happy halloween punkin bread

I made this for The Bear's Halloween party in his classroom today. It's so yummy, I thought I'd share! It's vegan, since Bear can't eat dairy or egg whites.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable shortening

4 tsps hot water

2 cups pumpkin purée

2 tsps baking soda

4 cups white flour (or 2 cups white flour; 2 cups white whole wheat flour)

½ tsp salt
½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

optional: 2 cups raisins or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream together sugar with shortening. Put hot water in a bowl and stir in hot pumpkin purée and baking soda. Let mixture foam up and rise, then add to creamed mixture. Sift flour together with salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly. Stir in raisins or nuts. Split batter in half and bake in two loaf pans for about 50 minutes in an oven of 350 degrees F. Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

And since I didn't get you a musing on Monday, this one is from Sandi Wiseheart: "There are two sides to kindness, both equally healing. Being kind to others, and allowing others to be kind to you. Try letting both happen."

I am much better on the former, but I'm working on the latter. :)

You asked for it :)

So here it is! This is a super simple and incredibly satisfying dish. The cornbread recipe has no dairy or no eggs because The Bear is allergic, but you can use any other different cornbread recipe instead.

Bear's Southern-Style Cornbread (I specified some brands because not all ingredients are created the same)

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill egg replacer used as dry ingredient (do not mix with water)

1-1/2 cups "buttermilk" - place 1 tbsp white vinegar in measuring cup and fill to the 1-1/2 cup marker with Pacific Select Soy (unsweetened) low fat plain soy beverage

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup hot water

vegetable shortening

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Sift all dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Batter will be very thin and puffy.

Grease rectangular Pyrex glass baking dish thoroughly with shortening and pour batter into pan.

Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cornbread comes out clean.

To make Bear's Cornbread and Sausage, you will need:

1 recipe of Bear's Southern-Style Cornbread (or your own recipe) - uncooked batter

4 Aidells Chicken/Mango Sausages

2 ounces of Follow Your Heart Vegan cheese - Monterey Jack

Slice each sausage down the length without cutting all the way through. Slice cheese into long thin pieces and stuff each sausage with cheese.

After pouring batter into greased pan as above, place sausages evenly in cornbread and bake as instructed for plain cornbread, 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cornbread comes out clean.

My grandmother used to use hot dogs and she'd spread mustard in before adding the cheese when she cooked this recipe, but when I substituted the mango/chicken sausage, I didn't think the mustard would taste very good. That being said, I love whole seed mustard with turkey dog and cheddar. Yum!

Poor Mr. Romi is asleep and trying his best to heal from the oral surgery. I'm taking a little breather and enjoying the fact that:

1. The Christmas shopping is finished,

2. The kids are finished with their semester,

3. The cat has not destroyed the tree yet even though she is sleeping in it,

4. Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners are planned and everything is purchased,

5. 5 batches of cookies are baked and given away,

6. The cold I thought I was getting decided to leave, and

7. I just received a big gift box of yarny goodies from Deb Accuardi, late of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks.

I may even relax a little now. :)

Happy holidays, everyone!

Traditions

It's funny how traditions take root, isn't it? Around here, the central holiday tradition is my elder son misbehaving in some horrendous way. This year, though he is keeping up his end of the tradition nobly, we are trying not to partake as completely as in years past. I'll let you all know how that one works out! Isn't it amazing how my polar opposite sons come from the same genetic pool? I marvel at it daily.

Meanwhile, quick and hearty meals become a must in the chaos leading up to Christmas. And because The Bear can't eat dairy or eggs, we don't eat a lot of processed foods (something we thank him for regularly - we're all convinced that the family is healthier because of The Bear.) We've re-written many recipes Mr. Romi and I grew up with to make them Bear-safe, and yesterday I trotted out an old favorite that my southern grandmother used to make: hot dogs baked in a pan of cornbread. I re-wrote that one, too, of course. Instead of buttermilk, the cornbread is made with soy milk and vinegar. The hot dogs became chicken-mango sausage, and The Bear's cheese was a vegan Monterey Jack I picked up at the local store (and which received two thumbs up). I filled ours with Havarti and a few little shreds of cheddar so I could tell them all apart.

This is one of the most satisfying foods of my childhood. And the kids love it too. Comfort in a pan! The cornbread is unsweetened like my grandmother made it ("sweetened cornbread is nothing but Johnny-cake!") and I think even as much as she loved using buttermilk in her baking, she would approve of the soy version. Doesn't it look inviting?

