Biscotti and recipe testing ramblings...

For some reason these past couple of weeks I've been recharged with my recipe testing.  Not that I wasn't doing any testing in the weeks or months prior, but lately I feel jazzed to test more than one recipe a day.  Believe me, with the three kidlets this isn't always easy - or sensible.  (My good friends know that I bake at the worst of times, I "bake away my stress"!) 

And, there's an excitement that I have about trying a recipe, seeing it work out, and retesting, retesting, and finishing it off - YES!  I've been charging through a couple of biscotti recipes.  One I'm still tweaking, and the other, this Orange Almond Chip Biscotti is clued up nicely.  I think! 

I say "I think", because I can always retest and retest recipes.  I have a hard time not testing it "one more time" just to be sure, or to try a variation in flavor or texture or to make without gluten, or soy, or something else.  Yadda yadda.

Sometimes I just have to say "enough".  So, I think with this Orange Almond Chip Biscotti, it's just right.  Enough. 

By any number of measures, America’s health is failing. We spend far more, per capita, on health care than any other society in the world, and yet two thirds of Americans are overweight, and over 15 million Americans have diabetes, a number that has been rising rapidly. We fall prey to heart disease as often as we did thirty years ago, and the War on Cancer, launched in the 1970’s, has been a miserable failure. Half of Americans have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week, and over 100 million Americans have high cholesterol.  (Source: The China Study)

Do You Know What's In Your Pancake Syrup?

I know what's in my pancake syrup... do you?

Since the 1950s, consumption of meat (since the first wave of factory farms), cheese (since the advent of take-out pizza), and sugar (in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup) have skyrocketed along side obesity rates and its related diseases, causing children today to be in the worst shape than any previous generation in our country. Due to widespread unhealthiness, boys will lose 11.6 years from our current life expectancy rates and girls will lose 14.3 years. (Source: OCA at PCRM's Take a Bite Out of Childhood Obesity)

Moroccan Bean Stew

This is another new recipe I've just finished, and it's become one of my very favorite soups - period. 

There's something about the warmth and complexity of the spices and seasonings in Moroccan cuisine that keeps me coming back for more... and inspires me to create new dishes using them. 

This Moroccan Bean Stew offers a heaping serving of black beans, chickpeas, and lentils, along with sweet potatoes (here I've used yellow-fleshed), and in a fragrant, intoxicating broth infused with cinnamon, cumin, coriander, ginger, fennel, garlic and more.  Topped off with roasted sliced (dried) figs.  We ate this soup last night and it was most satisfying.

Speaking of yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes, do you use them much?  Personally, I love them, and favor them in my cooking many times over the orange variety.  But, are they widely available in most areas?  Curious, since I find myself using them more and more in my new recipes.

...people who are concerned about their hearts get little benefit from switching from regular meats to lean meats, or to chicken and fish... The power foods are foods from plants.  Vegetarinas have a much better menu for the heart.  Lacto-ovo-vegetarians do much better than those on lean-meat diets, while pure vegetarians who steer clear of all animal products do best of all.  (Food for Life, Dr. Neal Barnard)

Diet and Autism: Ian's Story

Today I have a reader's story to share with you.  I urge you to link through and read this story for yourself; it is touching and remarkable.  And, if you think others might find this post helpful, please share the link with any online parenting groups, forums, or other sites of related interest.

Thank you Pamela for your insight and care, and for reaching out to others with your personal experience.

No Pancake Photos

It was Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) yesterday.  Even though our family really didn't observe Lent in any formal way, we did take part in the Pancake Day tradition.  As kids, we were just over-the-moon excited to be able to have pancakes for supper.  What could be better than pancakes for supper?! 

My mother used to wrap nickels, quarters, dimes and pennies in tin foil and put them in the pancake batter.  We would search for the wrapped pieces in our pancakes, always hoping for the 'big' ones (knowing they'd be quarters)!  I haven't continued with that part of the tradition with our pancake day.  Probably because I know I'd still want to wash the money before wrapping it, and I'd want to wash it a lot... and that's all more work than I want to have right now.  Yet, now that our girls know about mom's and dad's 'money-in-the-pancake' tradition growing up, they might soon be expecting the same.  Nope, I'm holding my ground on this one!

