is where it's at baby..... my life is much better now that a years long magnesium deficiency was finally diagnosed and fixed. After the video, I give you a recipe from the "Oh She Glows" cookbook for Healing Rooibos Tea. Only I use honeybush tea (yes, it's vegan, that's just the name, ok?) It's a wonderful healing tea, chock full of turmeric and ginger. This is a great tea with anti-inflammatory properties, and perfect for someone like me who's still high raw, and taking anti-inflammatory supplements, enzymes and other lovelies to heal my "finally-almost-better" injured ankle. I make my tea unsweetened.
There's a little bit of noise on the video because it was breezy. Sorry about that.
The deer you see in this video is a Key deer fawn, who has just a few of her spots left on her flank. If you look closely you may be able to see them. Key deer are an endangered species. They are frequent visitors here, and one of the reasons I moved here. I watch them constantly and love their playfulness, their herd mentality (at least within the does and fawns), and so many other things about them. Animals make me a better person, they make me want to do more, do better and make this Earth an ok place to be.
That said, let's get some sun.
Healing Rooibos Tea
Credit: Angela Liddon
Oh She Glows Cookbook
4 cups filtered water
4 tsp loose rooibos tea or 4 rooibos tea bags (I usually use honeybush, they're both "red" teas)
1-2 lemon slices, seeds removed
1-2 inch piece turmeric root, peeled, thinly sliced
2-3 inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled, thinly sliced
sweetener to taste (optional) (I omit)
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, tea, lemon, turmeric and ginger. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and reduce to med/low, simmering about 10 minutes. Longer if you desire a stronger brew.
Pour the tea through a fine mesh sieve place over a bowl, stir in sweetener if using, and serve immediately. Store excess in fridge.
PS: I do not drink this warm/hot, I like it chilled. I also tend to add a little more lemon, but that's just me.
Add a smidgen of black pepper to your tea, it will help the body absorb the turmeric better. Yes, this is true, look it up.
Day 10! Today we're tasked with bringing you blue food. Honestly, if I had my way, I would've dumped a pint of (organic) blueberries in a parfait dish, chilled up some (organic) unsweetened coconut milk, whipped it, then plopped it on top of the berries. Being that this is VeganMoFo, even I think I needed to bring you something a little more inventive.... even someone as minimalistic and simple as me.
I made a blue velvet naked vegan cake. Dog help us all.
The good:
It's vegan. It's a naked cake--quite trendy, even I've learned this in the Keys.
The bad:
Blue food coloring.... and lots of it.
The ugly:
See above comment.
This recipe is not being supplied. I do not want to be associated with this cake. I wouldn't make a cake with coloring like this. The amount of unnatural food coloring in a cake like this is, in my opinion, not healthy, and also impacts the final flavor of the cake. If you are tasked to make a blue velvet cake and you want it REALLY blue like this, take a conventional blue velvet recipe, use about 1/2 ounce vegan color gel (I used Wilton, as of this writing, it's vegan), use your own egg replacer of choice (I used aquafaba, didn't reduce it, simply measured, whisked by hand till somewhat fluffy and firm, and combined), use coconut oil or vegan butter for the butter, and swap out the poison dairy milk with your choice of non-dairy milk (I would suggest soy milk for the best structure and texture, but coconut milk, flax milk and hemp milk would work well I think), and wing it. It will be blue, trust me. So will everything else in your kitchen. Trust me on that as well.
Being that it's a "velvet" cake, I went with vegan cream cheese frosting. I have my own personal recipe, but you can find tons of decent recipes on line for vegan versions, or simply use a conventional recipe and convert to vegan by use of vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti, non-hydrogenated).
I filled the inside of my cake with blueberries and strawberries.
I trimmed the edges of the cake evenly all the way around to make sure I got the most "bang for the buck" of blue... it's bluer on the inside than where the cake touched the pan.
Naked cakes are something I personally really like the look of. If this wasn't about "blue" I would've handled this cake totally differently and "crumb coated" the entire cake, then pretty much called it a day after some additional minor decorating.
Minimalistic. I like that. Both in food and home.
It took 2 days to rid my kitchen of all the blue dye I found in random places, I sacrificed one professional silicon spatula to the dogs of blue, and in the end I of course gave the cake away.
If you want a blue velvet cake, go with a recipe such as Chocolate Covered Katie's blue velvet made with things like blueberries. No, it won't be electric blue, but then again, you're not writing for MoFo, are you.
Glad to have my kitchen un-blued. See you tomorrow!
