Obama Berry Coconut Crisp

I spent election day being a jittery mess. I was so anxious all day long--I couldn't sit still and I just wanted to roll around in the streets screaming praise for Barack Obama, in case I might inspire some otherwise Republicans to switch their votes at the last second. Instead I sat at my computer, constantly refreshing CNN.com in the hopes that maybe some state decided to start counting their votes early. But of course, that didn't happen so I just kept seeing the two candidates with zero electoral votes. It became clear that I needed a project to keep me busy. So naturally, I started making a Barack Obama outfit for my lovely daughter/dog.

Hayley was the life of the party as we walked to the nearby fire station to cast my vote. (Sadly. pups are not allowed to vote yet in the state of California, so the pup came just to keep me company. Let's hope there is a prop on the next election granting pups the right to vote!!!) The strong support for Obama was clear on our short walk, but we are in Los Angeles after all. I was still really worried about how the rest of the country would be voting.

When we got home, my nervous energy had only increased. So it was time to get elbow deep in baking. I wanted to do a red-white-and-blue themed dish for our election night festivities to be hosted by Kirby Von Scrumptious. I found some blueberries and strawberries still frozen from the summer and decided to make Veganomicon's Berry Coconut Crisp.
This dish was incredibly easy to make--just throw a few ingredients in a pan and cover with this delicious mix of unsweetened coconut, sugar, and flour and bake for about 40 minutes. In the end, the colors ended up being purple and off-white, buttttttt whatever. My only disappointment was that the flavor of the blueberries was so strong, it really covered how amazing the coconut crisp was. The raw dough was so good I'm planning on experimenting to make a coconut sugar cookie based off of this recipe. In the meantime, this is a great dessert that will get gobbled up quickly.

In the end my anxiety subsided as we watched Barack Obama elected the new president. What a happy, proud moment. Viva Los Estados Unidos!!!!!

Blueberry Oatmeal Flummery

I am not the biggest blueberry fan, but lately they have been mighty scrumptious looking at the store and online: VeganYumYum's Blueberry Grunt and Fatfree Vegan's Blueberry-Oat Bars have been floating around my brain, as has this article about flummery in the New York Times. So I decided to succumb to the blueberry pain and this weekend I whipped together a Blueberry Oatmeal Flummery, flummery being a fancy British word for pie filling eaten sans crust. Leave it to the Brits...

I was going to make this the traditional way, but I had some oatmeal hanging out from two roommates ago. Figuring this would be a good way to finally get rid of it, I decided to throw it in the mix. The result was very good fresh out of the oven, especially with some unsweetened vanilla rice milk poured over top. Unlike most flummery, however, which is even better when it's chilled--this turned into a rubbery mess after a night in the fridge. So you should either eat it right away or eliminate the oatmeal part if you want to keep it around for a while. Bon appetit!

Blueberry Oatmeal Flummery
(modified from this recipe at Fat Free Vegan--I basically halved the oatmeal part and folded it into the blueberries instead of layering them)

1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsps cornstarch, mixed with enough water to make a paste

1 1/2 cups regular (not instant) oatmeal
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsps. agave nectar
3 tbsps. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil an 8x8 baking pan.

In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, agave nectar, and juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, stir in the vanilla and the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir as the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put 1 1/2 cups of the oatmeal into a blender and grind it to a fine powder. Pour it into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add the remaining oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the apple sauce, agave nectar, water, and vanilla, and mix well.

Fold oatmeal mix into the blueberries. Put new mixture into the oiled baking dish. Bake 5-8 minutes or until oatmeal has softened. Serve warm with rice milk or soy creamer.