Baking Under the Influence

So, how was everyone's year-end celebration last night? Hopefully you didn't drink or dance too much, because while the loaf I've got to show you today is probably good hangover food (hair-of-the-dog as it were, you'll see!) putting the whole thing together requires both a bit of forethought as well as a bit of motor control! Even posessing both those qualities, it was an interesting experience trying to knead almost an equal amount of "filling" ingredients to the dough! Luckily the presoak of the mixture (as indicated by Susan when she first made her version) helped a lot, as did (I'm sure) the fumes from all the Grand Marnier they were laced with!

The dough, unsurprisingly, does not rise a whole lot at all, and since it's a sourdough your rising times will vary. Mine's a pretty lazy starter (no doubt because I don't use it very much!) but the dough is so stiff that even conventional yeast won't cause it to "double" like your standard white loaf. The result, though, is not a leaden brick (like I feared), but rather a loaf that slices into nice hearty slabs perfect for soaking up runny honey and even jam from a certain generous friend!

Susan's bread looks a heck of a lot different (read: prettier) than mine, but the method of mixing is essentially the same - I had to increase the "dough" ingredients proportionately to the amount of stuff I wanted to cram in, but the ratios were the same (I was good and weighed them!). I also went whole-hog and scoured out my pantry for "bits" when I was making cookies, and so that's how I came up with the mixture of cereal, prunes, dates, cranberries, raisins and sunflower seeds! When I was trying to get all of the stuff into the tiny amount of dough at first, I was thinking this is never going to work, but really, persistence and good elbow grease pays off in this case! Not a single raisin nor grain of quinoa escaped the loaf once it was shaped, and when we cut into it the next day it looked almost like a stained-glass window... an insane amount of treasures wrapped up in a neat little package!

I like that the dough itself is not sweet, since all the fruit inside adds plenty of it's natural sugars and texture. I would say that this is really the type of "catch-all" loaf that you could add any sort of dried fruits, grains or nuts to that happened to be lying around in the pantry, but of course you can also make it fancy with one or two selections! The liqueur for soaking is also optional - I did it for flavour (ooh boy, was it flavour!) but if you don't have Grand Marnier on hand, red wine would be great, or even a fruit juice if you don't drink at all. Heck, even water will work - the key is to soak the filling. You really don't want to burn the fruit, or break a tooth on a seed or grain!

Since I missed the New Year's edition of YeastSpotting, I'm sending this to next week's roundup!! Thanks Susan!

Slightly Soused Seeded Sourdough

Makes 1 large loaf, 20 slices

170 g "Sunrise Blend" cereal (or other whole grain, long cooking cereal like steel cut oats)

85 g raw sunflower seeds

140 g chopped prunes

56 g dried cranberries

56 g raisins

56 g diced dates

118 mL Grand Marnier

130 g "old" starter

80 g rye flour

55 mL warm water

250 g flour

93 g whole wheat flour

20 g gluten flour

5 g fine salt

25 g brown sugar

290 mL warm water

1. In a medium bowl, combine cereal, sunflower seeds, prunes, cranberries, raisins and dates.
2. Pour Grand Marnier over the mixture and stir gently to cover the mixture.
3. Cover loosely and let stand overnight.
4. In a large bowl, combine starter, rye flour and 55 mL warm water. Let stand 4 hours.
5. In another bowl combine flour, whole wheat flour, gluten flour, salt and sugar, whisking well.
6. Add the flour mixture and remaining water to the starter mixture, adding water if necessary.
7. Mix well to form a pliable, slightly soft dough.
8. Turn out onto a floured board and knead (or use a dough hook) for 12-15 minutes, until elastic and smooth.
9. Place into an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rest 2 hours.
10. Turn dough out onto a floured board and pat into a flat rectangle.
11. Drain any remaining liqueur (there shouldn't be any) from the soaked mixture and discard.
12. Spread the soaked mixture evenly over the dough and fold in (using letter/book-type folding like for puff pastry) until evenly incorporated. It will take quite a bit of work as there's almost as much stuff as dough, but work at it!
13. Shape dough into a squat oval. Place on parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets, cover loosely and allow to rise 3-4 hours, until puffed.
14. Preheat the oven to 425F and place a pan of hot water on the lowest rack or floor of the oven.
15. Place in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 400F.
16. Bake 10 minutes, then remove the pan of water and continue baking for 25 further minutes.
17. Turn oven off, crack the door and allow to sit inside 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack and cooling completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 212.8
Total Fat: 3.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 33.3 mg
Total Carbs: 40.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.7 g
Protein: 6.5 g

Ending the Year Without Wisdom

Well, the end of another year is upon us, and I for one am kind of glad to see it go. Don't get me wrong - there's been a bunch of good things that have happened this year too, but I'm not getting any sort of "vibe" from 2009 except that this year is tired out and needs to be put to bed.

