Dreamy Lemon Blueberry Muffins

DREAMY LEMON-BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients:

2 cups cake/pastry flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup canola oil
juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
organic cane sugar (coarse) for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and prepare muffin tin with liners. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Mix together almond milk, water, oil, juice, and zest. Pour into flour mixture and stir but do not over-mix. Fold in blueberries. Fill the muffin tins half way, sprinkle with cane sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Fall in my Soup

Okay, call me crazy.  When the temperature drops below 20C, I am in my glory!  Time for Autumn harvest and it's finally cool enough to cook!  It's a drizzly, windy day and we  are in the mood for some hot, creamy soup.

This golden, yummy soup is inspired by a Moosewood Restaurant staple.  Golden winter squash, sweet apple and the warmth of cinnamon are brought together in one yummy bowl!  Add some crusty bread and (voila! ), you have a very satisfying fall meal.


Ingredients:

Vegetable oil or broth for sauteeing
2 organic yellow onions, chopped
1/2 dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
4 organic carrots, peeled and chopped
4 stalks organic celery, chopped
3 cups organic vegetable stock, homemade or prepared
2 cups winter squash puree, I used roasted butternut squash
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup orange juice
1 cup apple juice
Salt and pepper to taste

In a stock pot, saute onions in oil (or broth) for a few minutes.  Add herbs and spices a to onions and until the onions become translucent.  Add carrots, celery and broth.  Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, until the veggies become tender.  Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick.  Puree the cooked vegetables, stock, juices and squash together in batches.  Reheat gently and serve.  It is wonderful topped with a balsamic vinegar reduction or some vegan sour cream.  Recipe yields 8 generous servings.

Sugar Free Banana Blueberry Muffins

Yummy! I saw a great recipe on fatfreevegan.com for a bread of this persuasion, and thought I'd try it out as muffins!

Ingredients:

3 large over-ripe bananas 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk 1/2 cup (120 ml) agave nectar 2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 pint blueberries

Coconut oil (for preparing pan)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Wipe the top of muffin pan with coconut oil and line with paper liners.

Mix the soymilk with the apple cider vinegar and let stand until it curdles.

In a food processor, puree the bananas and add the soymilk mixture and agave nectar. Stir well to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, and stir just until the mixture is well-combined. Fold in the blueberries.

Fill the muffin cups to 4/5 and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Servings: 12

Bread Pudding

Stuck with half of a three pound loaf of homemade cinnamon bread, I decided to try to recreate a decadent treat we sampled in the gorgeous city of New Orleans. You can give this pudding a more authentic taste by dousing it with bourbon and flambé-ing it, but I prefer a morning-friendly version.

Ingredients:

4-5 cups stale bread, cubed
3 cups non-dairy milk
1 cup sucanat or 2/3 cup sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 tsp earth balance or non-dairy butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Place bread in a 9" square baking dish. In a blender (I use a VitaMix), blend milk, sugar, cinnamon and dates. Pour over bread and stir to cover. Top with almonds and drop butter on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Enjoy hot!

Sunday Brunch Apple "Jacks"

Good Morning! Well, it's better after eating a small stack of apple drenched flapjacks! These pancakes were great and the toppings were even better.

Ingredients:

(for the pancakes)

1 can coconut milk

1 large ripe banana

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 C all-purpose flour

2/3 C quick-cooking oats

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1tsp ground cinnamon(for the toppings)

apple sauce - (I made mine with apples, water to cover and a dash of cinnamon)

vanilla soy yogurt

toasted pecans

In a food processor or blender, blend the banana, vanilla and coconut milk until smooth. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and add to wet mixture. I mixed mine pretty well. Fry the pancakes on a prepared griddle (I used canola oil) on medium-high heat, flipping only when the top is very bubbly. Stack the pancakes, add your favorite toppings and enjoy!

PS> with homemade chunky applesauce, you won't even need syrup!

Roasted Red Pepper No-Egg Omelette

Inspired by the good folks at Fresh in Toronto, I decided to whip up a no-egg omelette this morning. Four, actually! This recipe is just for the outer portion of the omelette that is used to wrap all of your gorgeous goodies - I filled mine with white-wine sauteed mushrooms and onions, agave-sweetened mustard and vegan cheese.

