Comfort Foods: Cereal

There are times when a meal shouldn't be any more complicated than a bowl of cereal and nut milk. I miss those days. I have found no commercially available cereals that are low-carbohydrate. A hot cereal is easily made with buckwheat groats, hemp seeds, coconut flakes, and other things like chia seeds, flax seeds, and cinnamon. Cold cereal is an entirely different experience. All that is required is cold liquid and a box of crunchy flakes. Bowl and spoon are optional.

Homemade carbohydrate conscious cereal

No special equipment is needed to make cereal. If you have a dehydrator, you can make a raw cereal. If you have an oven, you can bake the cereal flakes.

Most cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals. Not to be outdone, I used 3/4 cup of Garden of Life® RAW Meal. This stuff is expensive and is not necessary to make cereal. If you have some other sort of meal substitute powder, that would work. If you would like to try RAW Meal, you can buy sample packets. One packet would be enough for this recipe. Alternatively, a different type of flour can be used.

Items marked with * are NOT low carbohydrate. If carbohydrates don't tax your pancreas, you have the flexibility to add these ingredients.


Dry Ingredients
4 Tablespoons of seeds: flax, chia, hemp, sesame, sunflower, buckwheat groats, oat groats*
3/4 Cup flour: buckwheat, spelt*, oat*, quinoa*
3/4 Cup protein or meal substitute powder or flour: Garden of Life® RAW Meal or other type of flour
1/2 Cup nut meal: almond, pecan, walnut, cashew - what do you have on hand?
1/4 Cup whole crunchy things: this could be hemp seeds, buckwheat groats, almond slices or dried fruit*
1 Tablespoon protein powder: hemp, soy or omit - this is optional
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients
1 Tablespoon oil: coconut oil (melted), grape seed oil, or try omitting with an oil substitute
3/4 Cup water: don't add all at once!
1 - 2 Tablespoons flavoring: vanilla, maple, walnut - whatever you've got!
Sweetener: I used two squirts of vanilla stevia. If you have maple syrup*, barley malt syrup*, rice syrup* in the pantry, stir in 2 Tablespoons of liquid sweetener to the first 1/4 cup of water. If you don't have liquid sweetener, stir in 2 Tablespoons of dry sweetener to your first 1/4 cup of water.

Extras
Add cinnamon, cardamom, fenugreek seeds, rose petals or other goodies from the spice rack to taste.

Putting it Together
Mix together your special blend of dry ingredients.
4 Tablespoons of seeds
1 1/2 Cups of whole grain flour
1/2  Cup nut meal
1/4 Cup whole crunchies or dried fruit
1 Tablespoon of protein powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Oil
Add 1 Tablespoon of oil to the dry ingredients and mix as thoroughly as possible.

In a liquid measuring cup place:
1 - 2 Tablespoons of flavoring / extract
1 - 2 Tablespoons of sweetener (dry or wet) OR 2 droppers full of liquid stevia
1/4 Cup of water

Reserve 1/2 Cup water and add as needed.

Pour the sweetener and 1/4 Cup water into the dry ingredients mixed with oil and blend thoroughly.
Continue to add the remaining water until your cereal dough can be spread thinly with a knife but is not runny.

If baking in an oven, spread cereal dough onto parchment paper and bake at 300°F for 30 minutes, turning off heat at 20 minutes to prevent burning. If, after 30 minutes, the cereal is still sticky, return to oven for additional time.

If using a dehydrator, spread cereal dough onto Teflex sheets as thinly as possible. Set the dehydrator temperature to 200 for quicker results or at your preferred raw temperature. Check after 3 or 4 hours. If the cereal holds together, remove from Teflex and continue to dry until no moisture remains.

Break cereal into flakes. Store in airtight container if it lasts that long.


Making cereal isn't complicated. It may look that way because I listed options and substitutes. Use the whole grain organic items you already have in your kitchen to make your own comforting bowl of cereal free of GMOs, artificial coloring, artificial flavoring, mascots, and gimmicks.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Nutty Booze Ballz with No Added Sugar

Vegans can have fun, too...

In a food processor on slow and thick, chop
2 cups of nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, macadamia, hazelnuts, et cetera)
2 Tablespoons of vanilla balsamic vinegar (or 1 tsp vanilla plus enough water to make 2 T)
1 cup pitted dates
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 Tablespoons booze (rum, bourbon, cognac, grand marnier, frangelico, or a mix)

Roll into balls. Perhaps you'll get a dozen or so depending how big you make them.
Sprinkle with vegan powdered sugar.
Put in freezer with a pretty bow.

