The Temptation of Dairy

I gotta be honest, a few short weeks ago, I wasn't willing to give up diary products, after all, I had just given up wheat and oats and barley just a few short months ago.  I wasn't willing to give up my dairy too.

Even though, I had watched Dr. Walter Veith's video Udderly Amazing so many times, I had lost count. I just wasn't ready to give up ice cream and butter and sour cream. No way, Hosea! But, here I am...it's Jan 20th, 2013 and Voila! I've cut the dairy out of my diet too.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm occasionally tempted. In fact, on a recent trip to Beijing, I stopped by a Cold Stone Creamery and indulged. I was disappointed to say the least. So now, when I'm temped, it's easy to just say, "No."

The real test is when I'm out of China and back home in the States. Will I be able to say "No" then?

Stay tuned.

Cauliflower Apple Soup

      

I like to make this on one of those cold winter evenings when I didn't feel particularly inspired to hang out at dinner with friends because I just feel like curing up with a good book and having a light, but satisfying bowl of comfort food.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to largish sized cauliflower head
• 1/2 of a red or yellow onion
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup of unsweetened soy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider or distilled white vinegar
• 2 medium sweet apples,  peeled
• 1 green onion or scallion
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (optional)
• lightly salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Steam the cauliflower, apples and onion in a steamer basket, or boil in unsalted water until tender.
2. Place in a high-speed blender. 
3. Sprinkle in garlic powder. 
4. Add just enough soy milk in order to get a nice smooth constancy. (That will depend  on the size of your cauliflower head. You should probably eyeball it, instead of dumping in the full 1 to 1/2 cups of soy milk.) Caution - The ingredients are hot!
3. Blend in batches. Blend until until completely smooth.  If you have a blender wand, just blend it up right in the pot.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste, top with thinly sliced green onion. 

Try this ladled over millet.  That's yummy too.

Gluten Free, Fat Free, Egg Free, Cardamon Banana Bread

Technically, this isn't a Daniel Fasting recipe, but it fits in nicely with the Daniel Fasting Lifestyle.

I've been experimenting on variations of this recipe and by George, I think I've got it. I personally love millet flour. Now the thing is, when you are using millet flour, you have to be generous with the water or the end product comes out rather dry and crumbly.

Ingredients

1/2 cup soy flour
1 cup sugar
1 and a 1/2 cups of millet flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 tablespoon of guar gum
2 tablespoons of psyllium hulls
1 teaspoon of cardamon
a pinch of nutmeg
a dash of cinnamon
3 tablespoon of aluminum free baking powder
1 to 1 1/2 cups of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 mashed banana
1 cup of soy milk




Directions

Whisk in the dry ingredients until the color is uniform. Then add the wet ingredients. Throughly whisk together. Let stand for about 5 -10 minutes and then whisk in a bit more water until the batter has a nice consistency (not too thick and not too thin.) Pour the batter into a lightly greased cake tin. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35-40 minutes. remove from oven when the fork comes out clean. Let rest for about 15 minutes and then enjoy.

1/2 cup of soy flour

1/2 cup of potato starch

1 cup of sugar

This is what the bag of millet flour looks like when you shop at Carrefour in China.

Whisk the dry ingredients together until they become one uniform color.

Mash up a banana.

Add 2 tablespoons of psyllium hulls

Add a pinch of nutmeg, a dash of cinnamon and a heaping teaspoon of cardamon.

...and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Add 250 milliliters of soy milk. In this case,  I only had this black soybean, black rice, black sesame drink on hand, but  a cup of regular 'ol soy milk will do just fine. 

The finished product is a moist, dense, fat free, gluten free, vegan cake with a delicate hint of cardamon.