Movin'

Good news and bad in my world. Can't remember if I wrote about this before so I'll just lay it out briefly: I have to move. My landlady/housemate is moving and wants to rent the whole house. I get the impression that if I stayed and found 2 people to share the house with I would be put in the role of property manager and I am not willing to take on that responsibility. So, I told my man and he said he'd figure it out. Somedays he just wants to swoop in and save me from my troubles :) He's so sweet. I told him I wasn't in need of rescuing. His suggestion was to move in with him and his parents in a townhome. Sounds great in theory. Sat down with his mom and the four of us living together is not going to work. My man and I, maybe, but definitely not the four of us. Found a REALLY spacious one bedroom that I'm going to go look at tomorrow. 650 square feet for under $600! That's a steal! Doesn't include utilities and there's no on-site laundry but that's what mom's house is for :) Love ya mom!

My latest and greatest feat in the kitchen is vegan zuccini bread! Oh wow is it good. Not only is it vegan but there is absolutely no processed sugar! No white sugar, brown sugar or any sugar syrups like agave and maple. That's right, baking without sugar can be done! I never knew that was possible. Thank you allergies for giving me a new way of looking at food preparations. I adapted the recipe from Joy at http://joythebaker.com/ She has some wonderful recipes on her site and I am loving playing around with them to make them Stephanie-friendly. So, here's my version!

Completely Vegan Zuccini Bread by Stephanie

makes one 8x4 loaf

3 cups barley flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg (fresh is awesome but store-bought ground is good too!)
pinch of cloves (I believe I put in somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons ground flax seed (I bought whole seeds at Richard's Foodporium and ground it myself)
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon soy milk with a splash (approx 1/8 teaspoon) of white vinegar (this is in place of the buttermilk)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
10 whole pitted dates
1 cup raisins, divided
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups shredded zuccini
3/4 cup sunflower seeds

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan (I used olive oil spray to grease the pan and it worked wonderfully!) Set aside.

In a food processor or blender (I used a mason jar fitted with the blender blades rather than the big blender pitcher) combine the applesauce, dates and 1/4 cup raisins. Puree the heck out of it. You're looking for a smooth consistency. It'll look like baby food :)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices and flax meal. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, applesauce/dried fruit puree and almond extract. Mix thoroughly then add the zuccini and sunflower seeds.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold together. Make sure all of the flour is thoroughly incorporated. It'll look like it needs more liquid but just be patient. The batter will be thick. Spoon batter into prepared pan, cover it with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes and remove the foil. Return the pan to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes more or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Yum!