If any of you are interested in the cornbread recipe, or the cornbread/sausage recipe, I'd be happy to post it. Though the sausage is obviously not vegan, the cornbread by itself is. Let me know? In fact, please just say hello and let me know you're out there. I was so enjoying reading your responses to my post yesterday! Thank you for writing. :)

In knitting news, I've been working on some textured yumminess.

I posted a picture on Twitter the other day, and now I have a little more of a hint to show you.

I am loving this next muse! The yarn is from Brooke at Sincere Sheep and the colors are wonderful! I had some knitting time today, but not as much as I would have liked. This is the 10th shawl I've designed and knit this year, and I have another half-finished muse that may make it into the 11th spot. That is, unless something crazy happens! :knockonwood: A this point though? I'm just rolling with it.

(btw, it's chilly in the house and I'm sitting here, toasty warm in my lined Poinsettia Tam. I guess it works for wimpy Californians as well as Canadians!) ;)

Time is ticking down to Christmas, Mr. Romi had emergency oral surgery today, and the kids got into the presents while we were gone. Wish me luck! I'll be wishing you all well too. :)

A lovely day off

Yesterday was a gloriously beautiful day here in paradise, so we started the aforementioned tradition: The Annual Thanksgiving Wild Turkey Hunt and Photo Expedition. The kids looking out for gobblers:

We drove up my very favorite road in these parts, along Little Sulfur Creek, and I was taking photos all the way.

This is my favorite spot in the world, except maybe Venice, but that's really a different paradigm, eh?

I was the only one to bag any turkeys and this is as close to being shot that any of them got!

There were these amazing trees just covered in Spanish Moss.

And here's a lovely view from the top.

We saw some abandoned mines, either Mercury or sulfur, I don't know which.

And my favorite tree to look at (as opposed to my favorite tree to smell: California Bay Laurel): Madrone.

The bark peels off naturally to reveal incredible smooth red branches underneath.

Yes, it's as smooth as it looks. I could just stare at it and run my hand over it all day.

Back we went to Chez Romi where a traditional holiday tantrum was thrown by #1 Son. It was gotten over and then we had a non-traditional meal of BBQed tri-tip (how Californian of us!), sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top, pilaf, and my grandmother's invention: Apple Goo. It's a kind of crazy-sweet and gooey apple dumpling that you can only really eat once a year if you want to avoid being diabetic. It was delicious and we were all stuffed afterwards.

And in the tradition of thankfulness and sharing...here's the recipe! I've never know anyone who didn't just love this stuff, and people used to invite me over just so I'd make it. So now you can make it and not have to put up with me, too. :)

Grama's Apple Goo

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut 2 medium tart (sharp) apples into very small pieces (if yours are sweet, you can add about 1 tsp of lemon juice after they are cut)

have on hand: cinnamon and sugar mixture
sheet cake pan measuring approx 9" x 13"

Prepare one recipe of plain pastry using:

2 cups sifted pastry flour
2/3 cup shortening
3/4 tsp salt
ice water as needed (added at end)

Place sifted flour, shortening and salt in bowl. With two knives, cut shortening cross-ways into flour until the mixture looks pebbly.

Add enough ice water to make the dough hold together when squeezed gently in your hands. Mix the dough completely but do not over-mix. The pieces of shortening make the pastry crispier. Divide the dough into 4 portions and roll each out, cutting each quarter into 4 sections (a total of 16 sections). Place approximately 2 T of apple in the center of each section

and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon mixture over the apples.

Don't worry if your pastry looks terrible, all will be covered in the final step!

Fold each square of dough over apples into a triangle, and fold up edges. Pinch dough together so that no apples will escape.

Add to pan. When the pan is covered with the triangles, take the remaining dough, break it into small pieces and add along the edges.

In a saucepan, combine:

1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
4 T butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2 cups water

and bring to a boil. Boil together 3 minutes and then pour mixture over apple triangles in pan. It will look like this:

Let sit for about ten minutes, until it looks like this:

Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes, until top is golden brown.

Let sit for at least 45 minutes before serving. The longer it sits, the better it is.

Cheers! :)

Crunchy munchy

7 Small Shawls: T - 96 days and counting down.

Well. I did it. As wonderful as the name my little Bear dreamed up was (rosemary-go-round), the only constant in life is change. So my blog has a new name! Enter @ Romi's Studio. Just like my Ravelry group. Woot!!!

Ahem. Anyway.

First priority is a public service announcement. For those wanting to make Celaeno in the same yarn I used (Enya Sock in New Moon), Dee of Saffron Dyeworks is having a shop update on September 27th at 7pm EST. Here's a preview of the yumminess. New Moon has been selling out super fast! So, to get your own skein of gorgeousness, don't be late!

