One Frugal Foodie

Following the lead of those ginger-spiked chocolate chip cookies, I snuck some crystalized ginger into a Molasses Cookie recipe I was trialing out.  The recipe was amazingly vegan (dairy-free, egg-free) and didn’t call for any ginger.  Knowing how well ginger goes with molasses, I thought this would be the perfect recipe for some more ginger-spiking (note the little pieces of ginger peaking out in the picture below).

Whoa!  My first bite of the cookies while still warm was like a flavor slap in the face.  Granted, I loved it.  Sugar, cinnamon, molasses, and ginger each competing for a single spot on my taste buds.  Seriously, overpoweringly, yummy!  This flavor concoction is not for those ultra-sensitive taste buds, but for ginger lovers like myself, it is definitely worth a trial.

Alas, I can not divulge the actual recipe I used, since it is coming out in a new food allergy cookbook.  However, it isn’t too far off from this one for Egg-Free Dairy-Free Molasses Cookies.  To avoid a ginger overload, try substituting cinnamon for the ginger in this recipe (the recipe I used had cinnamon as the main spice) and add diced crystalized ginger bits to your hearts content!

A little hint too, I didn’t actually have any regular/dark molasses on hand, but did have blackstrap molasses.  Obviously this is a bit too bitter for a 1:1 sub, but after looking around at substitution ideas, I settled on a 50/50 mix of the blackstrap molasses and maple syrup.  It turned out to be a winner!

Yesterday as I pondered over what ginger-inspired dessert I might concoct for my own birthday treat, I kept coming back to my favorite pair, ginger and chocolate.  That being said, cookies really are the unanimous sweet of choice in our house.  While it may not be an extremely daring venture, I must say that a dairy-free version of those good old tollhouse cookies, with a generous amount of gooey chocolate chip morsels and spiked with bits of sugary ginger is a winner! 

My typical chocolate chip cookie version uses oil, but since it was my birthday, I splurged and used Earth Balance buttery sticks.  You can use any dairy-free margarine you like.

Now, I can’t say exactly how much ginger to use in the whole batch, as I divided up the batch leaving some ginger-free for my cookie-loving, ginger-averse husband. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Ginger Surprise

• 2-1/4 Cups Flour (All-Purpose, White-Wheat, or a Gluten-Free blend with xanthan gum - I successfully tried one from Authentic Foods in this recipe)
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar or Evaporated Cane Juice
• 3/4 Cup Margarine (Really, those Earth Balance Buttery Sticks are the best… and no trans fat!)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Eggs
• 12 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I love the ones from Trader Joe’s that are rather generous in size, but those are subject to cross-contamination.  Check with the Enjoy Life or Tropical Source brands for severe allergies)
• 1/4 to 1/2 Cup Finely Diced Ginger (I diced it very fine to keep the ginger from overpowering the cookies, see the picture below of a whole cube next to a diced one.  However, I love ginger, so I may double the size of my bits next time).

Preheat oven to 350º

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, sugars, and vanilla.  Add the eggs, and mix them in to make a nice creamy dough.  Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until everything is well combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips and as many ginger bits as you would like, by hand.  [If you have some ginger-averse taste buds in your house, just divide up the dough and make a ginger loaded batch for yourself.]  Drop globs of the dough by the tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet.

 Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until they are no longer doughy in the center and are just turning golden around the edges.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Inhale while warm as the gooey melting chocolate coats the ginger bits with each bite… yum!

I have some Ginger-Spiked Molasses Cookie Dough chilling in the fridge, to be baked up tomorrow. That one is even vegan (egg-free), we shall see how it works out!  I will keep you posted.

I am one of those rare people who’s hair color has never changed.  In fact, the color and texture could easily be mistaken for my 4 year old photo.  Not so bad, one might think, but my hair color is what many so kindly like to call “dishwater” or “dirty” blond.  Many shades short of a brunette, yet occasionally told that I am not a “real blond.”  Lacking a hair color identity, and not willing to resort to the bleach bottle, I was once again upstaged by a “real” blondie…

Yet somehow I was not threatened by this attractive blondie, who spun for the camera to show off its sugary sweet side …

Sure, at first, feeling smug, I noticed that this blondie was a bit thick through the middle…

… and as my suspicions proved, this was indeed a “packaged” blondie, not homegrown by any nature.  I could even see the dark chocolate colored roots showing through…

Nonetheless, as my jealousy wore off, I felt for this blondie … so seemingly perfect yet obviously striving to be noticed.  After finally letting my guard down and approaching the blondie, my prejudgements were quickly cast aside as I discovered that this was in fact the sweetest blondie I had ever come across!

