Note of the Living Deb

I like this new pumpkin bread I tried. It uses the whole can of pumpkin and gives me a good way to use up the liquid from the garbanzo beans I eat most weeks, though you don't need that.

I based it on the Conscientious Eater's Vegan Quick Bread.

1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
6 tablespoons aquafaba*
2 cups flour (I use whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

* aquafaba is the water that garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas) have been cooked in. I get mine from a 15-ounce can of garbanzo beans, which is a staple dish for me. If this is not a staple for you or you otherwise don't want to use this, you can sub 2 eggs or a different egg substitute.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a bread pan (I use more oil).

Mix the pumpkin, sugar, oil, and aquafaba.

Add the remaining ingredients. Mix those dry ingredients around a bit with each other, then mix in with wet ingredients.

Pour into the bread pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55-65 minutes until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge and let cool.

Substitutions:
You could sub your favorite pumpkin pie spices for what I used. And the linked recipe includes alternative quick bread flavors (banana or applesauce instead of pumpkin).

Of course you can also mix the wet and dry ingredients separately before mixing them together, like normal people, or all but the flour the first, like in the recipe (but the baking powder and baking soda start reacting as soon as they get wet, so I like to do that as late as possible in the mixing process).

Additions:
You could add a cup of nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, other dried fruit, or I bet white chocolate chips would be good. You could decorate the top with pumpkin seeds.

I've been wanting to learn to make tortillas, mostly because Jesse's mom's are sooo good, but also because I want them to be whole wheat and not have too much salt. (I don't know Jesse's mom, and I'm no longer in touch with Jesse, but the memory stays. The tortillas at Lupe Tortilla are comparable.)

Today I finally tried making my own, and they actually worked. They are not amazing, but they are softer and nicer than what I get from the store. I started with the recipe from Hilah Cooking because I love that she uses liquid oil instead of lard or something that you have to cut in because I am lazy and they are still a pain in the neck anyway.

(I recommend Hilah's video. She is a gringo, but she is down to earth, silly, informative, and has a Texas accent. Also, she is serious about breakfast tacos because they are her favorite hangover treatment. She also has the same hideous, ahem, warm orange countertops that I have. Warning: there is some swearing.)

Of course I changed a few things. So here's what I actually did (except I only made a half recipe in case it was a mess).

Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
>3/4 cup milk, room temperature (I microwaved mine too long and then waited for it to cool)

Mix dry ingredients in large metal bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Mix until it comes together. (Remember that whole wheat needs more liquid and add a bit more milk.)

Knead 2 minutes, sprinking flour in the bottom of the bowl if it's too sticky. (You're supposed to knead it on a floured board.) Cover with plate (you're supposed to use a damp towel) to rest for 20 - 30 minutes (I did 25).

Break off pieces to form 10-12 balls of dough, smoothing them out a bit. Let rest 10 minutes.

Roll out each ball, flipping it 90 degrees after each roll until it's nice and thin. (I also accidentally introduced wrinkles a few times. It was okay.)

Cook one at a time on high heat in a dry pan (you're supposed to use cast iron, but I just used a copper-bottomed stainless steel skillet) until it bubbles on top. Mine never made big bubbles (maybe the heat should have been higher?), so I flipped them when they un-stuck from the pan. Remove when slightly browned and stack on a plate.

I thought it would be a good idea to roll out each tortilla while I was cooking the previous one, but I'm not that fast. (Yet?)

I used to make beanie weinies by adding hot dogs to canned baked beans. But most of them are "pork-and-beans" and so they stick a gratuituous glob of lard on top. I much preferred Heinz vegetarian baked beans, but lately I've realized they are just too sweet for me. So I've been trying to make a less sweet version that I still like and is still easy, and I've finally succeeded.

Beanie Wienies

4 15-ounce cans of great northern beans, drained
1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
~1/4 cup prepared mustard
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 8- or 10-pack of hotdogs

Slice hotdogs (or cut with scissors). Add all ingredients to medium saucepan, stir, and heat until warm. Makes 4 servings.

