Vegans et al., part three

Back in September, the Tennessean's Jessica Bliss got all worked up vegan corn bread with jalapeños. I decided to give it a whirl tonight (first time in my life I cooked with/consumed soy milk and flax seeds). Here's the recipe:

Vegan Corn Bread with Jalapeños

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
6 tablespoons water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1-2 jalapeños, sliced into rings

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.
4. Add the ground flax seeds, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seeds in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
5. Set aside
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt until well-combined.
7. Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk and canola oil to the flour mixture.
8. Beat just until smooth (do not over beat).
9. Pour into prepared baking pan and top batter with jalapeño rings. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
10. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert corn bread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer.

Two things you need to know: I didn't have have (!) any fresh jalapeños, so I skipped that part; and I couldn't bring myself to cook corn bread in a baking dish, so I cooked it in a skillet ... you know, like God intended.

So, how'd my vegan corn bread turn out? Well,it made a pretty picture (see above), but it tasted like -- how shall I say this -- raw cornmeal seasoned with dirt. Why I expected "tastiness" from anything seasoned with soy milk and flax seeds is beyond me. Surely my Granny Ruby is Up There laughing at me right now.

That said, I thank GOD that I didn't waste a single jalapeño trying to season-up my skillet of fluffed-up you-know-what. But I hate that I wasted several pats of good BUTTER trying to choke down the same fluffed-up, er, stuff (the irony of that endeavor is not lost on me ... en effet).