I hate to admit it, but polenta is a new food to me.  While out at an Italian restaurant for a friend’s birthday, I picked a polenta entree for something different.  It was delicious!  When a spotted chubs of polenta on sale this week, I had to have some.  Since I had no idea what polenta entailed, I showed some restraint and selected just one flavor, the Garlic and Basil from Food Merchants.  As you all probably know, but was new to me, this stuff is precooked, ready to go … my kind of all natural food!  Okay, I do prefer food made from scratch, but as a polenta intro, this was pretty close to homemade.

I sliced, heated in a fry pan, and topped with a chuunky marinara (meat sauce for the husband).  A side salad rounded out the color profile for an amazingly professional look (if I do say so myself).  I have been working on my presentation a bit…

… and it seems to be working thus far, as my husband came in and proclaimed that he felt like he was eating in a fine Italian restaurant.  Even better, he loved it!  Polenta really isn’t something I expected him to like, but he gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.  Is there anything better than adding another 10-minute meal to your repertoire, really?  Did I mention that this stuff is organic - that’s right, corn without the GMO’s, yeah!

The chub lasted us for two meals, one dinner, one lunch.  My favorite store-bought marinara is the Tuscano (in a can) at Trader Joe’s.  It has no added sugars, but uses a bit of carrot puree for a light sweetness.  It is simple, and well worth the low price tag for the over-sized can.  I added sliced mushrooms, onions, and some ground turkey (with splash of worcestershire sauce for the “beefy” taste) for the meat-lover in our house.  I kept mine vegan, just because.  Not quite homemade, but it sure tasted like it!

They had an awesome sale on bananas this past weekend at a Grand Opening Albertson’s sale, just 25 cents per pound, so it was time to stock up!  Bananas are a mainstay in my smoothies, which gives me an excuse to buy … oh … about eight pounds of them.  I sliced them up, flash froze them on a cookie sheet (in batches of course) for about an hour at a time, and then put them into baggies in the freezer for later use. 

Of course, I left a bunch out to enjoy fresh, and a few extras for banana bread. Undeterred from my first vegan baking attempt at brownies, I jumped into the opportunity to remake my favorite banana bread sans eggs.  Sure, there were many vegan banana breads on the net, but not a one compared to my hearty version.  I have never been a fan of dry and cakey.  My desserts must be moist and dense (crumb topping always helps too), and quick breads should have enough in them to make a good breakfast. 

While my recipe still needs a bit of refining, it was really pretty good.  The loaf was moist, with a light sweetness that my husband really enjoyed (he snuck back for seconds, and thirds, and… well you get the picture). It didn’t rise too much, but just enough.  To get a taller loaf, I think just a bit more flour would do.  Oh yes, and I did sway a bit from my old recipe, which is a banana whole wheat bread.  I used coconut rather than flaxseed for a lighter more dessert like taste (I will pursue a heartier loaf on the next batch).  Anyway, without further ado, here it is…

Banana Coconut Loaf

• 2 cups flour (whole wheat, white whole wheat - for a lighter bread) or all-purpose)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup oil (I used coconut)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (may use honey for non-vegan or agave nectar)
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 3 ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups mashed)

Preheat oven to 350º and lightly grease a loaf pan (I used a 9 x5, though a smaller one will likely create a taller bread)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and coconut (see notes below) in a large bowl.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, combine the oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.  Mash up those bananas, and add them to the small bowl of liquids.  Going back to the large flour bowl, make a well in the dry mixture and pour your liquid mixture in.  Gently fold the batter until everything is well combined, but be careful not to overmix.  A few lumps are okay.

