Vegan Bread

Punjabi Market

 

So.....  we Rami live in the Punjabi Market neighborhood, here in the Couv...... 

 

and on Friday, our church planting friends, Arnold and Michelle (who live down the road) are coming over to eat, hang out, and bake bread with us! 

 

Yes... thats BAKE bread.... not BREAK bread.  Well..... we'll break bread too, I guess.

 

 

Our neighbors here, are mostly Indio-Canadians, and vegans......  (and cannot eat apple cobbler... I learned the hard way)....

So.....  We're going to bake and bake and bake and give hot bread to all our neighbors on Friday!!!! 

 

 Fresh bread is the cool thing here, so....... please pray that this gift will be a way our neighbors feel loved by us.

~Tracy

 



a random thought...

cheese is for rich people.

And pink...





 



I woke up having a pity-party for myself today. 
Jealous that Cec gets to leave the house, meet his friends, laugh, be carefree. 
And I was feeling sad, isolated, trapped, and just negative about today, and all the domestic duties I'd have.

But......  I had a choice. 

I could choose to be pissed all day, feeling sorry for myself,
or I could choose JOY.

I spent this morning dedicating my attitude, my relationship with my babies, and my heart to Jesus.  Begging him to help me.  Help change my heart,  love my babies, and value Cecil's ministry.

  And deep down...
I know that my part in this ministry is valuable, even though it isn't always easy or fun or recognized by others or appreciated.

Choosing to imitate Christ and then doing it, isn't easy.

But I guess the best things in life always come at the greatest cost.

So, I put Judah down for his nap, cleaned up the breakfast mess, and now Solas and I are sitting in the living room, being quiet. 

I look out the window and feel appreciation for today. 
Its dark and rainy  (my favorite Bakersfield-type day),
AND
the tree outside is blooming!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And the best part??????????  Its pink.

I feel like....  even though I was starting to feel bitterness, I was able to choose joy instead of a poor attitude, and as a reward???

My favorite weather.........  beauty right outside my window.... and my favorite color. 

Its like.....  even if a mother's work isn't valued.
God knows.  And he blessed me in a really personal way today.
~Tracy
ps..............  I forgot to talk about food.   I DID make my first homemade bread yesterday and it was GREAT!

mas muffins

Okay...........  so my sister-in-law and I have a little joke that if I make something that tastes gross, she can say its "francisco" and it's a code word that is less offensive to me than if she just said she didn't like it.
So..... both sisters came over for a slumber party on Sunday and I wanted to make muffins.  But didn't have a lot of the things the recipe called for (because we're just home for a month in Bako before we drive back up to Canada).
Soooo.... here's what I did...... and I didn't tell my S-I-L until we ate them, and they were good.
hhaaa
I didn't have oats, or artificial sweetener...
So I mixed together:
3 C breakfast cereal (I used cinnamon chex and captain crunch)
1 C wheat (or any) flour
2 t  baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
(And you better believe my measurements weren't precise)
Then I mixed in:
2 eggs
2/3 C milk
2 C applesauce
1 C sugar
2 t vanilla

Then I put in bananas, strawberries, blueberries, rasberries, and peanut butter (oh yeah......  didn't measure)

And baked at 375F until done.
Today I made more. 
Same recipe, but this time, didn't measure the sugar, and used cereal that looks like kibbles and bits,
Didnt have eggs, so used water instead....
Didn't have applesauce so I pureed apples.....
Didn't have fancy fruit so just used bananas and peanut butter. 

oh yeah.............................
delicious!
So the moral of this story???
As long as you got baking soda, baking powder, and some eggs........ you can make muffin ANYTHING!!!!

PS.....  THIS ISNT ME "KISSY-FACE". THIS IS ME SAYING...."OOOOOOO" HAHAHA

pancake recipe....

1 cup all-purpose flour
some sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
some vanilla extract
2 tablespoon butter

Delicious!

Last week in Abbotsford..

Hey blog peeps...
Today is Saturday, and we're leaving Abbotsford on Friday. 
so.....  we don't want to have a lot of food in the fridge... but we need SOME food. 
We don't have eggs, or meat.  So.... what to make for bfast???
I googled an eggless recipe for pancakes.....
oh yeah...........
delicious!!!!!!
love ya!

Trace

Egg Cupcakes

hahaaa 
Solas and I have a habit of calling normal food, something delicious,  so that he'll be more inclined to eat it!  For example, I call raisins, "Raisin Candy"... and he thinks its AMAZING to eat!!!!  Well, I scrambled eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper, pour them into muffin tins (to the top), and but some crumbled cheese on top.  I cook these for 15-20 minutes, and they're delicious!  And easy for the kids to eat with their hands.  Well, Solas calls them Egg Cupcakes.... and now I do too.  Whatever it takes to make him happy about eating something for breakfast!!!

hugs!!!  ~Tracy (and Solas)

Have I soup'n gone mad???

