Strawberry Almond Bread...and a little post on Freedom :)

Sometimes I have a craving for something I can't place; I'll have it for weeks before I actually figure out what it is I've been craving. Ever have that happen to you? Maybe it hasn't happened with food, but with things far less tangible though just as necessary for a healthy existence, like strength of mind with a heaping cup of fearlessness thrown in for added flavor. Those are two ingredients that play the same role in life as salt does in a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Without them, life's just flat and bland - you know something's missing, even when it's only a pinch.

I'll admit, there are moments when I need more than a simple dash of fearlessness and strength of mind to spice up my life, more like a gallon! Thankfully, I still have a mustard seed of faith lying around somewhere; it keeps me going when the reserves are low. But I really love it when I come across an inspiring blog post, that also revitalizes me and gives me a reality check. Take this post written by Oscar of Freshtopia, for instance. Here is a man with enough strength and fearlessness to get him through the hardest of knocks, like a brain cancer diagnosis.

What reveals his strength? There's enough evidence in that blog to safely say he's a loving man who truly understands what it means to be free, even when inflicted with an illness that would make most feel physically limited and emotionally defeated. So what does that have to do with freedom? Everything. The worst oppression is the kind that's self-inflicted, losing your personal freedom to negative thoughts and bitterness. The first sign of this? A mentally insatiable craving for something more; feeling like life owes you something, and focusing on that so much that you lose yourself and the ability to love in the process.

Freedom comes with acknowledging your blessings in the midst of what seem to be curses, and that's fairly impossible without strength of mind. Reading Oscar's post made me think of a kind of independence that all of us should strive for. Happy 4th of July!

...and because this is a food blog ;), here's a recipe for some tasty Strawberry Almond Bread!

Cupcakes and Biscuits: A Carb Lover's Heaven :)

(This week's dish for "Traveling the World One Plate at A Time" is Italian. A friend let me use a recipe from her significant other's grandmother's collection, but I want to make sure it's ok to put the recipe on here first...so I probably won't be posting the dish until later this week :)

I kind of went crazy with baking this weekend...I think it's because I secretly wish I had 60 batches of cookies to bake, but now that I've jumped over that hurdle without skinning my knees too badly (there were a few accidents, but I survived them!), I have a greater desire to bake than I did before the cookie baking task was assigned to me. My husband is very happy with that, even if I do turn the kitchen into a floury disaster zone every now and then. Thankfully, I had success with Celine's (Have Cake, Will Travel) Lemon Rolls with Rosewater Filling recipe. Though I couldn't get ahold of any rosewater (I gave them a vanilla twist instead), they were still a delicious and comfort-foody dessert that hit the spot. I've never even thought of making anything other than cinnamon rolls, so it was refreshing coming across this lemony recipe. She also has a recipe for pumpkin rolls posted that I plan on making later this week, how delicious!

Saturday night, after watching the very cute movie, Ratatouille (it's such a sweet movie -- Remy reminded me so much of my witty guinea pig, Yoshi!) I decided to bake up a batch of strawberry cupcakes. Now, these are not your ordinary strawberry cupcakes, they're much more than that! With strawberry filling hidden in the center to surprise you after the first bite, and a moussy frosting that's light but fruity and flavorful, any cupcake fan will fall for these yummy and appropriately pink sweet treats. You'd never guess they were dairy and egg free -- these vegan cupcakes are close to perfect...but the frosting is kind of hard to work with, particularly if you don't have much experience working with vegan butter (aka margarine that's hydrogenated oil-free). I'm quite inexperienced! Now here's where I start making a mess of the kitchen and get frustrated as a result of my ignorance :). (Whenever I start feeling like I've made a major mistake in the kitchen, the thought of throwing my failed "creations" away really disturbs me. Yes, if it tastes horrible, I throw it out, but even that bothers me. I have this idea that food turns into money as soon as it hits the trash bag. I hate wasting!)

This is what I discovered after making a few mistakes:

1. I added way too much batter to the cake pans, and sadly, these little cupcakes sink in the middle when that happens. Next time, I'll follow the cupcake rule (usually I just make huge cupcakes that rise easily -- can't do that with these)!