Anyway, last night was indeed pancakes for supper, but good heavens, I made a royal botch of it!  I don't know what went wrong.  I wasn't really minding exact measurements when mixing the batter, and then one of the girls also mixed the batter, and by the time the ladle hit the skillet, those lil' cakes were in trouble.  The result was a bunch of flat and sticky pancakes.  I managed to salvage the 2nd half of the batch, and also had some veg burgers and home fries in the oven, so supper wasn't a total wash.  But, it was mighty frustrating!  And, rather stressful since the baby was also hungry, and the eldest needed to eat and get out to a power skating session. The girls didn't mind. They still scarfed down the lot, saying "mom, the sticky pancakes are still pretty good".  Yeah, I guess if doused with maple syrup, ha! Lesson learned: With baking, it's not wise to 'wing it' (unless of course I'm immersed in recipe testing, and even then I map out a formula). 

So, no, I don't have any pictures to share from our pancake night.  Instead, I thought I'd show you this one.  Kamut spaghetti in a Gluten-Free White Sauce (new recipe), topped off with some roasted marinated cremini mushrooms.  This white sauce is rather easy to make, and doesn't use earth balance.  Not because I'm 'anti-EB' (we quite love the stuff for breads, potatoes, toast, etc), but because I often want to give you the option of not using it in a recipe, in case you have food allergies, or just don't want to use a more processed product.

Did you observe pancake day?  If so, I hope yours were a delicious, fluffy success!

There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.  "Principle #3", The China Study.

I'm Bringing Chocolate Back...

You'll get what I mean in my new t/s post, where you'll also find my new Raw Orange Chocolate Truffles recipe, and also my Hot Coco-Cocoa recipe (from ed&bv).

And... the winner of the Top Chef giveaway is annalene, who commented:
1. I would love to see Isa Chandra Moskowitz as a guest judge, how perfect would that be?
2. Anything dealing with making a vegan cheese.
3. Make baby food!)

Annalene, please e-mail me at dreena@everydayvegan.com so I can get your mailing address.

To another matter... I've been asked for help with locating a private vegan chef in the Baltimore, Maryland area: Candidates must be vegan/vegetarian, and able to work as a live-out private chef, full-time for 1 person.  Prior experience cooking vegan gourmet meals is required.  Duties also include administrating the household - including running errands, paying bills, coordinating subcontractors for house maintenance.  If you want to apply for this position, or know someone that is interested, you can e-mail me at dreena@everydayvegan.com and I'll help get you in touch.

All for now... oh, except something to read and think about...

Genes do not determine disease on their own.  Genes function only by being activated or expressed, and nutritiona plays a critical role in determining which genes, good and bad, are expressed.  (Principle #4, The China Study)

Making Baby Food & Top Chef Giveaway

I have a cool giveaway for you guys!  Just before Christmas I was contacted about hosting a Top Chef giveaway as part of the release of the Top Chef Season 5 DVD.

So you, my lovely readers, have a chance to win both of these items:

1)  Top Chef Cookbook  (obviously, this is not a vegan cookbook, but you can still expand your knowledge of cooking techniques, spices, food tips, etc)

2)  Top Chef Santoku Knife(so you can take on all those root vegetables and winter squash)

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post* answering these three questions...

- who would you like to see as a guest judge on Top Chef (any answer is okay, have fun, be creative, doesn't have to be a chef/cook, can be a celebrity, musician, etc!)
- what vegan dish or ingredients would you suggest Top Chef tackle on a show?
- you don't need to be a Top Chef to do what?  Link for clue!

And, I've just posted a new article on True/Slant about making your own baby food.  If you find this article interesting, please feel free to share the link on any mothering/parenting/vegan forums where you think it might be of help to other parents with wee vegan ones. 

*One entry per person.  Contest open to residents of the US and Canada.