Vegan Oat Crakers - Update

Vegan Oat Crackers topped with onion jam and cheese

Since I developed this recipe, I made a few changes.  I cut back on the oil and added Old Bay.  Lately, I've been making these crackers about once a week.  They are delicious and full of healthy whole grains!

Preparation time: 10 minutes;  Baking time: 20 minutes

½ cup Old Fashioned Oats or a blend of rolled grains (I used Old Wessex Ltd’s 5 Grain Cereal)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
¼ cup All-purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon Ground Pepper
1 teaspoon Old Bay (or your favorite spice blend)
 1/8 teaspoon Salt 
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine oats, flours, pepper, Old Bay, and salt.

Mix in the olive oil.

Slowly incorporate the water into a dough until it is no longer crumbly and easily forms into a ball.

Roll out the dough on parchment paper to about 1/8^th inch thick, and cut the rolled out dough into ~1.5 inch squares.

Place the crackers on lined baking sheet.  They don’t spread, so you can put them pretty close.

Stab each once or twice with a fork because it will make you feel like a badass (it also keeps the crackers from puffing up).

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pans, and bake for an additional 6-10 minutes.  (16-20 minutes total).

Makes approximately 36 crackers.

This recipe is based on this recipe: http://www.sharmispassions.com/2013/06/oats-crackers-recipe-easy-oats-savory-crackers.html 

My onion jam recipe can be found here: http://eatatlus.blogspot.com/2013/11/onion-jam.html

No-Knead Rye Bread

I love rye bread.  There’s nothing quite like a grilled cheese sandwich on good rye bread. This is a simple rye bread.  It doesn’t have the whistles and bells of a pumpernickel, but if you’re craving a bread where you can just enjoy the taste of rye with caraway seeds, this is the bread for you.  It contains no added sugar or anything super fancy.  It’s just a simple rye bread.

Ingredients

1.5 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for work surface

1.5 cups rye flour

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)

All-purpose flour, semolina flour, corn meal, or wheat bran (for sprinkling on the towel)

Preparation

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, and caraway seeds. Add the water and stir until combined.  You can mix it with a spoon, but I prefer to get in there with my hands.  The dough will be very sticky and a bit shaggy. 

Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil (or just spray it with non-stick spray if no one is looking), and place the ball of dough in the bowl.

Cover the dough in the bowl with plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap should be touching the dough; this will keep the surface of the dough from drying.  I also like to put a second sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the bowl just to make sure everything stays well covered during rising.

Let dough rest at least 12 hours, but preferably up to 18, in a room about 70 degrees in temperature. The dough's surface will be dotted with holes when dough is ready.

Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. The may be a bit wet.  Fold the dough over on itself once or twice. 

Sprinkle a non-terry cloth towel with all-purpose flour, semolina flour, corn meal, or wheat bran.  Shape the dough into a round shape and place the dough in the center of the towel seam side down.  Cover the dough with a second towel.

Let the dough rise for about 2 hours.

After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot, such as a Dutch oven, in oven as it heats (you don't have to put the lid on the pan while it is heating). When dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven, and roll the dough out of the towel and into the pan.  It might sizzle a little.  Put the lid on the pot and return it to the oven.

After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the Dutch oven to allow the bread to brown.  Bake for an additional 20 minutes. 

 

Vegan Oat Crackers

Vegan Oat Crackers topped with onion jam and cheese

Are you annoyed with how expensive crackers are?  Not Saltines and Ritz, which are lovely in their own right, but really good whole grain crackers.  As it turns out, whole grain crackers are really easy and quick to make.  Now we can fight back against our corporate cracker oppressors!

Preparation time: 10 minutes;  Baking time: 20 minutes

½ cup Old Fashioned Oats or a blend of rolled grains (I used Old Wessex Ltd’s 5 Grain Cereal)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
¼ cup All-purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon Ground Pepper
¼ teaspoon Dried Parsley
¼ teaspoon Dried Basil
1/8 teaspoon Salt
5 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine oats, flours, pepper, parsley, basil, and salt.

Mix in the olive oil.

Slowly incorporate the water into a dough until it is no longer crumbly and easily forms into a ball.

Roll out the dough on parchment paper to about 1/8^th inch thick, and cut the rolled out dough into ~1.5 inch squares.