I'm not feeling overly wordy these days, and I'm blaming my lack of inspiration not on lack of material (oh God, do I have material!) but on my lack of teeth. Yes, teeth. As I have mentioned before, the procedure has put a rather sizable dint in both my abilities to cook and eat, and though it's almost completely healed now on two sites, there is still some work left for my body to do on the massively bruised side and it's been tiring me out! I did, however, make my Christmas Eve goal of having sushi rolls for our Italian seafood feast (because sushi is so Italian!). I even lucked out with the place I found... it's a recently opened place by us (in between a Starbucks and a Popeye's... go figure) but they offer brown rice for any and all of their dishes! I looove brown rice sushi, especially when I have it in veggie rolls.

However, before (and after!) my treat of sushi (almost 3 meals in a row too!) I relied on very soft foods for sustenance, and by playing around with a couple of ingredients and flavours, I ate very well!

Would it be anti-nutritionist of me to admit to eating pudding for breakfast? I wound up alternating between two (chocolatey, of course!) concoctions for the most part, for both breakfasts and snacks when I wanted something a little different than applesauce. The first one I tried out was actually the result of an error I made when I was putting together my favourite ice cream base. In trying to be full of foresight pre-surgery, I made several batches of the base, but on the last go-round, I left out a portion of the liquids! I noticed the problem as I was scraping the mixture into a container (the scraping should have clued me in!) but I tasted it and found that the omission made the ice cream into a rather delicious pudding!

"Un-Wise" Chocolate Pudding

Serves 3 (about 1 cup/serving)

1 (12.3-oz) block Mori-Nu lite silken tofu

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup Splenda*

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/3 cup chocolate Unsweetened Almond Breeze
1/3 cup cold brewed coffee substitute (like Teeccino)

*if you add sugar instead, add 511 calories and 132g carbohydrate to the total mixture (170.3 cal / 44g CHO per serving)

1. In a food processor, combine tofu, sugar, and vanilla. Puree until smooth, scraping the processor sides as necessary.
2. Whisk together cocoa, Splenda and salt, then add to the food processor.
3. Pour in the Almond Breeze and coffee.
4. Puree again until smooth and velvety.
5. Chill before serving.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 135.2

Total Fat: 2.4 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 107.2 mg
Total Carbs: 30.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.0 g
Protein: 9.0

The other ridiculously good pudding I made as an emergency "oh-my-god-I-need-chocolate-NOW" fix was an adaptation of one of Angela's recipes on Oh She Glows. I had some chia seeds in my arsenal pantry for adding to my mom's weekly breads, and though I knew that they were nutritious (just check out Angela's write-up!), I realized just how important they are for anyone recovering from injury, surgery or other physical stressors! Chia seed is high in protein (18%) and calcium (6.3% - about 5-6x that of milk!), and since it was bone that was recovering from being shattered (not to mention I have osteoperosis), I figured that any help is good!

RESTipe for Repair

Serves 1, about 3/4 cup

2 tablespoons chia (Salba) seeds

1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, hot
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/2 tablespoon sweetener (I used sugar, but agave nectar, honey, etc. work well)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine chia seed, Almond Breeze and hot water in a bowl, mixing well.
2. Stir in cocoa and sweetener until blended, then place into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
3. If desired, heat in the microwave for 30 seconds - 1 minute before stirring in vanilla.
4. Otherwise, add vanilla to cold pudding and enjoy right from the fridge (my fave way)!

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 140.2

Total Fat: 9.1 g

Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 45.6 mg
Total Carbs: 18.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 11.1 g
Protein: 4.8 g

And finally, soup. Ah yes, the grand catch-all of the kitchen. Basically if you throw anything into a pot with a decent amount of liquid and cook it enough, anything can be slurped off a spoon and called soup! This is spicy - perfect for when you have an ice pack slapped to your face 20 hours a day - and I added a ton of garlic (yum!) because of it's antiseptic properties... plus the fact it just tastes darn good!