Spoon the batter into your prepared loaf pan.  It is a bit thick, so you may have to coax it into place a bit.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Notes: For the quick bread pictured, I used white whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand) since I was out of whole wheat bread flour.  I also whizzed 3/4 of the coconut (6 Tablespoons) in my spice grinder for a few quick whirls.  I wanted to have a denser loaf with more of an infused coconut taste, which it seemed to do.  The remaining 2 Tablespoons I threw in as is, in shredded fashion.

I have had the honor of previewing the many dessert recipes from the upcoming cookbook, My Sweet Vegan.  Of course, they must be trialed, and with a friend’s birthday approaching I knew some type of cake would be in order.  While I was tempted by the “cheese” cake recipes in the book, we were meeting at a restaurant, so something more transportable was required.  Since my friend is an avid sushi-goer, I lunged at the Wasabi Chocolate Cupcake recipe.

 I had every ingredient on hand, so making them was a snap.  Within 20 minutes the little pools of chocolate were in the oven.  If only I had set it on the right temperature!  Waiting the full 20 minutes before checking, I opened the oven and witnessed a rapid cupcake deflating.  Still several minutes from completion, I took a peak at the guage and discovered that I had set the oven temperature to low!  After turning the heat up, and another five minutes, the cupcakes were done, but not so pretty, considering the recipe called for a drizzling of wasabi glaze, not enough to cover up my concave results.

Thinking quickly, I jumped to another recipe in the cookbook and extracted the vanilla frosting recipe.  Quickly whipping up a small batch, I mounded the frosting into the center, and smoothed it over the top.  For a little extra visual insurance, I sprinkled the top with the mini-chocolate chips from Enjoy Life Foods (insanely allergen-free, even free of soy lecithin).

My husband graciously acted as the taste tester to ensure that they were still gift-worthy (since I was sugared-out from eating every list bit of the frosting, yum!), and he gave them a thumbs up.  As for my friend’s response … ”Mmm … good cupcake!”  She just reported back that they also make a good breakfast, lol.

While my friend is completely omnivorous, with no known allergies or intolerances, it seems these vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), nut-free, soy-free (I used rice milk) cupcakes passed the test!  I must agree, they were yummy… past tense of course.

If you do follow the recipe, using the right oven temp, your results should look more like this.

With the hot weather of our new locale, my summer was depressingly low on barbecue events, so it was impossible for me to resist a good Internet potluck.  Sarah over at No Whey, Mama put out the invite and posted her recipe offering for Aunt Ruth’s Stew.  She is even offering bonus points for dairy-free recipes!  Perfect for me, though I have no idea what I could actually cash in those bonus points for.

 Anywho, when I took on a strict dairy-free diet, I was amazed by the number of breads that contained milk ingredients.  From whey to caseinates to nonfat milk in all its foresaken glory, milk was certainly present in portions of the bakery that I had not anticipated.  Yet this is really what initiated my true love for baking.  My first mission became that loaf of bread.  I trialed many French bread recipes, but was elated to come across a good wheat bread recipe that I could use for everything from sandwich bread to a hearty slice of toast.  Really, there is nothing better than making a loaf of bread from scratch (kneading dough is a great way to get out some aggression!) and tasting how much more wonderful it is than store bought. 

I have often made a loaf of this go-to bread on a Sunday (halving the recipe) to last us the week.

Whole Wheat Bread 

Yield: 2 loaves

(Can be Vegan, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-free, and/or Soy-Free)

1 ½ T active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 ½ cups tepid plain or unsweetened milk alternative
¼ cup honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, or brown sugar
¼ cup olive oil plus extra for greasing
2 t salt
3 cups whole-wheat flour
¼ - ½ cup flaxseeds (ground or whole) or 7-grain mix (in the bulk department)
3 ½ - 4 cups whole wheat bread flour (plus extra as needed)

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water and stir to dissolve.  Let stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes. 

In a large bowl, combine the milk alternative, honey or maple syrup, oil, salt, and 2 cups of the whole-wheat flour.  Mix until creamy.  Add in the yeast mixture and remaining 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and mix until creamy.  Stir in the flaxseeds and/or 7 grain blend.  Add the whole wheat bread flour ½ cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the bowl sides.  Knead, and continue adding bread flour 1 Tablespoon at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth but slightly sticky when pressed, about 5 minutes. 

