It seems like it has rained here the entire month of February and now that March is here, there’s no end to the rain in sight.  I really am not much of a fan of the rain, but we need it and it will hopefully make for a beautiful summer.  To pass the time, my sous chef (Emma) and I have been having lots of culinary fun.

While shopping the other day, Emma nearly sweet talked me into buying Oreo-esque cookies.  Good thing my better judgment took over before I grabbed them off the shelf and threw them in the cart.  As a compromise (and a good way to pass time on a rainy afternoon), we made up a batch of Dreena’s chocolate chip cookies.  And because we’re crazy like that over here at Mission: Vegan, we added some sprinkles to them.  Yum!

We also picked up a starfruit the other day.  At $3 for just one, it wasn’t cheap, but I’ve never had one and wanted to try it.  For being so pretty, it really didn’t taste that great.  It sort of has the texture of a cucumber and isn’t sweet like how I expected it to be.  It almost had a green taste to it, sort of like an unripe banana.  Maybe I needed it let it ripen some more before trying to eat it.  I’m really not sure.

I’m very happy to announce that I have perfected my bread recipe with the addition of some flax seeds and by using whole wheat flour in place of   some of the all-purpose.  Definitely more healthy and I have to say it was the best loaf I’ve ever made.  Yummy!

Whole Wheat Oat Bread

(click here for a printer-friendly version)

1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 TB flax seeds

Put ingredients into bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer.  Use medium setting.

And for breakfast on this rainy morning, my Emma requested waffles.  Not having the desire to make waffles one-by-one in my waffle iron, I convinced her that blueberry pancakes were the way to go.  I can’t say enough how much I love the pancake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking.  They turn out perfect every time.  If you don’t have this book and are interested in baking vegan goodies, I highly recommend it.  There’s all sorts of stuff in here from cookies to brownies, scones and muffins, breads and cakes.   And you can’t beat the chocolate cake recipe– easier than a box cake mix and so good that people are often surprised to learn that it’s vegan (because “vegan” surely means that it should taste like sprouts and tree bark).

While I’m on the subject of chocolate cake, I’ll sneak this in.  We celebrated my friend Emily’s birthday this weekend and I surprised her by making a birthday cake.  It’s very simple– chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream decorated with swirls of buttercream and little candies.  This one was a triple layer and was oh-so-good.