Breakfast ruts | lentil burgers | Goodwill finds

From elementary school through college, I never ate breakfast. I just couldn't handle anything in my stomach early in the morning. My appetite was fine — even hearty — the rest of the day, but NOT in the morning. Maybe it was the anxiety of school that affected my eating habits, but whatever the reason, breakfast didn't exist as a meal for me.

At some point I learned that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and took it to heart, and I've been eating breakfast ever since. BUT, breakfast tends to be my least creative meal of the day. I'm always in one breakfast rut or another. I'll go for long stretches eating only homemade granola, or only oatmeal, or only one kind of cold cereal. (That would be Nature's Path Organic Flax Plus Multibran Cereal (whew), to which I'm sadly addicted.) Well, when I recently had my back molar removed, I couldn't eat the usual crunchy flakes, and I fell into a new rut. Every morning I've been scarfing down bananas, blueberries and yogurt. You'd think I could at least change up the fruit, but nope, that's the nature of ruts — they stay the same.

I WILL change the fruit. I'll try. But at least I have changed the yogurt. Sometimes it's Whole Soy plain, but right now it's So Delicious Coconut milk yogurt in vanilla or plain. The first taste was weird, but now I love it. So I guess I'll be in a coconut milk yogurt rut for a while.

Two-year-old Miss E spent the night with us, and in spite of my own personal rut, I always like to have something special for her breakfast. She usually wants pancakes but I wanted to try the French toast recipe from 30-Minute Vegan, and I'm glad I did. It was fantastic. I made it with thick slices of wholegrain bread, and served it topped with blueberries and pure maple syrup. Of course, I also had yogurt with bananas and blueberries. :D

My son makes all sorts of things for breakfast (though not always at what one would consider the normal breakfast hour), and one day I was lucky enough to stumble upon some delicious tofu scramble with tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and kale.

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Dinner on a hot night

It was 96˚ as dinner was about to be prepared last night, but I'm not complaining. I've been wishing for temperatures like this to counteract the long months of dreary dampness. I'm not used to living sun-free for such long periods of time, and I love having the sunshine and heat. There wasn't much humidity so I didn't find the heat oppressive. That said, I also didn't want to slave over a hot stove for a long time or heat up the kitchen with the oven. What I wanted was lentil burgers, and since there was a lot of leftover quinoa in the refrigerator, I made lentil-quinoa burgers. Lentils cook really fast and the quinoa was already cooked. With the addition of chopped onion, carrots, fresh basil, paprika, chipotle powder, granulated onion, dry breadcrumbs and hickory-smoked salt, the burgers were easily thrown together and cooked on a cast iron pan. I ate mine in a sandwich with a little mustard, hot sauce and tons of salad greens on top.

The burgers were served with lightly steamed dinosaur kale and peppers. And salad.

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Latest Goodwill finds

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know I love thrift store shopping. I don't go that often (maybe every few weeks) but I usually find something I want (e.g. mandoline, bundt pan, popcorn popper, skirt). On our last trip to Goodwill my husband found an oak coffee table. We're living in a furnished rented house with a huge living room and not a lot of furniture, and we've been wanting a coffee table. For $14.99, we now have one. It's not the gorgeous round one I recently saw at Crate and Barrel, but it will do for a year. I also found a 3/4 sleeve black stretchy cotton Gap top which I love.

Carrot-ginger muffins with coconut flour

While my husband took the shopping list and actually shopped, I wandered around the food coop mesmerized by the packaging (graphic design research?) and vast array of available packaged products. I can remember when going to the coop meant scooping from big bulk bins. (The memory of trying to scoop from those bins while not dumping out the baby in my backpack is particularly vivid.) I rarely bought packaged stuff; I wanted basic ingredients like dried beans and grains. We also had our own small coop where we ordered and split huge bags of beans, grains and nuts, and large tubs of tahini and peanut butter. But Ken does the shopping now, (and a lot of cooking) and he's more into cans, bags and boxes. Staring at the amazing variety of packaged flours, my eye riveted on a bag of coconut flour. Just the sound - coconut flour - intrigued me. It sounded so tropical, so beachy, so smooth. "Mmmm," I was thinking as I grabbed it and headed for the cart, "wonder what I can make?"

I had all sorts of plans for chocolate things with coconut flour, but the day I decided to use my coconut flour was more of a muffin day. It was cloudy, windy and chilly, and muffins have a sunny, warming quality about them, don't you think? Besides, if I made a lot of muffins, I could freeze a bunch and have baked goods around for a while.