(Note: Celaeno, the single pattern will be out in the next couple of days. Right now, you can only purchase it as part of my 7 Small Shawls eBook subscription.)

Here's a fun and quick little item to make. Mr. Romi makes incredibly delicious bread in our bread maker and we always have left-over ends. Usually we put them out for the birds, but the Bear has been asking me to make croutons that he can eat. Most store-bought croutons have dairy or egg in them and he's allergic. So the other day I finally cut the ends into 1/2 inch cubes, put them in a bowl, drizzled olive oil on them, added herbs, and tossed them until coated. Then I baked them for 20 minutes on cookie sheets in a preheated 250 F oven until golden brown. And here they are. I don't know why I didn't do this before! So easy. So delicious! French bread is particularly perfect.

Golden brown crunchy and yummy! And Bear safe. :)

This past weekend was a swim meet. Both days. It was hot. It was long. I'm going to vegetate now. Ciao!

knit knit knit

7 Small Shawls: T - 192 days and counting down.

Today the reality of my secret project deadline hit me full force. And, I admit, I only knit four rows on my lovely shawl #3. I know I should have been doing my secret project more before this, but I so love my precioussssssssss beads and yarn. :sigh:

So today I have been knitting away on the secret, and not making much headway. On secrets such as these, I like to knit gigantic, family-sized swatches. Then I wash and block them and let them shrink or expand or do whatever they do when they sit around. It's one thing ending up with a product that doesn't fit when it's for your personal use and quite another when it needs to fit someone else's particular measurements exactly! I could always frog a project that doesn't fit me, or give it away. But that's not an option on this one.

So today, I'm afraid I have nothing exciting to show you. I hope you will forgive me, though, if I share my cupcake recipe with you. What do you think?

We always make this recipe for birthdays and special occasions around here because the Bear is allergic to dairy and egg whites, and this has neither. A bonus is that this is the absolute best chocolate cupcake recipe I've ever ever tasted. It is yummy, and it works great as a sheet cake, too! Just bake about 10-15 minutes longer.

The Bear's Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

makes 24

Pre-heat oven to 350 F

Sift together and set aside in one bowl:

2 cups sugar

2-2/3 cups flour

2/3 cups powdered unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

scant tsp salt

set aside in another bowl or large measuring cup:

2 cups cold water

2/3 cups olive or other vegetable oil (not extra-virgin)

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp white vinegar

To a large bowl, add a portion of the dry mixture and a portion of the liquids. Mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients and liquids alternately, stirring thoroughly after each addition and keeping batter on the stiff side throughout the process, until all ingredients are used. End by using the rest of the liquids, as the batter will end very thin and you want to avoid lumps.

Pour batter into cupcake pans lined with paper or foil wrappers. Bake at 350 F for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool on rack. Frost with your favorite icing.

Enjoy! We do. :)

Mmmmmasaman

Last week I tweeted about my dinner of Thai Masaman curry and was asked for the recipe. So here we go!

I would love to pretend that I cooked it completely from scratch, grinding my own spices and making my own curry blend, (and perhaps milking a coconut?). But truth be told, I actually found this incredible brand of Thai curry spices when searching for practical stocking stuffers one year, and have been using the different blends ever since. The brand name is Maesri, and the blends come in small cans that hold enough spice for one dinner. Well, actually, for my family of four, we get two dinners out of one can of spices. This is how the can looks:

We get it at the quasi-local Asian market.

To make what turned out to be (IMHO) the perfect Masaman curry (feeds 6-8), you will need:

1 can Maesri masaman curry paste
4 chicken thighs
1 large Yukon Gold potato
5 green onions
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp tamarind paste (also from the local Asian market)
1 can coconut milk (full fat version, not the skinny stuff from Trader Joe's)
(ETA: the low fat coconut milk doesn't give a rich enough flavor, IMHO, and I end up using two cans of it rather than one of the full fat milk and one can of water)
water to fill coconut milk can

steamed Jasmin rice (4 cups water, 2 3/4 cups rice in rice cooker)

Cut the 4 chicken thighs into 1/2 inch x 2 inch strips, cut potato into 1/2 inch cubes and set aside, slice green onions thin and then cut the tops into 1 pieces. Set everything aside.