Notes:

You might want to add molasses or at least brown sugar to get the authentic baked bean flavor. Or, you know, actually bake the beans.

You can use other beans. If you make your own beans or use unsalted beans, you may want to add salt.

I use yellow mustard. You might prefer something fancier.

Because of climate change, use vegetarian hotdogs if you can find any you like. (I can't--I just tried LightLife and they are close but just remind me of peas too much). Using turkey instead of beef also helps. (I do like Oscar Meyer uncured turkey hotdogs, though research seems to show that celery extract is just as bad for you as less natural nitrates/nitrites.)

I'm unclear on whether this spicing is perfect. It's good enough! I don't think I taste the turmeric or paprika, but I'm taking ideas from the Heinz label. Let me know if you have other favorites. (Or maybe I'm the only adult who likes beanie weinies.)

I do know that I don't like twice as much tomato sauce and that there is plenty of goo even using drained beans and that it's plenty thick even not adding thickener.

By request, here is my baked ziti recipe. Actually it is Ragu's baked ziti recipe from an ad in the 4/3/2001 Women's Day magazine. But then of course I changed a bunch of things.

* 1 26-ounce jar Ragu Pasta Sauce (I used HEB Organic tomato basil sauce.)
* 1 1/2 cups water
* 1 15-oz container ricotta cheese (I used cottage cheese.)
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I reserved mine to sprinkle on afterwards, but then did not need it.)
* 2 cups = 8 ounces shredded mozzarella
* 8 ounces uncooked ziti pasta (I used half of a 14.5-ounce box of Barilla ProteinPLUS farfalle, which is bow-tie pasta.)
* (I also used a pound of turkey sausage.)
* (I also used half a small bag of frozen chopped spinach, after chopping it even more finely.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine sauce and water. [Use water to rinse out the sauce jar.] Stir in ricotta, parmesan, and 1 cup mozzarella [and sausage and spinach], then uncooked ziti.

In 13" x 9" baking dish, spoon ziti mixture. [Oops, I mixed it directly in this pan.] Cover with foil and bake 55 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaiing mozzarella. Bake uncovered 5 more minutes. [I added the mozzarella right away, used no foil, and baked 1 hour. I like the cheese to be golden brown and bubbly. It did not burn.]

Robin thinks mushrooms would also be good in there.

The last time I was at Trader Joe's, I noticed a recipe for "Unbelievable Chocolate Chip Cookies" on the back of their blanched almond flour so I decided to buy it and to try the recipe.

Almond flour versus whole wheat flour

Almond flour sounds like a good idea for people trying to avoid carbs but a really bad idea for people with nut allergies. I do not fit into either category, but I still was interested to know how different the nutrition of this blanched almond flour and my usual white whole wheat flour are. The following numbers are for 1/4 cup.

Almond flour has:
* more calories (170 versus 110)
* more fat, as expected (15 g versus 0.5 g)
* fewer carbs, as expected (5 g versus 23 g)
* a little less fiber (3 g versus 4 g)
* a surprising hint of sugar (1 g versus 0 g)
* more protein, but not as much more as I expected (6 g versus 3 g)
* a hint more sodium (5 mg versus 0 mg)
* a little more calcium (6% versus 2%)
* about the same iron (6% versus 8%)
* serious Vitamin E (35% versus ~0)
* magnesium (20% versus ~0)

My flour does not list Vitamin E or magnesium, so I looked it up on Nutrition Data.) While I was there, I saw that they estimated the glycemic load as 9, which is really good. But the nutrient balance is only 23. So then I wanted to compare those numbers to blanched almond flour. They don't have that, but they do have blanched almonds. They do manage to have an even better estimated glycemic load (0). And a nutrient balance of 39, pretty nice.

Another difference between the flours is that they recommend refrigerating the almond flour after opening, and in my house, that's not so easy. But then you are supposed to return it to room temperature before using, which sounds like a pain. It's also pricier.

New recipe versus old recipe

I already have a chocolate chip recipe I like (which, strangely, I cannot find in my blog). It's basically like the standard Toll House recipe except there are no eggs. Every time I use a recipe with an egg, my cookies become fluffy and boring instead of crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and with a rich toffee flavor.