2. It's best to refrigerate the frosting over night. Vegan butter melts very quickly at room temperature. Also, next time I'll refrigerate the cupcakes as soon as they're frosted!

3. These cupcakes darken quite a bit as they bake, so next time I'll be sure to check on them more ofen; they don't take 20 minutes like the instructions say (more like 15).

I decided to take a break from the cupcakes after I realized that I was getting more frosting on myself than on their sunken tops.

I opened my fridge this morning and, to my surprise, the frosting was the perfect texture! I took a bite of one of the poorly frosted cupcakes and they were delicious -- I even ate one (and a half) before breakfast :). Thanks to my husband who suggested that I let the frosting cool in the fridge over night, these cupcakes were saved :). Oooh, and as he was keeping me company in the kitchen (watching me turn into someone resembling the Pillsbury Doughboy's sister, because I was getting covered in the powdered sugar I was using to try to thicken the frosting) he surprised me with a gift :)! He ordered me a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and My Sweet Vegan! I'm looking forward to baking some very tasty cupcakes with the help of these two fantastic books that my sweet husband ordered me.

So if you'd like to make a batch of these tasty cupcakes, you can click here for the recipe.

If this entry is entitled Carb Lover's Heaven, it should have at least 2 carby recipes, right? So here it is...

Well, I came across another recipe online this weekend that I didn't have much luck with... I've been trying to find a great biscuit recipe that isn't loaded with butter and shortening. I still haven't found one worth holding on to. Sadly, I had to throw away the biscuits from the about.com recipe I used (I could literally taste the baking powder, the after-taste was even worse). Thankfully, I had enough energy left over afterward to make another batch. This time, I was determined to create my own recipe. I remembered that a dumpling recipe I used in the past called for canola oil, so I thought I just might be able to use that very ingredient in the biscuit recipe I'd be putting together. It worked! I did use some butter, just enough to give the biscuits a buttery taste... here's the recipe for these low-in-saturated-fat biscuits :).

Lightly Buttered Buttermilk Biscuits

2 to 2 1/4 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 to 3 1/2 TBSP melted butter
¼ cup canola oil
¼ tsp salt

1 TBSP butter, for brushing

Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Remove biscuits from oven, use about 1 tbsp of butter to brush on all the biscuits. Bake for 5-7 more minutes at 350, until golden.

These taste great right out of the oven with a bit of honey or jam. Store them in a plastic container and they'll be ready for you to eat the next morning with breakfast. I bet homemade gravy would taste really good with these too!

Hearty Breakfast

I love making hearty, filling breakfasts on the weekends. My favorite meal of the day is definitely breakfast, especially when it consists of more than just cereal. For about a week I was craving hashbrowns, strange but true - there is something so wonderful about simple, salty little potato patties - so I made sure to add them to last Saturday's breakfast menu.


Here is the hashbrown recipe I used. I didn't follow it to the T (didn't include the onion), but they came out really tasty with salt and pepper.

Egg Sandwich Ingredients:

Toasted hot dog buns

A tiny bit of mayo to spread on the buns

Spinach

Tomato

Sweet onion and mushrooms sauteed in extra virgin olive oil

1-2 hardboiled eggs per sandwich

Cheese (to sprinkle on top)



Jose actually got up early to help me with breakfast on hashbrown day (he is not a morning person :)! It reminded me of the couple of times we cooked together while dating, it was so much fun! I thought it was so cute that he actually followed my recipe for french toast until he decided it needed to be "tweaked"; he added more cinnamon and about 1/4 cup of non-fat milk - it was delish. I'm glad I married a man who knows his way around a kitchen! Anyhow, on Sunday morning I made veggie egg sandwiches. We had a ton of left-over wheat hot dog buns from the day before, and I try to avoid wasting food, so I toasted the buns and used them for the sandwiches.

Always make time for breakfast! It'll give your metabolism and mind a wake-up call, even if the rest of you is still half asleep :).

