Baketastic

Maybe it's escapism from the dour economy, or a sign of a lagging social life, but I can't get myself out of the kitchen. Pork cutlets with thyme, apples and cream, roasted carrots with olive oil, thyme, and celtic sea salt, chicken stew with tomatoes, white beans and gremolata, whole wheat bread, squash with coconut and ginger...I just want to sink my hands into soft piles of flour and dazzle my tongue with spices.

Tonight after dinner I found myself back in the kitchen baking coconut macaroons with bittersweet chocolate and vegan oatmeal breakfast bars with dried cranberries and raw sunflower seeds. Everything is vegan these days, because my naturopath diagnosed my mystery finger as rheumatic and took me off dairy. I don't think the diet is permanent, but it hasn't been nearly as difficult as I thought it might be. I just use soy and almond milks for baking and cooking (soy cream worked wonders in the pork dish, above) and search around for vegan recipes on the internet. I try not to long for cheese, though it seems like every delicious recipe in the March Gourmet uses Parmesan or Gruyere--two of my absolute favorite tastes in the world. Somehow, despite vegan websites' arguments to the contrary, I just don't believe that nutritional yeast is a satisfying substitute for aged Italian Parmesan, with all of its rich, salty crumbles and crags. But despite the occasional pang of cheese envy, I'm a pretty happy omnivorous "vegan." It's a healthy way to eat, and it encourages experimentation. For instance, tonight's oatmeal bars have raw crunchy almond butter instead of butter or oil.

One troubling thing I have noticed, however, while perusing vegan cookbooks and websites, is the amount of additives and weird food science that real vegans consume on a daily basis. Plant-based milks, margarines, fake meats, egg substitute--all of these "food" products are made up of huge lists of ingredients with scientific prefixes and suffixes. I understand the moral--and certainly the dietary--arguments for veganism, but it seems a little odd to be replacing whole, natural foods with items that have to be made in a factory laboratory. I've decided that while organic almond or soy milk is a quasi necessity in the kitchen--to enrich homemade bread, dilute the morning coffee, make a creamy dish--margarine definitely is not. Neither is egg substitute (I use real eggs, but one could just as easily use ground flax seeds) or vegan cheese (it looks and tastes like a Kraft single; first, I will have to get desperate for a grilled cheese sandwich). There's just no need to be putting that crap into my body--I have a rheumatic finger because there are already toxins in my joints. Why add more?

But I didn't mean to lampoon vegan ingredients. I meant to express my surprise pleasure in exploring a whole new food world. I'm having especial fun with vegan-izing baked goods, as I was getting bored with my scrambled eggs or apple and almond butter breakfasts. And while I look forward to renewing my relationship with ricotta and sharp cheddar, I know I'm going to eat well dairy-free for the foreseeable future. I just hope the naturopath doesn't cut out wheat next. Then I might cry.

(Hopefully) Delicious Vegan Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

3 C raw oats
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C ground flaxseed OR ground almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
a couple pinches of ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
6 Tb brown sugar (or honey, if you like)
1 C apple juice
1/2 C raw almond butter (or mashed avocados, bananas, apple sauce, peanut butter, etc.)
additions: dried cranberries and raw sunflower seeds (or chocolate chunks, other dried fruit, nuts, coconut)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a square pan. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients, stir well. (It will be pretty sticky.) Press into pan and bake for 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack and cool completely before slicing.