Our Veggie Kitchen

It seems I'm getting swept up in holiday preparations. And I'm trying to get work done so I can take a couple weeks vacation. I've been doing a lot of quick stand-by dinners; lots of pasta, stir fries and tacos, and a few burgers peppered in when things get hectic. I tried tempeh for the first time in two years, with mixed results. I also found my new favorite sweet and sour sauce. The fatfreevegan's Seitan Baked Seitan in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce tasted great, but i thought the texture was a bit chewy. I had the same issue when I tried her ribs and I think I'll play a bit to fix it. It is worth the effort.



I also made Eggnog Bread. I found the recipe here on discusscooking.com (Thanks Glorie). I veganized it and made a loaf of bread. I blended egg replacer with water and the bread turned out a little heavy ... and it fell apart a bit. Maybe it would have held together if it cooled but it was gone before that happened. So I waited until after the kids were in bed and made some muffins. I mixed the egg replacer with the egg nog (and no extra liquid) and that made the difference. I actually got to eat two muffins from that batch. The bread was sweet and rich and holiday, umm holiday-ey. I'm going to buy some boxes of rice nog so I can make this year-round.



Eggnog Muffins/Bread
8 tbs Earth Balance Margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs rum (or 2 tsp rum extract)
1 cup Soy Egg Nog (or rice)
1 tbs Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/3 cup vegan sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

With a beater, cream the margarine with the sugar until fluffy. Combine the wet ingredients and whisk in the egg replacer powder. Blend the liquid and sour cream in with the margarine and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix and blend until somewhat sticky (like a muffin or banana bread batter).

For Bread: Pour into a 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, until a knife an be inserted and pulled out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and remove from the pan.

For Muffins: Spoon Batter into a muffin tin, fitted with muffin cups, about even with the tin. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, until a knife can be inserted and pulled out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and remove from the pan.

12 Servings: 245 Cal (9g fat, 36g carbs, 3g protein)