Lick hands.

Friendsgiving Dinner Photos

A super giant helping of thanks to Dave H. for making that camera click!

Vegan Friendsgiving

Vegan Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving Kitchen

Friendsgiving Kitchen

Replacing Eggs

Why replace eggs?

When my mom was growing up, the farm where she lived had chickens. I remember her mentioning that she would sometimes have to get the chickens out of the trees in the evening. I grew up in the suburbs, so my experience with chickens and eggs was getting in the dark green Plymouth Fury III with my mom to drive to a concentrated feed lot. I remember the smell, the flies, and the noise. It was confusing to me. How could such awfulness be turned into something delicious like a cake?

There are many studies available online which can point to eating eggs as being a healthy choice or an unhealthy choice depending upon who is presenting the information. As you read and decide for yourself, keep in mind that confusion is built into the system. If the reader is confused, he or she will be complacent. Complacency is not healthy for you or the habitat which supports your life.

Why should eggs be replaced? Only female birds lay eggs. What happens to the male chicks? Each year about 280 million live male chicks are put into large plastic bags and left to suffocate. Unless the only eggs you consume come from your farm or someone you trust, your purchases contribute to the needless suffering of these animals. It is a holocaust sanctioned by society.


To replace eggs in baking: 

• With commercial brand egg replacers like Bob's Red Mill or EnerG, the powder can be put directly into the dry ingredients of a recipe without first mixing with water. Be sure to add 3 Tablespoons of liquid for each egg replaced.
  
• Flax seed eggs can also be made by taking 1 Tablespoon of flax seed meal and mixing it with 3 Tablespoons of water and allowing to sit for 5 minutes.

Chimichurri with Acorn Squash

This recipe, adapted from Isa Does It, Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz is loaded with flavor. Think about the title for a moment. The recipes are easy, delicious, vegan, and are designed for weekdays as well as weekends. Her almost 200 recipes take into consideration busy lives, stores that don't sell unusual or hard to obtain ingredients, or little desire to follow up a meal with a ton of dishes required to make a complex recipe from scratch. Isa has published many other recipe books which are staples in the vegan kitchen. She also contributed to the dessert section of Del Sroufe's Forks Over Knives companion book. 

Baked Acorn Squash


Cut an acorn squash in half. Scoop out the seeds with a grapefruit spoon. Following the naturally ridged shape of the squash, cut into moon slivers and bake in 350°F oven for about 40 minutes.

Chimichurri

2 cloves garlic peeled

½ cup pepitas (either raw or not - whatever you can find)

2 cups dried parsley

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ to ½ cup water

1 Tbls grapeseed oil

1 tsp salt

½ tsp crushed pepper

Chop garlic in Vitamix or by hand.

Add pepitas to the garlic and blend in Vitamix or food processor.

Add remaining ingredients and puree.


Add more water if required to make an easy to spread condiment on moon slivers of baked acorn squash.

Scott's Top Shelf Vegan Cookie Recipe - with Variations

Vegan cookies that could fetch a good price in the dessert case.

Scott has created a very versatile recipe for beautiful, stable, dessert case worthy cookies. It it highly adaptable and adjustable. If you desire gluten-free, low-carb or both, this recipe can handle it. In the mood for mocha? Have a friend who prefers mint? Not in the mood for chocolate? Look no further...

Scott has created a very versatile recipe for beautiful, stable, dessert case worthy cookies. It it highly adaptable and adjustable. If you desire gluten-free, low-carb or both, this recipe can handle it. In the mood for mocha? Have a friend who prefers mint? Not in the mood for chocolate? Look no further...

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Lorna Sass variation

2 ½  cups flour (fine)

1 egg replacer - http://friendsgivingvegan.blogspot.com/2013/11/replacing-eggs.html

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup medium chopped walnuts

1 cup choc chips

⅔ cup maple syrup

½ cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon water

Mix dry

Mix wet

Combine & bake 350 for 15min

Chocolate cookies

2 ¼ cups flour

½ cup cocoa powder

Spicy chocolate

1 tsp  Ancho Chili powder

¼ tsp - ½ tsp Chipotle powder

¼ tsp Raspberry Chipotle pepper

Low carb

Replace flour with 1/2 and 1/2 blend of almond flour and buckwheat flour.

