Vegan Baking

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Sylvia Bass

Orange Cranberry Bread with Chocolate

Although, I’m not a vegan, I have been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for 18 years. Lately, we have been cutting back on dairy and eggs. I’ve experimented with using soy milk in place of cow’s milk since we don’t have it in the house anymore. I’ve found that it actually works better in quick breads. It seems to add a bit of tanginess, not unlike buttermilk.

I decided to try making a complete vegan bread using a recipe that was already close. It called for buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Substituting soy milk and soy yogurt was easy. I also am trying egg substitute and this recipe only had one egg, so I thought it would be a good test. As an added bonus, I tried adding a bit of chopped vegan dark chocolate. Dave thought it would be good in orange bread, and boy was he right!

This bread was delicious, both warm and cold. I’ve made this bread using dairy and eggs and now I’ve made the vegan version. I have to admit, the vegan version is better. It’s clean and bright with the orange contrasting nicely with the chocolate and the tang of the cranberry adding the extra zing.

Vegan Orange Cranberry Bread with Chocolate

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 orange (zest and juice)
1/4 cup of vanilla soy yogurt
1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk
1 serving Ener-G egg substitute
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup of fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
2-3 ounces of vegan dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Using a Microplane zester, zest the orange making sure not to go into the white pith. Juice the orange and place the zest in the juice to bloom.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the orange juice and zest, yogurt, soymilk, egg substitute and vegetable oil.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
Fold in the cranberries and chocolate.
Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
Bake the bread for 55 – 65 minutes until a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean and the bread starts to pull away from the edges of the pan.
Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes and then run out of the pan to finish cooling.

Sewing Bug

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Sylvia Bass

I go through creative phases in my life where I am inspired to make things. Sometimes it revolves around cooking and baking, sometimes drawing, sometimes sewing.

Last month I made a few skirts using a fun book called, “Sew What! Skirts“. The premise of the book is to show you how to make your own patterns to create simple skirts. I made two wrap-around skirts that I wear frequently.

New cushion cover and old cat

Last weekend, I made new covers for the pillows on the sofa. We have a lovely Room & Board sofa that is covered with a blanket most of the time. We keep it covered so the cats don’t get hair all over it since it’s really their sofa and we get to borrow it on occasion. The blanket is easily removed when we have company and the sofa looks like new. We never bothered to cover the pillows and they are starting to show wear in little drool spots, mysterious stains and bits of feather poking through. I had some mid-century style modern fabric in my stock. I had purchased it in the hopes of making place mats or an apron, but the pattern was too big. It was perfect for the pillows, however. With the addition of vintage buttons from my mom’s stash, I had two nifty looking pillows that make the sofa pop — even with the cover on.

Black Soldier Flies

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Sylvia Bass

It has been a little more than three months since I began composting. By this time, I should have my first batch of compost ready to spread in the garden. Did my alchemy experiments work to turn garbage into black gold? Not quite.

I think my ratio of brown to green compostable materials was too brown and not enough green. Some items like paper towels, coffee filters and branches were still whole after the three months. I threw them back up in the top for another round.

The interesting thing is that this month I had another type of fly infestation. I have been dealing with fruit flies off an on throughout the spring and summer. I noticed a few weeks ago a wasp like fly buzzing around the composter. My husband looked them up on WhatsThatBug.com and found out they were Black Soldier Flies. The name sounds a bit intimidating, but it turns out that they are a beneficial insect. The adults have no working mouth and only live a few days spent on finding a mate and reproducing. They lay their eggs in decomposing material and are thus drawn to the compost pile. This is where the beneficial part begins. The fly larvae are voracious eaters and hasten the composting process the same way worms do. Suddenly my compost is teeming with life and the process has sped up considerably.

