Vegan Brunch with Muffins! yay! (and a quick dinner)

Mmm. Made a vegan brunch today thanks to my favorite vegan cookbook, Vegan Brunch.
I made the "swiss chard frittata" (which ended up being a baby kale and caramelized onion frittata because Whole Foods was out of chard). I also made my polenta topped with roasted tomatoes. Mmm.

I made the Blueberry Ginger Spelt Muffins on page 155 of Vegan Brunch for the first time.
These were pretty good; I was craving some blueberry muffins and these hit the spot. I think I prefer a more dense bran-type muffin, so maybe I'll make blueberry bran muffins when I run out of spelt flour.

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt (a 6oz container) (as I'm typing this I realized that I actually screwed up and used 1 cup plain soy yogurt but it was totally fine!)
1 cup mylk (any kind of nut mylk will do)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups blueberries
(original recipe also calls for 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger, which I omitted.)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl with the exception of the blueberries. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold in the blueberries (and ginger if using). Scoop batter into muffin tin and bake 28 - 32 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the tin before transferring muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.

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Later, for dinner, I made a salad and a quick steamed spaghetti squash with vegan meatless balls. Mmm

This salad was also satisfying and it was just kalamata olives, mesclun lettuce, cucumbers, fresh heirloom tomatoes, roasted chestnuts, and the balsamic dressing that I made yesterday.
I paired it with some steamed spaghetti squash "pasta" and a veggie-loaded tomato sauce and Whole Foods' brand vegan meatless balls.
This is my lower carb alternative to pasta. meh.
To steam spaghetti squash (the lazy way): Cut ends off squash and then cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and put in a microwaveable dish with about 1 centimeter of cold water. Microwave for about 13 minutes. Hold squash with a potholder (it's HOT!) while you scrape out the strings into a bowl.
To make the sauce (the lazy way): I sauté a sliced onion in a little olive oil in a saucepan until translucent. Then add a 28oz can of organic diced or crushed tomatoes and some Italian herbs and spices such as oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flake, salt, and pepper. I also added some frozen artichoke hearts to this sauce which I had reheated in the microwave. (This was my first try of frozen artichokes. Blech. I will stick to canned or jarred.) Heat through until flavors blend - about 5 - 10 mins.
Prepare your favorite vegan meatless balls as directed, put on top of spaghetti squash, top with sauce and enjoy! yum. (Add a basil chiffonade for extra yum yums.)

Simple Vegan Banana Muffins

 

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup oil or vegan margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour (I used whole wheat.)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup nut milk (I use almond milk)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F. Mash bananas with a fork in a large bowl until mushy and just a little lumpy. Stir sugar and oil into bananas. Mix all other dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add to banana mixture. Add nut milk and stir just to combine. Fill 12 muffin cups with batter and bake for 20 mins. Enjoy!

Makes 12 small muffins. 

Approximate nutritional info (per muffin): 204 calories, 5g fat, 40g carbs, 2.5g protein, 21g sugars.

Vegan Tomato Rosemary Scones

These are the Tomato Rosemary Scones from Vegan Brunch p.184.
These are so easy to make and super delicious!

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 14oz can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary

Method:
Preheat oven to 400F. Lighty grease a baking sheet or spray with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Measure olive oil into a large measuring cup and whisk in the rosemary, vinegar, and tomato sauce.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the tomato mixture.
Gently mix using a wooden spoon until batter is loosely holding together.
Flour a surface and turn batter onto surface. Knead until a soft dough forms.
At this point, I took a spoon and scooped the dough in 12 parts onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 14-16 mins. Makes 12 scones.

Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins (vegan)

Recipe from Vegan Brunch p.162 (These just might be the best muffins I've ever tasted, let alone baked myself!!!)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped or pulsed in a food processor
1 cup pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped (i used walnuts)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Make a well in the center and add orange juice, oil, zest, and extracts.
Mix until all dry ingredients are moistened. Add nuts and cranberries about half way through mixing.
Fill the muffin cups 3/4 of the way full and bake for 23 to 27 minutes, until muffins are lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
When cool enough to handle, transfer the muffins to a baking rack to cool completely.
Enjoy warm with some vegan butter. Mmm.

MAKES 12 MUFFINS.

Vegan Brunch

Image source: http://superspark.wordpress.com

When winter was coming to a close, I stocked up on a few cans of pumpkin purée. (I love pumpkin.) So ... I made the pumpkin bran muffins from Vegan Brunch on Monday. They are so yummy! Mmmmmmmm.

This is after a failed attempt to make the pumpkin pancakes from Vegan Brunch. The pancakes just remained a pile of mush no matter how long I cooked them. meh. I followed the directions to a T ... I dunno what happened.

So, go for the muffins. They are super yum. :)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I made the lemon poppy seed muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance this morning for brunch. Yummy yum yum.


Photo source: http://www.eatmedelicious.com/

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup rice or soy milk
6 ounce container of soy yogurt, plain or vanilla (I used plain)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (zest from 2 lemons)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, rice or soy milk, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the lemon zest to the wet ingredients. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry; halfway through mixing fold in the poppy seeds.
Spray a 12 muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Fill each cup 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20-25 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Blueberry Yogurt Bran Muffins!

Lower fat and delicious! I made these on Saturday morning and after having a bunch of friends over on Saturday night - they were gone!

Recipe Source: http://www.recipezaar.com/86793

Ingredients:
400 g any flavour yogurt (about 14 oz ... I used low fat plain)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar (increase to 1 cup if you prefer sweeter muffins)
2 large eggs
1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup apple sauce)
2 cups natural bran (not cereal, the real wheat bran)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour (can be white or whole wheat)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup blueberries (I always use about 2 cups, I like lots of blueberries in my muffins)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350°.
2. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with Pam.
3. Measure yogurt into medium bowl and mix in baking soda, it will foam and it is supposed too; set aside.
4. In a large bowl beat together sugar, eggs and oil.
5. Add bran and vanilla.
6. In a separate bowl mix together flour and baking powder.
7. Gradually add the flour and yogurt mixtures alternately to the sugar mixture.
8. Fold in blueberries.
9. Bake 20-35 minutes.
10. Makes 12 very large muffins or 18 large muffins. (For real - It made 12 good size muffins and an entire tray of the mini muffins! yay!)