Ingredients:

2T water or veggie stock - plus extra for sauteeing

1/2 sweet onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 block extra firm tofu drained and chopped

1 whole roasted red pepper, seeded and chopped

1T nutritional yeast flakes (I use Purely Bulk from Loblaws)

1/4C - 1/2C gluten flour (available at Bulk Barn)

1t Herbamare or sea salt

2T all-purpose flour

Oil of choice for frying

In a skillet over medium heat, heat 2T water or stock. Add onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent and fragrant. Cool and transfer to bowl of food processor. Add roasted red pepper and tofu; process until almost smooth. Add nutritional yeast, herbamare (or sea salt) and 1/4C gluten flour. Process until mixture becomes a slightly firm dough and is pulling away from the bowl. If your mixture is to soft/wet, you may need to add more gluten flour. When dough has reached desired consistency, shape into 4 discs. On a floured bread board (or clean counter top), roll out each disc to 1/4" thick. Heat a griddle or frying pan to medium and warm oil. Cook omelettes 1.5 - 2 minutes on each side. The will become fluffy and light and can be kept warm in the oven (250F) until you are ready to fill. You may also refrigerate them and re-heat in a pan or in the oven when you are ready to use them. Enjoy!

Herbed Biscuits

So yummy to serve with soup or stew!  My husband has a cold and I thought some old-fashioned comfort food would help him feel looked-after.

Ingredients:

2 C all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 stick (1/4 C) Earth Balance shortening

3/4 C soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat over to 450 F.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt into large mixing bowl.  Stir in seasonings.  With your stand mixer (if you don't have one, get one!) on low, mix in shortening (cut into small pieces) slowly, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Pour vinegar into milk and ass to flour mixture, still on low.  mix until a dough-ball forms and it is pulling away from sides of bowl.  Turn out onto floured surface and roll out to 1/2" thickness.  Cut into desired shapes and bake on lightly oiled pans for 12 - 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes roughly 12 biscuits.

Nana's Wacky (chocolate) Cake

Hello again-

I adapted an old favorite of my Nana's (see right - she's so pretty!!) for a Valentine treat.  This is the easiest cake going.  Pictures will be posted soon.

Into an ungreased 9x9 cake pan, combine:

1 1/2 C flour

3/4 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp cocoa powder

Dig three holes into the dry mixture and add:

1st hole - 5 tbsp melted Earth Balance or other vegan margarine

2nd hole - 1 tbsp vanilla extract

3rd hole - 1 tbsp white vinegar

Pour one cup lukewarm water over ingredients (I used lukewarm coffee for a mocha flavour)

and mix well.  Bake in 375 F oven for 25-30 minutes.  Any glaze will do, but I just sprinkled some icing sugar for garnish and served with fresh fruit.  Very tasty and extra easy.  Enjoy!

Vegan Leek and Mushroom Tart

Mmmm, so good.  Adapted and vegan-ized from a Food & Drink recipe, I've created my own brunch masterpiece.

Ingredients;

1 can coconut milk

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tbsp nutritional yeast flake

2 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 6 tbsp water, chilled (flax egg)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tbsp Earth Balance margarine

250g sliced cremini mushrooms

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1 large leek, chopped into 1 inch lengths and triple washed

2 tbsp white wine

1 tsp dried thyme

Partially baked tart shell, 9" round (recipe to follow)

1     Preheat oven to 350 F

2     Place coconut milk and garlic cloves in saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil then turn heat to low and simmer gently for 25 minutes or until it has reduced to 1 cup and been infused with garlic aroma.  Set aside to cool.  Remove garlic cloves, mash with a fork and return to coconut milk.  When cool, add flax "egg" and beat until uniform.  Season with salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

3     Heat 1 tbsp margarine in a saute pan and cook sliced mushrooms for one minute, or until slightly browned.  Add chopped garlic and cook another 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and scrape into bowl.

4    Heat remaining margarine in saute pan.  Saute leeks for one minute, or until they are softened slightly.  Add wine and thyme to the fan and cook, stirring, for one minute more until leeks are limp and the liquid has evaporated.  Remove from heat.

5     Arrange mushrooms and leeks in tart shell and pour coconut milk mixture over top, allowing veggies to peep through.

6     Bake for 30 minutes or until set and slightly golden.  Let cool 10 minutes before serving.