A Pictoral Process

Mean Vegan Taco

Two Tacos

Caution they are great fillers, two was more than enough.

Materials

two home made tortillas
your favorite guacamole
two kale leaves of choice
two large leaves of lettuce
Cabbage Carrot Relish
Vegan tofu keilbasa
Salsa of choice (optional)
 cayenne pepper (completely optional)

Tools

Sharp knife
large spoon
clean flat surface or cutting board
frying pan

Instructions (See the pictures)

1.  Place the tortilla flat

2.    Thinly spread guacamole on the surface of the tortilla

3.    Slice the kale down the stem and place on each side of the tortilla

4.    Follow the same procedure with lettuce placing it on top of kale

5.   Place relish onto the lettuce

6.  Lay your recently cooked vegan sausage kielbasa in the center and fold it.

 

7.  Garnish with your favorite salsa and enjoy

 

I even sprinkled some cayenne pepper to give it a little zing but that is completely your choice.

A little of this and a little of that

Simplified Tortillas 

Materials

1/2 cup Flour of choice

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. Water 

Tools 

measuring cups and spoons

small mixing dish

Cast Iron Frying Pan

Metal Turner Spatula

mixing spoon

Instruction

1. Dump your flour first.
2. Add your 1/4 cup water and mix. 
3. Add more water by the tablespoons until the flour water mixture becomes either thick or runny. 
4. Heat your cast iron pan at medium heat, add a little oil to grease the pan
5. Pour  and spread the batter into as thin as you possibly can. 
6. Let it cook until the whole tortilla changes color. Once it completely changes color, wait for about a minute or two because the tortilla would be ready to flip. Test with metal turner spatula by poking and prodding the edges
7. Flip and let cook for a minute or two or five until other side is lightly browned.
8. Place on cooling rack

FYI: If you have a runny batter, the tortillas will be soft and pliable, a thick batter with provide a stiffer tortilla 

Eat with what ever dipping sauces or stuffings 

Here are some ideas

With Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

With your favorite Salad Mix

Shredded Carrots, Cheese Sauce, and Hummus

Butterless Fingers (aka Bread Sticks)

Garlic Finger Sticks

Yields 12-13 Breadstick fingers

This was a great simple recipe  and it was enjoyable to create these garlic flavored bread sticks and dip them in a double batch of the dairy free cheese sauce or your favorite sauce. 

Materials 

1 cup of Sprouted Spelt Flour

1/2 cup Whole Grain Pastry Flour

1 1/2 tsp of Salt

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1/2 - 1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp. yeast

1 tbsp. of plant based sweetener

Tools

Large Mixing Bowl

Strong wooden spoon

Measuring Cups and spoons

cookie sheet oiled 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine dry ingredients first
3. Add your 1/2 cup water and mix. add more water or flour until the dough could be kneaded
4. Knead you dough for about a minute or two
5. Let it sit up to an hour
6. Pluck off finger size portions of dough and roll the dough into finger length bread sticks and place on the lightly oiled pan. 
7. Sprinkle some more garlic powder onto along with some salt (optional)
8. Place in oven and let it cook for 20 or 30 minutes until the crust is firm and bounces on tapping the crust. 
9. Take out and let it cool, and place  the mini breadsticks on a cooling rack until they have completely cooled. 
10. Pull out your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy. 

A Sauce of a Sweeter Name

Apple Sauce

Yields up to 1 quart

Materials

Abt. 2 pounds of apples of choice

1 cup water

Tools

Stainless steel pot

Measuring cups

Applesauce strainer or masher (whatever you may call it)

Serving Spoon with holes

Clean Quart Jar

Instructions

1                   Cut and core your apples, or peel your apples if so desired

2                   Place them into a pot and turn the heat to medium. And cover the pot with the lid.

3                   Check the apples until tender or soft.

4                   Scoop the apples into a bowl or applesaucer and mash until apples are mashed and perfect.

5                   Pour into a quart jar and refrigerate.

You can add honey and other seasonings to this but I have excluded this for other recipes that call for unsweetened applesauce. I used honey crisps and that was sweet enough.

Stoking Up

 pg 268

The Applesaucer

Look at that goodness

Bread Making Tryouts

I want to share some pictures of the development and evolution of my bread making since I discovered this bread recipe from veganbaking.net.

I love the simplicity of the ingredients and I get such a thrill as I make bread. This is the first time in my life baking bread from scratch. I also realized that my new bread dough can be used for a wide variety of applications such as rolls, pizza crusts, cinnamom rolls (O MY!) and a host of other bread goods. 