In a saute pan, combine curry paste, coconut milk, sugar and tamarind. Make sure to scrape the can of coconut milk for the sediment - that's the best part! Fill the can with water and swish it around to get the last of the sediment. Set water aside to use later. Stir the mixture in the pan until it is bubbling. At this point, if you taste it, it will be awful. It needs to cook more to bring out the flavor. Let simmer for about 7 minutes. Add chicken, potato and green onions. Stir. Add water from can. Stir mixture and simmer. Reduce heat (mixture should still be bubbling) and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until potato is soft. The mixture will become a little thicker. Now is the time to taste. If it is too sweet, add a bit more tamarind (but don't over-do - it's sour!). If it's not sweet enough, add a bit more sugar.

Serve over Jasmin rice. Enjoy!!

The curry leftovers keep really really well in the refrigerator, and actually taste even better after a day or two. We keep some and have it when no one feels like cooking!

In other news, I haven't heard from Lisa in Western MA about the book she won, so on next Tuesday (I'm waiting a week), I'll randomly choose a different name and someone else will get the Fiber Gathering book!

Recipes and other tidbits

A few answers to questions!

Rosie asked me to let everyone know how the fiber spins up. I've spun both Lisa Souza and Royale Hare fiber before and both spin up beautifully!

LisaK asked which colorways the Lisa Souza fiber is. They are Olive Tones and Deep Sea. (The Royale Hare Fiber is Mt. Tam Moss Muir Woods Moss - thanks, Ba!).

Miyamojo asked where she could get the pattern for Bluebird, my newest lace stole. It will be available for download soon! It's being test knit. I will definitely post when I release it!

Michelle at Boulderneigh and Yarnhog asked about steaming handspun; I will show the process when I finish spinning my bfl. :) Stay tuned!

And last, by popular demand: the vegan lemon cupcake recipe! I've also added a chocolate cake/cupcake recipe. This was the first time I have ever tried the lemon (loved it!), but the chocolate cake is a huge huge favorite around here, and we would still love it above all others even if the littlest one weren't allergic to dairy and eggs.

This incredible chocolate cake recipe is originally from Amy, who got it from Barbara. I have modified it slightly. I doubled the recipe and alternate dry and liquid ingredients when adding rather than combining them all at once. I've found that, with the doubled recipe, it isn't possible to have a lump-free batter when adding everything together. I also found that putting the topping on right away as the cake is put into the oven always led to burned chocolate chips in my oven, so I put the topping on later as the cake bakes. I began spraying the brown sugar with water when I wanted a crunchier topping. (As you can see, it's a huge favorite here!)

Amazing Chocolate Cake (Vegan: no dairy or eggs)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Sift together and set aside:
2 cups sugar
2-2/3 cups flour
2/3 cups unsweetened baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/4 tsp salt

Combine and set aside:
2 cups cold water
2/3 cups vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. vinegar

brown sugar and dairy-free chocolate chips for topping

In a large mixing bowl, combine approximately 1 cup of the dry ingredients with 1/2 cup of the wet ingredients (exact amounts not important) and mix until smooth. Add more dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, then add more liquid ingredients and mix thoroughly. Continue adding ingredients in this manner, ending with liquid, until all of the ingredients are mixed thoroughly together. Batter will be thin.

Pour batter into two 8" square pans or one 8" x 16" pan, ungreased. Bake for 15 minutes and pull out of the oven. Add crumbled brown sugar over the top and spray with a fine mist of water until the brown sugar is wet. Bake another 10 minutes, and then pull out. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and return to oven until done, about 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Total baking time: approximately 35 minutes.

Or makes approximately 30 cupcakes: line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill 2/3 full. Top with brown sugar and chocolate chips and bake for 20 minutes.

This delicious lemon cupcake recipe is based on the chocolate cake recipe above and is the one I used the other day. It was a huge a hit with the kids. Thank you, Barbara!!!

Lemony Cupcakes (Vegan: no dairy or eggs)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Sift together and set aside:
2 cups sugar
3-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp salt

Combine and set aside:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1-1/2 cups cold water
2/3 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. vinegar

icing:
1/4 cup Vegan margarine
2 cups confectioners sugar
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

In a large mixing bowl, combine approximately 1 cup of the dry ingredients with 1/2 cup of the wet ingredients (exact amounts not important) and mix until smooth. Add more dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, then add more liquid ingredients and mix thoroughly. Continue adding ingredients in this manner, ending with liquid, until all of the ingredients are mixed thoroughly together. Batter will be thin.

Pour batter into two 8" square pans or one 8" x 16" pan, ungreased. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Or makes approximately 30 cupcakes: line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes.

Prepare icing by mixing confectioners sugar into the margarine gradually. Add lemon juice and rind and mix thoroughly. Frost cake or cupcakes when cool.

Enjoy!!! People can't believe there's no dairy or eggs in these!