The Dry:
1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or buckwheat flour, if you are gluten-free)
1 tbsp sugar (I often omit this)
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Now, mix all this together so that baking powder and salt are evenly distributed throughout.

The Wet:
1 c soymilk (or other milk), plus a little to get the consistency you like
2 tbsp oil (I typically use grapeseed, but whatever)

Now, add the wet to the dry.  I like to cook them in my electric skillet.  They come out nice and fluffy and the whole wheat flour has a more nutty, hearty flavor than dumb ol’ white flour that doesn’t do anybody any good anyway.

Top with generously judicious amount of real maple syrup or Louisiana cane syrup (the best).

This is my first experience with using Chia seeds. I happened to have a bag of black chia in my pantry that I haven’t known what to do with. After making this pudding, I will definitely keep a stock of it on hand.

Chia seeds are very nutritious — they contain omega 3 fatty acids, which we need for healthy cell membranes and to combat inflammation, and, as I mentioned, are very high in fiber. One serving of this stuff and you’re a third of the way to meeting your daily fiber needs. I’m gobbling it up for dessert.

The Dry:
4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (for added fiber)
1 cup unbleached sugar (demerara) (next time I will use only 3/4 cup sugar)

The Wet:
1 3/4 cup unsweetened plain rice milk (almond would have been better, but I was out)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (next time I will use all coconut oil.  I only added some grapeseed cause I’m running low on coconut)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 teaspoons almond extract
1/4 cup almond butter
5 teaspoons poppyseeds

The How-To:
1. Grease muffin pans (or you can line them with paper cups.  I didn’t have any.)
2. Preheat oven to 350 F
3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, flax, and sugar in a large bowl.
4. On the stove over low heat, melt coconut oil and grapeseed oil together with the rice milk.  Then add the extracts
5. Pour the warmed oil/milk mixture into the dry ingredients gradually, until combined.  You may need to add a bit of milk if the mixture seems too dry or doughy.
6. Generously fill muffin tins.
8. Bake 18 minutes, or until done.
9. Cool thoroughly.  (Note: Deb at Altered Plates recommends not covering or wrapping her lemon-poppyseed muffins for at least 12 hours.  I don’t know why, or if that still applies, given that I’ve changed the recipe so much.  Maybe she will tell us.)

The Loveliness:

Oooh, what could this be?

Oh what joyous communal fun!  It was a Indian cooking lesson with a chef from our local vegan restaurant.  He and two other of our friends went in on it together — the guys’ gift to the girls.  The chef and our friends came over to our house, and together we cooked up a big traditional Indian-style meal.  We got to ask all our burning cooking questions, learn about unfamiliar spices and how to use them, and even learn to like beets!  I can’t remember the names of all the dishes — there was chole, a mushroom rice pilaf, a lovely beet dish, aloo gobi (I do know that one), wilted spinach salad, lentils…  delicious.

Last night I did a fairly successful (without a recipe) re-creation of the chole, pilaf, and salad.  And Hubs was happy he got me a cooking lesson.

A few years back, my mom gave me a book called Dinner’s in the Freezer, by Jill Bond.  It’s basically about how great it makes your life if you cook more, less often, and freeze the meals for weeknights.  It’s a very “savvy homemaker-y” kind of book.  And pretty useful.

My sister-in-law and brother are not veg, but they did read The China Study this summer, and have since made efforts to lessen their animal product consumption (an excellent, valiant effort.  Even if you don’t find vegetarianism morally compelling, choosing to cut back on animal foods is an investment in your health, your environment, and ultimately, your budget.  I commend them.) Anyway, they come to me at times for meal ideas and tips on vegan cooking.   Since this is just about my favorite topic, I’m always happy to try to help.

Recently A. (sis-in-law) sent me this email: “I need lunch ideas! I’m getting bored with the same old sandwich…” (I wish I had a super-hero spandex suit with a V on the chest, in which to come to the rescue.) My response is: Now that it’s chilly weather and we are cooking hearty things, make extra and stick it in the freezer!  If you use single-serving tupperwares, you can just take one out and pop it in the micro (if you have one. I don’t. on purpose.) for lunch.

After a while, you’ll find you have a variety of things in there to choose from, and it also keeps you from getting tired of your leftovers.  That’s one of mine and Hubs’ big problems with leftovers: we get sick of them after a couple days.  Freeze them, pull something different out, and problem solved!

So, I made the French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme.  I just used brown lentils.  And I didn’t have any carrots,  but I did have a leek, so I used it instead.  I liked it.  Not crazy-liked it. But it will be nice to eat after church tomorrow.  I needed to put Panola sauce and more salt in it.

Then I made the Pumpkin Cranberry Scones.  I have never baked with pumpkin before this season.  I just never had a liking for it.  But this month I have already baked pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin scones.  Unfortunately, I forgot to put the margarine in the dough.  oops.  So my dough was very moist, and not conducive to following the instructions of how to divide it into sections for the scones.  I just scooped it up by the almost-half-cup-full and dollopped it onto the baking sheet.  Also unfortunately, they spread, so they came out looking like overgrown cookies rather than scones.  Ok, Hubs actually thinks they look like piles of poop (they are brown cause of the molasses).  Also, I didn’t have fresh cranberries, but I did have a bag of sweetened dried ones that I was looking to use up, so I did.  They are ok.  At least, for fat free scones.

The Beans:
1 cup red kidney beans
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup red (or pinto) beans
*I use dry beans cause they’re cheaper, use less packaging, and don’t use as much fossil fuel to transport from wherever they’re grown. Then I pressure-cook them. Maybe that cancels the fossil fuel thing out.

The Veg:
1 medium onion, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, chopped finely
3 stalks celery, chopped finely
1 small bell pepper, chopped finely
1 1/2 – 2 cups eggplant, chopped finely (optional, can sub zucchini)
a chili pepper (or part of one, if you dare)
3 large tomatoes, chopped in food processor (can use canned)
1 small can tomato paste
*I chop all the veggies in my Cuisinart because I’m lazy, and because I like them very finely chopped.

The Spice:
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp cumin
2-3 tbsp chili powder (I use 3)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp turmeric
Toney Chachere’s Creole seasoning to taste
salt to taste

The Extra:
2 links Field Roast Grain Meat Mexican Chipotle Sausages, chopped

The Process:
This is pretty intuitive: saute the veggies (except the eggplant and tomatoes) in some oil until they’re tender and smell good. Then add the spices and the sausage and saute a bit more. Then dump in the beans, tomatoes, eggplant, and some water if it looks like it needs it. Simmer for a while to let the flavors do their thing. Taste test. Simmer some more. If you grew up in Louisiana you will want to eat this over rice. If you grew up in Texas you will want to eat this over corn chips. If you grew up somewhere else you will want to eat this with saltines.

If you make this, let me know what you think. It’s our favorite. Also, suggestions for a better title for the chili are welcome.