Eggplant Cake - you'll never know it's in there!

Ping Tung Eggplant Cake

            From the Baker Creek Vegan Cookbook by Jere and Emilee Gettle (www.rareseeds.com)

            My comments are in italics.  This cake is delicious.  The eggplant gives the cake a wonderful consistency, but you'll never taste the mild flavor of the Ping Tung Eggplants.  I've given it to many people to try and they never guess the secret ingredient and are shocked when I tell them the cake has eggplant in it.

 

1 cup canola oil, divided (I use grapeseed oil-it has a lighter taste, also, Canola- rapeseed- is 90% GMO’d and I avoid GMO foods when possible)

4 large or 6 medium Ping Tung (Japanese or Chinese type lavender colored fairly long and skinny eggplants)  peeled and chopped, about 6 cups

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups evaporated cane juice crystals (available where sugar is found in the grocery, if you want, you can use white sugar, but cane juice crystals are healthier and not GMO’d.  I haven’t made it with sugar, so I’m not sure if the proportions are the same.)

½ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ Tablespoons Ener-G egg replacer, dissolved in 6 Tablespoons cold water (This vegan egg replacer is powdered.  You can find it at places like Whole Foods market or online.  I use it in most of my baking to replace eggs)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

            In a large skillet, heat 2 TBSP of oil over medium-high heat and cook the eggplant, stirring occasionally, until tender, 7 to 8 minutes.  Remove from heat, cool slightly, and puree in a food processor (or with an immersion blender) until smooth, 10 to 15 seconds.  You should have about 2 cups of eggplant puree.

            In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flower, cane juice crystals, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, combine eggplant puree, remaining oil, reconstituted egg replacer, and vanilla.  Add to dry mixture and stir until well blended.  Pour into a well-oiled Bundt pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes, then invert to a wire rack and cook completely.

 

The cake is slightly sweet and I don’t use any icing on it, but you can make a drizzle with powdered sugar and water if you’d like.

Harvest Vegetable Casserole (vegan)

I found the inspiration for this dish in the "Botanical Interests" seed catalog.  Unfortunately the recipe was not vegan, so I took care of making the adjustments.  Here it is:

Ingredients:
4 cups zucchini, cut into bite sized chunks
1 large red onion, sliced and the pieces separated
4-5 cups (about 2 bunches) Swiss chard, any color, stems removed
Olive Oil
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, or about 1/8 cup dried.  This will depend on your taste.
3 tsp Ener-G egg replacer
6 TBSP water
1 cup vegan cheese substitute like Daiya.  Read the label, make sure it doesn't have cancer causing Casein in it if you use another brand.  I used shredded, but you can shred or crumble it yourself from a block.
1/2 cup vegan Romano cheese substitute.
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, cut into strips or smaller pieces
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (I use Panko but use about 1/2 cup)

Directions:
Heat about 2 tsp olive oil, add the sliced onion.  Caramelize by cooking on low heat and slowly for about 10-15 minutes.  The onions will reach deep, golden brown.  Remove to cool.

Heat another 2 tsp olive oil; saute Swiss chard leaves until just wilted.

Spray or oil (Earth Balance Vegan Margerine or Crisco) a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Put Swiss Chard, squash, and then onion into the pan in layers.  Combine water and egg replacer, mix well, then mix with cheeses and basil.  Spoon this mixture onto the vegetables.  Top the casserole with the sun dried tomatoes and breadcrumbs.

Bakc at 350F for about 40 minutes until the top looks brown and the cheeses melt somewhat.  .

This casserole won't come out of the pan in pieces like casseroles that have a lot of fat and dairy in them.  Just put a portion on the plate and mix it around.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

More news about the health issues with meat.

 

BREAKING MEDICAL NEWS September 12, 2012

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
Meat Bad for You and Environment
September 12, 2012
...

People who consumed the least amount of red and processed meat products had reduced risk for heart disease, diabetes, and colorectal cancer, compared with those who consumed the most, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal Open. Men and women who consumed the least amount of red and processed meat products had a 9.7 and 6.4 percent reduced risk for heart disease, 12.0 and 7.5 percent reduced risk for diabetes, and a 12.2 and 7.7 percent reduced risk for colorectal cancer, respectively. Researchers used British National Diet and Nutrition Survey data to estimate dietary intake of 1,724 adults in the United Kingdom.

Authors also noted that each participant who consumed the least amount of red and processed meat in this study used 0.45 tons less of carbon dioxide emission equivalents per year, compared with those who consumed the most. Red and processed meat products are a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Aston LM, Smith JN, Powles JW. Impact of a reduced red and processed meat dietary pattern on disease risks and greenhouse gas emissions in the UK: a modelling study. BMJ Open. 2012;2:pii:3001072.

THE SOURCE: http://www.pcrm.org/health/medNews/meat-bad-for-you-and-environment

Please go to the original source...more information is to be found there.

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Vegan crock-pot Marinara sauce - Great for canning

I made this wonderful marinara sauce last week with tomatoes from our deck garden that we added to some others we bought from a farm stand, and some that were given to us by friends.  It's wonderful and I ended up putting 13 cups in the freezer for the winter.  Hopefully I'll make another batch to have on those cold winter days when we want comfort food. 

