Happy Challah-days!

Before I was vegan, my absolute favorite thing for a naughty breakfast was french toast made with challah bread (a Jewish egg bread). Since it's Hanukkah, I set out in search of a vegan challah recipe. Well, I tested a few and by far, the best one I found was on a little blog called Apple Cider Vinegar. I had to do a little tweaking here and there, but: Ta da! Homemade vegan challah that even my steak-and-potato husband loves!



Vegan Challah

2 cups unbleached, bread flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons yeast
1 cup water (divided)
2 ½ tablespoons oil



Preheat oven to 350F. Mix 4 tablespoons of warm water with 1 tablespoon of sugar until it dissolves in a small bowl. Sprinkle in yeast, mix, and let sit for 10 minutes.

In a second bowl (medium sized), sift together bread flour and wheat gluten. Set aside. In a large bowl, pour the oil and set aside.

Boil 4 tablespoons of water with the salt and remaining sugar until it dissolves. Add this to the oil and mix well. When the contents of the bowl has cooled from hot to warm, add yeast mixture and incorporate well.

Slowly begin adding the flour until all has been incorporated. During this process, add remaining water as needed (roughly 1/4 cup).

Spray foil or parchment with nonstick spray. Place on top of warm oven, cover with damp cheesecloth. Allow dough to rise for at least two hours until it have doubled in size.

Punch down dough, allow it to rise for 30 minutes. Divide into three balls, roll into strands on lightly floured surface, and braid. Allow dough to rise for 10 minutes, brush with melted soy butter before baking for approximately 30 minutes (or until it sounds hollow when you tap the top ad bottom of the loaf).

Enjoy!

Operation Homeowners: Getting with the plan!

We, like most young couples, are both working hard on our fairly young careers. I recently had an epiphany that made me sick! About 8 months ago, I started a new job making more money. We kept the family budget the same and said we would put everything that was left in savings for our first down payment. Well, guess how much we had saved? Nada! You gotta have a plan!

We knew better, too. When we first got married, I had about $15,000 in credit card debt...which is horrifying to admit even now! $5,000 here, a few $1,000 department store cards there, and voila: a big, scary pile of debt. We axed our plans to rent small cottage in an upscale neighborhood and rented a garage apartment (aka: the Treehouse) in the same neighborhood. I dyed my hair back to brown and skipped the $200 monthly highlights that made me a blonde. Off came the acrylic nails. Cancelled were the weekly pedicures and the tanning memberships. Costs were cut across the board: we cancelled the cable, I became the queen of making economical soups and casseroles, eating out was all but forgotten, etc. My husband waited tables at night, we lived on almost nothing, and stuck to a detailed plan to pay it off in a year and a half or so.

So, we have a plan for 2009. We've re-budgeted everything and compromised to come up with a family spending plan that balances our priority to buy a house with a level of sacrifice we can live with. We're putting money into my company's 401K, we're keeping the cable, but we're staying in the Treehouse...we can still eat out, but we'll have to plan ahead and be more conscious of our spending. From February 2009-February 2011, we will save almost $30,000 to use as a down payment on our first home.

We're surrounded by people who bought fancy homes with zero down, have enormous amounts of credit card debt and are still taking second trips to Napa, and all sorts of less-than-smart schemes. We needed a little "play time" after we worked so hard to get out of debt. We had to replace an ancient car that couldn't pass inspection and cost more to bring up to snuff than it was worth--we bought a reliable Honda, not a fancy truck or Hummer, but we bought something new with the intention of keeping it long after we paid it off. No one is going to be working a second job this time around, but I'm still a brunette...

Hint for First Time Car Buyers: Credit unions are like wholesalers when it comes to auto loans. Credit unions "sell" auto loans to dealerships, who tack on 2% or so to the interest rate when you finance a car through them. You can become a member at many credit unions by opening a savings account with five or ten bucks. We left our checking account and savings account at our original bank, because we liked their ATM locations and policies better, but you can move everything to the credit union if you're so moved. Then, you apply for an auto loan at the credit union, secure your financing at a lower interest rate, and head out car shopping with it in our back pocket! I'll post more on buying a car later.

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Baby Girl!

I've always had a lot to say! Now with the global economic crisis, the mortgage meltdown, Americans drowning in debt, the divorce rate skyrocketing, stress and terrible eating habits are driving us all to early graves, etc., I have a lot more to say than ever before. I may not know it all, but my husband and I have been doing things our own way and we're healthy in every aspect of the word--physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually!

I hope it gives more young couples the courage to live according to their values--whatever they may be. We live in such a hectic world that it's easy to go with the flow without even thinking about it! To get back to ourselves and establish the way we wanted to live, it took real work! We had to unplug the television and start fresh in terms of the way we spend money, the way we treat each other, what we decide is fun, and what our goals are.

I plan to write about a lot of topics that have come up in my young life and in my young marriage.

• Marriage: Great marriages don't just happen! After our beautiful wedding, we came back down to reality and really had to communicate, work together, and sacrifice to become the couple that we are today. There have been tough times that forced me to learn about myself and my husband, but they have always bound us together tighter than before...only recently have I begun to remember that when we're in the though times!
• Money: I'm sure there's some saying about being careful about running with the pack, because it might just be a stampede off of a cliff. Right now, when I watch the news on the credit crisis, that's how I feel. I enjoy luxury as much as the next ex-sorority gal and I had the credit card debt to prove it when I married my husband. Unfortunately, I married the nicest guy on the planet who would have sold his kidneys to buy me something sparkly if it made me smile, so I had to get smart. I'll share how I did it, the smart things we're doing now, and our goals for the future.
• Martha: I'm a pretty adept homemaker, if I do say so myself! I have grandiose dreams of being compared to Martha Stewart someway, somehow. I really enjoy cooking, crafting, decor, entertaining, and all that jazz. I can knit, I'm learning to sew beyond that 7th grade home economics class I took, but my most Martha-esque achievement is that I am a vegan who manages to get my stake-and-potato husband to eat what I create most of the time.
• Me: Like all wives, I am many different things and have many different interests. I care both about the planet and the latest fashion trends. I'm learning more and more about politics, but I still really enjoy celebrity gossip. I work in nonprofit, but I love the social pages. I don't think any of these contradictions mean that I don't know who I am. I think it makes me authentic and I hope that helps us all be more comfortable in our own skin.