Some vegan recipes are a bit complex, or use a few too many ingredients for more liking. I wanted to see what would happen if I paired a chocolate cake recipe down to almost nothing. Result- a really nice sponge cake made without specialist ingredients and easy for a baking beginner. for my party piece I scribble the recipe down on a paper napkin to share with others.

I glanced over at my fruit basket yesterday and found four moldy looking apples at the bottom. They had been languishing there for over a week, with no one paying them any attention. Now, I'm a bit of a purist with my apples. I only like them tart and crunchy with faint green veins running through their flesh. Bruised apples with brown spots go straight on my list of foods I most hate to eat. Still, something had to be done with those apples, and without much of a plan, I peeled, cored, and chopped them up. 

Then I spied a jar full of demerara sugar that I'd bought recently, and inspiration took form. I decided I'd bake an apple bread. The principle would be the same as banana bread, only since apple has a higher water content, I could consider lowering the amount of fat in my recipe, and under bake slightly, so my cake would remain moist. A small quantity of vinegar provides just enough acid for leavening, and the baking soda helps it rise. This bread bakes up dense. 

During the holidays of my youth I used to look forward to various animal-based table centerpieces that symbolized the crowning achievement of the feast. This high-protein, savory focal point would involve hours of anticipation, planning and boast a supporting role from several more simple, rustic freshly prepared vegetable dishes. As I became older and came to prefer a diet free from animal products, holiday meals consisted of me either avoiding the animal-based centerpiece or finding myself lucky enough to be in a situation where all of the dishes consisted of the rustic, vegetable-based fare. 

I still miss the excitement and curiosity that goes along with a savory centerpiece: How tender will it be when I slice into it? What succulent surprises will I find? Oh and the aromas wafting thorugh the house! I wanted to bring this excitement to vegan holiday feasts when I set out to create Seitan Roulade. 

Seitan Roulade consists of a sheet of wheat gluten covered with a panko mushroom stuffing that's been simmered in a red wine balsamic reduction. It's then wrapped into a roll, glazed with Apricot Glaze and sprigs of thyme are placed on top before the roulade is tied with twine. The roulade is then baked in a dutch oven, sliced, served and drizzled with a gravy such as Gracious Gravy. This is a similar centerpiece to Stuffed Seitan but is a little more involved because it involves glaze, and the use of a dutch oven. The dutch oven helps the roulade retain it's shape, stay moist and become infused with aroma from the thyme sprigs.

Holiday dinners at my Godparent's house was always a special occasion. The food was inspriational but the the one dish that my brother and I looked forward to all year was the simple but perfect implementation of garlic bread. This consisted of a store-bought flute of San Fancisco sourdough, sliced but leaving the bottom crust intact so the slices could be torn off as the loaf worked its way around the table. This loaf was buttered between the slices, wrapped in tin foil and warmed in the oven. Buttering the slices while leaving the loaf intact had the advantage of ensuring both sides of each slice was buttered. Wrapping the loaf in tin foil had the benefit of allowing the entire loaf to be saturated with buttery aromas and flavors during its time in the oven and the tin foil could be folded back over the loaf in between servings to keep the bread warm while it was on the table. Brilliant!

My brother and I eventually begged my parents to adopt this bread tradition for holiday feasts at our house. When I adopted a vegan diet we switched from butter to margarine and although the results were satisfactory, there seemed to be somthing lacking; substituting margarine doesn't always work as well as butter 100% of the time. 

Several years later I was having a dinner with friends and everyone at the table was falling over themselves in anticipation for Vlad's famous garlic bread spread. What was in this bread spread? I never found out but it was thick, dairy-based, rich, spreadable and smelled what a bread spread would probably smell like if you took the best elments of butter and sharp cheddar. Without even tasting it I was mesmerized by it. What if I combined these two garlic bread methods to make a vegan rich, buttery bread spread that could take garlic bread to another level? 

This bread spread recipe features extra virgin olive oil, onion, garlic, fresh tarragon and just a touch of white wine vinegar to envoke a complex buttery flavor with a sharp cheese inspired finish.

Traditional flour is ground endosperm powder which is the result of the flour mill removing most of the hard pieces and hence, nutrition from the wheat berry. I'm a huge fan of whole sprouted grains because they're more flavorful and contain significantly more nutrients than bread made with traditional flour. This Flourless Sprouted Whole Wheat Bread recipe utilizes sprouted wheat berries that are then ground into a purée. This requires a substantially hardy food processor. If you're not sure if your food processor is powerful enough, look on the bottom. It should say at least 6.5 Amps or "6.5 A". 

This bread was difficult to design due to the nature of the wheat berry. This hardy seed contains the germ which is the heart and soul of the seed. The germ is the embryo of the plant in its dormant state. This germ is accompanied by the starchy endosperm which acts as fuel for the germ when it sprouts or germinates. This package is encased in a firm fibrous shell called the bran. This protects the seed kind of like an egg shell protects an egg.