Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Maple Pecan Monkey Bread

Vegan Maple Pecan Monkey Bread

Dough

• 3 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110-115 f)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 TBSP coconut oil
• 1 TBSP ground flax
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour + additional (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup) to knead into dough as needed. (I used mix of unbleached white and whole wheat pastry flour)

Place yeast in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the warm water, stir, add sugar. Let sit for several minutes until it looks foamy. Add oil, salt, flax and remaining water. Stir. Add the flour. Begin kneading the dough, adding flour until it becomes elastic and smooth.  BTW, I usually do this right in the bowl. Cover the dough and set aside for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. The dough will double. 

The Gooey Stuff

2-3 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil
1/3 Cup Maple syrup
1/3 Cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 Cup pecans

Preheat oven to 375

While waiting for dough to rise melt 2 -3 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil in a small bowl. 

In an additional small bowl mix together two teaspoons cinnamon and 1/3 cup of sugar until blended. 

Chop or crush pecans if not already in pieces. 

When dough is doubled break it into approximate 1 inch balls. Dip each ball into Earth Balance/coconut oil then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Fill the bottom of a greased bundt pan. Pour half the pecans and half the maple syrup over the monkey nuggets. Then continue with the dough balls until you run out. Pour the remaining pecans and maple syrup over the last row and if you have cinnamon/sugar and oil left drizzle/sprinkle that over the top. 

Bake at 375 for 23-25 Minutes

When done let sit for a few minutes then place a serving plate over the bundt pan and invert. Let sit again for a few minutes then lift the pan off the bread, protecting yourself from steam. Serve. 

The maiden voyage of this recipe was nearly perfect. It wasn't all that much more involved to make the bread than to cut  those super processed biscuits into quarters. And with the flax and whole grain flour it feels better, too. I did try this with just the maple syrup and no sugar. It just wasn't gooey enough. Close. But the addition of the brown sugar coating each piece will take it to the next level.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Farming, Farming, Look at That Nasty Thing...

The weather cooperated enough that we were able to harvest sweet corn on Farm day. Yay. The tomatoes have gone slightly dormant with the heat. And for literally two minutes we got a rain storm. A two minute downpour that soaked the parking lots and teased everything else desperate for rain.

But those are just the little details. Here's the big adventure we had at the farm. While checking the organically grown, you know it's organically grown if there is evidence of pests having nibbled, but I digress, corn, & found something.

When I say she found something, I don't mean something innocent, or cute, or ordinary. I mean she found SOMETHING. As you have already correctly judged from the pictures she found something nasty ugly. I've seen this stuff call corn smut. And I've shunned it like the plague that it appears to be. I believe my childhood dreams were haunted by this corn monstrosity many, many nights.

But, get this, the farmer begins educating us on what corn smut is, and actually tells us she's eaten it before and it's tasty. Okay. I'm a major mushroom fan and this kind of piqued my interest. It's edible? Oh, yes, it's a delicacy in many parts of the world. She pulled one off the corn and showed us that it indeed looked like a mushroom under the black, oozy looking covering. So. I tasted it. I took a bite right out of it. And it's good. Tasty, mushroomy. And I am able to, 36 hours later, type this without hallucinating or stumbling around any more than usual in my words. I looked it up on wikepedia...why do I always go there? Anyhoo, I did. And here's the link to Mexican Truffles i.e. corn smut.

I wouldn't try this with non-organically grown corn. But, hey, how often do you get a chance to break off a hunk of ugliness and take a big bite? You only go around once.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Lemon Bars

Vegan Lemon Bars

This recipe takes minutes to make but several hours to prepare. It needs to set up at least 6 hours once made, and the cashews need to soak several hours prior. It stays delicious for a week or more. So I recommend you soak the cashews overnight, or when you leave for the morning, make the dessert and then let them set up either overnight or all day depending on when you put it together. 

Clearly, this is NOT low fat because of the nuts. But it is so creamy, and so tangy, and so good. Very key limey and you could use limes and make it key lime.  

Crust: (You want to wait until the cashews are soaked so you can use the food processor again right away and only have to wash it once.) (By the way, the crust is delicious on it's own and you can roll it into balls, or make it into your own version of Larabars.)

2 Cups almonds

16 Dates (roughly 1 and 1/2 cups)

zest of 1 lemon

1 TBSP coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon salt.

Place all in a food processor and process until ingredients combine into a sticky crumbly mix. 

Lightly oil a 9 x 13 pan. Press the crust into the bottom of the pan. 

Lemon Filling:

Step one 

3 Cups cashews

2 Cups lemon juice (6-8 lemons)

Zest of 1 lemon

1/3 Cup coconut oil

2 Cups sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

Place lemon juice, lemon zest and cashews in a bowl. Soak at least two hours to overnight. Do NOT rinse or discard the liquid.

Step two:

Place cashew/lemon mix into the food processor, add the coconut oil, sugar and almond extract. Process until smooth. Pour the contents onto the crust. Spread out and refrigerate at least 6 hours.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bunny Surprise ~ Part 2

Lizzie Bennett Bunny has indeed shocked us.

There are certain things we know about bunnies (and a few new ones, now).

