Our Veggie Kitchen

Sometimes you buy too many bananas. Sometimes they don't get eaten. And these banana muffins are my go to recipe for over-ripe, almost-ready-for-the-compost-heap bananas. They're worth heating up the kitchen for a half an hour, even in the July heat. Good muffins rarely last a day in my house, and these get gobbled in a heart beat.



Chocolate Banana Muffins
Dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingrients:
2 mashed bananas
3/4 cups soy milk
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup vegan chocolate or carob chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, except the chips. Stir to combine. Then pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just enough to combine. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, and divide the batter among them.
Bake for about 20 minutes.

12 servings: 212 cal (4g fat, 40g carbs, 5g protein)

It seems I'm getting swept up in holiday preparations. And I'm trying to get work done so I can take a couple weeks vacation. I've been doing a lot of quick stand-by dinners; lots of pasta, stir fries and tacos, and a few burgers peppered in when things get hectic. I tried tempeh for the first time in two years, with mixed results. I also found my new favorite sweet and sour sauce. The fatfreevegan's Seitan Baked Seitan in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce tasted great, but i thought the texture was a bit chewy. I had the same issue when I tried her ribs and I think I'll play a bit to fix it. It is worth the effort.



I also made Eggnog Bread. I found the recipe here on discusscooking.com (Thanks Glorie). I veganized it and made a loaf of bread. I blended egg replacer with water and the bread turned out a little heavy ... and it fell apart a bit. Maybe it would have held together if it cooled but it was gone before that happened. So I waited until after the kids were in bed and made some muffins. I mixed the egg replacer with the egg nog (and no extra liquid) and that made the difference. I actually got to eat two muffins from that batch. The bread was sweet and rich and holiday, umm holiday-ey. I'm going to buy some boxes of rice nog so I can make this year-round.



Eggnog Muffins/Bread
8 tbs Earth Balance Margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs rum (or 2 tsp rum extract)
1 cup Soy Egg Nog (or rice)
1 tbs Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/3 cup vegan sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

With a beater, cream the margarine with the sugar until fluffy. Combine the wet ingredients and whisk in the egg replacer powder. Blend the liquid and sour cream in with the margarine and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix and blend until somewhat sticky (like a muffin or banana bread batter).

For Bread: Pour into a 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, until a knife an be inserted and pulled out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and remove from the pan.

For Muffins: Spoon Batter into a muffin tin, fitted with muffin cups, about even with the tin. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, until a knife can be inserted and pulled out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and remove from the pan.

12 Servings: 245 Cal (9g fat, 36g carbs, 3g protein)

I made these muffins a couple days ago, along with pumpkin chili. I love breaking up a fresh corn muffin into my chili and, like a salty potato chip, you can't eat just one. You gotta have another split and slathered with margarine. What a treat.

Last time I made these, I had troubles with them crumbling. I increased the cornmeal and soy milk by 1/4 cup each and it made for a denser muffin. In reality, I think its more important to add the ground flax properly. Feel free to decrease the cornmeal and soy milk by 1/4 cup each. They're good either way.



4 tbs Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 tbs baking powder
1 1/4 cup soy milk
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tbs ground flax, 6 tbs water

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Beat in the agave nectar, and milk. Mix together the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder, then mix into the wet ingredients. Stir until the batter is smooth. Fold in corn and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). While the oven preheats, bring 6 tbs water to a boil and stir in the ground flax. Stir constantly for 2-3 minutes, until the flax takes on an egg-like consistency. Fold into the dough. Spoon into 12 muffin cups. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops of muffins are lightly browned.

12 servings: 194 cal (5g fat, 34g carbs, 4g protein)

I was going to BBQ Seitan today. It rained. Eugene has three months of summer and nine months of mud, and the rains began today. So, with school starting and fall arriving, I stayed indoors and baked.

I've never been much of a baker, and my experience baking without eggs or dairy is even slimmer. Still, I have some favorites, and I had time to play. One of my favorites is Moosewood's Vermont Summer Muffins. I subbed the eggs with a green banana and a little more zucchini; the buttermilk with soy milk and lemon juice; and the cheese with nutritional yeast and ended up with a very tasty muffin. I forgot the parsley in this batch, but kept it in the recipe.



Cheezy Zucchini Muffins
3 cups white flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (1 medium zucchini, peeled)
3 tbs parsley, chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 cup soy milk
1 unripe banana (a green banana adds less banana flavor)
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup Earth Balance Margarine, melted

Before any you begin any prep work, add the lemon juice to the soy milk and set aside until needed. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine and mix all dry ingredients. Mash the banana, or use a hand mixer and stir into the milk with the melted margarine. To the dry mix, add the zucchini, green onions, parsley and milk mixture. Stir just enough to combine. This is a very dry muffin dough, almost like unkneeded bread dough.

Put muffin cups into a muffin tin, and spoon the dough into the cups, filling the cups and, maybe, a bit more. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes, until you can insert a knife and pull it out clean.

12 Servings: 177 cal (5g fat, 29g carbs, 6g protein)