Black Bean Tamale Soup

Serves 2 very generously

½ large sweet onion, diced

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 cups vegetable broth
1 ½ cups water
2 oz canned diced green chiles, drained
8 oz can salt-free tomato sauce
1 cup (about ½ a 19-oz can) cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup dry polenta
Zest of ½ lime
½ tbsp lime juice

1. In a large pot over medium heat, saute onions in a splash of water for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add garlic and continue to cook until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant.
3. Stir in chili powder, oregano and smoked paprika. Stir to completely combine.
4. Add broth, water, chiles, tomato sauce and beans, stirring well.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook over low for 15 minutes.
6. If desired, transfer half of the mixture to a blender and puree before returning to the pot.
7. Add ketchup, polenta and lime zest.
8. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
9. Add lime juice and serve.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 264.0
Total Fat: 1.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 2,231.8 mg
Total Carbs: 52.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 11.0 g
Protein: 11.6 g

Have a happy New Year, everyone!

[Not] Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake

There were plums and prunes and cherries,

There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too

There was nutmeg, cloves and berries

And a crust that was nailed on with glue

There were caraway seeds in abundance

Such that work up a fine stomach ache

That could kill a man twice after eating a slice

Of Miss Fogarty's Christmas cake.

I honestly think that my favourite song of the holiday season is Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake - specifically the rendition done by Sharon, Lois and Bram. I think it stems back from my childhood Christmas Eves when my parents, my little sister (who was barely a year old when the special started running) and I would curl up on the couch in our PJs with hot chocolate, coffee and a big plate of shortbreads, and sing away to our hearts' content. As the years went by and the show finally wrapped and faded away, we still catch ourselves wishing that we had a DVD of the special (all I can find is VHS!).

My dad is still the only person I know of who openly admits he enjoys traditional fruitcake. I'm talking about the doorstop logs of way too colourful fruit and nut chunks held together by something more akin to paper mache paste than batter. He is also probably the world's biggest fan of mincemeat - every year my mom and I would use the scraps of dough from a day's worth of apple pies and re-work them into tart shells, filling them with a bottle of mincemeat from the grocery store and presenting them to my dad (setting a few aside for Santa, of course! It's become the tradition now for me to be the tart-baker, and because I'm crazy like that I make my own mincemeat for them too. Last year's batch even won me a contest! However, since we hardly had any tomatoes this year (let alone spare greenies!), I looked for another formula.

And as things go, I found not one but two projects when I started flipping through one of last year's bargain-book-bin finds: The Best of Food: Marion Kane's Favorite Recipes from the Toronto Star. A vegan mincemeat recipe was there, and looked wonderful in it's own right, but on the very next page was something called Cheater's Fruitcake. What made it a "cheat", I suppose, was the use of jarred mincemeat in place of the traditional mix of spices, fruit and vegetables you would normally add to the Christmas cake.So, if you think of it, I toiled for the mincemeat in order to cheat with the fruitcake!

And what a fruitcake this turned into: while most "large" creations of it's kind average around the 5 lb mark, mine topped out at just over 6! This gigantic spice, fruit and nut concoction took over my biggest (11 inch) springform pan (that's a Canadian dime in the above photo), and took well over two hours to bake. It is the heaviest single object I think I've ever made - and though I skipped the royal icing and marzipan (nobody in my family likes it!) I'm sure that that sucker will take a good 6 months or so to nibble through!

Of course, like with all good pie fillings, I wound up with much more mincemeat than I needed for the cake - but my efforts were graciously taken by a combination of my professors and a children's charity function that was taking donations. Next year I may well make extra and can it for later, since I'm sure my dad won't mind too much if I keep on the tradition.

Mizz Rs Big Bad Mincemeat

Makes 5 cups

2 tbsp canola oil

4 shallots, diced

1 cup shredded red cabbage
2 ripe pears, diced (skin on)
2 apples, diced (skin on)
1 cup sultana raisins
3/4 cup currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup 100% cranberry juice
juice of 2 oranges
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup spiced rum
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbsp pine nuts
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup ground almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

1. Heat canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add shallots and cabbage, cook until very tender and fragrant, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Stir in pears, apples, raisins, currants, dried cranberries, cranberry juice, orange juice and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring.
4. Reduce heat to a simmer, add rum, brown sugar, molasses, orange and lemon zests, ginger, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans and ground almonds.
5. Cover and cook 20 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in cinnamon and cloves, cook (uncovered) 10 minutes longer.

