You Can Bake Steamed Breads... right on your stove top!

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Serve: the sliced, cooled bread with cream cheese. (You can store leftovers—if there are any!—wrapped, in the refrigerator.)

BOSTON BROWN BREAD

Follow the Date and Honey Bread recipe, but substitute two cups of raisins for the dates and chopped nuts.

YEAR-ROUND FRUITCAKE

The great thing about this fruitcake (as opposed to the more traditional kinds) is that it needn't be allowed to mellow for weeks or months before it can be eaten. To the contrary: It can be—and frequently is—consumed fresh from the steam pot!

You may want to use dried fruit during the winter and fresh fruit in summer—or combinations of the two—in place of the cranberries and dates that this recipe calls for. (In any case, though, keep the total amount of fruit to about three cups.) Some particularly savory combinations, I've found, are: two cups of skinned, chopped peaches plus a cup of chopped prunes . . . two cups of peeled and chopped apples plus a cup of raisins . . . one cup each of chopped rhubarb, dates, and nuts. (Cut the rhubarb into fine pieces so you won't end up with too much tartness per forkful of cake.) Whatever combination you decide to try, always use a very sweet fruit—such as dates—to balance a sour fruit.

Hint: To make a tiered cake, find a fruitcake tin—with cover—that you can bake the bottom layer in. (If the inside isn't as fresh and shiny as you think it should be, line the container and its cover with aluminum foil, grease the foil, and then proceed as usual.)

2 cups of white, stone-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup of soy flour
2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of bran flakes (health food store variety)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of powdered ginger
2 teaspoons of double-acting baking powder
1 cup of honey
3 cups of skim milk
1 cup of finely cut-up cranberries } or fruit of your choice
1 cup of chopped dates
1 cup of chopped walnuts

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, then fill a greased fruitcake pan slightly more than half full with the batter. Cover the container with a greased lid and set it on cookie cutters in a steaming pot.

Pour the remainder of the batter into a second, smaller container if you wish to make a tiered cake. (You'll have to use two pots for the steaming if the fruitcake pan fills the first one.)

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