Epicure Cookware

I received the order for my Epicure grill and frying pan today. The grill pan has a very large surface with pouring shaped areas on either side to decrease the liquid in the pan. The 10 inch frying pan is oven safe up to 400 degrees with a silicone handle. Both great ideas. I had also ordered a set of measuring spoons I never saw before. They measure "smidgen", "pinch" and "dash". I definitely will be using the grill pan this afternoon for some Ribz.

Using Good Fats

Although I'm trying to reduce the fat in recipes, by its very nature the vegan diet already does that. Animal fats are usually not good fats for the body. Many "Good" fats such as Omega 3, 6 & 9 can be obtained from seed, nut and some from fruit oils.  Flax seed Oil  is one of my favourites, full of Omega 3, 6 & 9. Another favourite is Grape seed oil . I also use Olive Oil, which has its' own benefits. Using these oils appropriately in recipes has already lowered my cholesterol count along with the vegan dietary changes.
Fats are not all bad, but we do need to be aware of the types and kind that we ingest in our foods.
Knowing which fats are Saturated Fats or Hydrogenated Fats can help us make wise food choices.

Vegan Raisin Bread

We had a great time at the Zurich Bean Festival-we did well with sales. Lots of interesting people passed through our booth. I'm always very happy and thankful when my husband's oak wood products sell. He puts so much work into them-even professionally finishing them.
I needed to make some bread Sunday. After making my Machine Vegan White Bread-I was inspired to try to make it into a Raisin Bread.
The "Everything Nice Premium Baking Spice" blend I received from www.theepicentre.com would be just right to try making the raisin bread with.
I've updated the Machine Vegan White Bread recipe. I also suspected I would need to increase the vital wheat gluten to support the increased volume and weight of the ingredients. It smelled awesome while it baked.

Machine Vegan Raisin Bread with “Everything Nice” Spice Blend

Wet Ingredients:

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or any other light flavoured oil such as canola)

1 3/4 cups warm water

¼ cup warm water-add only if necessary during mixing cycle-scrape bowl with spatula as bread mixes dribble water in a little at a time

Dry Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups unbleached white wheat flour    

2 heaping tablespoons ground flaxseed-use spice mill if you have whole flax seed
¼ cup sugar

¼ cup “sweetener” or sugar

¼ cup soy milk powder
2 teaspoons salt

1 TBSP “Everything Nice Premium Baking Spice” blend from http://www.theepicentre.com/ (or use 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon,1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice)                                                    

½ cup  vital wheat gluten

1 pkg active bread yeast = 8 grams

1 cup of raisins-best to use smaller raisins or chop jumbo raisins into smaller pieces
 
This is a bread machine recipe. Makes 1 - 1.5 pound loaf.

1) Mix warm water and oil, put in bread bread machine bowl.

2) Measure dry ingredients(NOT Yeast) into a separate bowl. Blend together, then put on top of wet ingredients.

3) Put yeast on top of the dry ingredients in the bread machine bowl.

4) Add the raisins when your machine indicates or the manufacturer instructions suggest.
5) Set the machine to bake on a light coloured crust.

Next time I'm going to chop up the jumbo raisins. 

Monday morning breakfast was a slice of the raisin bread with Ontario peaches and tea. It tasted even better when toasted with vegan margarine.

Heavenly Spices

My order from Epicenter-purveyors of spices and such, has arrived. I placed the order Monday and received it today by good ol' Canada Post. I had juniper berries, culinary lavender, "Everything Nice Premium Spice" and Herbes de Provence sent. The aroma when the tins were opened was heavenly. Ideas to try just whirling through my mind. I'll have to wait until next week though. I need to be in craft fair mode. We will be at the Zurich Bean Festival on Saturday, Aug 28th - http://www.zurichbeanfestival.com/.  I usually have a scribble pad with me to jot down jewelry and painting designs. I'll be playing around with recipe ideas too!!

Update for Tofu Scramble Spice Blend

I forgot to add that you will need to shake the bottle before you use it as the tumeric needs to be redistributed through the mix. Otherwise you will have some very pale scramble.

Machine Vegan White Bread

I've been trying to find a bread recipe that both my husband(omnivore) and myself would like. He REALLY enjoys the fluffy super soft commercially made bread. With some poking around I found "Gary's Vegan Bread" recipe on vegweb.com . It sounded pretty good, it used banana as the sugar source. But my husband only likes real bananas, not baked goods with banana flavour. The following is my adaptation. 

Machine Vegan White Bread

Wet Ingredients:

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or any other light flavoured oil such as canola)

1 3/4 cups warm water

¼ cup warm water-add only if necessary during mixing cycle-scrape bowl with spatula as bread mixes dribble water in a little at a time

Dry Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour    

2 heaping tablespoons ground flaxseed-use spice mill if you have whole flax seed
¼ cup sugar

¼ cup soy milk powder
2 teaspoons salt
¼ cup vital wheat gluten

1 pkg active bread yeast = 8 grams
 
This is a bread machine recipe. Makes 1 -  1.5 pound loaf.

