Chocolate Mocha Cakes

Okay, this is definitely a record for me, posting two days in a row. I just had to share a chocolate recipe in time for Valentine's Day (or any other occasion that calls for eating chocolate). We were able to quickly film a segment just in the nick of time, and right before we tore apart our kitchen. The recipe and video are up on Everyday Dish. I hope you give these cakes a try. They are so good!

I'd better get back to painting, so we can finish this big job that we started. I can't wait until we're done. These paint fumes are killing me.

Happy Baking!

The Kitchen Makeover

The kitchen isn't done yet, but I thought that I would post some pictures from the past week. I forgot to take a before pic, but you can always look at one of the Everyday Dish segments.

It looks like we have another two days or so left. So far, Jay has ripped out the old back-splash (granite tiles) and installed a new one (Wainscoat, which he painted white). We then (yes, I'm actually painting too) painted the ceiling, primed all of the cabinets, painted the walls, applied two coats of paint to the cabinets and a few other assorted things. We still have to paint the cabinets with another coat tomorrow and do some touch up, then everything can be put back together. I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm ready for a fully functioning kitchen!

I thought that I would spare everyone the living room picture. My living room is packed with all of the stuff from the kitchen, which we had to take out to paint.

I haven't really cooked too much over the past week, though I have made a few quick soups/stews in the pressure cooker. At this point, I would kill for a salad or some fresh greens!

I have to say that I LOVE the way the kitchen is shaping up! The walls are white, the ceiling the same gorgeous shade of light green as the new cabinets that Jay built, and the kitchen cabinets are a luscious light yellow. I've been calling it lemon chiffon, but I always give everything a food name. Whatever the names of the colors, they look beautiful and the kitchen is so light and bright. I love it!

As soon as the kitchen is finished, I promise to post more pics. Until then, I hope that everyone is having a great week and cooking lots of awesome meals.

Julie

I'm In Love

What can I say, but that I'm totally in love... No, I'm not referring to my husband (although I love him madly too), but my Wonder Mill. I know, this sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I assure you it's not. I've finally had some time to play with the mill, and it's really amazing. First off, not only does it grind flour out of grain, but beans and legumes too. We're talking flour as fluffy as freshly fallen snow.


What really inspired me to play with the machine was a recent trip to Bob's Red Mill. I discovered organic soft white wheat kernels, which I was told could be ground into pastry flour. I was so excited, because you can't buy white wheat pastry flour in stores. Completely intrigued, I proceeded to buy myself a 25 pound bag. I know that sounds like a lot, but I go through a lot of flour with all of the baking I do and I'd been wanting to do more exclusively whole grain baking. This seemed like a great start. Oh, and guess how much that organic 25 pound bag was? It was something like $11.00. Sold!

So I pulled out the grain mill and flipped that baby on. First up, white wheat pastry flour. The result? The MOST amazing flour I have ever baked with. Soft and fluffy, this was the perfect pastry flour. Intrigued, I tried regular white wheat flour. Result? Amazing. Now I was ready to really mix things up. I pulled out red lentils. I mean, how cool would red lentil flour be. Result? A beautiful pink flour that I'm dying to play with. Imagine the possibilities. Next up? Brown rice flour. I was having so much fun producing silky, fresh, beautiful flour. I also made black bean flour and chickpea flour. I love that the machine grinds the flour super fast. I quickly cleaned out the mill and put it back in the cabinet. No muss, no fuss (or so to speak).

White Wheat Pastry Flour

White Wheat Flour

Red Lentil Flour

Armed with the white wheat pastry flour, I started baking. I decided to try subbing the flour measure for measure with all purpose flour in several recipes. The results were outstanding. I made delicious pancakes, awesome blondies (from the book My Sweet Vegan) and a decadent chocolate cake. I also tried my hand at 100% whole wheat bread, using my regular white wheat flour. I used a recipe that has been making it's way around the blog world, and it is a great loaf of bread. Light, fluffy and 100% whole grain.

Whew! Fortunately I still have some energy left to start painting the kitchen. We got a bit of a late start on it, but it's now ready to go. I will post before and after pics when we're done. Here's a picture of the beautiful new cabinets that Jay built. I can't wait to see how it's all going to come together. I'm hoping that we can get it finished in a week and a half.

Sausages!!

We finally did it. The vegan sausage recipe is up on everyday dish (click here for the recipe & video). Oh yeah! I hope that everyone gives it a try.

What I love about this recipe is that you can make so many variations of it. By changing the flavors around, I made a nice spicy chorizo, mild Italian and apple sage sausages. I also found that if you don't want to roll the sausages, you can shape them into small little breakfast patties and steam them that way (they look like Morningstar patties). I even made little tiny sausage links. They are just too much fun!

A quick tip for you too. Although the sausages are good right after steaming, they are so much better after being refrigerated overnight. They also freeze well too.

Now, just to mix things up a bit, we're proposing a challenge for you. We'd love to hear what flavor combos you come up with using our basic sausage recipe. You can email me pictures, recipes, videos, whatever you like. You might even find your sausage recipe, video or pics up on our site. Come on, you know you like a good challenge!!

My one suggestion would be for you try our recipe as written the first time and then go to town. That way you'll get a good idea of what our sausages are all about.

Here's a few pics of the process. They are so easy to make!

All of the spices (and yes, there are lots!), along with the vital wheat gluten and other dry ingredients.

