Stevia

I'm curious about how other people use stevia in recipes. I've been experimenting with it as a sugar substitute. Does anyone have a problem with the lack of appropriate support in the US? I'm just looking for some feedback.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Have you heard of this cookbook? I'm not usually a fan of cookbooks, because I'm not very good at sticking to the recipes. It never would have occurred to me to buy this for myself, but it was given to me as a gift so I tried some of the recipes. I'm thoroughly impressed! These are great vegan recipes that taste and look like your run-of-the-mill, heart-attack inducing cupcakes. Luckily they're somewhat better for you. Now, I don't often bake cupcakes, but I do like to bake muffins. I took some ideas from Vegan Cupcakes and made my muffins vegan and a little healthier. Yum! Has anyone ever heard of putting vinegar in soy milk to curdle it? I love this - I can't believe I never tried it before. Anyhow, go make yourself a cupcake. Yum.

Deep Dish Pizza

If you prefer making your own pizza crust to buying a pre-made one, you may want to try making it a deep dish. I made many pizza crusts before coming up with this one. Take your pizza crust dough and, rather than roll it out, press it into an oven-safe pan frying or cake pan (I use an iron frying pan.) In my opinion this is faster than rolling it out. It make for a hearty and filling pizza. The thick crust means there's no need for bread sticks! I usually do several layers of each topping, depending what I'm putting on. I bake it at about 450 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes - it's easy to tell when it's done because the edge of the crust and the cheese both brown. Enjoy!

Hot Soup on a Cold Day

What can be better on a snowy day than curling up with a nice bowl of hot soup and looking out the window? Actually, in addition to soup this evening I made cornbread. I wanted to try something different so I got the inspiration from this recipe. It turned out great! Oddly enough, as a person who loves spicy food, spicy cornbread never occurred to me. I highly recommend it!

Pre-made Sandwiches

And by pre-made I don't mean take a loaf of bread and make sandwiches ahead of time! :) I try to bake bread weekly, although I do freeze loaves for when I get busy. When I'm on top of things we don't always run out of bread before I need to make more. Here's something I do when making the dough for two loaves of bread:

Put half the dough in a bread pan to rise. Take the other half and divide it into small balls (I usually end up with about 16.) Roll each ball out like a tortilla, and don't worry about making them round. Take your sandwich fillings (I usually use cheese and soy ham) and put on the flat "tortillas." Fold the sides of each "tortilla" underneath it so the fillings won't leak when baked. Bake along with your bread, but for about half the time. When they're done they should look like dinner rolls.

These make great sandwiches. You can eat them cold or hot and either freeze or refrigerate them. Other filling suggestions are peanut butter and jelly, pizza toppings, or barbeque (soy barbeque, in my case.)

Enjoy!

Quick Cookie Fix

This is a tip I borrowed from a friend who was trying to limit her cookie intake each time she baked a batch! I find it useful for cookie fixes. My husband loves chocolate chip cookies. I rarely bake them and he doesn't enjoy baking. He started buying packages of refrigerated pull-apart cookies whenever they were on sale. I found the ingredient list disturbing and the taste too sweet. Now I occasionally make the dough for a double batch of cookies. Instead of baking them all I bake a few and freeze the rest. Instead of freezing a container of dough I spoon the dough as I would for baking and freeze it that way. Once the balls are all frozen I put them in a Ziplock until the next cookie craving. This works well in warmer weather because you can bake a few cookies in the toaster oven instead of heating up the whole house!

Bread Crumb Substitute

I'm not a fan of using bread crumbs while cooking or baking simply because of the lack of nutritional value. A great substitute for me has been wheat germ. It works just as well as bread crumbs and you add nutritional value to your dish. (In a pinch wheat bran works as well.) I have yet to find someone who notices a difference. I use it on top of casseroles, as breading on soy meat, and as a base for stuffing, to name a few. My favorite use by far has been mixing wheat germ with chopped mushrooms lightly cooked in olive oil to create a fabulous (and relatively healthy) quiche crust.

Frozen Homemade Breakfast

I try hard to prepare any food ahead of time than can be prepared in advance. It saves time in the long run and I feel less stressed. Here are some ideas in the way of breakfast foods:

• Pancakes - The next time you make pancakes for your family double or triple the recipe. Cook the extra pancakes and freeze them. They're easy to pull out and heat up, either in the oven or the microwave, and they're still homemade.
• Muffins - Muffins are easy to prepare but take time to bake. Make several batches and keep them in Ziplocks in the freezer. When you want one for breakfast take it out and microwave it for no more than 20 seconds on high. Muffins are also a great way to add wheat bran, wheat germ, or other healthy ingredients to breakfast.
• Breakfast Burritos - These make for wonderfully filling breakfasts. Scramble tofu (I suppose you could use eggs), black beans, cheese, veggies (onions, peppers, whatever you want,) and salsa or hot sauce in a pan. Fold into tortillas and freeze. I usually wrap these in foil so I can put them directly in the oven from the freezer. Remove the foil to microwave, though!
  

Stale Bread

Whether you bake or buy bread there's always the chance you'll end up with a few stale pieces at the end of the loaf. Here are some ways I've found to use my stale bread:

• Garlic Bread - Break any amount of stale bread into bite-sized pieces. Put them in a frying pan on low/medium heat with some olive oil, garlic (or garlic powder), salt, basil, parsley, and any other seasonings you might use in your garlic bread. The oil will soften the bread and the bite-sized pieces make it easier to eat. Cook covered until the bread is as soft as you would like. This is also tasty with fresh mozzarella or parmesan on top.
• French Toast - What better way to soften bread than by dipping it in batter? I like to save my stale slices of bread in a Ziplock in the freezer. When I have enough for French toast I just pull out the bag.
• Croutons - Cut or break your stale bread into small pieces. Toss in a Ziplock with olive oil and whatever seasonings you would like to add. Bake until as crisp as you would like and, voila, homemade croutons!

When I save my stale bread in the freezer I usually have two bags - one with white and simple wheat bread that would be appropriate for French toast and one with more seasoned bread (I often make homemade bread seasoned with garlic and other potent herbs. Not great with maple syrup!)