Transfer the dough to an oiled deep bowl and turn the dough once to coat it.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1-1 ½ hours.
Lightly grease two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide in half and pat each half into a long rectangle.  Fold 1 rectangle like a letter, overlapping the short sides in the middle; press to flatten.  Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up the dough into a thick log.  Roll the log back and forth with your palms until it is the same length as the pan.  Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal.  Place the loaf seam side down, in a prepared pan, tucking the end under to make a neat, snug fit.  Repeat with the second portion.  Cover loosely with greased plastic and let rise until about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, about 1 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the pan sides, 35 – 40 minutes.  Turn out onto racks and let cool completely.

This is a very versatile recipe.  Soy, almond, or rice milk will work great, depending on your dietary preferences, and your favorite cooking oil can be used in place of the olive oil.  Also, you may add raisins, dried blueberries, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, or other bonus add-ins of choice.

Let the truth be told that while I am not an award-winning cook, I have always loved baking.  I am one of those insane people who refused to purchase a bread maker just because I absolutely loved the process of preparing bread by hand.  Yet, while (almost) all of my baked goods taste quite delicious, they are all too often, ahem, not so pretty.  I have blamed it on my bakeware, exclaiming ‘if only I had the proper pans.’  But now, I must admit that perhaps the baker, not the tools, was the source of the problem.

I received some muffin mixes to trial out from a new food allergy-friendly baking mix company, Meraby’s.  I first had some of the mix sent to a food allergy mom I know, and she promptly whipped up two batches of perfect looking muffins.  Her photos put me to shame, not a ripped apart pastry in site.  I usually lose half of the batch image-wise to stickage.  Sure, they are edible (and get eaten), but they constantly adhere to the bottom of the pan, never retaining that perfect muffin look.  If you look closely at some of my muffin photos, you could easily play a rousing game of “spot the broken muffins.”

To vary my review from hers a bit, I decided to make quick bread. Yet as the loaf emerged from the oven, I suddenly became quite nervous.  This was it, I only had one shot for the photo.  Not a dozen muffins from which at least one or two would remain beautifully in tact and photo-worthy.  Barb had already shown how perfect this mix could look, I couldn’t mess it up at this point!  Truthfully, I had to recognize at that moment my own mental shortcoming, patience.  Just leave the bread Alisa, step away from the pan.  Within the next 15 minute I returned the kitchen twice, tempting fate ever so slightly as I lunged toward the pan, but I held off.  A half hour passed, and I rushed in to discover that the pan was almost fully cooled.  I gently smoothed a knife around the edges to loosen the sides, and slowly turned the loaf, gently tapping the bottom of the pan, and…

I know to some of you this may seem like the world’s lamest post, but I swear to you, when I saw that entirely smooth loaf of quick bread, a sight that I had never laid eyes upon, a rush of pride so great swept over me that I had to call my husband in and grab my camera.  I kid you not, I took nine different shots of the bottom of this blueberry bread (just a half dozen when I repeated this beautiful process with the cranberry orange bread).  So humor me just for a moment, as at times, it is the littlest things in life that give me the utmost joy!

Just in case you were wondering what the top looked like….

Oh, and yes, it did taste reeeealllly, reeeeallly, good.  Egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free, and vegan to boot!  Well, if you are curious, the full review is here.

I don’t know why I do it, but every few months I forget my prior experiences and decide to pick up a new tea flavor at Trader Joe’s.  Their prices are always so great, and the flavors of the Trader Joe’s brand of tea always sound a bit exotic.  Let it be known that I am a huge fan of Chai tea, even without the milk and honey added, and I recently discovered a love for Rooibos tea.  So when I spotted their Rooibos Chai, I thought, “That sounds too perfect, maybe this one is different.” 

Drats, they captured me once again!  You see, the Trader Joe’s brand of tea is horrible.  Perhaps it is just my personal taste buds, but they seem to produce almost lifeless tea.  No spark, no zest, no nothing really.  It was most certainly the most bland Chai or Rooibos (let alone a combination of the two) that I had ever tasted. 

