Cornbread Never Ceases to Make Me Smile :)

Codename: Cornbread

I am a cornbread freak!

I worked at Boston Market when I was 17, and after every shift, I would take a dozen cornbread home and eat them on the days I didn’t work. I was addicted…

Likewise, I love cornbread so much, that at one point, my nickname amongst my friends was indeed “cornbread”

So yeah…

Today felt like a good day to make some cornbread and eat it with some chili.

So let’s get to it!

First things first

I like pretty much everything in my life to be sweet enough to rot my teeth just by glancing in its general direction.

That being said, if you like your cornbread to be really corny (bad jokes and all) I don’t suggest you add sugar to the butter glaze at the end,

You might also want to just stick with regular kernel corn, not creamed corn.

However, you are able to appreciate the finer things in life (did you ever try cornbread topped with melted butter and honey? It  -was- to die for, and I was known to eat a whole pan of it by myself, in one sitting) then you will adore these yummylishious treats because they taste buttery and honey sweet

Mix together

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar (you could actually do away with this altogether)

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Then add

2 flax eggs (2 tbs. of ground flax whisked with 6 tbs. of water)

1 cup milk alternative

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 medium can of creamed corn (or regular corn, or frozen corn, or fresh corn, you get the picture)

Mix altogether, but be sure not to over mix

And I like to make mine into cornbread muffins (because I’m obsessed with muffins too) but you could definitely do it the traditional way in an cast iron skillet or a normal baking pan)

Anywho, after you’ve nestled them in the baking contraption of your choice, melt together

1 tbs. Earth Balance

And 1-2 tbs. sugar (I used my ginger syrup since it reminds me of honey)

And pour spoonfuls of the mixture unto each muffin

Then bake in a 425 degree oven for about 13 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested)

Let cool and then enjoy either by themselves, or with some chili…

Speaking of chili

Today’s lunch was so so so easy!

I popped some cornbread in the oven

Opened up a can of chili

Warmed it

And enjoyed!

I’m so domesticated :P

Best Breakfast Ever!

Yummmmmmy

Oatmeal and Quinoa hot cereal with pecans/dried cranberries/ground flax/sliced almonds/and hazelnut milk,

soy yogurt

my bread with black currant preserves

and a bannaner

I'm so full :)

Don't Eat These Muffins if You have a Scheduled Drug Test

Spotty Muffins

I love muffins,

Can you tell yet?

I also love Costco…

Yes, there is a point to me telling you that.

You see, Costco has a bakery, and it is amazing,

And they have COLLOSAL muffins that are sooo good

And my favorite, are their almond/poppy seed muffins.

I dislike lemon poppy seed muffins

But I adore those almond ones,

So, here we are!

These muffins are a pretty dang good comparison of the ones at Costco,

They’re unbelievably moist and taste surprisingly buttery (without the butter, duh)

The only thing you might have a hard time finding is the vegan sour cream (though I’ve found some at my local Kroger, and then of course health food stores like Sprouts.)

Anywho,

First, mix your dry ingredients

2 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

And set aside.

Then, cream together these

1/2  cup Earth Balance

1/4  cup vegetable oil

1  1/4  sugar

After its nice and creamy looking, add these

2 tbs. ground flax seeds whisked with 6 tbs. of water

(whisk in separate bowl then add to mixer)

1  1/2 cup sour cream (I used a whole 12 oz. package of Tofutti Sour Supreme)

3 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend really really well, then add

2 tbs. poppy seeds

And mix in well.

Then, gradually add in your dry ingredients and fold in until all blended. Do not over mix!

Mmmmmh, looks yummy already!

Then, spray or line your muffin cups,

Fill about 2/3 full

And if you’re like me,

Top with some slivered almonds

And bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

YUM!

These are prefect to grab when running out the door in the morning :)

Happy Eating!

MMMMMMMH.....Carbs

I *Heart* Bread

I love bread

Especially fresh bread,

Even better is homemade bread…

What’s better than that?

Healthy homemade bread so that you don’t have to feel guilty about all those carbs.