1) Mix warm water and oil, put in bread bread machine bowl.

2) Measure dry ingredients(NOT Yeast) into a separate bowl. Blend together, then put on top of wet ingredients.

3) Put yeast on top of the dry ingredients in the bread machine bowl.
4) Set the machine to bake on a light coloured crust

Here it is. The texture was light, the crust a little crunchy! Don't mind the dent, it had a little accident on the way out of the pan.

Best of all my husband declared that it tasted good! And actually asked for more.

Tofu Scramble Spice Blend

I've been looking for an easy spice blend for my tofu scramble. Mornings can be a blur and trying to get all the spices out and measured for the tofu scramble at times can lead to disaster. I didn't find what I was looking for, so I came up with a simple blend that can be either shaken on or measured out.
Here it is:
Tofu Scramble Spice Blend

Into a small spice jar put

1TBSP garlic powder
1TBSP onion powder
1TBSP McCormick’s Montreal Steak Spice Seasoning
1tsp of tumeric

With lid on shake bottle to blend. If you want to shake out the spices, you will need to enlarge the holes in the cap for the spice jar, as the Steak Spices are larger. Note: I picked a small spice jar up at the Bulk Barn.
For your tofu scramble add 1 tsp or more to taste.

Land of Spices Discovered in Ontario!!!

I found the most exciting website that sells various spices and spice blends. www.theepicentre.com. Often I'm disappointed by the selections available in the Hamilton area. The bulk stores are Ok, but not exhaustive. Same as the grocery stores. But I was trying to come up with a Black Forest Ham Wheat Meat (Seitan) recipe, but the flavourings that were recommended included juniper berries.
I happened on this website and the best part is that they are Canadian and in Ontario. For those south of the border, the extra costs with customs and increased shipping and handling can be frustrating. I'm going to order the juniper berries and some some of the spice blends that they have. I'll let you kow how this turns out-i.e.-service and product quality.

Okara Bread

I tried the Okara Mountain Recipe for bread. The results were pretty good. It turned out to be a moist, dense bread. Next time I think I'm going to add a little gluten flour this may help the bread rise some more.

Homemade SoyMilk

I received my SoyQuick Soymilk Maker and made my first batch of soymilk. What an easy quick process. The soymilk tastes great with a little sweetener. Now what to do with the Okara? Okara is the pulp that is left after straining the milk. I found the Okara Mountain blog. I'm going to try the Whole Wheat Bread recipe using some of the Okara I've got. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Out of Commission!!

Sorry. Gone for a couple of days. Made the mistake of trusting in the list of ingredients on a commercially made chocolate flavoured cold cereal. I swear it did not list any type of milk product whatsoever. Another food to add to my "No eat list". Thankfully with recognizing the all too familiar symptoms quickly, I'm able to reduce the inflammatory response. And now 48 hrs later things are pretty well back to being Ok.

Zurich Bean Festival

We are going to be vendors for the first time at the Zurich Bean Festival . It is located in Western Ontario between Grand Bend and Goderich .  It is in the middle of agricultural land with fields of beans, corn, soy, canola and wheat. The locals celebrate their agricultural heritage with oodles of bean dishes. I'm going to try to get away from our booth and see what they have to serve. I hope I can find some dishes that are thoroughly vegan. By the way, we will be selling painted glassware, jewelry and my husband's fabulous oak designs.Zurich is in a beautiful area of Ontario, even the air smells sweet and clean. If you are able, come take a look, August 28th is the date.

Tough Enough Cookware

I have a great neighbour that does home shows for Epicure. This company sells food related products and mixes. Not all their mixes are vegan, but they do list the ingredients. I've been experimenting with some of their mixes with good success. But these recipes still need some tweaking. The pots and the wok I've received are amazing to work with. Easy clean, no flaking of the surface, can finish your recipe in the oven if needed. I'm starting to replace my fry pans, then next the griddle. At some point I hope to have the complete collection. The prices are comparable to high end cookware, but without the inflation of retail stores. I use the wok for so many recipes. Risotto, stews, making my breakfast oatmeal/spelt, rice only, steaming and of course stir fries. It has a large surface, easy to clean. Above all able to handle the high heat I use it for without it degrading or flaking. Traditional non-stick surfaces are recommended not to use high heat.
This company hails from British Columbia. Check them out at www.epicureselections.com.

A New Journey!!

I've come to the proverbial fork in the road. Mid fifties is looming. Joint pain, fatigue and fibromyalgia have taken their toll. Researching info about food and health-the vegan lifestyle has been proven to help with these issues.
I've discovered that with removal of all milk products my allergies have reduced. The "burning" in the joints has also reduced. This has all happened in just a few short weeks!!
As I'm researching recipes, I realize I can do this with easily obtained ingredients. Being Vegan is not scary!!

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates