Which Came First...

...the chicken or the egg?


Most vegetarians still eat eggs and drink milk and enjoy the deliciousness that is cheese. The animal doesn't have to die in order to produce these things, so it's no harm, no foul. From the Vegan standpoint (which I'm fighting with), the animals do suffer. All you need to do is check out one PETA video to know that it's true.

I love to bake. Cody loves cookies, I love to make him cookies. Warm baked goods are the greatest thing on the face of the earth. I find it pretty easy to take my old cooking recipes and just replace the ingredients with meatless soy products. But baking? How do you replace the egg???

I found the greatest book ever at the library: Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. With over 400 recipes from breakfast to pizza, I am absolutely in love with it. In one of her sections, she goes on to talk about egg alternatives.

"Use any of the following to replace 1 egg in baking:
- Ener-G Egg Replacer: Combine 1 1/4 teaspoons of the powder with 2 tablespoons water and blend well to disolve.
- Flaxseeds: Grind 1 tablespoon flaxseeds to a powder in a blender. Add 3 tablespoons water and blend until the mixture becomes viscous.
- Soft tofu: Mix together 1/4 cup drained soft tofu and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Pureed fruit: Blend 1/4 cup pureed fruit and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder."

What's crazy is baked goods that call for one egg can just be made without the egg. I made brownies a few weeks ago and they were warm and delicious and gooey in the middle...and there was no egg. I made my first batch of Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with flaxseeds a few nights ago and they were gone in 2 days. I'm not going to say you can't taste the difference; there's a little bit of a nutty flavor, but they were still super tasty and please even the pickiest of cookie monsters.

So there's a few tips for you. I plan on making a tofu scramble (possibly turning it into a breakfast burrito) for dinner either tomorrow or Friday, so keep checking back for that one. We'll probably do leftovers for dinner tonight, but I plan on baking something tasty also. Recipes to come!