Here are pictures of my first three loaves of bread and a brief history of what went wrong.

My First Loaf

With my first loaf, I used some wheat sprouts that have been sitting in the refrigerator. As I was grinding the wheat I thought that the wheat berries were a little too dry. So I added water to my mixture and accidentally added to much. The dough was rather sticky and hard to work with. But it produced my first loaf of bread.  

My First Loaf

 My Second Loaf

My second trial was somewhat better than the first. I didn't add any water to the wheat as it was pureeing. But somehow the dough was dry and easy to work with an exception of the yeast not working just the way I would like. So I baked and created a flat football style bread. It was almost like french bread, but small.

My Third Loaf

By this time I began musing, thinking, and conspiring how to make the perfect loaf. I wonder how the loaf would turn out if I waited two days for the wheat to sprout instead of three or four. So I dumped my wheat sprouts into the processor after the second day of sprouting. I figured the berries would have enough moisture to create the right kind of texture that I was looking for. I followed the directions closely and carefully, still skipping a step or two and adding maple syrup with the yeast as I was in the kneading process. I greased the loaf pan with olive oil and wiped it again. I inserted the growing loaf and waited until it came out of the oven. When it came out, it looked like this:

Wa' la my semi perfect loaf. I said semi because when I had wiped the bread pan again I had removed a lot of the much needed olive oil. So to my chagrin, I lost the whole bottom side of the loaf. I am glad you can't see it in this picture. Whew! 

Through this whole experience I am amazed at the wonder and beauty of taking basic raw materials and creating it into something that is wholesome, good and wonderful. I sometimes feel like a child on Christmas morning just ecstatic and thrilled just before opening his Christmas gifts. Mostly I marvel at the ingenuity and wisdom of God in creating the wheat berry. I can pretty much say that wheat has it all and is a gift to us from Him. It is just thrilling to learn how to use it for my health and  constitution. I give Him all my praise and glory from finding this recipe and current experiences in the kitchen. 

But my adventures with this recipe have just begun and I will post further discoveries and developments on my bread making as I try and try again until I succeed. 

Enjoy cooking 

PS I think you would also enjoy my work station where I process the wheat. 

My Bread Work Station

The Bread of Life

Flourless Sprouted Whole Wheat Bread

Veganbaking.net

 Creator: Mattie

Abridge by Kimball

Yields One loaf 

Matrials

3 ¼ cup (fresh) Wheat Berries

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 ¼ teaspoon, or one ¼ ounce package active dry yeast

Tools

Food Processor, A good one

Spatula

Clean bowl

Air Tight container

Bread Pan, glass or stainless steel

Good Working hands

Lots of Patience

 Instructions

Step 1

    Add about half (or the whole amount) of the wheat berries to a food processor and sprinkle half the salt over. Process until the mixture comes together into a ball, which should take a minute or so. Stop the food processor and use a spatula to work around the perimeter of the food processor and push mixture back down the to the blades. Process again until the mixture gets too thick to mix any further and the blades just spin underneath, or about a minute. Transfer the wheat berry puree to a clean counter.

Processing the Sprouted Wheat

The Pureed Wheat

Step2

    Pack into a tight ball and place it into a air tight container for 1-2 days.

Step 3

    Transfer the dough onto a clean “kneading” surface, sprinkle dry yeast over it and knead for no less than 20 minutes. This should ‘squeeze out the gluten out of the kernels. Should be able to see long dough strands, and the dough will gradually become slightly sticky to the touch.

I love making dough ($?).

Step 4

     Form the dough into a lightly oiled loaf pan, cover it with a plastic bag, and let it sit for another 1 ½ to 3 hours.

 

Loafing in the Pan

Is it ready yet?

Step 5    Baking

    Preheat oven 45 minutes putting the bread in at 350. Bake for 60-65 minutes. Remove from pan and let complete cool.

Enjoy with cheese and whatever!!! 

        

Something to Make Things Stick

Flax seed Emulsifier

Tools

¼ cup Flax Seed

¾ cup Water

Materials

Food Processor or Blender

Measuring spoons

Spatula

Small Storage container

Instructions

1    Place seeds and water in processor.

2    Blend until the water becomes thick

3     Place in storage container and store it in the refrigerator

It will keep up for about two weeks.

2 tbsp. = 1 egg

It is a good egg replacer for Vegetarians, Rawtarians, Vegans and whoever may like it.

I have used this with the Nut-Raisin Power Ball Recipe because it helped bring the whole mixture together just by adding 1 Tbsp. into the recipe.