Vegan Mofo: Boston Beans

In preperation for my weekend in Boston I decided to indulge in a little beans for breakfast (I know it's a British thing but whatever) on toast. Words aren't very necessary here - just construct and broil until hot and melty. Simple.

Vegan Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

Mama Lori was kind enough to make these little treats for me the other morning. USUALLY I'm not a big fan of having bumps in my muffins unless its of the chocolate variety. But, to my surprise and delight (I get excited about my tastes maturing) I really enjoyed these. And I enjoyed them even more the next day when they had developed that slightly tacky texture on top. You know the texture I'm talking about? No?



She presented the muffins to me in this delightful and very familiar little tin. I picked this tin of cookies or biscuits as they are called out for Lori while we were in Paris. I've talked about La Cure Gourmande in previous posts. Love their design work.

Makes 12
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs (egg replacer plus water)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 to 1 tsp cloves
1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/3 cup water
chopped pecans

1. Prepare the vegan egg replacer according to the package. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and spices in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, oil and eggs. Add the water. Add the dry mix.
4. Fold in the chopped pecans and pour into muffin tins.
5. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Serve with pumpkin butter or a bit of maple syrup!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins - revisited

For those of you who are regular readers you are probably thinking its time for me to close up shop and move on with my life. Wait...she's doing lemon blueberry muffins again? Didn't she just do those like 2 weeks ago. Yes, but wait! These are different I promise. Here is why. First...




I got this lovely little antique citrus juicer! I used one of these in France and kinda fell in love with it and decided my life would not be complete until I had one of my own.



Another reason these muffins are different is because this time I decided to go vegan. And for those of you who are about to poo poo this - taste testers (ie the boys I live with who don't have a preference between vegan and non-vegan muffins) have confirmed that the vegan ones are better.



The basic base for these muffins came from the book Vegan Yum Yum, but she made Lemon Cranberry Muffins. Which would have been cool too but I had blueberries. This is the first recipe from her book that I have tried (even though I tweaked several thinks) and now I can't wait to try more!


Vegan Lemon Blueberry Muffins (12 muffins)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cornstarch
the zest from 1 lemon
1 cup plain soy milk
the juice from 1 lemon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 small carton blueberries, rinsed and dried
1 tbsp raw sugar



1. Preheat the oven to 400 F and line your muffin tin with paper liners or grease them.
2. In a large bowl mix together your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, cornstarch, and lemon zest.
3. In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup mix together the soy milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, almond, and lemon juice.
4. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until almost combined.
5. Toss the blueberries in a bowl with the raw sugar, then add them to the batter and mix everything together until its just combined.
6. Fill the muffin tins. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Using a knife, pop each muffin out of its tin and either place it on a rack to cool or turn the muffins slightly sideways in the tin to prevent soggy bottoms.

Lemon and Blueberry Muffins

YAY! Muffins! I am experiencing the simultaneous joy and frustration of finding my kitchen supplies in my Dad's basement. But where is that darn food processor, agh! Sorry...

I stumbled upon my muffin tins while I was looking for a few things and thought - hey, I haven't had a muffin in a long time. Voila - muffins were made. This is a recipe I got from Cooking Light but I altered it a bit to make it dairy free. Also you will notice that I use whole wheat white flour - this will give it that wheaty taste (so don't expect the sugar loaded, starchy tasting muffins we all begged our mom for in the grocery store bakery...no one else wanted those? you all wanted the donuts didn't you?!) But! Because its white wheat (still whole wheat - no worries) it has less of a pronounced taste. If you want to use all-purpose flour of course you can - but these are muffins not cupcakes so why not make them a little healthier and save the all purpose for the cakes?



Lemon Blueberry Muffins
(makes 12)
2 cups whole wheat white flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vegan butter spread
1 1/4 cups vanilla soy buttermilk (almost 1 1/4 cups vanilla soymilk plus the juice of one small lemon)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 cup fresh blueberries, washed
raw sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Next cut in the vegan butter spread. You can use a pastry blender for this or two knives, or my go to - your hands (its fun and fast!), until you have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal.
3. Combine the buttermilk, lemon rind, and eggs - mix well. Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time until its all mixed in, but be carfeul not to overwork it.
4. Toss the blueberries with a little bit of flour (this will keep them from sinking to the bottom right away) and then gently fold them into the mixture.
5. Spoon the batter into 12 pre-buttered muffin cups. Bak for about 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden and spring back when touched. Remove the muffins from the pans and cool on a rack.

