Monday, February 13, 2012

MAPLE MORNIN MUFFINS

I've been eating vegan for over a week now, and have actually been feeling more energetic than I have in a long time. There could really be something to this... The hardest part about eating vegan so far has been preparation. I can't just grab or buy something easily on this diet, and surprisingly, this has been more difficult an obstacle than meat cravings or anything else.
To help make my breakfasts easier, I found these awesome fat free vegan muffins, and put my own spin on them. This could be a week of veganism talking, but I can't even tell they're crazy healthy!

1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
Dash of salt
1 cup pumpkin or sweet potato purée
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Mix these together, plop into sprayed muffin tins, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so.

The stuff above is really just a good base for a heartier muffin, though.

To the batter above, I added 4 or 5 shredded baby carrots, 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup chopped dates, 1/4 cup dried, unsweetened coconut, 1/8 cup flax meal, and topped the muffins with extra oats. They came out AWESOME!

I might go a little lighter on the spice next time, and I'd like to try adding bran, and maybe find a few more hearty add-ins for a super breakfast boost.

All in all, these Muffins make a great breakfast, and can be customized a million ways. These will definitely be in the regular rotation...

Sunday, February 5, 2012

PLANT POWER!!!

It appears that the unthinkable has happened... After watching a documentary (forks over knives), my wife and I decided to give Veganism a one month test run. We started eating partially vegan a few days ago, and after a big rib dinner, finally went full plant power today.

So far, I've got to say, I feel better than I have in weeks. We started the day with some uncle Sam cereal with blueberries and rice milk, had some veggie wraps with homemade hummus for lunch, and topped the day off with our own cornbread concoction, which was really good, even by our vegan beginner standards. Here's how we made it:

Step 1:
Corn Bread

1 cup Corn Meal
1 cup White Whole Wheat flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Maple Syrup
1 cup Rice Milk
1/4 cup Apple Sauce
1 tbs Flax Meal
1/2 cup Frozen Corn
1 Anaheim Chile, chopped

Mix the first 4 ingredients in one bowl, then the wet ingredients in another. Add the flax meal to the wet ingredients and let sit for a couple minutes. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture along with the chiles and corn. Pour into a 9X9 pan and bake at 400F for 30 minutes.

Step 2:
Roasted Chiles
Wash and seed Anaheim Chiles, leaving them whole (only remove the tops) dry the chiles, place them on a foiled sheet pan, and roast under a high broiler for 10 minutes, until black. Turn the peppers over, roast another 5-10 minutes, then remove from the oven, wrap tightly in foil, and let rest until cool. Remove the skins.

Step 3:
Salsa

3 Tomatoes
1/3 an Onion, chopped
1 Fresno Chile, chopped
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
Lime Juice
Salt

Mix the veggies, (go easy on the chile, if you're a fraidy cat) add some lime juice and salt, stir a little, then hit the mixture with a few pulses of an immersion blender (don't overdo it! You want a mix of chunks and purée) season with salt and lime juice to taste.

Step 4:
Re"fried" beans

1 25 oz can Black Beans, well rinsed
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp California Chile Powder
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Nutritional Yeast
1/2 cup Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
1/2 cup Water
Salt to taste

Mix the beans, spices, and nutritional yeast (this stuff gives a nice cheesy essence!) in a pan over medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until the beans start to beak down a little. Add the vegetable broth, simmer for 10 minutes or so, then mash some of the beans and add the water (depending on how thin you want them, you can add more or less) Salt to taste, then cook a bit longer to incorporate the water and get the texture you want.

Step 5:
Mix some salad with a few spoons of salsa and some rice or quinoa. Top the salad with a piece of cornbread. Drape a chile or two over the cornbread, top with beans, salsa, and avocado.

Step 6:
Go back for seconds.