*You can can this for shelf storage or freeze for later use if desired*

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 534.0
Total Fat: 19.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 21.4 mg
Total Carbs: 85.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 7.2 g
Protein: 5.5 g



Mizz Rs Big Bad Christmas Cake
Serves 32, easy
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
360 g (12 oz) lowfat silken tofu, pureed
2 tbsp water
3/4 cup slivered almonds
3 apples, shredded
1/2 cup maraschino cherries
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tbsp cocoa
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups of "Mizz R's Big Bad Mincemeat"

1. Preheat oven to 275F, grease a 10" springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and honey.
3. Add tofu and water, blending well.
4. Stir in almonds, apples and cherries.
5. In another bowl combine the flours, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, 5 spice and baking soda.
6. Alternating with the mincemeat, stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture.
7. Spread into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
8. Bake for 2 hours, then cover top with foil and continue baking another 30-40 minutes.
9. Cool completely in the pan, then unmould and wrap in rum-soaked cheesecloth. Wrap again in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 5-7 days, or freeze up to 3 months.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 173.1
Total Fat: 6.5 g
Cholesterol: 7.6 mg
Sodium: 34.8 mg
Total Carbs: 26.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.2 g
Protein: 3.3 g

From Pallid Gold to Russet Royalty

These days our household's main cooking and eating focus has been all about using up the leftovers Remember my huge apple picking expedition back in October? Well, after eating, and eating (and eating!) more tiny Golden Russets than I care to remember, we still had ourselves a good lot of them sitting in our basement cantina. While they weren't moulding or even bruised, they were beginning to get a wee bit past their fresh-eating prime. Ironically, looking back on October's post, one of the first things I did with the bevy of Russets was to make the same thing I did to finish the harvest... butter!

Normally, Russets are not the first fruit that comes to mind when it comes to making any sort of smooth sauce or puree type of recipe. Aside from out-of-hand eating, usually the only thing that's universally reccommended for them is making cider. But you know what? I don't have a cider press hanging out in my garage (nor do I want to give my stepdad any more ideas - he just came home from Boxing Week sales with our *third* record turntable - and we don't use the other two!) and at the time I was working with all these babies I didn't even have a blender - that came to me Christmas morning! So it was either apple sauce or more apple muffins or cakes than our freezer and friends could ever take. Yeah... I thought sauce sounded good too.

This time, I was more invested in using up the near 2 1/2 lbs of apples we had laying around than in adding extras like sweet potatoes or other fruits (though come to think of it we have a good deal of frozen peaches sitting around right now!), so I went for purity. Even though apple butter sounds like a crazy intensive process - and it is if you make it the traditional way - I took Kevin's method of oven-roasting his way to applesauce and went a step further, returning the blended puree to the casserole dish and baking it down into a thick, caramelly velvet. A squeeze of lemon juice and a dash of cinnamon finished it off before I spooned the slightly cooled spread into a clean jar and stuck it into the fridge. Of course, you can add sugar, maple syrup, honey or whatever you wish to your mixture... or even go whole hog and can the results. For me, though, the two cups this made were not worth the canning process - especially since the jar would just get opened that night!

Roasted Apple Butter

Makes about 2 cups

2 lbs 5 oz (1050g) apples (any kind), peels left on, chopped roughly

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar or sweetener**

**Add 104 calories and 27g carbs per cup of apple butter if you add sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Toss apples and lemon juice in a large casserole dish.
3. Cover and roast for 2 hours, until apples are extremely soft.
4. Allow to cool slightly, then add apples and any liquid to a food processor and puree completely, making sure peels are finely ground.
5. Stir in cinnamon and sweetener (if using), add back to the casserole dish.
6. Re-cover and bake another 1 1/2 hours, then remove the lid and bake a further 30-40 minutes, until dark brown and very thick.
7. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 6 months.

Amount Per Cup
Calories: 309.8
Total Fat: 1.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 83.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 14.2 g
Protein: 1.0 g

Hallelujah

So, did we all survive the torture Hell festivities of the past few days? Hanukkah, Eid, Divali, Solstice and Christmas are over and done with for another year, while Kwanzaa is just beginning and the holy day of Ashura is tomorrow. The holidays are always a fairly rough time for me physically as well as emotionally, but with the support of my friends who are able and willing to lend a (virtual) ear and shoulder to cry on if I need it I'm glad to say I made it through another round!