The Perfect, Classic Buttermilk Pancake

Though I love baking, it wasn't until just last week that I realized buttermilk's significance; it really is an ingredient all bakers should have in their refrigerators at all times. The smell isn't exactly pleasant, but I can't imagine a tasty pancake recipe without it! I made a few batches of buttermilk biscuits last week (I still haven't "perfected" a healthy version of this typically butter-ridden, starchy morsel-this is why they aren't on the blog yet) and I loved the flavor and texture it gave the biscuits.

For a few months now, I've been making pancakes from scratch. I was happy with the recipe I came up with, but I knew there was something missing. I know many pancake recipes call for buttermilk, but I thought I could get away with not using it. To be honest, I was afraid that I'd buy a small container of it and have a lot left over, but that was before I realized that buttermilk really is a wonderful dairy product. Despite the stinky whiff I get in the mornings when I open up the small carton containing this curdled, yogurt-like substance, it really gets me jumping out of bed and running to the kitchen to prepare a batch of classic buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. Using buttermilk instead of regular milk gives the pancake a lighter, fluffier texture; if you choose to use milk instead, you'll find that the pancakes will be heavier. Personally, I'm a fan of the fluffy pancake, that's why I switched to buttermilk...and I will stop this dairy product advertisement now :).

I found this recipe on Key Ingredient, and though I don't know the name of the lovely gal who posted this recipe on her profile, I will give her credit by including it below...you need to try this recipe! In my opinion, pancakes are the perfect midnight snack...so you don't have to wait until breakfast to eat them!:

Sweet Potato Walnut and Cranberry Loaf

Yesterday, I steamed a large sweet potato to serve as a dinner side dish and had quite a bit left over today (it tastes so good steamed then drizzled with honey!). Loaded with vitamins C and A (check out the health benefits of this veggie here), sweet potato is one of my favorite veggies that also doubles as a healthy dessert. I love pumpkin bread, and because sweet potato's texture reminds me of pumpkin, I thought it might also serve as a nice bread base. I was right! This is a very hearty and harvesty, lightly sweetened bread that can be eaten alone or with your favorite bread topping.

Since this recipe was the result of a kitchen experiment, after I mixed all the ingredients together, I thought I might actually end up with cookies instead of bread. The dough was very thick. The last few bread doughs I threw together were more gooey in texture. So, I decided to first use some of the dough to make a few cookies before rolling it all up into a dough loaf. Well, the "cookies" came out very bready in texture, so I figured it'd be a good idea to proceed with the initial bread idea. The cookies came out very tender, and I wanted a much crispier bread. I added a few things to the outer layer, to create a sweet, golden, and crispy crust that would result from keeping it in the oven for almost an hour...and here are all the ingredients I used to make this filling bread:

3 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup sweet potato (first steamed or baked then mashed)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2-3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts

I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ones in another, then combined them in one bowl. Before baking the dough, I rolled/shaped it into a loaf and brushed the top with about 1 1/2 TBSP of butter. I then placed it in a loaf/bread pan and covered it with foil. I baked it for 20 minutes at 350, then took it out of the oven so that I could sprinkle some cinnamon and brown sugar on top (add however much you want). I removed the foil and put the loaf back in the oven for another 30 minutes. That's about it!

P.S. This new, cute layout was designed by Sharnee! Thanks for all your hard work!

Cinnamon French Toast

Jose and I celebrated Valentine's Day on the evening of the 13th this year (we're both not fans of crowds, so we decided to go out after work on Wednesday instead). We thought it'd be a sweet idea to pay Chez-Zee a visit (it's the restaurant where our tiny wedding dinner took place a few months ago). At the end of our meal, we ordered two tasty desserts, one of them being the award-winning Creme Brulee French Toast. It certainly lived up to its reputation, with its crispy edges and heavenly, sweet center.

Until today, I haven't been able to whip up the perfect batch of french toast. What resulted from my former french-toast making endeavors was usually some kind of soggy piece of bread with an overly-eggy coat, burned exterior, and gag-inducing taste. Somehow, the Creme Brulee French Toast gave me a tad bit of inspiration. As I studied the flavor and texture of the delectable dessert, the following reasons for my french toast failures occurred to me: There was obviously not enough spice in the egg concoction!; I used too much of the wrong kind of dairy; I should've cooked the toast over a much lower flame, for a longer period of time!