So, this almond flour recipe has egg in it, and not just one egg, but an egg plus a yolk. So, part of me knew I was doomed to failure, but I decided to try it exactly as they had developed it the first time. Except I made them small like mine and I did not use parchment paper.

Besides the egg, the main difference was they use 2 1/2 cups of almond flour as compared to my 1 cup of white whole wheat flour. Wow. And although my original recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips, I accidentally used 3/4 of a cup once, and it was enough, so that's what I do now. But with the new recipe, I needed the full cup and they made a lot more cookies, too.

They were a little stickier than my regular cookies, so it was a little harder getting them out of the scoop. But there were also about 33% more cookies.

New cookies versus old cookies

They smelled good.

They did not melt in the oven at all; they were the exact same shape when I took them out as when I put them in. Yet the instructions say to drop them on the cookie sheet 2 inches apart. I could have put them 1 millimeter apart. I could probably have had them touching.

When they were warm, they were a tiny bit crispy on the bottom and very fluffy and they made me think they would be really good with a lot of coconut added to them.

Now that they have cooled, they are just fluffy, and they remind me a little of peanut butter cookies.

Conclusion

I won't make this recipe again except maybe to try it with a bunch of coconut.

The problem

I love chili, but only when I make it using the Carroll Shelby mix. However, I don't like to be dependent on companies that may go out of business, may change their recipes, or otherwise may no longer be available to me. Also, when I'm feeling poor or suddenly in the mood when I have the ingredients but not the mix, then I can still make it.

The givens

The recipe

The recipe tells me all the ingredients I need, but some of the quantities are missing:
* 2 pounds ground beef
* 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
* 2 8-oz cans water
* spice packet
* salt packet
* cayenne pepper packet
* masa flour packet
1/3 cup water

(I use only 1 pound ground beef or ground beef substitute and three cans of beans--the horror!--plus try to remember to finely shred a zucchini or something for extra nutrients. I also don't use the cayenne pepper, but it's still useful data.)

The ingredients

The ingredients are listed in order by quantity, I think by weight but maybe by volume. Here is the list:
* corn masa flour
* ground chili peppers
* salt
* garlic
* cumin
* oregano
* onion
* paprika
* cayenne pepper

The nutrition information

* serving size: 2T (19 g)
* servings per container: ~6
* container size: 4 oz or 113 g (19 g x 6 = 114, so that's pretty close)

Per serving:
* calories: 60
* fat: 1 g = 10 calories
* sodium: 1320 mg
* carbs: 12 g
* fiber: 0 g
* sugar: 0 g
* protein: 2 g
* Vitamin A: 30%
* Vitamin C: 0%
* calcium: 4%
* iron: 10%

Math

Measure

I tried to measure the quantities in each packet using my preferred method when I am cooking and also using a kitchen scale. Neither of these involved precision measuring, but I did my best.

* spice packet - 3/4 cup (= 12 tablespoons); 2.6 oz
* salt packet: 1 1/2 teaspoons (= 1.5 tablespoons); 0.3 oz
* cayenne pepper packet: 1/2 teaspoon; did not weigh*
* masa flour packet: 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (= 5 tablespoons); 1.1 oz

*I thought it would be difficult to put the cayenne pepper back in the packet for Robin to use later if I emptied it into a bowl to be weighed, so I didn't weigh it.

Test volume/weight assumption

The ounces per tablespoon for the three pieces of data for which I had both numbers were:
* 2.6/(12) = 0.22
* 0.3/1.5 = 0.20
* 1.1/5 = 0.22

These looked close enough for me to feel comfortable doing all my calculations with volume, even if the ingredient order is based on weight.

Another assumption

I assumed that only the spice packet was a multi-ingredient packet and that it had only the ingredients that were not in the single-ingredient packets.

Deduct and calculate

Masa flour is the first ingredient (5 T). Chili powder is the second ingredient, so there must be 5T or less.