½ cup powdered sweetener

about ¼ cup water

Almond
Tastes like Almond Spritz pressed cookies. Remove the chocolate chips and vanilla, and add a teaspoon of almond flavoring.

Wilma's Apple Sauce Cookies

Wilma's grandchildren and great grandchildren have their favorite confections and baked goods that she joyfully made for them. My favorites were blueberry buckle and apple sauce cookies. One evening Scott and I were visiting my grandmother on Anita's birthday. Rather than look at old photographs, we went through her recipes. In a printed collection from Neebish Island, Wilma had contributed a recipe for tenderizing meat with instant coffee. I will never know how that one turns out. When I came across an edge-stained three by five index card with "Apple sauce cookies" written at the top, I paused. These were the cake-like, spicy, soft delicious handfuls of joy I remembered. Scott got to work right away making a vegan version while Wilma kept watch.

To replace the eggs, Scott has discovered that using commercial brand egg replacers like Bob's Red Mill or EnerG, the dry powder can be put directly into the dry ingredients of a recipe without first mixing with water. Add the liquid for the egg replacer egg in with the wet ingredients - in this case, the apple sauce. Flax seed eggs can also be used by taking 1 Tablespoon of flax seed meal and mixing it with 3 Tablespoons of water and allowing to sit for 5 minutes.

Absent from Wilma's notes are baking time, temperature, and yield. I set the oven for 350°F, and Scott found that 13 minutes allowed the cookies to set without burning. To check your cookies, insert a toothpick for doneness.

Wilma's Apple Sauce Cookies 

1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 cups unsweetened apple sauce
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda stirred into apple sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (OR 2 flax seed eggs OR egg replacer eggs - add 2 Tablespoons dry egg replacer powder to the dry ingredients and 6 Tablespoons of water to the apple sauce)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups raisins
1 cup nuts (optional)

Drop from spoon.

Ms Julie's Kitchen

It would be just unthinkable if you are any where near Akron, Ohio, and you didn't plan to stop at Ms Julie's kitchen. Whatever is on the menu, it will be delicious. You'll leave feeling as if you've been hugged by a garden.

Specialties 
Fresh-Local-Organic-Vegan Foods: munchies, energy bars, soups, salads, kale chips, baked goods, full service menu. Most of their produce is grown by local NE Ohio farmers and also from their own two acre urban farm. 

History 
Established in 2010. In January of 2000, Ms. Julie experienced a mild heart attack which led her to change to a vegan diet. As a result, she lost 170 lbs and regained her health. Now she is on a mission to teach Akron how to do the same thing. After writing three vegan cookbooks, she opened a home bakery supplying vegan baked goods to farmers markets. She then opened the Kitchen to better serve her customers. 

Business Owner: Julie C. 
After losing 170 lbs by going vegan, Ms Julie opened a Kitchen to serve the city of Akron.

Hubba hubba, Ms Julie!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ms-Julies-Kitchen/369998630016

1809 S Main StAkron, OH 44301
(330) 819-3834

Bhindi Masala

Bhindi Masala 

3 Tbsp coconut oil
⅓ cup buckwheat flour
1 medium onion
1 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic minced
2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 can whole tomato (28oz)
2 Tbsp curry powder (recipe for homemade curry is here: http://friendsgivingvegan.blogspot.com/2013/12/homemade-curry.html)
1 cup vegetable broth
2 cups sliced okra - 10 oz
2 cans black eyed peas 15 oz, rinsed & drained 

Place oil in skillet.
Add flour and toast/brown (roux).
Add onion and salt, toast 5 minutes.
Add garlic and ginger 1 minute.
Crush tomato, add.
Add curry powder.

Serve with yogurt and rice.

Making Vegan Yogurt at Home

Where do I start with yogurt? Yogurt made from milk may seem harmless. In reality, big agriculture exploits animals with an endless cycle of pregnancy and birth in order to maintain constant milk production. Within the industry, the device used to keep the female cow still for impregnation is called a rape rack. Once the babies are born, they are taken from their mothers. Female calves are raised like their mothers, and males are raised as veal or taken to slaughter. The separation between mother and child is devastating. Why would anyone want to contribute to the suffering of others?