So these are the new ingredients that I added to today's successful french toast recipe!:
(this makes enough for about 3-4 slices of bread)
1/4 cup sweet condensed milk
1 1/2 tbsp softened butter
3 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp brown sugar
a pinch of salt
(I used 4 slices of honey oatmeal bread)

I cooked the french toast over a low flame for about 4 minutes on each side. This time, I covered it with a clear lid as it cooked. Using the lid and lower flame allowed the inside of the french toast to cook evenly before the exterior could brown. The sweet condensed milk is a great alternative to cream when it isn't available. As far as spices go, you can add what you like, but I looove cinnamon, brown sugar also adds a nice touch :). French toast is a breakfast treat that requires a little more patience than pancakes, I discovered, but it's definitely worth the wait. This particular recipe creates crispy and tender pieces of lightly sweetened french toast that are delicious, even without maple syrup...but, if you're ever in Austin, you should try Chez-Zee's Creme Brulee French Toast, it's truly the best :).

Valentine strawberry cupkins

If you note the title of this entry, it appears I might've made a mistake when entering the name of these little desserts. The truth is, they are, in fact cupkins-something between a cupcake and muffin (I wasn't sure whether to call them mufkins or cupkins :). They have a cakey texture, but they don't have all that sweet, rich frosting on top. Instead, I dressed them up with a few sprinkles. After the first bite, I realized I wasn't even missing the frosting because the strawberries add just enough texture and light sweetness to satisfy a sweet craving without getting a sugar rush afterward. If you want a low-fat dessert, these are the perfect treat. Their light and fruity taste also makes them a satisfying after-breakfast snack. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped strawberries
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/8 cup soy milk (any other milk is fine)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8-1/4 tsp orange zest

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes. I don't remember the exact amount this recipe yields, but I think it was about 10-12 cupkins. It wasn't until after my husband and I inhaled the last few that I realized I didn't count how many there were to begin with :)! Hopefully you'll want to gobble them up just as fast.

blueberry oatmeal muffins

I really love baking with blueberries, but it seems whenever I get a blueberry muffin at just any bakery, they tend to taste a little artificial and overly sweet. There is a bakery here in Austin that has some of the best blueberry muffins I've ever had, though, it's called Russell's Bakery (their tag-line is "the best kept secret in Austin" and I think it's very appropriate). Russell's also has a few other great desserts, so if you're ever in the area, you'll definitely want to check this bakery out.

Anyhow, yesterday Jose was in the mood for some "munchies", but he didn't find anything appealing wandering through the grocery store aisles. I told him I'd make him some blueberry muffins, and he was happy with how they came out. He described them as light and mildly sweet; he also mentioned how he loved the way the blueberries popped in his mouth--I agree with his description. We purchased a store-brand bag of blueberries because Jose actually prefers these over the organic ones! Maybe it's because they're from Texas, so they're bigger and juicier than the other ones we've purchased before. If you're from Texas, then you're familiar with the HEB brand. As a former resident of California, I can easily claim that HEB is much better than most of the major grocery stores in CA, except for Trader Joe's :). The prices are very reasonable--that might just be because the store is located in Texas, and this state tends to be a lot cheaper than Cali... Anyway, I'll stop with the advertisements and post the blueberry oatmeal muffin recipe. Try this out, they are really delicious muffins...and I only used 2 1/2 TBSP Canola oil, so they're fairly healthy and low-fat...but you'd never know!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins:
2 Cups flour
3/4 Cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup nonfat milk
2 TBSP sour cream
2 eggs
3/4 TBSP honey
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup blueberries

This recipe makes about 10 standard-sized blueberry muffins--they'll bake in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, a little more or less depending on your oven/location.

fluffy soymilk sunrise cake

Lately I've been experimenting a lot with soymilk baking. It might sound strange, but I'm using it as an almost entire replacement for butter and/or canola oil. Usually I still use a little butter, because it really helps the taste buds pick up the flavor of the baked good, but soymilk actually works great--and you can't taste the "soy" flavor!