Salt is the third ingredient (1.5 t), so there must be at least 1.5 t of chili powder.

Garlic, cumin, oregano, onion, and paprika were next and above cayenne pepper (1/2 t), so each of these ingredients must be between 1/2 t and 1.5 t. There are five of these ingredients, so the total volume must be between (0.5 x 5 =) 2.5 t and (1.5 x 5) = 7.5 t or almost 1 T to 2.5 T.

Subtracting from the total volume of the spice packet, this leaves between (12 - 1 =) 11 T and (12 - 2.5 =) 9.5 T. Both of these quantities are well above the 5-T limit. Uh oh.

Adjust assumptions

My best guess at the problem is that the spice packet contains additional salt. Dastardly! If so, the 1.5 t measurement for the salt would be too low.

More data and calculations

I looked up the sodium on my container of salt: 390 mg/serving; 1/4 teaspoon per serving

390 x 4 = 1560 mg sodium / teaspoon of salt

Sodium in kit: 1320 mg/serving x 6 servings = 7920 mg

New estimate of salt in kit: 7920 mg / 1560 mg/teaspoon = 5 teaspoons. Yowza!

Estimate of salt in spice packet: 5 t - 1.5 t = 3.5 t or just over 1 T.

New estimate of spice kit ingredients not including salt: 12 T - 1 T = 11 T.

Re-do deductions and calculations

Continue assuming there are 5 T or less of chili powder.

Salt is the third ingredient (5 t), so there must be at least 5 t of chili powder.

Garlic, cumin, oregano, onion, and paprika were next and above cayenne pepper (1/2), so each of these ingredients must be between 1/2 t and 5 t. There are five of these ingredients, so the total volume must be between (0.5 x 5 =) 2.5 t and (5 x 5) = 25 t or almost 1 T to 8.3 T.

Subtracting from the total volume of the spice packet, this leaves between (12 - 1 =) 11 T and (12 - 8.3 =) 3.7 T. One of these quantities is now below 5-T limit. Whew.

More data and calculations

I decided to assume that the vitamin A came virtually exclusively from the peppers. I looked up the nutrition facts for my chili powder, but it did not list vitamin A. So I looked online. Mostly I just found information on fresh chilis (which also have plenty of Vitamin C, which does not exist in the mix), but then I found The World's Healthiest Foods which lists 9% per 2 t or 4.5% per t.

The kit lists 30% per serving or (30 x 6 =) 180% for the whole kit. That implies (180 / 4.5 =) 40 t = 13.3 T. Even assuming cayenne has a similar amount of Vitamin A and subtracting that 0.5 t, that still leaves way more than 5T for the chili powder. Oh, well.

Nearly random guessing

Next, I guessed the additional quantities based on things like the color of the spice packet (it looked like a pastel version of chili powder color, implying lots of white ingredients like garlic powder and onion powder--and salt). And I also guessed based on the yumminess of the ingredients and based on my experience with other recipes.

* chili powder - 1/4 cup (= 4 T) (assuming if it was equal to the masa flour, they'd probably rather list that first, therefore it's probably less, but not much less)

That leaves (12 T - 4 T chili powder - ~1 T salt =) ~7 T (21 t) for the other ingredients, each of which must be less than or equal to 5 t, but more than or equal to 0.5 t. The average would be about (21 / 5 =) 4.2 t each.

Usually people put less garlic than onion in their recipes, so I was surprised that this kit reversed that. Tex-Mex recipes usually have just a small amount of oregano, and so I assumed that was happening here, too. So I'm guessing there's significantly more of the first two ingredients below than the other three. Only, there's not much room for there to be much difference, so:

* garlic - 5 t
* cumin - 5 t
* oregano - 4 t
* onion - 4 t
* paprika - 3 t

Conclusions

I should try making chili with the following ingredients and see if I like it:

* 2 pounds ground beef (actually, 1)
* 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
* 2 8-oz cans water
* 1/4 cup chili powder
* 5 t garlic
* 5 t cumin
* 4 t oregano
* 4 t onion powder
* 3 t paprika
* 5 t salt
* 5 T masa flour
* 1/3 cup water
* 3 cans beans
* 1 zucchini, finely shredded

I'm a little jealous--I mean admiring--of my friend P_J_Cleary who updates here daily. So what's up with me?

