One thing I discovered (though I’d already suspected it) while participating in the Green Smoothie Challenge: I eat too much bread. It’s not that I felt a dramatic physical difference; I just felt lighter and just a little bit better. So I’ve committed to reducing my bread/grains/carbs intake. That doesn’t mean, however, that Sunday morning breakfast is getting kicked to the curb, no sirree Bob. I’m nothing if not a deeply flawed human. May I present: French toast.
One year ago today: Beet, Green Bean & Couscous Salad
One year and one day ago: Seitan Italian Sausage and Banana Bread Pancakes
Chocolate-Cinnamon-Orange Cashew French Toast
Serves 4-6
4-6 slices thick, whole-grain bread (I let mine sit out overnight uncovered)
1/4 cup cashews, soaked for a few hours
3/4 cup almond milk
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of 1/2 an orange
sweetener to taste (I used a few dashes of stevia powder)
cacao nibs, optional
sliced strawberries, optional
Rinse and drain the cashews, then put into a blender along with everything but the orange zest. Blend until very smooth – give it a minute or two. Pour the mixture into a deep-sided baking pan and stir in the orange zest.
Heat a large cast iron or non-stick skillet over medium heat. I spritz mine very lightly with oil.
Dip the slices of bread into the chocolate-cashew mixture and then carefully place in the heated pan. Brown on one side – be patient and don’t cook to quickly. Then gently flip and brown on the other side. Keep toast warm in a 200F oven while you cook the remaining slices.
Serve with cacao nibs, strawberries and warm maple syrup.
The little beauty of a recipe above for dairy-free, no-bake cheezcake comes from Somer at Good Clean Food. Pure friggin’ genius. Never a traditional cheesecake fan, I tried this simply because it fascinated me – and I ended up loving the results. The secrets are cashews and Pomona’s Pectin. Soft and creamy with a little bit of lemony tang and then sweetness from the blueberries – you get the true cheesecake experience without a ton of sugar and scary dairy. I messed with the crust, using pecans instead of almonds and adding chia seeds and orange zest, but the only change I made to the cheez (other than coming close to complete disaster because I tried using a food processor for the whole thing rather than my Vitamix…) was to reduce the maple syrup by half and add a little bit of stevia. When you visit Good Clean Food to get the recipe (and you simply must get the recipe), note how much thinner Somer’s slices of cheezcake are. Oops.
Sometimes after dinner on summer evenings, when the days stretched into 9 pm, mom and dad would herd us kids into the burgundy-colored station wagon and we’d drive the 15 miles or so over to Mentor and what passed in those days for a mall. Malls were special places back then. Rarities. Imagine: people actually enjoyed spending time in them. We’d walk past the shops, but rarely went into them. We weren’t there to shop. It was all about dessert. We were there for either Baskin-Robbins or Orange Julius, both of which were tucked away in one of those “side streets” that malls have; the dead ends and backwaters. Where the neglected step-children of the “anchor” stores were.
In spite of my huge love for yeast bread – the labor involved, the simple ingredients that through kneading and time create complex, rich flavor, the satisfying crunch of a deep brown crust, the smell as it bakes – I adore quick breads, with the humble, homely biscuit being my favorite kind. I quite possibly could live on biscuits alone (as long as I have a cup of tea or hot chocolate with which to wash it down and perhaps a schmear of jam). I’ve been messing around with biscuits quite a lot lately, with my attention mostly on the savory kind, but a recent cookie post by emmycooks got me thinking about chocolate and dried apricots. Sounds like sweet scone material to me!
I had a strict ritual while living in Washington, DC. At 2 pm every day, I used my lunch break to work out in the gym in my office building. After a good run on the treadmill and some strength training, I’d head into the small convenience store on the first floor of the building and treat myself to either a bag of M & Ms or a Twix or a Kit Kat. I figured I had earned it because of the calories I’d torched at the gym.
After a few days away from home, it’s a little hard to rev up the engines, but it’s good to get back into the kitchen and back into the world of vegan blogging and vegan bloggers. Despite a long list, I only managed to get to one vegan restaurant while in San Francisco – Millennium (outstanding) – but overall, it was fairly painless to find places where both my carnivore friend and I could dine in peace together. A few standouts, besides Millennium, were Panama Red Coffee which consistently served up a smooth soy mocha (and they also offer almond milk) and Strizzi’s, which despite the vegan-hostile menu, cheerfully created a pasta for me with whole wheat penne and their raw “sauce” of capers and fresh tomatoes.
(This is a version of the Epicurious recipe for lemon poppyseed waffles. I’ve veganized it and unrefined it.)
I won’t say who, but one of us in the household loves and appreciates that wee, sweet cabbage, the Brussels sprout. One of us could live the rest of his days never spearing his fork into another one of the adorable, little green globes. In a last ditch effort to save the Brussels sprout from permanent exile, I had to give this salad a try – featured on my friend Nancy’s (beautiful) blog, LoveLaughVeggies in her post Raw? No Way! I did make some changes. The original has Parmesan cheese and olive oil – neither of which reside in my home (yes, they have been permanently exiled). To start things off, I decided to use a variation of my 
In a food processor, chop the Brussels sprouts (you may have to work in batches) until finely chopped. Add to the bowl with the salad dressing. Process the fennel and the carrots in the same way and add to the Brussels sprouts. Add the cherries, walnuts and orange zest and stir well to combine. Divide among four bowls and crumble tempeh bacon on top of each salad, if desired.
I told you that I would be baking (and sharing) a lot from King Arthur Flour’s Early Spring edition of The Baking Sheet…and here’s another adapted recipe. Theirs is a glazed treat called Lemon Drop Cookies, but I only had one sad, slightly dessicated lemon in the fruit bin so a lemon-flavored cookie was out. I did have plenty of oranges, however, and since the baked cookie had a nice, cake-like texture, I call mine Orange Cake Cookies. My version also lacks the glaze, which looks pretty, to be sure, but since I don’t use confectioners’ sugar these days, I did without it. I don’t think the cookie needs it. It has plenty of flavorful sweetness without the added sugar rush. The dough is easy to work with and I love the thick bite of the final product.
If you don’t bake up a batch of these cookies and sample them for yourself, how are you going to know how unbelievably delicious vegan baking can be?? These are a real stand-out. Soft and nutty with big bites of chocolate chips, cranberries and toasted pecans. I added an extra zing of orange flavor (which pairs so beautifully with both chocolate and cranberries) by adding orange zest. Truly addictive.
1 tbsp. egg replacer + 3 tbsp. water (whisk together until frothy, then let sit for a minute)
(This recipe comes from the side of a 5-lb. bag of King Arthur Flour White Whole Wheat Flour – which, by the way, is a fantastic whole grain product. What changes did I make, you ask? Here’s the rundown: I halved the amount of “butter,” using applesauce to make up the remainder; used egg replacer; reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup of maple sugar – instead of 3/4 cup refined white sugar, and used stevia to make sure the sweet factor was just right. And, I added orange zest.)