A few days ago I made some creamy double chocolate powder puff cookies, I used soymilk, then I took them to the school where I work with 4th grade girls, and they loved them! This is how I know whether or not something is good and not just healthy: when a bunch of 9 year olds can eat a baked good and not even think twice about it being healthier than the desserts they'd normally eat! One thing I noticed about baking with soymilk that I really love is that it makes things very soft and moist, I even think it tends to work better than butter in that department. But why don't you try this recipe out and tell me what you think!

This is a cake I called a soymilk sunrise cake because I think it would be perfect in the morning around breakfast, it could easily replace the sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, and even donuts. It's a lot healthier, not to mention faster/easier to whip-up, and it even has a good amount of protein from the soymilk and eggs. This recipe only makes a small amount (enough batter to fill a 9" pan), but that's the perfect amount for a small gathering or family get-together at breakfast time (or any time, really). It's also good with tea (that's how I had it), and tastes pretty nice with strawberry or any other fruity jam on top. Of course, it especially tastes good with powdered sugar, one of my favorite dessert toppings.

So here's the recipe for this very fluffy, lightly sweet soymilk cake (Preheat oven to 350)
In one large mixing bowl you can add then mix these ingredients:
1 cup cake flour (it doesn't have to be cake, but it comes out much better this way)
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk (the Soy Dream brand is the best tasting!)
2 TBSP sour cream
2 TBSP salt-free butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Bake for 26-30 minutes in a 9" cake pan, then it's done! See how easy that is!

harvest bread

This is fairly easy to make, and it bakes in about 45 minutes. This is the first bread I've made without using a recipe. I wanted to make something new, sweet, and carby so I looked around my kitchen for ingredients that would work well together in a bread. I'm happy with the results (and how it smelled up the apartment with a pleasant wintery/fall scent), Jose thinks there should be nuts, but I wasn't feeling very nutty yesterday--which is surprising considering how much I was cooking/baking :D. Anyway, this bread is very moist and falls apart if you try serving it right out of the oven without letting it cool for about 20 minutes...I was impatient, so that's how I found this out :). It's a good idea to store it in the fridge, both as a way of helping it cool and keep.

Harvest bread recipe:
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 TBSP sour cream
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP canola oil
2 TBSP apple butter
2/3 cups unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup raisins
1 medium fuji apple, chopped (about 1 1/4 cup)
2 eggs

I baked this in a bread pan for 45 minutes (in the pre-heated 350 degree oven). I also made sure to cover the pan with foil for the first 30 minutes, then let it bake uncovered for the last 15. While it was baking, I made a glaze which includes simmering the following ingredients together in a sauce pan for a few minutes (about 5):
1 TBSP butter
3 TBSP apple butter
3-4 TBSP apple juice
1 1/2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP powdered sugar
After the bread cooled, I covered it with this glaze...then we ate it :).

soft and Light Cinnamon Banana Pancakes (Homemade)

I've made pancakes before, but I wasn't 100% pleased with how they came out the time before this. The taste was right on target, but the texture wasn't pancakey enough for me, probably because I used oil instead of butter. So with a little experimentation, I finally came up with a recipe that I am 99% pleased with, because there's always room for improvements...but Jose said he couldn't think of anything about these pancakes that needed changing. I am definitely open to suggestions, though.

These pancakes are very tender and soft, not tough and thick at all, and they have a very mild banana flavor; I didn't want to overload them with a heavy banana taste so I only added 1 small, slightly over-ripe banana (a little brown on the outside). I also put in a tiny bit of cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkled the pancakes with those two ingredients as well--what pancakes don't taste good with cinnamon and sugar? Anyway, here's the recipe. No need for instant pancake mix in a box anymore, these are so fast and easy to make...and they won't leave you feeling like you just consumed a couple of bricks after eating them :).

1 Cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 TBSP salt-free butter
1 slightly over-ripe, mashed banana

These ingredients can be whipped up in one bowl and cooked over a low-medium flame. The recipe yields 10 small-medium sized pancakes. Unlike most pancakes that require maple syrup to taste good, these pancakes taste better with just a few sprinkles of cinnamon and sugar, along with a small amount of butter. And if you don't like bananas, they still taste good without them, or you can even add blueberries or extra spices (like 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice would work well with this recipe).