While Mum's Away...

No doubt if you've seen my moping on Twitter recently (not that I've been on all that much - that darn school thing keeps getting in the way!) you've noticed that I mentioned my mom going off on business for a couple weeks. Well, it's been five days now, and aside from the fact that I'm really missing her just being there as "mom" I also miss the semi-"foodie" connection I have with her. I've written before about our weekly grocery runs and market crawls, and even though we're only missing a week it really feels like a big chunk of lost time! I don't get a lot of time to spend with any of my family members... between my insane school schedule, my mom's commute into Toronto 4/5 days of the workweek and my sister's riding classes we feel the crunch - as I'm sure everyone else does.

Being the stress baker that I am, I've spent every spare scrap of time I've found this week concocting - therefore filling our freezer with bread upon muffin upon pie that we can't possibly imagine ourselves consuming all that soon! Thankfully I do have an answer to that dilemma once Mom returns - her co-workers are always eager to take food of any kind off our hands, regardless of what it is! They even inhaled this loaf of savoury quickbread that was a total crapshoot in my mind! Basically a thick batter-type of loaf, I used the dregs of a tub of herb and garlic cream cheese in place of the butter, nixed the eggs then added some non-fat yogurt for tang and moisture. Then, just because I had them sitting around with no future use in mind, I chucked in the last of my home-dried tomatoes and the remains of a bag of corn germ. Did it work? I guess so - I had a couple requests for a repeat performance!

Cream Cheese And Herbs Quickbread

Serves 14

5.3 oz "Lite" Herb & Garlic cream cheese

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp of salt

2 egg replacers (like Ener-G), prepared

12.75 oz flour

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
12 sun dried tomato halves (not in oil) soaked well in hot water and drained
1/2 cup toasted corn germ (optional, for flavour and nutrition)

1. Preheat oven to 350F, grease a loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, garlic, sugar and salt.
3. Add egg replacers and beat well.
4. Whisk together flour, black pepper, oregano and baking powder.
5. Combine yogurt and milk in another bowl.
6. Add dry and wet mixtures in stages, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
7. Stir in tomatoes and corn germ if using.
8. Bake 45 minutes.
9. Let cool completely before cutting.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 140.1
Total Fat: 2.6 g
Cholesterol: 7.0 mg
Sodium: 95.3 mg
Total Carbs: 24.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
Protein: 4.9 g