in one very large mug, add:

• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 thumb-sized chunk of fresh ginger, grated
• pour hot water over the garlic and ginger
• stir in some instant vegetable broth powder
• stir in 1 TB miso
• add a pinch of cayenne pepper

Drink, then go to bed.

Ingredients for 1 dozen cupcakes or one 8″ round cake layer:

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose white flour
• 6 TB natural cocoa powder (not dutched, if you can help it)
• 1 TB potato starch (or corn starch, tapioca starch, etc)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1  tsp baking powder (look for brands that don’t use aluminum as an ingredient)
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Wet ingredients:

• 1/2 c. light-colored sugar (Florida crystals, beet sugar, etc)
• 6 TB vegan mayonnaise (I used Vegenaise, made by Follow Your Heart, with good results — please comment if you try it with other brands, like Nayonnaise)
• 1 TB soft Earth balance or other vegan shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c. non-dairy milk, like soy milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Sift or whisk together all the dry ingredients, set aside
3. Cream together the first 4 wet ingredients in a large bowl (do not add the milk yet)
4. Add about half of the dry mix to the wet mix, and stir/whisk together just until smooth.
5. Alternately add the remaining dry mix, and the non-diary milk, mixing just until combined each time.
6. Do not overmix. Mix just until combined.
7. Either fill lined cupcake tins halfway (only halfway, they expand), or pour into a greased 8″ round cake pan.
8. Bake for about 15 minutes for cupcakes, or 25 minutes for cake. Test with a toothpick at least 5 min before time is up, and extend baking time as needed depending on your oven.
9. Let rest briefly, then turn out to cool onto a wire rack — if you leave them in the baking pan, they will get gummy.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99268166&sc=nl&cc=bn-20090125

Luckily Edward & Sons has a new organic alternative:

http://www.naturalfoodnet.com/community/articles/2698_organic_mandarin_oranges.html

Bad news first: I was dismayed to see that there are 24 grams of sugar in one 6-oz container of vanilla So Delicious Soy Yogurt. Ounce-for-ounce, that’s 20% MORE sugar than in the same amount of Coke or Pepsi.

Now the good news: if you are a recent convert to soy milk and soy yogurt, and you’re missing a “true dairy” mouthfeel and flavor, So Delicious delivers. The texture looks a bit lumpy on the spoon, but once in your mouth, it feels rich, creamy, and has fresh dairy undertones — one might even say buttery. I don’t know how they do it, but the inulin, pectin, carob bean gum, seaweed gums (carrageenan), and unspecified natural flavors must help.

Congratulations Soy Delicious, and thank you for making these certified Vegan. Now can you do it with a bit less sugar?

To be fair, most other brands have a lot of sugar too. (But not as much as So Delicious.) That’s why I make my own…

Here is the black bean brownie recipe so far. It’s really good. This photo, from an earlier batch before I perfected it, does not do the brownie texture justice:

Tools needed:

food processor
medium bowl
double-boiler or microwave for melting chocolate
8×8 brownie pan (I line mine with parchment paper)

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup sugar (this makes a bittersweet brownie — increase to 1.25 cup for sweeter brownie)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coffee extract (if not using coffee) for mocha chocolate, or add 1 tsp mint extract for mint chocolate brownies, or 2 TB Kahlua (coffee liqueur) for a really decadent flavor

1 TB oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup cooled coffee or filtered water

Directions:

Melt the 1 TB oil and chocolate chips in microwave (gently!) or double boiler (preferred method).

In the bowl of your food processor, add the first group of ingredients (beans, sugar, vanilla & flavors) and then the melted chocolate, process well. Scrape down sides to ensure thorough blending. Process until thoroughly mixed and perfectly smooth.

At this point, if you want fine walnuts in the brownies, add 1/2 cup walnuts.

Sift together the next 5 dry ingredients. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to food processor and mix thoroughly. Scrape down sides to ensure thorough blending.
Add the liquid (water or coffee), then the remaining dry ingredients, and blend again, scraping sides at least once.

At this point, if you want coarse walnuts in the brownies, add 1/2 cup walnuts and pulse.

Bake in prepared 8×8 pan, bake 5 minutes at 350 then reduce temperature to 325 and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until center is just set. It continues to bake once removed, so do not bake to dryness.

For Turtle Brownies, optionally top with chocolate chips, pecans, crushed pretzels, shaved coconut and Mimi’s Caramel sauce.

Nutrition:

Dividing this recipe by 16 (4×4 squares) which is how I cut them, and not factoring in the nuts, I get:

138 cal per brownie
4g fat
26g total carbs
4g fiber
3g protein
119 sodium

Notes:

Natural cocoa powder is preferred. If you use dutch cocoa powder, add 1/4 tsp vinegar in the water — this helps with the leavening and keeps the cocoa flavor zippy.

I bet you could turn this brownie recipe into a cake recipe if you add more flour and baking powder, and maybe cut back slightly on the beans, but I haven’t tried that yet

Mimi’s Vegan Caramel Sauce

The PCRM wants people to know that cheese and milk are actually likely to cause weight gain. The campaigns were based on basic research done on the effect of calcium supplementation on metabolism. The Dairy Council then extrapolated study results to dairy products, claiming that because dairy products contain calcium, they would cause weight loss. They conveniently ignored the facts that the calcium found in dairy is far less bio-available than the calcium found in leafy greens, vegetables and fruits, meaning that you absorb less usable calcium from dairy. And that the calcium in dairy is accompanied by calories — as opposed to a calcium supplement which gives you calcium with no added calories. Also, in order to process dairy, your body consumes calcium in order to neutralize the acids formed when the dairy protein is metabolized. There is actually strong evidence that consuming dairy results in a loss of calcium, as proven by the high rates of osteoporosis in countries that consume the highest amounts of dairy, and the near-zero rates of osteoporosis in countries where dairy is not part of the normal diet. When you consume foods that make your body acidic (excessive amounts of protein and processed sugar, for example), your body removes calcium from your bones to help neutralize the excess acidity. When your body is alkaline, (when you are eating a diet high in vegetables and fruits, for example), your body is able to replace the lost calcium, but only to a limited extent. Your bones act like a checking account, with constant calcium withdrawals and deposits. The standard American diet results in a calcium deficit over time.

Anyway, I was always appalled that the Dairy Council was able to get away with this for so long, and I’m thrilled that these campaigns have finally been halted.
References:
<a title=”PCRM news release” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.pcrm.org/news/release070511.html”>http://www.pcrm.org/news/release070511.html </a>

“Dairy Council to End Ad Campaign That Linked Drinking Milk With Weight Loss” New York Times article
Misleading Dairy Council Weight-Loss Ads Removed
2007-05-19