The Temptation of eBooks

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Sylvia Bass

Stanza eBook Reader for iPhone & iPod Touch

I come from a family of avid readers. Money was tight growing up, so the local library was an oasis of free entertainment. I remember spending hours in the children’s section of the main library in Anaheim curled up with a good book getting lost in fantastic new worlds like Narnia and Oz. My second grade teacher, Miss Keene, read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to us in class. I grew impatient with the slow progress and raced to the school library to check it out and finish it myself.

There is nothing I’d rather do when I have a little spare time than read a good book. Waiting rooms are an ideal opportunity to sneak in a few pages. However, I don’t always have a book with me and waiting room magazines are often a meager menu of People, Parents Magazine or Sports Illustrated. I have nothing against celebrities, kids or sports, but they don’t hold my interest long.

eBooks offer the convenience and portability of having a library in your pocket. I have an iPhone and I find that eBook apps are my favorite. I currently have three.

Pros and Cons of eBooks

Pros

Portability – I have an extensive library at my fingertips. I recently read Neal Stephenson’s Anathem on my iPhone. The hardcover book has 960 pages. That is not something I’d like to carry around in my bag.
Search – I can search for text, which is not possible in a printed version.
Annotations – I can annotate the book with notes or observations. This would be a great tool for academia.
Adjustable fonts – I can choose the font I prefer and up the size as my eyes age.
Vast library of free books – Many books are available in the public domain and some authors publish their books at no charge.

Cons

Expensive – While there are many free options, current books still under copyright cost money. The cost is often comparable or even more than a printed version. This doesn’t make much sense to me as the costs for production and distribution are considerably less. Prices do seem to be coming down as competition increases.
No sharing - Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection does not allow you to share your library with others. A real book can be loaned, given or sold to someone else.
Proprietary Software – I mentioned above that I have 3 eBook readers on my iPhone. I have Stanza, a free app that is ideal for public domain books including the Project Gutenburg library as well as options to buy books. I also have an eReader app for books I’ve purchased through eReader.com. eReader was the first to offer books for sale for the iPhone that I could find. I also have the Kindle app so I can purchase books from Amazon. Barnes and Noble is starting their eBook sales and will also have another app.
Longevity of eBook formats – Since there are so many formats, will I always be able to access my purchased libraries? What if eReader goes under, what happens to all the books I purchased from them?

Looking at the pros and cons, it seems that the cons outweigh the pros. So why do I continue to buy and read eBooks. I’m willing to pay the premium for the convenience. I hope as the world of eBooks continues to evolve some of the cons will get resolved and there will be legal ways to get beyond DRM to loan books to others.

Fear of Speaking

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Sylvia Bass

Public speaking has been one of my biggest phobias since I was a child. I used to hope for some catastrophe to befall me on my way to school rather than having to give an oral report. A 6.0 earthquake or being hit by a car seemed like a better alternative than standing in front of a class full of kids staring at me while I stammered and stumbled my way through a topic I knew well before and now seemed to have forgotten completely.

It has become a little easier over the years, but it still causes general anxiety and dread. I do well in small spurts, like leading a meeting or introducing people. However, when I’m the main attraction all bets are off. I joke that if I don’t throw up on myself that it will be a success.

One way I cope with the anxiety of presenting is to over prepare. I write an outline of what I want to say, create my presentation slides, the notes to go with the slides and then I practice, refine, practice some more and refine.

This method seemed to work well yesterday.

I’ve been working on a campus-wide blogging project for several months. I am the one most familiar with the project and the WordPress software we are using. It made sense that I would give the presentation even though I lack the public speaking experience and ease of some of my colleagues.

It was the first time that I have ever given a presentation where I felt comfortable. I was nervous before and made my paper notes damp with perspiration. However, when I stood before the crowd I felt at ease. I made a joke, people laughed. I began speaking and realized towards the end that I had not used my notes. The words flowed easily and I actually enjoyed myself. I was able to answer the questions at the end with the authority that came from knowing the product well.

I have no idea if the next time I have to present something will go as well, but I’ll take my wins where I can.

Sylvia Bass

I believe in Good

Yearly Archives: 2009