Carrot Cake Update

OK... not too bad after being in the refrigerator overnight.  I think, though, that the next time I make it I'll increase it by 1 cup of shredded carrots and another half cup of erythritol powder.
Also, increase the cooking time by ten minutes.

I'm getting ready to try a Carrot Cake...

I got the recipe from Susan V's http://blog.fatfreevegan.com. I'm replacing a few things: I'm making a stevia tea with the 3/4 cup of warm water (done by boiling stevia in water and straining out) to replace the 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the cake. As a diabetic, the sugar does little for me.

I'm also trying some extra-ground (mortar and pestle) stevia crystals to replace the powdered sugar in the frosting. I'll tell you how it comes out in my next post.

Classic Vegan Carrot Cake

yields 2 8×8″ cakes (or 2 9″ round cakes)

2 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt

6 tbsp flax seed meal
3/4 c warm water
1½ c sugar
1 c oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 c shredded carrots
1 c walnuts, chopped

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz vegan cream cheese
¼ c margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350º. Line two 8×8″ pans with parchment paper. In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients (flour through salt). In a large bowl, whisk together flax seed meal and water. Beat in sugar and oil. Add vanilla and carrots and mix until combined. Add dry mix and stir until moistened. Fold in walnuts. Pour equal parts into pans. Bake for 18-20 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes.

For the frosting, beat together cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla and powdered sugar; whip until smooth. (Don’t overbeat; in my experience, store-bought vegan cream cheese has a tendency to get runny.)

Use a knife to loosen edges of cake from pans. Using parchment paper, lift cakes out of pans. Carefully remove parchment paper from one cake. Frost cake, layer, and decorate with a marzipan carrot (brush a little cocoa powder into the indents for some realism). Serve chilled.

CHANGES I MADE:

In the first recipe (Cake Part) I used the stevia water as I said earlier, plus a added a half a cup of erythritol powder ( a low calorie sweetener that does not effect blood sugar and is about 70% of the sweetness of cane sugar). In the Frosting Part I used 1 1/2 cups of erythritol powder instead of sugar, plus about 20 drops of Vanilla Cream stevia liquid to replace the vanilla.

Vegan diet has led this fatman to a 47 pound loss in 10 months...

The last time I posted an update on my weight loss activities (back in June) I had lost 35 pounds. As of this morning, I'm now down 47 pounds, with 103 to go on my overall goal of 150 pounds.

So that means I've lost 47 pounds in just about 10 months. I know to many folks who watch those horrible nutri-whatever commercials on TV that that may sound like a lot, but when you start out at 385 pounds it is really only s small achievement.

I do feel a lot healthier and have more energy than before. And my blood sugar seems to be easier to control, so I won't complain.

It is also 10 months or so since Elly and I adopted the Vegan Lifestyle (and I started Panhandle Vegan.) Of course, this has a great deal to do with the weight loss... it has caused a complete change in my "eating lifestyle", but that change had been surprisingly easy to pull off.

Someday I am going to head a post that says "Thin Diabetic Vegan is Down 150 Pounds." It will be at least another year and probably more... so please bear with me.   -BT

(Posted in cooperation with Under The LobsterScope)

6 Quart Jars of Organic Kosher Dills

We have had such good luck with our cucumbers this season that I have had to move into pickles four times already. Today it was kosher dills and, where I thought I'd get three quarts I ended up with six.

I have now done kosher dills, a variation on Claussen recipe dills, sweet pickles and a pickled vegetable mix and the jars are decorating the top of our china cabinet.

We'll be remembering our garden all winter.

Here is the Kosher Dill recipe I used today:
1.    Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for 2 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 1 quart canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.
    2.    In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine 8 cups white vinegar, 16 cups water, and 2/3 cup of kosher salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil.
    3.    In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, a fresh sprig dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, two teaspoons of mustard seed, a teaspoon of black peppercorns and 1 more sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue.
    4.    Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Process quart jars for 15 minutes.
    5.    Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place.

Did this catch any of my readers?

Apparently the new Tweet button, which I ALMOST loaded on this blog, had a flaw, especially for Firefox users like me.
I'm glad I didn't connect it.

clipped from mashable.com New Tweet Button Temporarily Hoses the Internet Apologies if our homepage looked like the above momentarily, but it wasn’t our fault, we swear! The new official “tweet button,” which was rolled out yesterday, had a malfunction that rendered an error message in Firefox () and essentially rendered Web browsers useless. Lots of other people noticed too, including popular blog host Squarespace () and tech news site Ars Technica. While not a long lasting problem, you can imagine the scale of it being pretty enormous, considering Tweetmeme () reported yesterday that its button (now the official tweet button) is viewed 750 million times daily. Twitter ()’s acknowledged a “momentary problem” and says the issue should now be fixed. Whew. If you’re still seeing the errors here or elsewhere, be sure to clear your cache.

Study shows Organic farming gives similar yield with less environmental destruction,

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE on Organic vs. Conventional Farm Yield. It will give you a lot to think about (and firms up our own belief in Organic Farming.)

A snatch:

The 22-year farming trial study found that organic farming produces the same yields of corn and soybeans as does conventional farming, but uses 30 percent less energy, less water and no pesticides.

The Story of Cosmetics (2010)

A presentation worth taking a look at:



Presented in cooperation with Under The LobsterScope.