The mixed dough (no kneading necessary!)

Steaming the sausages (that's right, no boiling or baking!). It really helps to do it in a large steamer, so you have a nice flat surface. This is one that I bought inexpensively at a little Asian market near our house. It also came with another steamer layer which can fit on top.

Now what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Happy New Year

It's so nice to be back blogging. Sorry for the vacation, but it was actually just that. I really don't take much time off work to play, so it felt really good to just hang out with the kids during their winter break.

The kids went back to school yesterday, so I was up bright and early making breakfast and jumping back into our routine. After the kids left for school, I quickly cleaned the kitchen and prepped for a cooking segment that we filmed for a TV show called "Better". The segment was on "Superfoods" for the new year. We made a couple of quick recipes, and one of them was a hemp vinaigrette (the picture above). This dressing was so good! I'll post the recipe in a couple of days, as you've got to try it! Hemp oil has a nice, nutty flavor and is full of those wonderful omega 3 fats that we all need.

Oh, and before I forget, we filmed the sausage segment today and will try and get it up on the everyday dish website tomorrow. I'm so excited and hope that you enjoy the sausages as much as we do.

Until then...happy cooking!

Happy Holidays!

I hope that everyone has had a great holiday season! I really can't believe how crazy busy things get this time of year.

I'm loving having my kids off from school for the holiday break. My daughter has a friend visiting for the week, and her boyfriend is over a lot, so it's been fun cooking for more than just our four. I've definitely been cooking up a storm, which includes lots of home baked treats (like the cinnamon rolls above and the yummy coffee cake crumble from Everyday Dish). So that I don't sound like all I make is sweets, I've also made a slew of soups, stews, beans and salads too.

I've been working hard on perfecting the sausage recipe, which I'm completely thrilled with! Hopefully we can film the segment soon so we can hurry up and get it on Everyday Dish. Can I just say how fun it is to have flavored sausage links to slice up and throw into recipes?! We made a couple of different flavors, which were also really delicious sliced up and served with dipping sauce.

I'm trying to get as much cooking in as I can, because I think we're going to give our kitchen a little makeover soon, which means it will be out of commission for a week or two (or as long as it takes Jay and I to do it ourselves). Nothing too major, but we've been wanting to add some color to it and would love to paint our cabinets. I promise to take some pictures once we get started.

Happy Holidays!!

Julie

Bread And More

I'm always looking for new and delicious ways to incorporate a variety of whole grains into my diet. Truth-be-told, I'm also a fan of quick breakfasts, because I'm always rushing around in the morning and need something that will stick with me for a few hours. I've played around with granola recipes for years, but finally have developed a recipe for one that tastes great, is high in fiber, low fat and makes a large batch at a time. The recipe is on Everyday Dish (click here for the recipe), and I highly recommend you bake up a batch. Feel free to play with the fruit/nut/flavor combos any way you like. It's called Not Your 1970's Granola. Believe me when I say that, because I remember the 70's granola of my childhood.

My friend Heather gave me the idea to add millet to it, which gives it a really nice additional crunch and nutrition boost to 'bout.

Next up, homemade bread. Bread is so easy to make from scratch and is so much better than store-bought. You can also customize it any way you like, by adding fresh or dried herbs for a savory version. Although I love crunchy rustic breads, I also love American-style soft breads for sandwiches or French toast. Here's a recipe that I make often, which is a veganized oat bread recipe from King Arthur. It's very delicious and easy to make. I make mine in my beloved Bosch mixer, which is excellent for bread and heavy doughs. You can also make it by hand, in a bread machine or even in a large food processor. Oh, and you can substitute some whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour (about a cup or so), though it will make the bread a little heavier and less fluffy (but a little more nutritious). I sometimes also throw in about 1/2 cup wheat germ to the recipe as well. If you do add the wheat germ, you might need to cut back a touch on the flour.

OATMEAL TOASTING & SANDWICH BREAD
Adapted from a King Arthur recipe

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)
2 tablespoons Earth Balance, softened or oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast*
1 1/4 cups lukewarm soymilk (or 1 1/4 cups warm water plus 3 tablespoons soymilk powder)

*If you use active dry yeast -- dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.

Manual Method: In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Knead dough, by hand (10 minutes) or by machine (5 minutes) till it's smooth. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow it to rest for 1 hour; it'll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk. Shape as directed below.

Bread Machine Method: Place all of the ingredients (except the fruit) into the pan of your machine, program machine for manual or dough, and press Start. About 10 minutes before the end of the second kneading cycle, check dough and adjust its consistency as necessary with additional flour or water; finished dough should be soft and supple. Add the raisins or currants about 3 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle. Shape as directed below.

Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface, and shape it into a log. Place the log in a lightly greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap or a slightly damp clean kitchen towel, and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, till it's crested 1 to 2 inches over the rim of the pan.

Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking. Yield: 1 loaf.

Rising bread before baking


Freshly baked bread

I've also been playing around with a grain mill, which is really awesome and I will post about soon. There is nothing cooler (or healthier) than freshly ground flour. I've done white whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, regular whole wheat, rice and bean flours. Yes thats right, you can grind dried beans into flour. It's really amazing. The dried bean flour can be used for quick soups (black bean, split pea, white bean, etc...), as sauce thickeners (think white bean flour) and any other recipe where it might call for chickpea or garbanzo bean flour. Very, very cool.