Coconut flour is very high in fiber and protein, low in carbohydrates and contains no gluten. It can be part of a mix of no-gluten flours when baking gluten-free. It can be added to smoothies and baked goods in smaller amounts to increase fiber. It also adds sweetness to baked goods so you can use less sugar. When not baking gluten-free, you can replace up to 20% of wheat flour with coconut flour. Coconut flour absorbs lots of liquid so you need to add extra liquid equal to the amount of coconut flour. (eg: substitute 1/2 cup coconut flour for 1/2 cup wheat flour and add an extra 1/2 cup liquid to the recipe) It's possible to use all coconut flour in certain recipes, but this seems to require using a LOT of eggs, which doesn't fit into my vegan diet. I'm not using it for gluten-free baking, just to add some extra taste, texture and fiber.

I decided to add coconut flour to a muffin recipe — and make carrot and ginger muffins. Because the coconut flour so readily absorbs liquid, the batter will be thick, but the muffins will be light, with a moist and almost creamy texture and gentle sweetness. I couldn't taste the coconut. The muffins were small, so don't be afraid to fill the tins. The recipe made 18 muffins.



Carrot and ginger muffins
Lightly grease muffin tins for 18 muffins
Pre-heat oven to 350˚F

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large carrot, finely grated
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup crystallized ginger, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Sift the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar together into a large bowl. Stir in the carrots and ginger to coat well with flour.
2. Mix together the juice, water, oil, vanilla.
3. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and fold in to incorporate all the flour. Do not over-mix.
4. Fill muffin tins nearly full.
   
5. Bake 20-25 minutes until done. (muffin tops will be springy.)
6. Remove muffins from pans and cool on wire rack. Can be frozen when cool.

Note: I froze the muffins and they still taste great when defrosted, but they seem to take a long time to defrost. I usually end up eating them half-frozen, and the texture is a little hard. I finally let one defrost completely, and the texture was creamy just like when it was fresh. Obviously it's best to make fresh muffins, but that's not going to happen around here as often as I'd like, so if its frozen or nothing, I'll take the frozen.

Quick post on my continuing affair with granola

Affair? Yes. I've fallen in love with granola. I've been making granola pretty regularly - I'm obsessed, actually - ever since I posted a recipe. I've revised the recipe slightly by adding a cup of raw walnuts, which toast up to crunchy perfection. I also mostly use regular rolled oats instead of instant (or a mix of both) and I've changed my mind about the chocolate chips. The first time I added them I thought it was daring — now I think it's necessary! Sometimes I add an extra cup of oats (7 instead of 6) so it will last a little longer, and I tried using dried apples instead of dates. Dates are better. I've gotten lazy about the stirring, too. I recommend stirring in from the edges every 10 minutes, but I only did it every 20 last time. I actually look forward to getting up and eating breakfast when the granola is in the cupboard. Who knew that was all it would take...



Buffy says hi

Granola

I love a good breakfast, but I always seem to get stuck in a breakfast rut of repetition. There's never enough time during the week to to do much besides slurp a bowl of dry cereal, and none of my imagined breakfasts for the weekend ever seem to happen. The most I ever manage is a bowl of oatmeal.
After basically eating the same cereal for about the last five years, a couple of weeks ago I finally burned out on dry cereal and couldn't seem to find one that tasted good. My husband brought home a box of super healthy (according to the box) granola but it tasted like it was made from the box with the addition of rock bits.
I decided it was time to make granola. That sounds so 70s, doesn't it? I miss those 70s granola days. As my husband went off to do food shopping at the coop, I asked him to get stuff that could go into granola. I didn't specify anything, so I ended up with some pretty basic ingredients, but granola is a very open-ended performance art, so it's hard to go wrong.

About to go into the oven

Ken brought home organic quick oats. Though I've only used regular rolled oats in the past, these worked just fine. He also brought dates, sunflower seeds, apple juice and wheat germ. Everything else was stuff I had in the pantry. You could use rolled barley, spelt or wheat instead of some of the oats. You could use walnuts, peanuts, etc., instead of all or some of the cashews. You could use sesame seeds for half of the sunflower seeds. You could use all dried apples,pears or other dried fruit instead of dates. (Use a clean kitchen scissors to cut the dried dates or other fruit into small pieces.) You could use peanut butter or cashew butter instead of almond butter. You can add chocolate chips. I added some Ghirardelli 72% cacao extra bittersweet chocolate chips for baking. Yikes. Anyway, this is the granola as I made it. (Just want to mention that the granola is mildly sweet — not sweet sweet like most commercial granolas. I don't like food to be extra sweet, so if you do, you may want to up the sweetener.)

