Vegan Breakfast Experiment and More Hiking

I had today off, so I took the opportunity to take another hike. This time I made it up the small hill I had hiked earlier this week, and then I proceeded to hike up the next higher hill. Boy, let me just say that I am very out of shape. I stopped at least ten times going up the hill, and it is not very steep. I have a lot of work to do to get in better shape to conquer the next mountain. Once I got up to the top, I hiked along the range, then back to the dirt road which lead to where I had parked. I think I hiked at least three miles this morning! The picture above is of Four Peaks, which is one of the mountains I would like to hike.

As I was hiking, I was thinking about how low impact it is on the environment. Humans have hiked from the dawn of time, and it is just recently (the last one hundred years) that humans have stopped hiking or walking. It is nothing for us to just jump in our car or truck and drive three blocks to the grocery store (At least it is here in Phoenix), and yes I am just as guilty and out of shape as the next person. This is something I will have to work on.

Here is a picture of the Estrella Mountains from the top of the hill I hiked this morning.

Since today was my last vacation day for the year, (Our company renews at our hiring anniversary date, so I get more vacation time in two weeks) I decided to celebrate by making pancakes. Now, I have made pancakes, only one other time in my life, and if I remember correctly, they were a disaster. So, since this is a culinary adventure blog, I decided to "veganize" buttermilk pancakes. I got the recipe from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. Here is the original recipe list, with my alterations on the side:

Butter Milk Pancakes

1 cup buttermilk (I used vanilla soy milk with 1 TBSP vinegar stirred into it which sat for ten minutes)

1 egg, room temperature ( I used Energ Egg Replacer, this is the first time I have ever used this product, or ever tried to replace an egg with any replacement)

3 TBSP Butter (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

(Here are my instructions, basically following the recipe instructions as listed in the book)

Combine all the liquids in a mixing bowl (Egg replacer, soymilk, and butter) mix until smooth.

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking powder) mix until well combined.

I added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, until all the ingredients were moist. The batter was lumpy, but the recipe instructions say to leave it lumpy.

Heat a skillet until hot, grease lightly (I used Earth Balance) I poured 1/4 cup batter into pan and waited for all the little bubbles started to pop at the top (about a minute and a half), then I turned the pancake and cooked the other side about a minute longer.

Here is a blurry picture of my pancake cooking in the pan.

I made three golden pancakes, and refrigerated the rest of the batter to use this weekend. I also microwaved two Boca Meatless Breakfast Links to accompany my soymilk pancakes. I poured a little bit of real maple syrup on to these golden goodies and had a feast. This is my first time with soy sausage, and I think I liked them, I think I will have to get used to the taste.

The rest of the day I rested, then we went to Baja Fresh for dinner. I got the grilled veggie burrito and then we went and saw The Bourne Ultimatum which was very awesome, I think the best movie I have seen this summer.

Organic basil makes another appearance.....

I am so excited, I "veganized" my first bread recipe! I got the recipe from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger. I found a recipe for Whole Wheat Basil Bread, and the title just seemed to jump out at me, as I had another basil inspiration earlier this week. I made the 1 1/2 lb loaf. Here is the original recipe with my alterations listed off to the side.

3/4 cup buttermilk (I used soy milk with about a tablespoon of vinegar stirred into it that sat for ten minutes)
1/3 cup water
2 TBSP butter, cut into pieces (I used Earth Balance butter sticks)
2 TBSP Honey (I used light agave nectar)

3 cups white whole wheat flour (I used stone ground wheat flour, as this is all I had)
1/4 cup chopped basil
1/4 cup chopped pine nuts
1 TBSP gluten
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (I used bread machine yeast)

I put all the ingredients in the machine according to the MFR instructions, and in three hours I had bread! It turned out okay, it was really dense, would make really good stew or chili bread. I think it turned out so dense because I did not use the correct flour that the recipe called for. I still liked it though.

This is my favorite "go-to dinner"......... Wild rice pilaf, black-eyed peas, and sliced tomatoes. Cornbread would have gone really good with this meal, but I didn't have any cornmeal in the pantry. I was really glad I was able to use up the rest of the basil! I hate to waste food.

I had an all vegan diet day..... Here is what I ate for the rest of the day....

Breakfast: microwaved bake potato topped with pinto beans and covered in salsa (No fat breakfast), fresh carrot and peach juice (I have been drinking a form of fresh carrot juice all week, and am glad to see that I don't have an orange hue to my skin yet!)

Snack: Raw cashews, almonds, raw pumpkin seeds, raisins, and vegan chocolate chips all mixed together, organic grapes, and an organic banana

Lunch: Hummus wrap (Hummus and pita bread were left over from last nights Greek Feast) with romaine lettuce, red onions and tomatoes.

I didn't snack when I came home, and I didn't feel like working out either. I don't think I put dinner on the table until nine o'clock tonight.

Greek Feast

We were going to go out to eat tonight, but instead I decided to make a Greek feast. I was going to make homemade pita bread, but I didn't have any yeast to make the bread. The pita bread was store bought, but I did make the hummus and the tzatziki sauce. Both these dips are recipes I have mixed and matched to make them appeal to my taste. The salad was left over from last night, I added feta cheese to make it Greek . Leftovers are going to make an awesome lunch tomorrow.

Tonight we got a little bit of summer monsoon rain, and a beautiful double rainbow.

Arizona sunsets are so awesome!