Already at day number 9! Today we were tasked with bringing you a "retro recipe." Especially for you, I've created a "wacky cake" also known as a "war cake." My twist is that this recipe is an allergen free version.... no nuts, no soy, no gluten, no wheat, and of course no eggs, dairy or cruelty. "Wacky cakes" are what I call "accidentally vegan." When eggs and dairy were being rationed back in the depression, people simply used vinegar and baking soda to make great cakes. I sometimes call these "company cakes" because they're so easy to whip up for company in just minutes. After you watch the video, scroll past and you will find a little more commentary from me, as well as my original recipe which I am sharing with you today.
Make cake, not war.
Wacky cakes are so easy, why complicate them? Prepare your pan (remember if you're going soy free, check any vegetable oil spray you may be using to make sure it is indeed soy free and gluten free). I used organic shortening to grease the pan, dusted with cocoa, and then put a small piece of parchment in as a liner to insure it was no stick. I knew I would not be serving in the pan since this was for a video, so the parchment wasn't a problem. Don't use parchment if you're serving straight from the pan.
Also, as this is a gluten free cake, you should know a couple tips that help me when baking gluten free in this tropical climate with so much humidity this time of year. Sift your ingredients, not once but twice. Yes, I know, this is a wacky cake. I sifted. Twice.
When I made this cake last night for Meetup, it was ok, but I knew I could do better. The cake in last night's Meetup video was a little dry, I knew I could do better. Among the changes, I increased the fat slightly, and used half oil and half vegan mayo. It vastly improved the cake, it was SO moist the 2nd time around. Also, you can use any liquid you like instead of the coconut milk, especially noting that most depression cakes simply use water. When making gluten free baked goods, you've essentially removed the protein from the cake because there's no gluten. Gluten gives cakes structure, so gluten free cakes need something to help with that. I added some guar gum, you could use xanthan gum instead. Also... you'll see I did not use water, I used unsweetened coconut milk. This gave the cake more structure than my first try, maybe because there is a little protein in the coconut milk. If that's true (protein), then I would imagine if you don't care about your cake being soy free, use soy milk, you'll probably get an even firmer structure, but still with a good crumb.
When I bake gluten free cakes, I like to use combinations of medium and lightweight flours. I almost never use a heavy weight flour in gluten free cakes (i.e.: almond flour, coconut flour, chickpea flour, etc) because they give me a far too dense end result. Despite this, I still combine different flours, and any time I use rice flour in a cake I like to do a "mix in" to help overcome any gritty texture that may exist in the baked cake. Rice flour helps give structure, but since I also cannot find superfine rice flour in bulk, I use regular organic rice flour. Here in this case, I've mixed in the allergen free chocolate chips. I find that rice flour is great in most cookies, and there is never an issue with texture. Different beast I guess.
And, lastly, I'd like to mention that I do use almost entirely organic ingredients. For some reason I am unable to find organic sorghum flour through the suppliers down here, but other than that, EVERYTHING in my cake is organic. Also, here we support fair trade so know that my sugars, cocoa, extracts, and chocolate in this cake are fair trade. I like to use the Multiple Organics line of allergen free organic fair trade chocolate chips as it comes in bulk quantities. Usually you'll find the Enjoy Life line of allergen free chocolate chips on most supermarket shelves, which are good too, just not fair trade.
Enough chit chat, let's get to the recipe. This is an original recipe of mine. Even if you are not allergic to things like nuts, soy, gluten or wheat, it's always good to have a recipe like this around the house in case someone dear to you with allergies comes for a visit and you want to be the hero and give them cake. If you share this recipe, please tell people where you got it from, and that it was me. Only fair as I do that all the time as well.
Allergen-Free Double Chocolate Wacky Cake - use organic as much as possible!
Serves: 1 8" or 9" layer
By: Jen D. at Deer Run Bed and Breakfast, Big Pine Key, Florida
DRY INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup arrowroot, corn starch or potato starch
3 tablespoons rice flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup organic sugar (regular sugar is NOT vegan, use organic or certified vegan sugar)
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp guar gum OR xanthan gum
WET INGREDIENTS:
1 cup non-dairy milk of choice (I used coconut to keep it allergen free)
3 tablespoons vegan mayo (ie: Vegenaise or Just Mayo, make sure its GF/SF/NF)
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 teaspoon chocolate extract (use vanilla if you don't have chocolate)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
MIX IN:
1/3 cup allergen free vegan chocolate chips
METHOD:
Prepare one 8" OR 9" pan by greasing and dusting with cocoa. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees (yes, 300). Either sift your ingredients in a bowl, or sift them into the prepared pan (that's a wacky cake tradition). Add in your wet ingredients directly to the dry--either in the bowl, or in the pan--and stir. If you are mixing your ingredients in a bowl first, really whisk your ingredients well.... think of the air as an ingredient, whisking very well will help make your gluten free cake fluffier. You cannot over mix a gluten free cake, as there is no gluten in there to develop, ok? I whisked mine by hand about 5 minutes, it became glossy, shiny and exceptionally smooth.