Females can get pregnant when they are about six months old, and can have many, many pregnancies. Many, many. A female can get pregnant the same day she delivers babies, ensuring a never ending supply of cute little fuzzballs in varying stages of cuteness. This, of course, is not ideal for a lot of reasons. We knew that when she had her first batch. New information: From experience...male bunny "stuff" i.e. the baby bunny making component of his side of the equation is apparently strong. Very strong. And survives outside of the body for days.

Remember the mention of Mr. Darcy's inappropriate advances toward Lizzie almost 34 days ago? When we took the advice of a website suggesting that the buck and doe (Mr. Darcy and Lizzie) can have supervised play dates? Yes. That fateful day was indeed supervised. And Mr. Darcy was indeed relentless in his amorous pursuits. He was shut down after his third attempt. But somehow, someway, he was able to get the job done. 

This little guy looks like his brother and sisters. No question on paternity. And why only one little guy? Well, apparently, litter size can be controlled somewhat. A buck and doe together alone for a week can have nice double digit sized litters. But one or two encounters equals one to three sized batches. 

One quick encounter = bunny surprise.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bunny Surprise

The title may seem like a recipe. It is not. Unless, you could call it a recipe in the most general and casual way, like, recipe for disaster. Just to throw that thought out there.

I write this on August 4th. Exactly two months after we rescued Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett Bunny from the wild and dangerous life they'd found themselves thrust into. 

They are doing well, nary a care in the world. 

When we discovered Mr. Darcy was indeed a Mr....though not a gentleman, and Lizzie was indeed a female, we separated them. 

Clearly, they had been actively bonding in the wild because two weeks later she produced three small sweet potato-like babies. (You can see the whole saga under Bunnies Little Fuzzballs Take Over Our World. ) These darling babies have grown, have found numerous folks who want to adopt them, and are fully weaned and acting completely like adult bunnies. Two will be leaving tomorrow for their new home. Emma, holds a soft spot in &'s heart and will be co-owned by her and a little two-year-old friend who is not quite ready for full bunny ownership. 

Lizzie stands guard over new bun-bun

Then we found a sweet cage on Craig's List, which came with a bunny. The cage was promised elsewhere, but, alas, the bunny was homeless. Enter Charlotte, and then there were six. Two custom built cages later, pounds of seconds of farm Kale, timothy hay and bunny food later, our bunny farm had hit a comfortable rhythm. & has been learning all sorts of fascinating bunny facts, and has developed some sweet bunny handling skills. Once again, I just benefit from the fun part of bunny ownership. 

Then, last Monday, I went outside to check on the bunnies when I got home from work, not unusual behavior, I might add. It's beastly hot out. Over 100 most days, with little breeze and weeks since we've had a reprieve or rain. & bought a fan that circulates and blows on the cages and we put frozen ice bottles in the cages during the hottest part of the day. Rob happened to have been home that day. He came out and asked a weird question. "Are they okay?" Clearly, he could see they were. They were all visible, hopping around, eating, drinking or chilling. I answered as much. "Even this one?" He said and moved a food bowl to the side. 

Behind it was a newborn bunny. One. Just curled up, pink and clean and sound asleep. 

I said, "What the heck? Where did you find that?" 

"In the cage." 

"No way! Did someone do a bunny drop off while we were gone? Did someone find a nest and no mama so they dropped it off?" 

"No one did anything, someone HAD something." 

"WHAT?" 

"Look at it's markings. It's a perfect repeat of the three big babies. The question is how did Mr. Darcy get to Lizzie and make that?"  Then there were seven.

So confused. & may have been more shocked yet. 

So we scratched our heads, was it Charlotte's, and she came to us pregnant, had a baby and it fell from above into the lower cage? While we moved accommodations so mama and baby could be alone together, we had to rule that out. Lizzie was clearly the mama. 

To Be Continued.

 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Garden Bounty and Bunny Update ~

We picked one half of our grape harvest tonight. The green ones. Delicious, and enough to make a jar or two of jam. 

Our pumpkin in the trees are turning orange. And are still hanging there, doing their thing. Sorry for the blur. 

Tomatoes are going to be a huge harvest. Our plants are loaded. And we've got some eggplant and peppers close to picking.

The teen bunnies are growing and eating and eating. They might be getting cuter. Two of the three go to their new home on Sunday. And just in time, too. To be continued.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Raspberry Sugared Pecan Spinach Salad Recipe

Raspberry Sugared Pecan Spinach Salad

Serves 4-8 depending on whether side or meal and how hungry folks are. 

Spinach leaves dusted with finely chopped red onions, sugared pecans and whole raspberries.

To sugar pecans toss about a cup of pecan pieces in a skillet. Heat them until they begin to warm and become fragrant. Toss in 2-3 TBSP of sugar and stir, shake or toss until the sugar coats the pecans. Take off heat and let cool. 

Salad:

4-5 handfuls spinach leaves

1/2 a purple onion fine dice

1 Cup sugared pecans

1 Cup raspberries

Dressing (This is bright, brilliant pink) Makes about 1 1/2 cups. Store leftovers in the fridge.

1 and ½ cups raspberries (frozen or smooshed ones work great!)

1/8 to ¼ cup of lemon juice (to taste)

1 tsp spicy mustard (or to taste)

2 tsp agave syrup (or to taste if you want sweeter, add more)

Whir the dressing ingredients in high speed blender (or food processor) until all incorporated and smooth.