Marinara from fresh tomatoes (vegan)

Fill the crock of your slow cooker with fresh tomatoes.  This will let you know how many you’ll need.  Now take them out, wash them, core them, and cut them up.  You can peel them if you want but it’s not necessary.  (To peel, drop them one by one in boiling water for just a moment, then plunge into ice water.  The peels will come off easily.)  Replace them in the slow cooker and add a few extra tomatoes if you want to fill the crock up more. Cook for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.  When they’re done, you can use a blender to crush them further, or put them in a food processor, or smash them with a potato masher.
The marinara recipe calls for 6 cups of the above cooked tomatoes.  My pressure cooker holds about 17-18 cups so I triple the recipe below.

 Marinara ingredients (I tripled these for my crockpot):

1 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, minced (I only doubled the onion amount, the onions were pretty large)

3 cloves garlic, minced (I do the onion and garlic in my food processor so I don’t have to cry while cutting them)

6 cups cooked diced tomatoes (above)

1 TBSP agave nectar or sugar (Agave nectar has a lower glycemic index than sugar and is absorbed on a more gradual basis by the body.  They have it at most grocery stores, and H-Mart)

1 tsp dried basil.  I used my own spices from my garden but you have to adjust the amount.  I chopped up the rosemary leaves really small. I kept tasting the marinara and adjusting.  Don't get too carried away, the herbs become stronger when they sit.

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp dried rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste.  I used very little since I usually add my sauce to some diced tomatoes when I’m making pasta and canned tomatoes have lots of salt in them.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until translucent, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes longer.  You can do this the night before you make the sauce, just store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Then combine all the ingredients in your slow cooker.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  About 10-15 minutes before serving, add water if needed.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Freeze the extra in ice cube trays, resealable freezer plastic bags, or freezer containers.

Vegan Zucchini Bread

It's the season for gardens full of ripe zucchini.  This bread is relatively low in fat and has no animal products, no white flour, no white sugar.

1/2 cup oil.  I use grapeseed for it's light taste.  I would not recommend Canola because the rapeseed that it comes from is a very genetically mutated plant. I'm not a fan of oil in my food but I haven't experimented with applesauce as a substitute on this yet.

1 cup natural unprocessed sugar.  You can find this in any good grocery store as "sugar in the raw" or "turbinado sugar".

2 cups grated zucchini.  Get the excess water out of it by squeezing it on paper towels.  It should be 2 cups after reducing the liquid in it, but don't take every molecule of moisture out of it, you want nice moist bread.

1/4 c soy or almond milk.  You can use any variety of plant milk you want, either unflavored or vanilla.

1 tsp pure vanilla extract.  The artificial works, too...but I like the taste of the pure.

2 cups Whole wheat flour, all purpose

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts.  I like walnuts so I used them (store nuts in the freezer so they don't get rancid so fast.)

You can also add raisins, some ground cloves, or other kinds of nuts.

Mix everything together.  Bake about 55 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.  Cool on a rack 30 minutes, and enjoy.

Good news for my waistline

I'd been slowly gaining weight, especially since my sister passed away at the end of June last year.  It was just a little bit here and there, but it was getting difficult to button my pants and my knees, back, feet, and ankles were screaming at me!  I just got off the scale, I have now lost about 8 pounds in 15 days.  It's no gimmick, here's how I did it.

You know I'm very committed to the vegan lifestyle, but I was using too much of the meat substitutes that were mostly made up from oil.  I was also eating a lot (A LOT!) of carbs, and not being careful about things that had egg or milk in them like I should.  I kept getting vertigo and would be able to look back and see why (maybe butter on the veggies or something like that).  Hubby said he wanted to look over the Engine 2 diet (http://www.engine2diet.com/) so I bought the book one day at whole foods.  It gave me a very easy to do and consise clean up of my diet.

So far it's been great.  I have lost a little bit daily, and my mood swings are gone, I feel good, and the only issue that I have is if I don't drink enough water while I'm flying to keep me hydrated which is certainly not the fault of the diet.  This is basically an easy one, it's just vegan, but tells you how to get the amount of fat (oil) and salt and sugar out of your diet...very well put especially for the men in the audience.  Their website (link above) is fantastic and you can food journal there and ask for help from the community if you'd like.  The science and studies behind their diet are included, so you can do more research if you'd like.  Best of all, I am NEVER hungry!  Enjoy!

The Argument for Veganism

Pick a reason, there are too many to count...

The Hunger Argument
Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people:20
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock:80
Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95
Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90
How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre: 40,000
Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250
Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56
Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of edible flesh from feedlot beef: 16

The Environmental Argument
Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect
Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more
Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75
Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85
Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million
Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America: 300,000,000 pounds
Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are undernourished: 75
Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55 square feet
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses:1,000 per year

The Cancer Argument
Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 times
For women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week: 2.8 times
For women who eat butter and cheese 2-4 times a week: 3.25 times
Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week: 3 times
Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.

The Cholesterol Argument
Number of U.S. medical schools: 125
Number requiring a course in nutrition: 30
Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours
Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack
How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds
Average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat, dairy and eggs by 10 percent: 9 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent: 45 percent
Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs from your diet: 90 percent
Average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered-diet: 210 mg/dl
Chance of dying from heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol level is 210 mg/dl: greater than 50 percent

The Natural Resources Argument
User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.: livestock production
Amount of water used in production of the average cow: sufficient to float a destroyer
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000
Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13
Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260
Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78
To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is devoted to the production of livestock: 33
Percentage of all raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a complete vegetarian diet: 2

The Antibiotic Argument
Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55
Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13
Percentage resistant in 1988: 91
Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban
Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support

The Pesticide Argument
Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health through meat inspection
Reality: fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues
Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99
Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 8
Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher
Amount of Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant: 9 times the permissible level

The Ethical Argument
Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000
Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker
Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker