Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

Hi, again! I am at work writing this again, because we still don't have power (5 days, now!) Parts of the island have power now--- the downtown, and nearby. My mother (thank goodness, because she's 89 and pretty game, but she was getting fed-up) and my son, who live near the downtown, got power last night, so we went to my mom's and had showers! But, on the next island over, Hornby, where my oldest daughter and her family live, NOBODY has power yet!

Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers! The last two storms did not turn out to be as bad as the first one, thank goodness, but there has been lots of rain, and yesterday it snowed 4 slushy, heavy inches and then rained again (now it's sunny!). We did not get the bad winds, thank heavens (we need a break!). But Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, Victoria and the Washington/Oregon coast got it really badly, as Debbie mentioned, and I really feel for them.

We just might get power tomorrow, but I think that is overly-optimistic. I think maybe Weds. They JUST got the power to the ferry terminal on Denman Is. this morning. There are contracted tree-cutters all over the island and they did cut the trees off our power line this morning, but the Hydro crew has to reconnect everything, and there are still big lines down on many of the major roads. So, I don't think they'll get to us for a long time.

I was getting a bit depressed, because it's hard to feel Christmasy, and everything takes so long, it's so dark (unless we get sun, like today), etc., etc. I should be working on the newsletter and the e-book! But, I decided to be positive and regard it as a holiday from work. I'm getting lots of reading done and catching up on sleep, since we get to bed really early! And, after all, how can we feel sorry for ourselves when we think of all we have compared to so many?

We got head-lamps (like cavers use) and that has been great--free hands! We're warm and dry; we're collecting lots of rain-water, so water's not a problem; we have lots of food and are eating really well. We still have our phone, and now we can even have showers and wash clothes nearby! Fortunately, as you know, we have no meat in our freezer, so there's nothing we can really lose. The freezer is old and heavily-insulated and I hadn't defrosted it recently, so it's actually still got ice in it! We are eating the things as they thaw (reconstituted Soy Curls, veggies, etc.) and have not even had to resort to canned and dried foods yet! We use our deck as an outdoor fridge.

It reminds me of when I was young and was "homesteading" with my late husband Wayne and my kids in the 70's. We lived voluntarily without power or running water for 3 years, and without running water for several more! As I washed my hair in the sink yesterday after heating up the water on the woodstove and using a pitcher to wet my hair, I was reminded of the school mornings when my 3 teenage girls would all be doing this every day! We didn't even have a TV in those days either, but we had lots of fun.

It also has made me very aware of the over-consumption at Christmas time, for some reason. I'm not THAT old, but I can remember feeling so thrilled to get a special doll and a few other things. Parents might get eachother a nice article of clothing, or something like that. But ordinary middle class people didn't buy what would have been the equivilant of these games and other pieces of technology that cost hundreds of dollars that people spend,spend, spend (and feel somehow obliged to spend!) now. Most of us think nothing of buying these things for ourselves, anyway, so why do we need other people to get into debt to buy us something more?

We're keeping it really simple this year. Getting together is the main thing. And our extended family is helping out a family member who really needs it right now instead of getting gifts for all the nieces and nephews, etc..

My daughter-in-law Amber did a really nice thing (now that I'm on the subject). We have homeless on Denman Island, believe it or not. A couple of individuals who have been dealt some hard knocks in life and, though very smart and hard-working, have a problem with alcohol. They live in donated vans. Amber pre-paid for some gas for their vans at the local store. A very kind gesture.

To digress, I've been taking photos, but I can't upload them and resize them, so blogging with photos will have to wait. I got out my Chinese stacking bamboo steamers and they have come in handy for reheating leftovers.

What did we have for dinner last night? Frozen potato-and-onion pyrogies (well-- half-frozen!), boiiled and then sauteed in a little Earth Balance with mushrooms and oniosn and a few Soycurls, topped with leftover brown gravy. Spinach salad on the side. No too shabby! Oh, and by candlelight, of course!

All the best!

Make that TWO storms coming: read about them here.

I am writing this from work ...I was going to blog yesterday, had some recipes tried and photographed, and was all set to apologize for blogging only once a week lately. But yesterday we had the worst wind and rain storm I have ever seen! Now our power is out again, and may be for some days or even weeks, because there was so much damage!

On top of that, an even worse storm is predicted for Thursday and another after that! Evidently, we are getting the tail-end of the terrible storms hitting the Philippines. We get it about 2 days after they do-- not as bad, but it was really scary yesterday. We live in a very forested area, as you can see from the photos in my snowstorm post. Branches were flying past (one big one almost hit the dining area window!) and hitting the roof, and the end of our driveway was almost flooded (fortunately, it stopped raining overnight). (I hope the reports of upcoming storms are exaggerated!)

There is debris and tree branches all over the yard and the entire driveway. DH walked down the our powerline and there are three big trees that smashed our powerlines, broke the glass covers on them, etc.. There were two big trees down on our little road, but we could get around them. There are two trees hanging on power lines on the hill down to the ferry, but people are driving under them since there is no power. There were trees on lines and lines down on the road we drive on to get "downtown". We have heard of other extensive damage all over the island, and on Hornby Island, where my daughter lives.

The Hornby ferry did only a few runs yesterday, and I believe the Denman Ferry, which can almost always make it, stopped for a while. My 14-year-old grandaughter, who goes to Jr. High from Hornby on two ferries and a bus to Courtenay, stayed in Courtenay with a friend last night. She's coming home today, though, because the power to her school is off. Parts of Courtenay and other outlying areas are without power still, so the Islands will be last on the list!

My daughter who lives north of Courtenay had part of their metal roof come loose!

So, I'll be documenting some more power outage meals! One problem this time is keeping food cold. The last time, I had to keep food from freezing outside when the fridge got too warm. But this time we are having unseasonably warm temperatures from this tropical storm hitting us.

We had a great meal last night, which I took photos of, but I can't resize them here. I made "Breast of Tofu" in a sauce from veggie broth, white wine, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, thyme and basil, and then melted soy mozza over the top! With leftover re-steamed basmati rice, and stir-fried broccoli and garlic (all done on our little butane burner), it was a feast!

I also had made a new version of my old Christmas favorite, "Chinese Chewies", from my first cookbook, but with pecans, dried cranberries, and gluten-free flour! I made them just before the power went out.

So, stay tuned and stay warm!

Baked vegan French Toast with "Bumbleberry" Sauce and Soyatoo vegan whipped topping


We actually had a whole day without power outages yesterday! But there is another big storm coming, so it's "batten down the hatches" time again!

(See a picture of a BC ferry fighting the storm on Weds. Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Our little islands (Denman and Hornby) have an additional problem. Here is the explanation from BC Hydro:

"Service to Denman Island is provided as three-phase, at 25,000 volts using three relatively old submarine cables that are near their end of life. An extra cable (fourth) is used as a spare cable for back up and is relatively new in comparison. Service is continued from Denman Island to Hornby Island.

BC Hydro initiated a planned outage on Sunday to test the condition
of the four undersea cables that serve Denman Island. Service was restored back to normal later that day after successfully completing the tests. On Monday, in the early morning, one of the undersea cables faulted and resulted in a power outage. We switched power to the fourth or spare undersea cable and re-energized the circuit. Later that same day, a second undersea cable faulted.

The service to both island's is now at single-phase, 14,400 volts.
For residential customers this means business as usual. However, for commercial customers such as the Co-op and schools, that use three-phase power, the current service is insufficient and requires a three-phase diesel generator. We are working with those customers for short-term solutions.

With the age and condition of these failed cables, they must be replaced. BC Hydro is now developing a plan to replace all three of the original aged submarine cables (approximately 6000 meters), as well as the two failed cables, with new cables with more capacity. This will improve reliability to the islands. BC Hydro will be removing the failed cables, lay the new cables, and tie in the new equipment to return Denman and Hornby to three-phase power. At this time we are unsure how long this process will take, but we hope to begin the seven days of work beginning Monday. There will be a few planned, short duration outages during this work. We will update you on Monday with more information, and the planned outages, as the plan comes together.

Thank you for your patience.

The outage on Wednesday and Thursday was due to extreme winds and trees contacting our lines. At one point on Wednesday we had just over 200,000 customers without power throughout the BC Hydro system."

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Oh, well-- what can you do? Just be prepared.

In the meantime, I'm getting this blog done!

We had a kind of fancy Saturday breakfast this morning-- baked (therefore lower in fat) vegan French toast with berries and whipped "cream", and soy cappuccinos!



I used the vegan whipped topping in a pressurized can, Soyatoo, which is quite delicious! It comes from Germany and is trans-fat-free!  (UPDATE: I now prefer the whippaple version in the tetrapack box.)



BRYANNA'S BAKED VEGAN ORANGE FRENCH TOAST WITH “BUMBLEBERRY” SAUCE
makes 6 slices

Kids (of all ages!) love French toast. This recipe eliminates the usual eggs, milk, and butter. High-fiber, essential-fatty-acid-rich flaxseeds (and a little powdered egg replacer) take the place of eggs.

This is an orange-flavored version and is topped with a mixed-berry (that’s what “bumbleberry” means!) sauce containing very little sugar! The whipped topping is optional.

This method is handy for cooking for a crowd— just multiply the recipe as needed.

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6 slices slightly stale light sprouted wheat bread (such as Silver Hills)

BATTER:
1 c. non-dairy milk (I used soymilk, but nut milk would be yummy! If you use Almond Breeze or So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage (both Original), the nutrition facts are just about the same.)
1/2 c. fresh orange juice
1 T. golden flax seeds (whole)
2 tsp. powdered egg replacer (Ener-G or Orgran)
2 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla or vanilla paste
1/4 tsp. salt
A few gratings of nutmeg
OPTIONAL: 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

BUMBLEBERRY SAUCE:
3 cups frozen mixed berries, thawed
1 1/2 Tbs. vegan sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbs. water or juice
OPTIONAL: 2-4 tsp. grated orange zest

Preheat the oven to 500°F.

Blend together the batter ingredients in a blender until smooth. Soak the bread slices in this mixture in a 9x13” glass pan while the oven heats up. Turn the slices over a few times to make sure they are evenly soaked.



Place the soaked slices on a nonstick or lightly-oiled DARK cookie sheet (dark pans brown better), sprayed with oil from a pump sprayer. Spray the tops a little bit, too. Bake 10 minutes in the bottom third of the oven (use convection, if you have it),



then turn and bake about 5 minutes more, or until golden and crispy on the underside.

WHILE THE FRENCH TOAST IS BAKING, make the Bumbleberry Sauce. Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly; OR microwave in a medium, deep microwave-safe bowl (deep in order to avoid splashes) for about 2 minutes, or until thickened and bubbly.

Serve hot over the French toast.

VARIATION:
Overnight French Toast: Soak the slices in a double recipe of batter (in an oiled shallow baking dish) overnight in the refrigerator. (You can use a crusty bread, cut 1/2" thick, if you like.) Then cook in the oven, as above.

Servings: 3
Yield: 12 half slices

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 351.1 calories; 10% calories from fat; 4.0g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 474.1mg sodium; 539.1mg potassium; 68.0g carbohydrates; 17.6g fiber; 23.9g sugar; 50.4g net carbs; 4.6g protein; 6.6 points.


Enjoy!