Decluttering: Hitting the Plateau

Shocking to me that I began the process of "minimalizing" my kitchen almost two months ago and that the room where I store my kitchen items is still a very unattractive clutter site.  While there are gaps, piles of useless articles remain to be sorted through.

I think that I have hit a plateau.

My husband has made something like 15 trips to my local favourite thrift shop with loads of stuff that is not too scuffed or unsaleable. 

I have found that my family does not want any of my stuff. (My granddaughters looked blankly at me when I offered a tour of the china that has come down through the generations in our family and could someday be theirs).  My friends have politely not responded, meaning they decline the general offer.  And even the thrift shop has turned away a few items.

Black-ish Forest Vegan Chocolate Protein Pancakes

 Black-ish Forest Vegan Chocolate Pancakes

My dear husband turned 71 today.  I am making him General Tso's tofu for dinner but also wanted to make him a delicious breakfast that would be something different from the usual smoothie and oatmeal. 

It had to be vegan, low in processed sugar, and maybe kind of reflective of a favourite German food.  

I know his favourite birthday cake used to be Black Forest Cake.  Way off his menu these days with his desire to be sugar-free and healthy as he trains to run another half-marathon in the Spring/Summer.

So after reading over a few such chocolate pancake recipes, I made a few modifications and came up with a pancake mix that I can store as the combined dry ingredients in a jar in the fridge, and when we want these lovely pancakes again, I will just scoop out the dry mix and add in the wet mix (almond milk and apple cider vinegar), and cook them up-- easy-peasy! 

So, here is the mix for 4 batches (about 16-24 pancakes):

-1 1/2 cups oat flour (can make by grinding in blender)

-1/2 cup white rice flour

-1/4 cup coconut flour

- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Vega chocolate protein powder

- 1/4 cup cacao or cocoa powder

- 4 teaspoons baking powder

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. With the back of a spoon, press the above ingredients through a sieve into a mixing bowl.

2. Mix or whisk until well combined.  Add in any remnants too large to sieve.

3. Store in a large jar with lid in fridge.

To make one(1) batch of pancakes (4-6 pancakes), take 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons of pancake mix from jar and add to small mixing bowl.  Stir in 1/2 cup almond milk until well combined.  Add in 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (ACV)

and stir through.   If batter is not the consistency of thick cream (conventional pancake batter) add splashes of milk.until it is.

For  8-12 pancakes, mix together 1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons of dry mix and stir in 1 cup+ of almond milk and 1 teaspoon of ACV.

For 12 -18 pancakes  mix together 2 cups + 1 tablespoon of dry mix and add and stir in 1 1/2+ cups of almond milk and 1 1/2 teaspoons of ACV.

Use all of the dry mix with 2+ cups of almond milk and 2 teaspoons of ACV. 

(Yields 18-24 pancakes).

METHOD:

1. Heat stickfree pan on high medium heat.  Add about a teaspoon of coconut oil and wipe across pan with paper towel.

2. Pour in about 1/4 cup of batter.  Watch edges cook and dry somewhat.  When bubbles appear in middle of pancake, gently but firmly flip (about 2 minutes mark).  Cook for a few seconds and remove to warming pan in low temp. oven or to individual plates.

2. We topped with coconut yogurt, a few stevia-sweetened chocolate chips and thawed dark cherries.  

You might want to use berries, maple syrup, berry- or date-syrup.  

Coconut whip cream and chocolate shavings would make it even more like Black Forest-ish cake.

Please let us know how you like this and what innovations you might make!

If you wanted to make something like a German Chocolate Cake I think this home made marzipan-ish sauce would work well:

               Recipe for healthy, yummy 

                      Marzipan Spread

 

Review of "The Return of A Shadow" by Kunio Yamagishi

                                             

                                          

It seems to me that Kunio Yamagishi may have decided upon a particularly deep emotional challenge for himself as a writer of historical fiction. What if instead of writing about a lonely man who undergoes extreme emotional deprivation and finds true love and/or personal happiness in spite of that deprivation I write about a person who-- like many humans we hear about-- only experiences blurry glimpses of personal happiness through the course of his life. Would those dim hopes be enough to sustain him into natural death in old age? What are the choices in life when all your dreams evaporate? 