Yes.... yes.... possibly ..... I have gone mad. 
Why???? Because I can't get enough homemade SOUP!!!
I always hated soup before.  I didn't want to DRINK dinner.  I wanted my meal to be something I could really sink my teeth into..... no.... chicken broth  NADA. 
And now... yes.....  I'm soup'n mad!
Cecil too, I guess... because I made soup last night  for probably the 10th time in the last 2 months and we ate the leftovers today for lunch.  And when Cecil went to put Solas (our 3yrold) down right now... and I asked if he'd like to eat something.... he said, "I'll eat some soup if you make some".  hahahhaaa 

So.. yes..   I'm making soup.  I still hate brothy soups.  And even though everytime I make some, its different (don't care for recipes)......  Here are the essentials to EVERY SOUP I make:

• 1 or 2 heeping tablespoons of beef broth
• 3 cups of milk
• 3+ cups of water (depending on who's com'n for dinna)
• chopped onion
• rice
• potatoes
• veggies
• and meat.....  (didn't have much defrosted today except pepperoni-so I chopped that shiz)
• Salt/pepper/hot sauce to taste

I dare you to make your own soup.  I bet you'll love it. 
Gotta go... Cec just came in and asked if the food is ready....
love ya!
~Tracy

Apple Muffins a la Tracy

Cookie and Kate

celebrating whole foods & vegetarian fare

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Apple Oatmeal Muffins

By Kate | Published: November 8, 2011

Baking on Saturday afternoons has become a weekly ritual. After working on my computer from my couch all week, I like to be up on my feet on the days in between. Reaching high for bags of flour, plucking spices from the rack, grabbing my camera and hopping up onto the chair for an overhead shot, trying not to step on Cookie on the way down—it’s a dance of sorts.

I’m getting steadier in my steps and also in my substitutions. Following recipes to a T is not my forté. I find a concept I like and a recipe that seems prime for adaptation, and switch things up as I go along. I’m learning what to swap for what, what can be added freely and what must be compensated by a reduction in another ingredient.

A few weekends ago, I got to thinking about those glorious gala apples in my fridge and how badly I wanted to bake with them. I decided to make apple muffins—I envisioned hearty, moist oatmeal muffins studded with red-skinned apple bits and flecked with cinnamon. I skipped a trip to the UPS store and stayed home to bake.
I searched through my evernote account and came across this oatmeal blueberry muffin recipe by Joy the Baker. Her recipe called for apple sauce, which seemed like a perfect match for apple muffins. Joy called them “surprisingly moist and delicious”, and from a girl with “the utmost respect and admiration for butter and fat”, I knew I’d found a winner. Joy never steers me wrong.

I dialed up Ella Fitzgerald on my old iPod and commenced my Saturday baking ritual. I was out of regular milk so I couldn’t make buttermilk, but I did have leftover coconut milk. I squeezed lemon juice into the coconut milk like I would for buttermilk and it seemed to have a similar reaction.
It was a game day; I looked out the window and watched traffic build on Boyd Street. I traded the brown sugar for Muscovado sugar, which I had picked up the weekend before at West Side Market in Cleveland. I chopped apples while empathizing with Ella’s sad tomato, Hannah the busted Valentine. I sprinkled cardamom and ginger into the batter; slightly exotic spices seemed like a good match for coconut.

I divvied up the batter into my muffin tin as I noticed a steady stream of crimson-clad OU fans walking toward Campus Corner and the stadium. Game time approaching, it was time to sell parking. I set the timer and Cookie and I skipped downstairs. Twenty minutes later, I went upstairs and brought warm muffins down to my friends. They got thumbs up and approvals all around.



I found that the muffins tasted even better the next day. They’re pretty big muffins—not jumbo-sized like the processed muffin monstrosities you find at coffee shops—but big enough to eat for breakfast with peanut butter, coconut butter or apple butter. Mmm, butter.

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

So... I just tried these.  But I didn't have applesauce.... so I just used vanilla yogurt.  I'll let you know how it turns out. hugs

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk with the juice of half a lemon (or low fat buttermilk)
• 1/2 cup packed muscovado sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or vegetable/canola oil)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 small Gala apples, chopped into small pieces
• turbinado (raw) sugar and nutmeg, for sprinkling on top

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin wrappers or spray with nonstick cooking spray. My non-stick muffin tin works so well I didn’t need either.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger.
4. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil, egg and vanilla extract.
5. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in your applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist.
6. Fold in the chopped apples. Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full.
7. Sprinkle raw sugar and a light dusting of nutmeg on top of the muffins.
8. Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Muffins

Low Everything Oat Muffin Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup skim milk, 1 tbs white vinegar to create lowfat buttermilk
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 egg whites
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Place oats in a small bowl, pour in pseudo-buttermilk. Let sit for two hours at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
3. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
4. In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar.
5. Stir in oat/buttermilk mixture, applesauce and egg; mix well.
6. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

These turned out pretty good.  I didn't do step 1.  Of course.  I'm WAY TOO IMPATIENT for that.  hahaaa  And I added craisins and peanuts. 
So delicious! 
I may or may not be eating one right now in bed.
;)
~Trace

Not hungry

Well.....
I thought we were going to be hungry.  We haven't been.