Pour into prepare pan (if you used a separate bowl), then bake 22 minutes. Check for doneness with a wooden toothpick... a few moist crumbs should cling to the toothpick. If not, bake another 2-3 minutes and remove. Gluten free cakes cook faster (usually) and can overbake quickly. Always remember, your baked goods will continue to bake a few minutes even after you've removed them from the oven. Trust me, reduce your oven temp on this recipe, and don't let this go longer than I've recommended.
Cool in pan on wire rack, and dust with confectionary sugar or cocoa prior to serving. Or, if desired, frost with your favorite frosting, I used my own version of allergen free vanilla vegan white frosting, and dusted with cocoa.
Lastly... use an oven thermometer. I will not be blamed for a crappy oven. My baker's oven runs almost 30 degrees hotter than I set it for. This is pretty much normal.
I'm writing this post with just minutes to go before the clock strikes midnight in my timezone, so I best hurry up. Today our assigned topic was "Make A New Friend." A few weeks ago, I decided to start a Vegan Support Group down here. By chance, I chose today, September 8, as the first Meetup. Talk about a stroke of luck.
Tonight I complied and made a new friend. I also saw some old friends. I am SO happy to have started this group. If you ever feel a little more alone than you wish you did as a vegan, I urge you to start a Meetup in your area. We had a nice turnout tonight, although everyone was camera shy except me, trust me it was a success. I'm REALLY happy about this right about now, and basically wondering why I didn't do this a VERY long time ago.
Make food inspired by a book or movie? This post was a bit of a pain as I work. A lot. I usually fall asleep during most movies, and I have a stack of books I WANT to read, but haven't gotten to in ages. If it's not a tabloid magazine, I don't have time to read it. When I find a movie I love, I can watch it dozens of times and be happy. My favorite genre of movies are either comedies or children's movies (well, ok, I love Ironman but food isn't really integral there...) Children's movies are interesting to me, as they so very often are geared towards adults with lines built in exclusively for us grownups. Also, so often children's movies are about animals, my favorite topic! When exactly is it in our lives where the innocence we are born with is smashed out of us so much so that we think it's normal to torture and eat animals? I find it almost astonishing how so many children's movies actually are pro-animal, and pro-compassion.... yet so many people cannot see that compassion IS the way.
My inspiration for today's food comes from the children's movie "Finding Nemo." Seriously, this is one of the best movies ever. I live by the words "just keep swimming," and even better the movie reminds us all that "fish are friends, not food!"
Here's my video for today, I hope you enjoy it, see you tomorrow!
Today I'm supposed to recreate a restaurant meal for you. Scroll down and you'll find my short video. Today I'm showing you my interpretation of a vegan raw meal at Present Moment Cafe in St. Augustine. We found Present Moment on the last night of a quick stop through St. Augustine last year. It's a lovely mostly raw vegan restaurant. Back in the day I never would have even considered a raw food restaurant, yet for the last several years I now seek them out. I could possibly see how someone on the typical standard American diet (it's called "SAD" for a HUGE reason!) might be more than a little surprised by a meal in a raw food restaurant, but thankfully more and more people are waking up to not only the benefits of eating raw, but how it can be elegant as well. The presentation at Present Moment was gorgeous (admittedly I didn't put as much pizazz into my presentation, I'm on a limited time frame), the food was delicious, and the people in there were so friendly. Almost a year later and we still talk about our meal there, and how we cannot wait to go back (it's quite a hike for us up to St. Augustine, but we'll get there again!) While we were there, I was so impressed by the food that I bought a copy of their cookbook (uncookbook?) on site. Although many of the recipes do contain nuts, I've been able to alter them for my own purposes with success anytime needed. For purposes of this video, I stuck with the recipes even though I'm still nut and oil free. The other happy vegan absolutely devoured the food the minute the video was finished, and pronounced it "deeeeeelicious" in his best Pop voice.
Here's my video, I've recreated a raw vegan pesto "pasta" using spiralized zucchini with nut "parm," and a raw brownie banana split. Instead of using the ice cream recipe from Present Moment, I did use the 4 ingredient ice cream recipe from the Vegan 8 blog. It's not raw, but has no added sugar, no nuts, and is absolutely decadent.
Recipes in this video were mostly from the book "Handmade in the Present Moment," but also include one from "The Vegan 8" blog. The vegan "Magic Shell" was one I pulled off the internet, you can use any recipe as long as it's vegan. Chocolate and coconut oil ARE magic when combined and drizzled over ice cream. I highly recommend Present Moment Cafe in St. Augustine, but until you can get there, pick up their book. I love it!