 Yes, The Return of A Shadow is possibly the saddest book I have read, or at least in a long time. But beautiful writing, and a likeable protagonist kept me interested and hopeful in the outcome. I believe that older adults, perhaps the age of the protagonist himself, would be most apt to read this book. Why? Because as individuals who have experienced disappointments that we are too old to deny (and which most of us come to terms with) it is refreshing to read about how someone with no strong blood bonds and only peripheral social connections still manages to go about living. While most of us (I don't have any stats but it is likely) have some family connections to which we prescribe "belonging" and perhaps love, there are certainly times when we feel alone and invisible in the world of younger and more powerful people, our own kin included. Are there ways to find meaning, to feel motivated to keep going forward, when we are overwhelmed by feelings of rejection and disenfranchment?

 On a meta-level, I am quite certain that this book recognizably addresses the experiences of Japanese internees and their families in Canada and the United States. When I did a very brief discussion of the book on Facebook, one of my friends dismissed the labeling of the internment centres as "concentration camps,"* a rather jolting term that Yamagishi uses. She assured me that the internees "had homes" and that maybe they had to leave their belongings behind, but that that was what happened during war, implying that the Japanese (and some born in Canada) had to take their lumps like all "foreigners" did. Would she recognize the institutional racism that gives rise to such statements? Possibly reading the book would give her a different perspective. 

The historical research is impressive, and I feel that I learned a lot from this piece of work. 

 * "internment centre for political prisoners of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order." concentration camp | Facts, History, & Definition | Britannica

Easy Vegan Spicy Pear Butter Recipe

A dear friend had a huge Bosc pear harvest from her tree this year-- 700 pounds!  I was one of the lucky beneficiaries.  This vegan pear butter recipe is the result of a rave on Facebook by one of my friends.  So, looking at several recipes, I have chosen what I think works to produce a silky, yummy, pretty healthy pear spread.  The word "butter" does not mean that real dairy butter is involved (in fact, no fats!)

INGREDIENTS:

5 pounds of fresh Bosc pears, peeled, split, cored, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon dried ground ginger*

2 tablespoons dried ground cinnamon**

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup coconut sugar

pinch of salt (optional)

                                                          These are common BOSC pears.

                                                          You can use this recipe for other

                                                             pears, such as Barlett, as well.

                                                          

EASY METHOD:

1. Gather together your ingredients, as well as get out 

• a stainless steel pot with a lid 
• a silicone or wooden spoon 
• a melon-baller (optional) 
• a peeler
• a potato masher
• a stick blender (or you can use a regular blender) 

2. Wash, peel and quarter pears, lengthwise.  Core.  A melon-baller turns out to be a really handy, quick way to core-- pears are especially easy to core when they are ripe.  Level of ripeness is NOT a big deal, though, in making the pear jam.

3. Chop pears roughly and add to the pot on the stove.  Stir and let them cook on medium heat for a few minutes, stirring to keep them from sticking.  When they are starting to break down, mash and stir with the potato masher.

4. Add in the spices.  You can opt to use other spices you prefer, and/or have available.  I would suggest not to use too many unless you are a 'flavour whiz', in which case, go at it!  Other spices might be: Star of anise, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom.  Some of the online recipes had commenters complaining about the domination of spices so I think that less is better.  Try some different combinations of two to see what you like.

5. Add a portion of the water (maybe 1/2) and the orange juice.  Let the pear butter gently bubble and simmer for a while and if it looks like it is drying out, add more water.  The pears I used were enormously juicy, but, on the other hand, you don't want to dry it up, so use your judgement.  Let it simmer on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  Put the lid on and let it 'cook down'.  But keep an eye on it.  Check every so many minutes.  Add a little more water if it is drying up.

6. Add the coconut sugar, and a pinch more spice if you think it is needed.  Add a pinch of salt towards the end of the cooking.

7. When it is cooked down to about 3/4 of what you started with, use an immersion blender stick to make it smooth and creamy, or let it cool a bit and blend up in a regular blender.

ENJOY!  Add the spicy pear butter to top toast, waffles, pancakes, ginger bread.  Stir it into oatmeal, yogurt or your homemade granola! 

NOTES: This is a really friendly recipe for people who don't cook.  Just breathe and enjoy adding your personal touches.  You don't even need to add a sweetener because ripe pears are so naturally sweet, and as you saw above, the amount of fluid you add is pretty much dependent on the juice volume of the pears themselves.  I am going to try making a recipe with only a tablespoon of water or orange juice (or apple cider vinegar) to see how that works out!

Can the butter with the water bath method (google) if you wish, or just put it in a glass jar or other glass container in your fridge (with a tight lid).  

If you have a bunch of other pears left to process, you could always make a delicious vegan fruit kuchen (cake) by substituting pears for the suggested fruit in this recipe here.