 In fact, Cecil and I have gained weight.  Too much baking sweets, I think. 

I thought the Lord might let us be hungry.  We haven't been. 

And, we've been really blessed w/ finances this month!!!!!  We got some cash in the mail.... we got 2 gift cards for chevron gas.... and we got to go to cosco and spend $200 of money given to us for groceries!!!!!
The best part????

We get to GIVE IT AWAY!!!!
We get to have people over and share our food with them!!!!  We get to help missionaries!!!  We get to bless people!!!!
Its so good!!!

~Tracy

Been a few days...

Hey all!
I DID think perhaps you had thought we starved to death, thats why I hadn't been writing this last week. hahahaa
No.. we're fine and full.  We went out of town, 6 hrs NE to Williams Lake for a spiritual retreat w/ the other missionary candidates and their families.
Right now.... I'm looking at recipes for bisquick again.... and think I've found an amazing cinnamon roll recipe. 
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,164,159186-225206,00.html
I'm going to try this now.  I got all my reading homework done (I have a report due on monday for a 360pg book "Global Gods"), the kids are napping, and Cecil is reading.  Now is MY TIME.  I hope you get some YOU TIME today or sometime soon too.  Feels refreshing.
hugs,
Tracy

BISQUICK CINNAMON ROLLS

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,164,159186-225206,00.html Content Copyright © 2012 Cooks.com - All rights reserved. 1 egg 3/4 c. milk 1/2 c. sugar 3 c. Bisquick 2 tbsp. melted butter 2 tsp. cinnamon Heat oven to 350°F.Beat egg, add Bisquick and milk. Stir to make soft dough.Knead lightly, just until smooth. Pat or roll out into rectangle 10 x 8 inches. Spread with butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up tightly beginning with wide side. Seal well by pinching edge of dough into roll. Place sealed side down on ungreased baking sheet.Make cuts with scissors almost through roll at 1 inch intervals. If desired form roll in crescent.Bake 15-20 minutes. While warm, glaze top with mixture of 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 teaspoons warm water.Makes 10 to 12 slices.

Making my first homemade chicken curry.  God be with me.  hahaaa



Solas has been sick.  Stayed home again today to let him watch cartoons all day and eat bananas and crackers.  He was sick.... but IN HEAVEN. hahahaaa

 

I even made him popcorn.... and thought of my grandma Mamaw.  She most always burned it. hahahaa

okay.... so I ended up doing a Red Lobster/Bisquick recipe and making them into turkey sandwiches by adding a little meat between the "layers".  And used a  cookie sheet instead of the cupcake tin.  My boys don't tend to like salty meals in the shape of cupcakes anyway.  They probably feel deceived.  hhahaa

my first bisquick concoction!

ok.......  for lunch, I'm going to make turkey n' cheese sandwiches...with bisquick!

so... I'm going to use the biscuit recipe, pour half into greased cupcake pans, put in sliced turkey and a slice of cheese in each.... then put the rest of the mix on top and bake.  maybe I'll butter the top before they come out of the oven.  Maybe I'll add a squirt of bbq sauce/dressing/mustard to the cheese before I pour the mix on the top.

Lets see....

 

Cecil is at missionary training today, but I'm at home w/ the kids.  Solas had a nasty cough all night and both are fighting a cold. :(

Our morning eggs, muffins, and milk...

small plates

Small plates=small portions/less waste/more leftovers!!

Baked pasta

• Boil 1/2 bag of pasta (any non-noodle kind)
• Cook ground beef or any meat you got, in the skillet
• Drain pasta and put into oven safe casserole dish
• In skillet w/ meat, mix in half a can of tomato sauce + half can of water
• Mix in garlic, salt, pepper
• Mix in anything else you have that might taste good w/ it:
• chopped bell peppers
• chopped tomatoes
• Pour meat/sauce over pasta in casserole dish
• Crunch up any crackers and sprinkle over the top
• Grate a little cheese and put over the crackers on the dish
• Broil in oven until the dish is crispy and browned

YEY!!!! Its done!!!!  Probably took you 1/2hr or less. 

And you justed used whatever you had.

And your husband and kids will love it because the crackers and cheese on top will be crunch and they'll think they're eating chips!!!!

 

~Tracy