I recently received my county's notice of appraised value. It's 10% higher than last year's. That's actually very good news because Zillow thinks my house is worth 44% more than last year. And that's even good news because last month's Zillow estimate was 48% more.

Actually, I'm just now noticing that the appraisal isn't for now but for January 1 (when Zillow's estimate was--oh--still 33% higher).

**

This year I've decided to do this thing I've heard about where you only itemize your deductions every other you, and you clump those deductions into every other year. For me this means that this year I will hold off on making my charitable contributions and paying my property taxes until after January 1 and I will take the standard deduction. That will be just a little lower than my usual deduction.

Next year I will make my charitable contributions and and pay my property taxes before the end of the year. That should lead to a much higher itemized deduction than usual.

**

UT System has challenged us to walk 10,000 steps per day or the equivalent for five days per week (by which they really mean 50K steps per week) for the six weeks starting on May 1. The UT System branch that does the best will get to possess the coveted traveling trophy for one year. Heh. So motivating. But we also get free pedometers. I'll say more when I have my 1-week update, but so far I'm meeting my goals.

Also, I found out one of my chickadees is also participating. Today I did that quick-draw thing that Indigo Rose and I like to do where we compare the numbers on our pedometers, but she wasn't wearing hers because it made a big lump in her outfit. (I'm too sexy for my pedometer.) So she's submitting an estimate today.

**

I tried the Trader Joe's canned chili. It's too sugary for Robin, plus it has beans. And it tastes too much like vegetables to me and is too spicy. Bell peppers and jalapenos. Bleh.

**

I'm on my third try for party-grade double chocolate banana bread. The first time I followed the recipe exactly. Which turns out to mean I changed almost every ingredient, but they were all small changes which I feel sure don't matter. It came out delicious but too crumbly to be party grade.

So then I tried just adding cocoa and reducing the flour in my own banana bread recipe. Not as yummy.

Then I tried reducing the baking soda in the original recipe because supposedly when you use regular cocoa instead of dutch processed cocoa, the bread rises too much and then falls. The bread was still delicious. And still crumbly.

Then searching for "crumbly" in the hundreds of comments for the recipe, I found someone who recommended subbing oil for half the butter. But when I told Robin, he recommended adding an extra egg instead. Eggs are called binders, after all--and that certainly sounds like a cure for the crumbles. So I have two more possible experiments lined up.

**

We started watching two new (to us) TV shows. One is "Community," about a bunch of people in a study group at a community college. After two episodes, we like most, but not all of the characters. We'll watch more. The other one, I forget what it's called, is about a gal who discovers a group of women who all look like her and are trying to find out why--but who are also getting killed off. Also, she's switched places with one of the dead ones. Stressful. But gripping.

**

Speaking of stress, my computer got replaced at work and has all updated software so I have to re-learn how to use things again. At least I got rid of the surfing wave backdrop which at first seemed pretty, but quickly began to feel like impending doom.

**

I have collected all of the mushrooms in Plants versus Zombies without having to buy any. I still need many of the land plants and two of the three water plants.

Song of the Day - "You Are My Sunshine" by "Jenny and Lottie." They can't help smiling too much during this rendition that shows you how creepy it is (just like the Civil War's version does), but they sound really good.

I finally did a yucky thing today: I turned a foot-high pile of papers into a 3-inch-high pile of papers. All the other papers are in the exact right place (mostly the recycling bin).

And the remaining papers are sorted into categories. For each category, I can go through both what's in the pile and what's put away and decide how best to organize it all so that everything has a good place and so that I get rid of more things I won't even use.

It's hard to remember while I'm sorting some things that normally I just go to the internet for that sort of information. And it's hard to remember while I'm researching that I have already collected awesome information in my files. So I will continue to work on getting a grip on these issues.