Anywho,

I’ve been making loaves of bread each week so that I can have sandwiches to take to school and work, and it makes me feel domesticated to make my own bread, haha.

I use a bread machine,

If you don’t have one… get one!

Just kidding, no reason for you to go spend upwards of $200 if you really don’t want it.

Seriously, though, bread machines rock, and while you could make this bread by hand, it would:

A.       Not be as fun

B.       Be a lot harder

C.      I don’t know how long you would have to knead it/bake it and what temp your oven should be at. So this is one project I don’t suggest you make DIY.

Here’s the list of ingredients

Pretty basic stuff.

You can find the wheat gluten at your local grocery store, next to the yeasts.

The Quinoa and seeds are optional and only add more nutrition to the bread. You can hardly tell the seeds are there at all, and my only complaint about the Quinoa (I used flakes) is that they’re rather chewy, so I’m going to grind them up first next time.

Alright,

Pour 13 oz. of warm water (I get my water from the tap and then heat it for around a minute or two to make sure it’s not cold)

3 tbs. molasses

3  5/8 cups whole wheat flour

5 tsp. vital wheat gluten

1 1/2  tsp. salt

2 tsp. yeast (make sure it hasn’t expired)

1/3 cup flax meal (ground up flax seeds)

1 cup Quinoa (again, it would be better to grind this up as well)

1/4 cup wheat berry seeds

4 oz. roasted/unsalted/hulled sunflower seeds

Here you can see all the yummyness before its mixed in

Then, simply turn on the bread machine,

Select the whole wheat cycle (or the closest thing to it)

“light” for baking preference

And press start! (if you have a bread machine, and will be making this recipe, you can let me know in the comments what kind of settings yours has and we can figure it out together… and if your bread turns out terrible, you can blame me)

Now, I’m going to tell you something rather endearingly embarrassing about myself:

I am easily entertained,

I love watching the bread machine do its thing…

And I even took pictures

(I’m just going to show you one, so that you don’t think I’m completely pathetic)

I also enjoy watching paint dry

And shampooing carpets…

Back to bread,

Once it’s done baking and cooling, take the bread out, remove the blade thingy, slice, and enjoy!

It makes the best toast (even better with black currant preserves, just sayin)

And an even better PB&J (I HATE peanut butter and jelly! HATE HATE HATE! But I love it when it’s on this bread)

Flapjacks Hearty Enough for a Lumberjack

The Yummiest and Scrumptious Pancakes (Flapjacks) You Have ever had!

So, I haven’t updated in  awhile.

I won’t make any excuses,

Just say that I’m sorry,

And that I should be back in the kitchen and baking with a frenzy now.

This morning I made pancakes

And they were delicious,

And very filling (I had four, everyone else was unable to eat more than three)

Anywho

These are packed with protein and heart-healthyness and it’s a large enough batch for you to freeze them and then have them for a quick breakfast during the week.

And

They are such a breeze to make!

Seriously, this is the lineup of ingredients:

Nothing weird,

Nothing hard to find,

If you don’t have the whole wheat pastry flour, do half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour. Or, you can just use all purpose flour, it really doesn’t matter.

Firstly, mix

6 c. of your favorite milk substitute

(I recently discovered Hazelnut milk and boy oh boy is it yummy!)

And

2 c. applesauce

(I use the cinnamon kind, but you could use the “no added” sugar kind to be more healthful)

Then, mix your dry ingredients

8 c. whole wheat pastry flour

8 tbs. baking powder

4 tsps. Salt

About 2-3 c. assorted chopped nuts (I used pecans, walnuts, and almond slivers)

About 2 c. raisins (or other dried fruit)

I also added quite a bit of flaxseed meal,

but that’s because it’s my hobby to add flaxseeds to anything and everything I can

Then, add in the wet ingredients, and stir stir stir!

If it’s unbearably thick, add more applesauce.

Pour about ¼ c or ½ c of the batter onto a heated and oiled skillet, and then sprinkle about a teaspoon of brown sugar on the top of each pancake and let it melt a little bit until you’re ready to flip them

Judge their doneness when little bubble start to form close to the middle of the pancake and the bottom edges seem firm. Then flip.

If the pancakes are too thick and gooey for your liking, thin the batter with more applesauce.

Place in a huge pile and serve!

You don’t really even need anything to top them with, but I put applesauce on mine and it was yummy yummy

Mmmmmmh, don’t they look good?

Triple-Chocolate-Cheesecake

Triple-Chocolate-Cheesecake (or as my grandma calls them, “Chocolate Adventures”)

Guess what time it is!!!!!!

Chocolate time!

There is never not a good time for some chocolate,

So thus, it is always chocolate time…

That is my daily dose of wisdom,

Bask in it

Let it sink in your soul…

Feel enlightened?

Now you are ready to make some vegan-chocolate-cheesecake

Let’s begin

First things first, strain your tofu, because it is one slimy sucker and if you fail to get it anything less than mostly dry, it will turn your whole creation into a big pile of yuck!

Now, if you are cool and hip enough to have a tofu strainer, by all means, use it!

I, however, am not cool enough to have something so awesome (though I am very seriously contemplating asking my boyfriend to get me one for Christmas) so instead, I used a homemade press/strainer/contraption thing, and it worked fairly well.

I used a plate, with the tofu on top, a bight thick pad of paper towels covering that, a small cookie sheet with 2-3 really heavy books

 You may want to change out the paper towels from time to time, and also switch which side of the tofu is up/down

Squish!

But you definitely want to do this first, because the longer you can dry up your tofu, the better.

Ugh, it looks so gross!

Moving on…

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

And then you're going to take these beauties

Put 3 cups of granola in a food processor (I had to grind up one cup at a time, because we have a tiny processor)

Melt ½ cup of Earth Balance and then add it, along with 2 tsp of sugar and 1 tbs of cacao powder to the granola and mix

And if its really really crumbly, add a teensy-weensy-insy-bintsy-of water so that its more crust like. Keep adding water until you think it’s right… but don’t add too much

Then, grease whatever pan(s) you are using (you can use a regular 8” spring form pan, or you can be like me and use 6 mini tart pans with cool removable bottoms) and press the crust into the pans. I used a handful and a half (haha, I’m so professional and accurate in the kitchen) and make sure the curst is even on the bottom and pressed up against the side a bit.

Then, pop em in the oven for about 6-10 minutes, until you can start smelling the yummy-granola goodness

Then, melt some chocolate (I used about a cup of Ghirardelli semi-sweet… but you could definitely use more) and spread it across the bottom of the crust.

I sprinkled some crushed almonds on top of the chocolate, but you don’t have too… I’m just kind of crazy and impulsive

They look good enough to eat already!

And I think you could stop now and eat them like that… like a cookie!

But that wouldn’t be very much fun, so let’s press on!

Now that your tofu is all drained,

Crumble it a bit and stick it in a blender and whiz it as much as you can. It will be difficult to get it very smooth since that’s the only thing in the blender, but don’t despair! It will be alright in just a moment more

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

Now, one by one add these to the tofu, blending after each addition

You want to blend it each time to make sure you whiz it as much as possible so that there are no nasty chunks of nastyness

1 c. chocolate milk (almond, soy, rice, etc)

-whiz-

½ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

-whiz-

½ c. sugar

-whiz-

Splash of vanilla

-whiz-

Whole package of Toffuti Better Than Cream Cheese

-whiz-

1 carton of vanilla yogurt (soy, coconut, etc)

-whiz-

-whiz-

-whiz whiz-

Make sure it all looks good and mixed in,

Then pour it into your pans so that it’s all nice and evenly distributed

And then, if you want, you can decorate them now, before you even bake them, by drawing designs with chocolate syrup

Put them in the oven, and bake for about 20 minutes (mini-pans) and about 30-60 minutes for a regular pan.

They are done when the top seems solid, the sides being more solid then the middle

Take out and leave it on the counter/stove and let them cool for about and hour,

Then wrap them up and put in the fridge to chill for at least 6 hours (but I like to give mine at least 12-24 hours… the longer they chill, they better they will be)

Pick Your Poison