Experimenting

Okay, so now I'm getting bored of just being at home. Spent a week at Andrea's which was wonderful! Just what I needed. Now I've been off work 6 weeks and I'm so ready to go back. My skin healed up nicely and I'm adjusting to the tamoxifen. I get more headaches unfortunately! There are other side effects but it's all okay. It's what I have to do.

It feels like the dead of winter without the coldness, of course. But the storms have begun. Last night was a doozy of a storm - I heard this rumbling engine-type of sound in the vicinity of the airport South of here. I thought, what kind of engine is that? Sounds almost like a train but it's more like a plane but not really. About 2 minutes later this tremendous gust of wind went whipping through the yard rattling everything and it continued like that through the night with gusts up to 96 kmh registered at the airport. It was pretty wild. As a result the trees have been stripped of even more leaves.

Today was a good day. I felt good all day. Went for a long walk along the river with Tessie - there was minimal wind, no rain and no people either! Perfect for letting her walk off leash. She totally loved it.

To occupy myself I'm starting to compile high fibre, vegan (if possible) recipes in an attempt to eventually be 100% vegan. It's tough. I can't quite wrap my brain around baking without eggs or butter. In trying to reorganize a few things around here I finally went through my collection of cookbooks in the kitchen alone (there are many more scattered in boxes and on shelves throughout the house, I hate to admit!) One that I decided to keep is called "High Fiber Cooking". I picked that baby up somewhere along life's path for only 99 Cents. Nice full colour, glossy paper, hardcover book! Small, but full of wonderful recipes. So, I tried this one recipe for Date Orange Bread. Here's a pic:

This recipe is made without eggs - can you believe it? Which, of course, is why it didn't rise much even though it has baking powder in it. The recipe also called for sunflower seeds of which I had none so I substitutes with pumpkin seeds that I found in the freezer.

Slices nicely and I have to say doesn't taste too badly at all. All in an attempt to keep myself regular - which is something we all want, no?!

Another picture just to show the texture.

Besides, I'm a sucker for dates. I just love them so much.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 lb bran cereal (I used Bran Buds w. psyllium)
Measures out to about 1/3 cup.
2/3 cup dried chopped dates
1 1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder

Grease & Line a 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan.
Put the bran cereal, dates, orange juice and honey in a mixing bowl. Stir well and leave for 1 hour.
Add the sunflower seeds and flour, then sift in the baking powder and mix together thoroughly.
Turn into the prepared pan and bake in a 350 F. oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn onto a rack to cool.

Freezes well.

Enjoy. EK