Christmas and Spice (Girl) Bread

Hey guys!

How are you?!  I had a wonderful Christmas celebration at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. It’s always so nice to eat meals together in a relaxed setting. As we’ve all either began our own families or gotten increasingly busy, it’s become challenging to find time to just enjoy one another’s company over a meal — so it was very pleasant.

The feast I made came out spectacularly!  Every dish will now join my “rotation” of tried-and-true recipes. Here’s  a picture of the meal:

• Thai stir-fried tofu (vegan) — recipe to come
• Citrus salad (vegan) — recipe to come
• Fried brown rice (vegan) — recipe to come (I didn’t have time to make The Kind Diet’s rice pilaf with caramelized onions, so I improvised!)

Yesterday morning I was up at the crack of dawn baking vegan treats for my boyfriend’s parents. They’re not vegan, but I thought they’d appreciate the healthier version. I made them maple pumpkin spice bread and the chocolate chip cookies I recently can’t get enough of — both recipes from Vegetarian Times. The chocolate chip cookies came out as delicious as ever. The maple pumpkin spice bread was a new recipe that I vegan-ized. It came out so surprisingly moist and dense that I put on some fishnets, broke out a microphone and deemed myself a (pumpkin) Spice Girl:

ok ok…maybe I shouldn’t go that far, but the bread really was insanely delicious. I’m allowed to try the goods I’m going to give to others, right? I mean it only sounds like chef ethics to taste-test your creations! Proof of aesthetic beauty in the bread:


Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup grape seed or canola oil
• 2 large eggs — *I used Ener-G egg replacer*
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 9- x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Whisk together flours, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and allspice in large bowl.
• Whisk together maple syrup and oil in separate bowl. Whisk in eggs, then pumpkin and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture with spatula;add hazelnuts. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool on rack 5 minutes, then unmold, and cool on wire rack; or transfer to serving platter, and serve warm.
• Nutritional Information per slice (12 total): 273 calories, 13g fat, 3g fiber, 4g protein

In other news, Santa and Co. totally spoiled me this Christmas. And by “Santa and Co.,” I mean my boyfriend, of course. Here I am modeling the new Abercrombie jacket he got for me:

It’s faux fur — PETA don’t come after me!

So in terms of eating vegan on holidays — well, I was fine. Until I saw the See’s Candy that is. If you don’t recall (see here and here), I freakin’ love See’s candy. The problem? They’re not vegan. I was ready to cry and throw a fit and ask myself why oh why I come up with these strange ass eating adventures — and then I paused, took a bite of some of the maple pumpkin spice bread I had brought along, and quickly got over it. It’s not about living without something — it’s about choices. And now, I have the adventure before me of finding and trying a vegan chocolate-covered toffee recipe! Got any? Anyone?

If you celebrated it, how was your Christmas? What’s the best gift you ever received?

<3,

The Cranky One

Tags: ener-g egg replacer, holiday foods, Recipes, vegan dessert, vegan recipes