Veganism: Our First Few Meals...

and Making Bread!

        We have begun! Vegetable broth: made from stems (from collards, kale etc.), pieces, bits, scraps (celery tops and such) and the odd carrot. And it was good. Actually, it was GOOD!! I separated it into two containers, putting salt in mine. I know. I'm a weeny! Without salt, my life is over. Fortunately, The Man has been salt-free for quite a while and really hasn't the need for it. Lucky him.

         Some of the advice I have found online is to use the cooked vegetable matter strained out of the broth as everything from thickening in stews to bulking up the compost pile! I have chosen the latter. It just looks too weird to put in anything!

         I am using flaxseed meal for oil substitute in making bread for The Man. I could use applesauce but so far the flaxseed meal seems satisfactory. He loves it, salt-free as it must be. I use organic whole wheat from King Arthur Flours with a half-cup of cracked wheat subbed for a half-cup of the flour. The bread machine (sorry Zoji) just doesn't do a good job of kneading the dough. It's way too stiff, even with an extra half-cup of water. I suppose I could add more water but haven't so far. What I have done is to take the dough out of the machine after the second knock back before the final rise and have given it a good kneading by hand. That works beautifully and the loaf looks as though it came from the bakery. Tastes a lot better than the sodium-free breads you can buy though--if I do say so myself.

          For my loaf, I use coconut fat for the oil but could use the flaxseed meal or applesauce as well. I can do without anything but the sodium chloride! What can I say. I'm an addict. I do put flaxseed in anyway for taste and texture. I use  potato flour (Bob's Red Mill) as a substitute for part of the powdered milk the recipe calls for. It makes the crumb softer and smoother which I like. Since it's a matter of his health, I use the potato flour for all the milk powder in The Man's bread. I had just ordered a batch of baker's powdered milk from King Arthur when we decided to go Vegan to fix the health problem rather than opt for major surgery. It was not a big decision to make. I couldn't bother to send the milk powder back so I'm using it until it's gone. Then it will be 100% potato flour forever!

          I have bought three fantastic Vegan cookbooks that I am very pleased to recommend. They are all by the same author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and for the third one a co-author, Terry Hope Romero.

          1.  Vegan with a Vengeance

          2.  Appetite for Reduction -- yep! lots of lo-cal stuff which tastes extreme cal!

          3.  Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook -- this one was recommended to me as the Vegan "Joy of Cooking"! 

          They all three make me drool just reading them. So I'm thinking I can deal with this on a long term all the rest of my life basis. 

          Soon, I will be having The Man take photos of stuff I make so you can see how it looks. Maybe that will encourage you to taste it, no? Till next time, bon appetite, mes amis.