While I had my new coffee bean grinder out last night, I obviously needed to use it to grind some of my Bob’s Red Mill flax seeds! Feeling inspired by Sarah’s flaxseed pudding (fyi, I’m talking about the hilariously entertaining Sarah and not me!), I ground three tbsp of the seeds. Half I kept aside to use for tomorrow’s breakfast, and half became part of my dinsert:
In a small saucepan, I immersion blended the 1.5 tbsp ground flax seeds with 1/4 cup silken tofu, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, 1/4 cup water, cinnamon, vanilla, and 1 chopped gooey Medjool date. Once blended, I brought the mix to a low boil for a few and then poured it into a ramekin that went into the fridge for a couple hours.
While the pudding was setting, I snacked on three jasmine tea biscotti bites.
Before chilling, the pudding was already pretty thick because of the tofu (I wanted to use it up before I left for the weekend), but after — wow! The flaxseeds definitely changed the consistency so that it actually set kind of like regular pudding would.
I loved it alone but, this being dinsert and all, I needed it to be a bit more substantial. So I threw on chopped mango (Myrna gave me a whole mango at work the other day!), blood orange, strawberries, and blackberries along with the rest of the peanut roasteed chickpeas and some of my frozen Easter chocolate-caramel-nut candy.
Mmmmmm, I am so excited about this flax seed “gelling” discovery. I never knew it had these properties, and I have a pretty full bag of them left so I can keep experimenting!
I used the other 1.5 tbsp of ground flax seeds for my breakfast this morning. I enjoyed my tofu oat bran with prune groatmeal topping for the third day in a row … with two (hmm, three four) key differences. First, I added the flax to the saucepan while stovetopping the bran last night. Second, I cooked the bran and assembled it with the groatmeal in an ovensafe bowl last night to allow for easy oven-reheating while getting ready this morning. Third, I topped it with homemade sunflower seed butter in place of my completely devoured cashew-almond butter. And fourth, I ate it in a takeout container on the subway 🙂
In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, I’m loving the tofu oat bran! I think I could even eat it plain without any of the toppings. The fat from the tofu and soymilk add such a rich flavor to the already creamy oat bran. And the addition of ground flax made it even thicker! Such a satisfying combination.
Despite the satisfaction, however, I got somehow hungry at 9 am while waiting for the plane in JFK (probably because I didn’t have any water to drink!) and whipped out this baby sweet batata that I baked last night:
I’m now in the Charlotte airport awaiting the arrival of my super special local tour guide who offered to help me fill the afternoon until I meet Wife (who went wild for scones here) who’s driving up from GA this afternoon!
Have you made any magical food discoveries lately?
I also hit up Target hoping to find a cheap dress for the wedding that suits my new, ahem, “curvier” figure (thanks to the injury-induced reduction in running). No luck, though, so I’m going to have to raid my closet! I did, however, pick up a coffee bean grinder. I don’t like coffee, but my mini-food processor bit the dust after three batches of nut butter, and I thought (rather, I called my mom and she thought) the grinder might be a good and cheap ($15!) interim solution until I can get my hands on a powerful processor. Mom was right, and I made some sunflower seed butter when I got home. Sure, it took three batches (and I had to stop the grinder after every pulse to scrape the sides) to make 1/2 cup’s worth, but I now have delicious sunflower seed butter!
Exciting, right? It was quite the production! I’m looking forward to doing it again tomorrow, too!
The star of the meal, however, was clearly Mildred’s husband’s habichuela con dulce (a traditional Dominican dessert drink that appears between Ash Wednesday and Easter and that I’ve raved about 
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 