I don't mind telling you all this now, and hopefully you don't mind knowing, but over the past year I've been working with a therapist to address several anxiety and depression related issues I have. It's been by far one of the greatest things to have happened to me since falling ill, and regardless of the stigma that comes with the "mental help" I'm seeking, I know I am the better for it! My counsellor, as an added bonus, is a bona fide foodie in his own right, and more often than not my counselling sessions become more rounds of "brain dumping" - I always leave there feeling about 20 times lighter than when I went in! Of course we talk about "serious" stuff too, but the fact that there's a shrink out there that's even in the same stratosphere as me is a total plus!

We also share another common link - J.R. (the counsellor) and I - food allergies! While my interest is purely selfish, seeing as I'm the only one in my immediate family with them (excepting my sister's apparent problem with something in cured ham), J.R.'s adult son was just diagnosed with four serious food allergy triggers to common items... dairy, tree nuts, peanuts and soy. They're coping extremely well (mostly) on their own, really, but while the dairy, tree nuts and peanuts have become fairly easy to avoid commercially or replace in home baking, the soy has proven to be more of a challenge. Soy is everywhere in prepared products - canned soup and processed cheese products as a thickener or texturizing agent, as the shortening in pastry crusts and cookies, even some cereals have soy protein in them thanks to their "fortification". The real kicker for this guy though is his sweet tooth. J.R. jr. (for lack of a better name!) apparently has a penchant for dark chocolate - not a problem with just the dairy and nut allergies, but soy lethicin is used in almost every chocolate bar product as an emulsifier. Aside from a very select handful of companies making dairy and soy free chocolates (mostly web-based), the only solid form I've found that's soy free is Baker's Unsweetened blocks.

When I heard about the allergy saga from J.R., I immediately became consumed with figuring out a rich, somewhat sinful chocolate treat that his son could eat safely. Butter, coconut oil and shortening were on the no-no list obviously, as was my usual go-to egg replacer of silken tofu. Now, his son can eat eggs, but I try to avoid them in my baking because my family goes through a carton of 18 a week without any baking, and I don't want to leave them in a lurch by using 4 of them in a brownie recipe! However, I found the inspiration for my answer in the pages of Lindsay's blog Happy Herbivore, where she wrote about her version of the (now infamous) black bean brownies! Having already made her recipe verbatim twice before (and oh my God is it delicious!), I brought some of the goodies in to be "judged" before Christmas. While they were rated as delicious by both J.R. and his son, his daughter didn't like the banana flavour, and they all thought the chocolate could be a bit more pronounced. Nobody knew about the beans, though, and they never suspected it either (though I did let J.R. in on it when I gave him the tweaked recipe!).

So while enjoying one of Lindsay's originals myself (actually, I realized later that I doubled the cocoa in hers as well by accident!), I set about re-writing the formula for their tastes. First, I doubled the recipe to make a 9x13" pan, then doubled the cocoa powder again (I used an extra dark kind too) to make a total 1 cup of it. Then, for even more chocolate (because really, how could you not?) I tossed in a couple soy-safe unsweetened blocks of solid chocolate, and amped up the richness with coffee. What would have equated to eight eggs in the doubled recipe (four bananas) became a rather interesting blend of ingredients, though. I did add a single banana (unripe though, to give the "body" but not the flavour), but then I used a helping of home made apple butter to replace another egg, and two "flax eggs" as well. Finally, just to be on the "safe" side, I added a real egg. Thankfully, he's not allergic to those, so at least I did have the option! Having run out of my tiny bottle of agave nectar, I used honey, which worked out fine too.

The result? Well, it wasn't a HH creation for sure, but it was definitely welcomed by the recipients - sometimes we all need is a little bit of sugar in our lives!

J.R. Jr.'s Brownie Bars
Serves 24
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/3 cup hot coffee
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
3 3/4 cups cooked black beans
1 banana
1/3 cup apple butter
1 egg
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup dark cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
2 oz rolled oats (I used certified GF oats, you can use instant too - 2 packets)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, line a 9x13" pan with parchment and lightly grease.
2. Whisk together the flaxseed and coffee, let stand 5 minutes.
3. Combine all the ingredients, except the oatmeal, in a food processor.
4. Blend until completely smooth, scraping the sides of the processor as needed.
5. Pulse in the oatmeal.
6. Bake 35-40 minutes.
7. Chill in the fridge before slicing for best results. 

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 125.5
Total Fat: 2.4 g
Cholesterol: 8.9 mg
Sodium: 31.3 mg
Total Carbs: 25.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.5 g
Protein: 4.2 g