Dairy milk is not made for humans. The formula in the breast milk of cows is designed to grow a calf from typical birth weight of 80 pounds to 700 pounds in the first year of life. Is your body in need of such dietary chemistry?

Cow's milk contains calcium, but can humans utilize and absorb it? Humans who have access to dairy typically have much higher incidents of bone fractures associated with osteoporosis. Though the dairy industry has found ways to convince the public, milk that comes from a cow isn't good for you.

Plant-based foods should be scrutinized thoroughly. Just because a food product can be considered "vegan," doesn't mean that it's healthy or that the company that produced it made good choices on the consumers' behalf. Genetically modified soybeans, pesticide use, employee working conditions and wages, packaging, and transportation must be taken into account. This requires effort and time resources on the part of the consumer. What if you just want to grab a yogurt off the shelf and go?

On the shelves of larger grocery chains, one can find vegan suitable yogurt made from soy, almonds, coconut or blends. Very few of these are unsweetened. A six ounce cup of yogurt can have over 30 carbohydrates. WholeSoy & Company has been a reliable producer of unsweetened yogurt, but in 2013 the company found themselves without a manufacturing facility. They decided to build their own. You can read their saga here: http://www.wholesoyco.com/blog With the long absence of the product, some people have tried to make their own vegan yogurt at home. Not a fan of following directions, even I was able to make functional, tasty, probiotic vegan yogurt. Here's how:

Equipment needed:

• medium glass bowl
• small glass bowl
• 1 cup measure
• medium sauce pan
• candy thermometer
• wire whisk
• blender
• large towel
• glass bowl with tight fitting lid (or glass jars with lids)
• a place to incubate the yogurt like an oven with a light

Ingredients needed:

• yogurt starter - this can be one container of store bought vegan yogurt or a non-dairy yogurt starter like Belle + Bella or Cultures for Health.
• 1 cup of raw, unsalted cashews
• 3 to 4 cups of filtered water

If you have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix (made in Ohio), you can put 1 cup of dried cashews directly in the Vitamix with 1 1/2 cups of water and blend until creamy smooth, adding water until preferred consistency is reached. (See the Vitamix recipe for cashew and almond milk here: https://www.vitamix.com/Find-Recipes/A/L/Almond-or-Cashew-Milk)

If your blender's power is NOT measured in horsepower, soak 1 cup of cashews covered in water until soft. In the blender, mix at high power with 1 cup of water, adding water until desired consistency is achieved to 1 liter or 1 quart yield.

Once you have 1 liter or 1 quart of cashew milk, heat the cashew milk in a sauce pan to 180°F, using the candy thermometer and taking care to not allow the thermometer to touch the bottom of the pan. As the temperature begins to rise, keep a careful watch and stir so that the cashew milk doesn't scorch or burn in the bottom of the pan. 

The Vitamix has the ability to heat contents easily to the desired temperature to make yogurt. In all my trials and errors, however, I discovered that thickening is part of the process for a successful batch of yogurt. While Vitamix heated cashew milk may be 180°F, it is not the thick consistency achieved on the stove top. The end product from heating and stirring should be a thick cream.

Once 180°F has been reached, the cashew milk needs time to cool BEFORE adding the yogurt culture. Keep the thermometer in the cashew milk in order to gauge when the cashew milk has cooled to 108°F.

While waiting for the cashew milk to cool, turn your attention to the place where the yogurt will incubate and allow the space to begin to warm to 112°F to 115°F.

When the cashew milk cools to 108°F, remove 1 cup of the liquid and add the non-dairy yogurt starter or store-bought non-dairy yogurt to the 1 cup reserve. In a glass bowl with a tight fitting lid, return the one cup of yogurt starter and cashew milk back into the rest of the warm cashew milk base. Place the lid on the bowl and wrap the bowl in a large towel. Place the towel-wrapped bowl in the oven, food dehydrator, or in glass jars in a yogurt maker. Allow the yogurt to incubate for 5 hours. Some bloggers have allowed their yogurt to incubate for 10 hours.

After 5 or so hours, you should have a batch of creamy cashew yogurt that should be refrigerated.

Once you have created a successful batch of cashew yogurt, experiment with different blends of organic soy, almond, coconut until you achieve your signature yogurt. Reserve 6 to 8 ounces of yogurt as a starter for your next batch.

Books for the Kitchen