Place the crackers on lined baking sheet.  They don’t spread, so you can put them pretty close.

Stab each once or twice with a fork because it will make you feel like a badass (it also keeps the crackers from puffing up).

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pans, and bake for an additional 6-10 minutes.  (16-20 minutes total).

Makes approximately 36 crackers.

This recipe is based on this recipe: http://www.sharmispassions.com/2013/06/oats-crackers-recipe-easy-oats-savory-crackers.html 

My onion jam recipe can be found here: http://eatatlus.blogspot.com/2013/11/onion-jam.html

Vegan Lemon Sugar Cookies

These cookies are lightly lemony and delicious with a cup of tea.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup coconut oil
1 banana (mashed)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 2 large lemons
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. Using a mixer, beat together coconut oil, banana, and sugar until smooth.
3. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix until combined. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
4. Roll rounded tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in sugar. Place on prepared baking sheets.  The cookies won’t spread on their own, so smoosh them slightly with your fingers.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies have set.

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Onion Jam

This is another reverse engineered recipe. Last Christmas, I received a jar of onion jam from an internet stranger via a Secret Santa thing that I do every year. After I finally summoned enough courage to actually try the jam, I was delighted. I spent the next three months moderating my intake of that delicious treat. Using a couple of internet recipes, and adding a little of my own flair (aka bourbon and honey), I decided to make my own version. It didn't turn out exactly like the original, but I still think it's pretty good.

According to the internet, onion jam is great served on a burger, but I like to keep it simple and serve it with a bit of cheese on bread or a cracker.

Thank you, internet stranger, whoever you may be. I will be forever indebted to you for opening my eyes to this magnificence.

Onion Jam Recipe
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 red onions, large thinly sliced
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (not the aged sweet stuff)
1/8 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup bourbon
1/3 cup honey
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, stems removed, leaves chopped
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet (I used a 5 quart deep sauté pan) until it just barely begins smoking, add onions and cook until soft and translucent on medium high heat.

Once softened, lower heat to medium or medium low, and continue to cook onions until brown and caramelized. This will take forever, but it is worth the wait.

Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low stirring occasionally until the jam reaches a thick, jam-like consistency.

Yields about 3 cups (or half-pints as they Ball people inexplicably refer to their 8 oz. jars)

If desired, follow standard processing procedures to preserve your jars of jam or just pop it in the refrigerator. Unprocessed, it will last about 6 weeks in the refrigerator.

Spiced Tomato Jelly with the flavors of chutney

I have been toying with making jam for the last few months.  I played with various types of fruit jams (many of which I flavored with bourbon) before making a delicious onion jam.  This experience with making a savory jam made me remember a delicious spiced tomato jelly that I had at the American Culinary Federation Northeast Conference ages ago.  I never received a copy of that recipe, so I decided to approximate something similar but equally delicious.  This is the result.  I think it would be great as a ketchup replacement or even just served on crackers with a touch of cheddar.

48 fluid ounces of tomato juice

1 teaspoon ginger

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons Garam Masala spice mix

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ cup vinegar

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup molasses

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

5 tablespoons low-sugar pectin

Zest of ½ of a navel orange

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Increase the temperature to a rolling boil.  Add the pectin and boil for at least 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add the orange zest.

Makes approximately six cups of jelly or 6 one-cup jars of jelly.

If desired, follow standard processing procedures to preserve your jars of jelly or just pop it in the refrigerator.  Unprocessed, it will last about 6 weeks in the refrigerator.

Strawberry Rum Jam

There's nothing quite like jam made from freshly picked strawberries.  My friend Jenica and I picked the strawberries in the morning and twelve hours later I had two batches of jam made and processed.  Yum!

Ingredients

• 6 cups crushed strawberries (about 1.5 quarts whole)
• 3 tablespoons of "Low or No-Sugar" Pectin (I used Ball’s)
• 2/3 cup rum (I used aged, non-spiced - but feel free to experiment)
• 1 cup raw (or turbinado) sugar

In a medium stock pot, combine the crushed strawberries and pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.

Add the sugar and rum. Return to a full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat.

The recipe makes enough to fill six half-pint jars.

I used these instructions preserve and seal the jars.

This recipe is based on this recipe which uses bourbon instead of rum: http://virginiabloggers.com/2012/08/09/guest-blogger-eating-appalachia/