**

In other news, I accidentally made a delicious breakfast drink. I'm calling it a breakfast drink instead of a smoothie because it has ice cream in it. But I'm not calling it a milkshake because it has fruit in it. And not just a banana, but also berries.

By "accidentally," I mean first that the whole reason I even made it is because I had a banana going overly soft and black that I needed to get rid of. Then I also threw in some frozen berries (mostly raspberries, but one or two strawberries) because that's what I bought them for and they are good for me. Finally I also threw in random yummy things plus milk to make it liquidy.

Yummy Breakfast Drink

1 extremely ripe banana
~3/4 cup frozen mixed berries
~1 tablespoon sugar
~1/3 cup vanilla ice cream
~2 tablespoons peanut butter
~1 cup milk
(no chocolate or cocoa at all--shocking; also no spices this time)

Add all ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth.

It won't quite fit into one glass, but if your taste buds are like mine (and my condolences if they are), you will be glad. It's not very thick, but it's nice and cold.

I don't know how something such a dark purple could taste so good. Usually my breakfast drink creations are too fruity and not yummy enough, though drinkable. And I don't know why peanut butter and raspberries taste good together--I was pretty sure that wasn't going to work out at all.

Inspired by Penniless Parenting, I made chocolate syrup yesterday. This recipe totally worked:



I will be using it mostly for chocolate milk, but I figured ice cream would be more photogenic. That jar to the left of the ice cream is half full of chocolate syrup--just as I suspected, it is not very photogenic.

I'm thinking this chocolate syrup would be a good thing to bring to parties with strawberries, too. (Yes, this is the sort of idea that is begging to be stolen, even/especially if you are going to a party that I will also be attending.)

Chocolate Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 cup water

Mix ingredients together. Bring to boil, stirring continuously. Continue cooking and stirring until sugar dissolves. (I just guessed that would be about another minute.) Let cool.

(You could also try adding a little salt or vanilla or orange liqueur or peppermint extract.)

**

This dissolves in milk better than a straight cocoa/sugar mixture and I can use shade-grown cocoa and whatever kind of sugar I want. Also, I always have these ingredients lying around. I don't have a squeeze bottle, but if I really wanted to, I could save one from something else.

P.S. Actually I made only a half recipe this time. I'm not sure how well it will last without any chemicals, though I know sugar is a preservative and I'm storing it in the refrigerator. I suspect I will be making only full recipes in the future.

This could get dangerous. I don't think I will be eating plain spoonfuls of this. Or dipping spoonfuls of peanut butter into this. I might add some to oatmeal.

Yesterday we showed up to a Thanksgiving celebration at 6:00, which turns out to be the time of the last party we went to but two hours late for this party. Dang! Everyone else was already stuffed. Some of them managed to taste our offerings, though.

And there were loads of delicious food and we still have some today. Mmm, breakfast. Turns out you can get hungry again.

We also tried out the board game "Ticket to Ride." It's quite beautiful, and I think we may try more strategizing next time.

One of the people requested the recipe for the thing I brought, so here it is.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture. I could take one now, I suppose, but I dumped it all into a tall, skinny container that would fit into the fridge and so it's not so pretty anymore.

Mashed Sweet Potato Casserole

4 cups mashed sweet potatoes = 2 big cans
3 eggs
1 overflowing teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/3 c flour
1/3 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup coconut (actually, I used 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Drain the liquid from the cans of sweet potatoes and mash the potatoes with a fork.

Beat the eggs, then add them, the vanilla and the milk to the sweet potatoes. Mix well. Spoon into a 2-quart casserole. (A bigger casserole would probably be better and, if you have a choice, choose one with more surface area on the top so you can spread out the topping more easily.)

Mix the flour and butter (I microwaved the butter to melt it first). Then mix in the brown sugar, nuts, and coconut. Spread this crumbly mixture over the top of the sweet potato mixture. (I mixed everything but the coconut together and spread almost half of that on one side of the casserole, then mixed 1/2 cup coconut into the other half and spread that on the other side. This is because I knew one of the people didn't like coconut, but then it turned out that at least two people didn't like coconut.)

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the top is bubbly.