Eat Your Vegetables – Accommodating Vegans

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Bedfordlandings

When guests make reservations, we ask them about dietary restrictions and to name foods that they just don’t like. Within reason, we try to accommodate special diets in planning breakfasts. For example, we can easily substitute almond milk for cow’s milk, or although we hate to do it, we can use gluten-free flours for biscuits when we have planned “homemade biscuits by Jack.” gluten free batters

We can serve naked bacon for diabetics by leaving off the pecan encrusting with our signature bacon. For and those who can’t eat pork they get turkey sausage! And we have vegetarian guests who we can please with a healthy veggie frittata! Many who make special dietary requests make them because of particular health reasons!

 

Vegans are a little difficult in that we need to probe a little deeper to ask if they can tolerate butter, eggs cooked within a dish, or yogurt. This week in planning for a guest, we were asked to cook vegan but “don’t go to any trouble.”

To clarify, we like going to trouble to #1 please our guests and #2 so any guest doesn’t feel singled out. Just putting a little peanut butter on toast and serving it is not really our style. So please know that when you come to Bedford Landings, we don’t do toast. Instead, for breakfast you get a served and plated home made breakfast with fresh ingredients (With the exception of English Muffins for Eggs Benedict, we make everything from scratch. We haven’t mastered home made English muffins…yet!)

biscotti batter

Lovely batter, not too sticky nor too dry.

But I digress.  Let me go further to describe what we are preparing for our Vegan guest. I was talking with a friend of mine who was busy in her kitchen making pumpkin spice Biscotti. Wow! Pumpkin spice Biscotti- that would be perfect!

I learned of the biscotti when I was thanking her for a gift that she sent to us – silicone fingertip hot pads. I have seen the rubberized hot pads (or do you call them pot holders) in kitchen shops but they looked as if they would melt against heat. Due to this thoughtful gift, I can now report that they do not melt! I just keep wanting to make them talk to each other like little puppets! But, in the meantime, Kelly shared her biscotti recipe with me. Thank-you! I just wish I could convey the wonderful aroma of baking biscotti as I write this blog!
chickens eating pumpkin

biscotti batter

Lovely batter, not too sticky nor too dry!

The mix went together beautifully. It only called for half a cup of pumpkin.  What does one do with the other half?  Feed it to the chickens of course!  They loved it!

The recipe was not too difficult.  We like made from scratch, not too difficult recipes!  Since it is a new recipe, I made it a day ahead of time, in case it flopped. But it’s supposed to be dry, right?

Take a look at these photos of the process and note the cool neon green fingertip hot pads!

Of course biscotti will be accompanied by other fruit and side dishes plus the non-vegans will get the pecan-encrusted bacon and savory omelets besides.

biscotti in the oven

Two biscotti logs going into the oven

baked biscotti

First baked at 350 degrees. Note the neon mitts!

The batter is baked once for 20 minutes then cooled, sliced, and baked again to dry.  A glaze of white chocolate is totally optional.

glazed biscotti

Now if I can just get back to cooking and less finger play!

 

 

 

Dedication:
Dedicated to our (late) friend Tom Brown who truly loved to eat and would have surely tried this recipe!

2 Comments

Nancy Rae Brown on August 23, 2018

Tom surely would have tried and enjoyed this recipe!

Marion Wetcher on August 26, 2018

You keep the recipe....I just want to come live with you! Is that a possibility?!?! Hugs!

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