I pondered iced tea, but this often requires a stronger tea if anything.  Then, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could chill the tea and use it in smoothies?  After all, the package referred to their Rooibos as antioxidant rich, it would be such a shame to waste it.  Curious if anyone had trialed tea smoothies, I set out on an internet search.  I certainly found a few green tea concoctions, but those used mostly green tea powder.  Slowly, I began to unearth various creamy teas, and I was surprised by the method.  Rather than brewing and then chilling the tea, they just ripped those bags right open and tossed the contents in.  This sounded easy enough.

My cool and creamy beverage turned out to have more of a milkshake-like consistency, though the texture is inevitably up to the individual.  Honestly, it wasn’t bad.  It was still a weak bunch of spices, but at least their full essence was captured in this recipe.  The spicy twist to my otherwise ordinary shake was also a welcome enhancement.

Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Chai “Milkshake”

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 chai tea bag (I used the Chai Rooibos from Trader Joe’s, but I am sure there are better!)
• 1 frozen ripe banana, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon almond butter
• ice (optional)

Blend it all up!  If your mixture is too thick, add more almond milk.  If it is too thin, add more frozen banana or ice.

I think the perfect dairy-free / vegan “milkshake” would be a simple blend of the tea with some vanilla non-dairy “ice cream,” maybe Whole Soy & Co or Soy Delicious, some milk alternative, and your tea bag of choice.  However, since I am trying to keep added sugars out of the picture as much as possible, this banana and almond mixture seems to work quite well.  I even used unsweetened almond milk, but you don’t need to go that far.. I believe regular vanilla almond milk is still quite low in sugars, and it has a nice mild sweetness that will surely be welcomed by any beverage.

Every so often a little bug gets the best of us and a queasy stomach is the price we must pay.  Yesterday was my day for tummy troubles as a bad bout of nausea left me low on the productivity scale.  Sharing this grief with my husband, I can only assume it was something we ate when lazily going out for a quick bite the night before. 

Regardless, I have never been one of those people who doesn’t eat when nausea hits, quite the opposite really.  I find that mini-meals of comfort foods seem to soothe the savage beast just enough to keep me functional.  Some oats were my breakfast of choice, soon followed by a ginger chaser…. I picked up a bottle mineral water and mixed it 50/50 with some Ginger Soother.  That did the trick for a short while and by splitting it up this way, I was able to make my one bottle of ginger beverage last the day.

When the urge for more solid foods struck, I knew that it had to be something bread-y.  I had a package of Gluten-Free Essentials Multi-Grain Bread Mix on hand for review.  Admitedly, it is a bit pricier than I would spend myself.  I rarely purchase mixes, but rather I buy grains and flours in bulk (I actually have some xanthan gum on hand for GF baking too!) as I love preparing baked goodies from scratch.  Nonetheless, on a day like this, a mix that allowed me to whip up tasty bread in ten minutes (seriously), was nice to have around.  Ten minutes you might ask?  Well the folks at Gluten-Free Essentials told me that this mix makes great “wagels,” so I decided to give them a shot.  Ready in no time, I topped these babies with a little almond butter (I know, I’m addicted) and enjoyed some comfort food…

With much more batter to be used up, I fired the rest of the batter in some mini loaf tins, and boy did they rise… really, they put my yeast/wheat breads to shame…

Later in the day my need for greens kicked in, so I grabbed a couple of slices of this mini-bread (I ate one before taking a picture), slathered them with Earth Balance (the 37% - I think - light tub is dairy-free/vegan and frequently on sale in major grocers), and piled all of our left over green beans on a plate with just a teaspoon or two of salad dressing for flavor…

Of course, what  would my afternoon be without a soothing smoothie… 

Really, this was a standard throw together one, one banana, 1/2 cup frozen chopped organic strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen chopped organic nectarines (when organic fruit is on sale, I stock up, chop it and flash-freeze any we won’t eat within the week), 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (you really don’t need added sugar when the fruits are nice and ripe), and a tablespoon or so of flaxseed.  It was a very banana dominated beverage, but that suited my tastes and my tummy, just fine. 

While my tummy troubles seem to be alleviating ever-so-slightly, it was nice to have these calming foods on hand for small, easy bites that get me through the day.  Particularly during a season when warm comfort soups just aren’t on the menu!