back in school again

It's been busy but I miss posting on this fledgling blog. Isn't this beautiful? I took it in Idaho in May of this year.

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

This bread is absolutely heavenly. The smell of cinnamon wafts through the kitchen when you throw the bread into the toaster. I like it best slathered with Earth Balance margarine, where the goey cinnamon sugar in the swirl slides with the margarine across the slice. And it is made with 100% whole wheat! I also added walnuts, so you get a some omega-3s with the slice. Eating two slices of this bread for breakfast fills me enough so that I can last until a late lunch.

The recipe is from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I love this book. I have his The Bread Baker's Apprentice as well, but I prefer to cook with whole grains and found that some of his recipes didn't work so well in the whole grain version. So far, I've made the 100% whole wheat sandwich bread loaf, the 100% whole wheat hearth bread, and the ciabatta (made with half bread flour and half whole wheat flour).

I found a cheaper source of King Arthur's Organic White Whole Wheat flour (my local organic grocer carried it at a price of $10.79 per 5 pounds! ouch), so I have been baking the breads with this flour and have loved the way they've turned out. The cinnamon raisin bread featured here was made with regular whole wheat flour - and as you can see, it worked out fine. But I've found that the white whole wheat flour has risen better.

Here is the bread pictured in the cookbook:


And here is a picture of how my bread turned out:

BBQ Tofu

Tonight's dinner was one of my favorites - BBQ tofu from VWAV with a side of sauteed green beans with garlic and toasted almonds and brown rice. The BBQ tofu is actually the pomegranate BBQ tofu recipe in VWAV, but without the pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds. I used regular molasses, and the sauce is divine.

The tofu is homemade. I've been having problems with it crumbling. I wonder what it is. The tofu wasn't pressed for tonight's dinner, so that probably contributed to it being crumbly - but even with pressing, it still has been crumbly lately. Perhaps it's the type of soybeans or the coagulator?

Total time preparing dinner start to finish - 45 minutes.

Posts coming up: I'm starting a seed culture for a wild yeast starter for sourdough bread, using the pineapple juice method. It is Day 2 that the seed culture has been brewing but it hasn't started bubbling yet. It says it may not start bubbling until Phase 2 (which starts tomorrow!) so hopefully that's not a problem. And this weekend I made a fantastic bread - cinnamon raisin swirl bread. It was made with 100% whole wheat, to boot!

Wine-Soaked Cherries Over Thickened Yogurt

The adventures in the life of a kitten... apparently laundry baskets are so interesting. I don't know how Lily would have gotten out of the laundry basket if we weren't there to help her out.

Did you know that your pet is considered mere "property" under the laws in the United States? It's quite horrible if you think about it. Somebody who negligently kills your beloved pet is only liable to you for essentially the replacement cost of the pet. Your pain and suffering - doesn't matter. The inherent value of your pet's life - doesn't matter. But we love our pets in part because of their individuality, their personalities, and the relationship we develop with them. They are not inanimate objects - nor should they be classified as mere property.

But I digress... I wanted to share with you a simple dessert I made the other day with homemade soy yogurt. Actually, it was made with soy yogurt "cheese." Soy yogurt cheese is made by simply straining the whey from the yogurt so that you have a thicker yogurt. Bryanna has some instructions here. I paired this thickened, creamy yogurt with dried cherries soaked in red wine and drizzled with honey. Yum! Even my husband - who usually won't let a spoon soaked in soy yogurt come anywhere near his mouth - loved it.

Wine-Soaked Cherries Over Thickened Yogurt


1/2 cup soy yogurt cheese or soy yogurt
1/4 cup dried cherries (or try your favorite dried fruit)
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup water
honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup for drizzling

1. Boil the water. Pour the boiled water over cherries, add the wine to the water, and let the cherries soak for at least 15 minutes.
2. Divide soy yogurt between two dessert glasses.
3. Spoon out the cherries from the sauce and divide between the glasses, adding a little red wine sauce to the yogurt.
4. Drizzle with your sweetener of choice and enjoy!

Törööö, Törööö

Germans love Benjamin Blümchen. He's a cute, animated elephant on kid's TV shows, books and the like. The sound he makes is called "törööö, törööö" - something like "turew, turew" in English pronunciation.

The first time I heard my husband say the elephant sound - törööö, törööö - I couldn't help but laugh. Foreign pronunciation of animal sounds sound so cute. But when he responded to my laugh with, well how do you say the elephant sound? I had no clue. Do we, in English, have a specific sound that we give to elephant calls?

This is one of my recent knitting projects - Elijah the Elephant. Elijah was gifted to my nephew for Christmas. Here he is posing the day before Christmas at my in-law's in Munich:

I used size 3 DPNs with just a little over one skein of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn. The elephant follows the pattern except for the i-cords that I knitted around his ears for a more finished look. Ysolda's pattern was excellent. It was easy to follow and with no seaming, I thought the stuffed animal looked great.

Curried Cauliflower Soup

A potage is a traditional French soup that is blended, or a "mush," of veggies or veggies plus meat. It is French tradition to start the evening meal with a potage, made out of seasonal vegetables. According to Wikipedia, potage comes from the Old French, pottage, which means potted dish -- or according to the January 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times, potage comes from potager, which is the classic French kitchen garden where herbs and flowers are grown alongside vegetables.

Herbs and flowers grown alongside the vegetables? Ah, visions of beautiful gardens composed of blooming flowers and fragrant herbs -- with ripe vegetables ready for picking -- sounds so lovely right now. When I lived in Atlanta, winters were fairly green and spring arrived so early in the year. Winter would seem to fly by.

But during my first winter in New York last year, I was SO excited when the first daffodils pushed up through the ground and the trees started to bud. I missed seeing green. All of the browns and grays got old after a couple of months. So how much longer do we have until the first daffodils push up? 3 months?

I made the curried cauliflower soup the other day from the January issue of Veg Times. It 'twas lovely. As with any soup, the flavor depends greatly on the stock used. Homemade veggie broth is simple to make - I swear! I'll post later about how I make a quick vegetable broth.

Curried Cauliflower Soup
Adapted from Vegetarian Times, January 2009


1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green apple (or other tart apple), peeled, cored and chopped
1 Tbs curry powder
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large head of cauliflower, chopped
4 cups veggie broth (preferably homemade)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
freshly ground pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Add the garlic and saute for about a minute, until fragrant. Stir in the apple and curry powder and saute for a minute more.

Add the cauliflower and veggie broth, bring to a simmer, and cover, simmering, for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft. Blend in the pot until creamy with a handheld blender. If blending in a blender, let the soup cool a little prior to blending. Stir in vinegar and salt, and adjust seasonings as needed.

I topped the potage with fresh cilantro and a dollop of soy yogurt.

The King & Queen of the House

About this blog. I plan on posting primarily about my hobbies and passions - cooking (vegetarian - primarily vegan at home) and knitting.

Inevitably, though, photos of our two cats will slip in. So I thought I'd formally introduce them.

Here is Teddy...


We think he is a Norwegian forest cat, or at least part Norwegian forest cat (with a Cindy Crawford mole!). He was adopted from a shelter by his prior owners, and we just adopted him a year ago through a no-kill group here in Brooklyn.

And here is Lily...


After having Teddy for a couple of months, we decided that he needed a companion. He was raised with another cat and with us both gone during the day, we thought he was a little lonely. And he does not have a dominant personality. So in came Lily last June as a wee little kitten...


It was the right decision. Now they are best buddies.