Crunchy granola

• 6-7 cups quick oats or regular rolled oats, GF if needed
• 1 cup raw wheat germ, or GF hemp seeds
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 cup raw walnuts, in halves or pieces
• 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 cup apple juice
• 1/4 cup agave syrup (or maple syrup, or sorghum, or 1/2 cup rice syrup)
• 1/3 cup almond butter
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup non-dairy dark chocolate chips (optional)

1. Mix together the oats, wheat germ or hemp seeds, cashews, sunflower seeds and coconut in a large bowl.
2. Mix the apple juice, sweetener and almond butter in a small pot and warm over low heat, mixing to dissolve the almond butter. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.
3. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. I used my hands for this because the spoon was too slow.
4. Divide between two large baking pans and bake in a 325˚F oven for ABOUT 45 minutes. While it's baking, stir about every 10 minutes to toast evenly and to prevent burning.
5. When it turns golden brown, turn off the heat and allow to sit in the oven about 20–30 minutes to continue drying.
6. Remove from the oven and stir in the fruit. Let cool and stir in the chocolate chips if you dare. (It's breakfast, after all. Be sensible!) If you do add chocolate chips, really let the granola cool well before stirring in any chocolate or the chocolate will melt. Yes, it will.
7. When completely cool, store in an airtight container. 

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Dog pretending to be asleep

This is a dog with attitude. She knows perfectly well I'm there but she's refusing to look at me because somehow she knows I'm trying to practice using my new camera. And no, I'm not using a flash. She hates to have her picture taken, always has, and never smiles for the camera. But I love her anyway.

Avocado excess

Our CSA box contained 9 VERY ripe avocados with the admonition, "use right away." Yikes! Okay. I love avocados and was anxious to follow our farmer's directive immediately. It's so unusual to acquire avocados that are already ripe. It was early in the morning and I hadn't had breakfast yet so it seemed obvious that I had to have an avocado for breakfast. There was an opened package of corn tortillas in the refrigerator, fresh garden tomatoes on the counter and a container of black olives. Soooo...

The wok was on the stove and I used it to soften the tortillas. I heated them with a little spritz of olive oil, filled them with avocado, tomato, olives and salsa. Yum. I won't say how many of these I ate.

Pancakes with blueberry topping

Every once in a while I need pancakes. But does anyone really need another pancake recipe? No, I don't think so, but here's one anyway. I made these without looking at a recipe - no following directions to tax my bleary morning mind - and they are pretty basic. My husband and I both enjoyed the results. You could use maple syrup on your pancakes but I prefer blueberries.

First make the topping. It's basically the same as for the french toast post except this time I measured. Makes about two cups of not-very-sweet topping. (Pour the cold leftovers over your morning oatmeal tomorrow.)

Blueberry topping
1 cup organic apple juice
2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
2 teaspoons arrowroot plus 1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Heat juice and blueberries to boiling. Add arrowroot to water and stir to dissolve. Add to blueberries and bubble gently, briefly, until thickened. Turn off heat and add vanilla. I like this on the tart side but adding a tablespoon or two of maple syrup, agave nectar, or rice syrup will punch up the sweetness and enhance the flavor. If you like your topping thicker, use only 3/4 cup juice.

Pancakes - makes about 16 medium

• 1-1/2 cups soy milk
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon sucanot
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Put the soymilk and vinegar into the blender to sit for a minute and curdle. Add the rest and buzz a few times. Scrape down the sides. Don't over-blend or the pancakes could be tough. We don't want that. 
2. Heat a non-stick griddle until drops of water hiss. 
3. Pour the batter into 3 or 4 inch pancakes. When the edges begin to look dry and bubbles form on the surface, flip the pancakes and cook briefly until the bottom is golden. (Flours differ in moisture content so you may need to add a bit more liquid to get the right consistency.)

French toast for breakfast

What's come over me. I was lying in bed thinking about french toast and how I would make it if I weren't so lazy and the next thing I knew I was in the kitchen. No company, no kids — just two of us and I was pulling bread out of the freezer and grabbing for the blender.

First I made a simple topping starting with frozen wild blueberries (hey, it's winter) and apple juice, thickened with arrowroot. I didn't measure, sorry, but there was probably about 3/4 cup each of fruit and juice and a level tablespoon of arrowroot softened in a tablespoon of water and added to the bubbling fruit mix and cooked until clear and thickened. I ended up with leftovers.

Here's the recipe for french toast
Whole wheat bread slices (there's probably enough batter for 6 to 8 slices)
1-1/4 cups soymilk (plain or vanilla)
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon evaporated cain juice (Sweeten to your personal taste. If you're going to top the French toast with maple syrup or jam, you might want it less sweet. I used 1 teaspoon)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (to your taste)
pinch salt (optional)



Blend everything (except the bread, of course) for 2 to 3 minutes until it's liquified. Put the bread slices in a shallow pan and pour the batter over. Turn the bread to soak up the batter on both sides. You'll have to coat the bread in shifts, soaking the remaining bread while the first batch sizzles on the stove.

Spray a non-stick griddle (or cast iron pan or wok or whatever you have) with canola oil and heat until a drop of water sprinkled on the surface, hisses. Cook the slices over medium heat until nice and brown and no longer wet. Turn several times for even cooking. Put on plates and pour on the topping of your choice — blueberry sauce, maple syrup, all-fruit jam. Enjoy.