When low, gray clouds scud across the blue and mornings are cool enough for a flannel shirt and the leaf tips of the winged elms, hackberrys, scrub oaks, and bois d’arcs turn brown, I feel like baking bread. But, I’m eating less bread these days. Why? I don’t really know. Call it an experiment; a phase. I’m sure it will be short-lived, but in the meantime, instead of whole wheat cinnamon toast slathered in peanut butter and topped with a thick slice of banana, I’m eating raw cinnamon “toast” made of apples and nuts and sweet potato. Slathered in peanut butter and topped with a thick slice of banana. (I shared this recipe on Healthy Vegan Friday!)
Have you signed up yet for the November 16 Virtual Vegan Potluck? If not, you can do it here.
Cinnamon Apple ”Toast”
Makes ~24 large pieces
1 cup walnuts, soaked overnight
5 dates, soaked for ~15 minutes
1 apple, cored
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into small pieces (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 of a banana
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom
pinch salt, optional
1 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw hulled hemp seeds
In a food processor, process the walnuts through the salt until nearly smooth. You’ll need to scrape down the bowl of the processor a few times.
In a large bowl, combine the flaxseed meal, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, and hemp seeds. Pour in the walnut mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Spread the mixture onto a Teflex dehydrator sheet to just a hair under 1/2″ thick and neaten up the edges. Gently score the dough into desired shapes. Place in the dehydrator and dehydrate at 145F for 30 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 115F and continue to dehydrate the “toast” until is dry and very crispy, about 20-24 hours.
Tip: about 2 hours in, I carefully flip the “toast” by placing a mesh sheet + dehydrator tray on top of it, and then I gently remove the Teflex sheet. This speeds up the dehydrating process.
Break the “toast” into pieces and store in an air-tight container. To serve, top with fruit-sweetened jam, natural almond or peanut butter – or your favorite toast toppings.
For crackers, spread the batter to about 1/4″ – you’ll need two trays and the drying time will be less.
One night not too long ago as I was contemplating dinner, I realized that I had no bread. Bread with dinner is nearly a must in our household – probably a holdover from when I was a kid and mom always had a loaf to go along with dinner (with luck, a crusty Italian one from Alesci’s). Even the freezer was bare. Luckily I remembered a quick and delicious recipe for oat quickbread and within 15 minutes, a batch was baking in the oven. I messed with the original recipe, of course, and now can’t remember from which cookbook the recipe came. I replaced whole oats with slightly ground oats (it’s a texture thing), used whole wheat flour for white, veganized and de-sugared.
2 cups quick-cooking oats (or lightly grind regular oats)
When Kel and I moved to the boonies, one of the items I didn’t even think about missing was whole wheat pita bread. But miss it I did. In D.C., there were two Whole Foods within walking distance of my office and several good bakeries nearby, so getting whole wheat pitas was never a problem. By contrast, the stores where I now shop offer bland, hard, refined pitas that have that unidentifiable commercial bread taste. I wasn’t having any of that, so I went in search of recipes.
I’m a fan of wheat germ and add it to pancake batter, sprinkle it on top of my morning oatmeal and use it in muffins and cookies as well – and that’s a good thing – but wheat germ is not a whole grain. A whole grain consists of bran, endosperm and germ. Wheat germ is…only the germ. So sprinkle and enjoy, but make sure you’re getting true whole grains elsewhere in your diet.
Garlic. If it’s a savory dish, chances are excellent that I’ll be adding copious amounts of it. I can get a little lazy sometimes with the mincing, especially when I’m in a hurry, but the more you mince, the more you release heart-healthy thiosulfinates, which prevent blood platelets from clumping – keeping your arteries clear. So mince for everything you are worth! Or to make the task a little easier, get yourself a kitchen tool you never thought you needed (but will cherish): a microplaner. One of these bad boys makes quick work of garlic and really releases those thiowhatevermajiggies.
Do I love flaxseeds? You bet your cute, little shiny seeds, I do! Let me count the ways: they’re a vegan’s omega-3 friend, they replace eggs in baked goods like a champ and add a warm, nutty flavor to cereal, muffins, pancakes, cookies and the occasional salad. And they love us back – but only if the little seeds are ground first. You can purchase flaxseed meal or make your own with whole seeds using a spice/coffee grinder. Keep either variety in the refrigerator or freezer to retain freshness.
Shake it like you mean it – your soy milk, that is. You’ve probably seen it at the bottom of your soy milk carton – a thick white…sludge. Yum. But that sludge contains stuff that is good for you, namely the calcium that has been added to the soy milk. Shake, drink, enjoy.
Are all oatmeals created equal? For the most part, yes. Whether it’s the long-cooking Scottish variety, rolled or instant (which is pre-steamed to cut down on cooking time), they all contain the same vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber – even though you probably feel more virtuous eating the big, slow-cooking groats. I would suggest, however, that you avoid those frightening packets of oatmeal that contain way too much sugar and salt and strange chemical flavorings. For an overnight solution to the fast and healthy breakfast dilemma, see my post,