Betty Goes Vegan~It's a real thing!

About a year ago I was meandering around the Books A Million bookstore in South Portland, Maine.

My apologies to my small local bookstores for the lapse in judgement. If it's any consolation I didn't buy anything, just happened to be in town and was trolling for inspiration.

Shameless plug for my local book shops in the Brunswick area..

"Twice Told Tales".. a non profit to benefit the Curtis Memorial Library & Gulf of Maine Books, both right in downtown Brunswick within walking distance of each other. These shops are my endless sources of free therapy, guidance, laughter, solace, a little bit of book addiction dealer action and just an endless source of serenity that you just don't get in the bigger spaces, no matter how many books they can stuff into four walls.

Click on the links above and you'll get a better idea of what I'm talking about and also where they are located.

I think that makes up for my BAM faux pas. :)

Back to Betty~ Well, my dear mother in law of 28 years, way back when on my 20th birthday, bought me a copy of "Betty Crocker's" cookbook. This copy was brand new in softcover and was in it's third printing in 1987. Can't believe I've had it all of these years and have used it consistently throughout. Obvious wear and tare. Nothing a little duct tape can't fix.

When I was beginning my navigation into the vegan sphere of baking and cooking I pulled out this standby cookbook and substituted away until I created my dairy free, egg free concoctions and thought myself quite inventive. That was until I thumbed through the cookbooks at BAM and what to my wondering eyes should appear... 

Well, you guessed it. "Betty Goes Vegan", or something like that.  It happened. :)

Below is my original Blueberry Muffin recipe from home. It differs from the newest vegan Betty version a bit.  I'm partial to Chia seeds and she's more of a flax lady. Try it out and see what you think. Hubby loves them and truly prefers them to the cup of veggie oil, a cup and a half of sad dairy cow excretions and two eggs that never had a chance... A sad muffin no doubt, but who knew!

I'm totally saying that to gross you out and tease, I hope you know, but this version is way more heart healthy, better for your overall nutrition and because they still maintain their awesomeness in taste and texture you can actually eat MORE of them!! Bonus!





Heat oven to 400

3/4c. plain unsweetened Almond milk (soy, rice, cashew, coconut) all work too.
1/2c. unsweetened applesauce
1 Chia egg (2 Tablespoons of Chia Seeds in 1/4c warm water. Soak for about 5 minutes to make.
2 cups unbleached white wheat flour. if you are gluten free, use the same amount of your flour of choice.
1/3c. unrefined or regular sugar
3 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries tossed first in a little bit of flour to coat.

Spray muffin tins or line with baking cups. I don't use the baking cups because they tend to stick to those.

Beat milk, applesauce and chia egg together. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt all at once. Stir ingredients all together leaving the batter somewhat lumpy in texture. Fold in coated blueberries after.
Divide batter into twelve muffins. Sprinkle with a small amount of sugar on top of each.
Bake for 20-22 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Sometimes they take a little longer to brown up.

I don't have the nutritional details with the change, I just know they are better for you. Try the recipe for yourself and let me know in the comments what you think or how they came out!

Not to fear... Betty even tries new things.

Good Luck! Denice

In The Raw

When my father was diagnosed with fourth stage lung cancer three and a half years ago our family's foundation fell out from underneath all of us. Lost, afraid, panicked and angry were a few of the feelings that coursed through each of us as we settled into the very real loss that was staring us right in the face.

The path we were on for five months after his diagnosis was one that I think most people experience when this type of thing strikes them in the same manner. Fog ridden thoughts, serious discussions that you forget thirty minutes after having them, hyper vigilance and focusing on his care, not to mention anything else that could numb out the very brutal reality that our father was dying.

I shared this journey with my mother, all five of my siblings, my husband, my children and a hoard of grandchildren, family and friends. Dad might have been lacking in stature but he was no small man. His worse nightmare and biggest blessing was that we were all there to take care of him in his time of need. All of his needs were covered.. physical, mental, spiritual, financial, you name it we had it and it was done in a timely and efficient manner. Those things we could manage, not always our best at the same time, but each of us took our turn and backed away when we couldn't be our strongest selves.
The beauty of a big, strong, catholic family. Fake it till you make it, don't be a baby, grin and bare it, suck it up buttercup, buckle down, buckle down, do it, do it, do it.. I think we all used to sing a song that had some of those lyrics.

Anyhow.. In the middle of all of this mayhem and discord I began researching a natural, very intense, nutritional means of possibly waylaying Dad's illness. Reading about how powerful nutrition, supplements, juicing and flooding your body with these powerful micro nutrients could be gave me hope. Hope that he wouldn't die, maybe. Hope that he wouldn't hurt or suffer anymore, maybe. Hope that somehow, someway I could stop this train wreck and it would all just get better, it all could happen right? Maybe?

It all did happen and we lost him anyway. It wasn't anything any of us could control no matter how hard we rallied, how much juice we made or how hard we prayed. The blessing came when he wasn't suffering anymore. We accepted that loss for that reason, but's it's been a slow road traveled in these last three years. It makes it hard to heal when all of the wounds you have are on the inside and just the smell of him opens that painful place up again like it was yesterday.

In these last three years I have become a self proclaimed EDE (experimental dietary explorer). I don't believe that there is any official title in the world that I could be categorized under, but I think the title in and of itself is self explanatory. The course I started in the midst of my father's illness gave me a purpose and a focus to begin anew after his death. I can hear him when I come up with new recipes that avoid meat of all kinds are dairy free, gluten free and all things plant. He'd screw up his face, give me that "look", say "I don't think so" and would try it anyway. My father was a very smart man, he knew that his smoking was why he was sick, but also saw the value in what I was peddling as he lost his appetite, hair and strength. It gave him hope too.

This post was to share a new recipe that is dairy, meat and gluten free.. also raw, vegan and delicious.

So many people ask "why" would you eat like that or cook in that manner when I share what I'm doing or eating. It intrigues them I guess. So I figured I'd share the why of it first and then you'll know, but also understand, the healing power of hope.