Potato, Quinoa and Spinach Omelette topped with Gruyere

So this is not one of the recipes I said I was going to be posting but it was something I made for lunch yesterday that turned out quite nice. The idea came from a little lunch party I attended a week or so back. Therese and Paula invited me to join in on an outing to Panzole to go the weekend market and afterward we went over to Anne's house where she made us a lovely lunch, part of which included a simple potato omelette.



I made a few alterations to Anne's omelette but it was still quite simple.

Potato Omelette for One (or two! you could split it and have a nice salad on the side!)
2 eggs, beaten well
2 small russet potatoes, sliced thin
large handful of spinach, stacked, rolled and sliced thin
Herbs de Provence
1/8 to 1/4 cup cooked quinoa
olive oil

1. Heat oil in a large skillet and then add the potatoes. Throw in some Herbs de Provence and a little salt. Cook, stirring often so they don't get too brown on one side. When they start to turn brown and crispy put a lid on the pan and let them cook a bit more (this keeps them from turning into dry chips). Taste a slice and make sure they are cooked through, then put them on a plate to wait.
2. Throw the spinach in the pan with a little oil and flash wilt them - meaning they are in the pan for less than a minute! Stir them up and let them soak up a little olive oil and get wilted, then throw them on the plate with the potatoes.
3. In a nonstick pan or a oiled/buttered one, throw in your well beaten eggs and let it start to cook. As its starting to set dash a little salt, pepper, and Herbs de Provence on top. When the bottom seems to have firmed a bit add your toppings. I did quinoa, then spinach, then potatoes. Cook the omelette until the top is cooked to your liking.
4. Remove from heat and sprinkle with Gruyere. Fold the omelette over and cut it in half. Serve right away!

American Creeps.....I Mean Crepes.

Yesterday was November 11th which is Armistice day in France - celebration of the end of WWII, same basic idea as our Veterans Day. So - no school and also as I found out - no buses. I had planned on spending the day at Remi's house - and this was complicated by the no bus situation. But, luckily, his mom kindly offered her taxi-ing services to us and I was able to have pancakes after all!



In fact - He actually made two batches so we had pancakes for lunch and then hours later we had pancakes for dinner. I couldn't have been happier.



Now I know what you're thinking. What does this French guy know about pancakes? Or if you're one of my charming friends like Brian, maybe something along the lines of "Sacre bleu!" But after having eaten two batches of French made American pancakes - I can vouch for this guy - Remi knows how to make a pancake.

American Pancakes made in France

250 g de farine (flour)
30 g de sucre (sugar)
2 oeufs (eggs)
1 sachet de levure traditionnelle (packet of yeast)
65 g de buerre (butter)
1 pincee de sel (salt)
30 cl de lait

1. Mix the flour, sugar and yeast together. Add the eggs and mix well.
2. Add the butter (which you have melted beforehand) and then add the milk bit by bit until it is absorbed and mixed in.
3. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
4. Make (and I quote) the pancakes the same way you would make crepes, but smaller.

For all you math whizzes out there - you can amuse yourself by converting the measurements and making yourself some tasty breakfast!

The first time we ate pancakes I tried it the French way. One pancake at a time and each time a different topping. The first time with maple syrup, the second time with Nutella, and the third time with strawberry and pear jam that Remi's mom made.

The second round of pancakes Remi made enough for us all to have our own 3 stack! Having already committed blasphemy with round 1 of pancakes (really? jam on your pancakes?!) I decided to keep testing my limits. Slyly, I lifted the first pancake in my three stack, and ever so quickly I threw a dab of Nutella onto the second pancake and smooshed it around before dropping the top pancake back into place. Smiling as if nothing were amiss and all the pancakes of the world were safely and sanely being consumed American stlye - I proceeded to pour a hearty glug of maple syrup over my triumphant stack.

Oh my god you guys. You have to try it! Nutella/Maple syrup pancakes are so good! I don't care what anyone says (especially Brian) I'm going to eat them like that forever now.



With my pancake craving sufficiently quenched (thanks Remi!) I am looking forward to returning the favor and making pumpkin pancakes for him when I get back from the states - lugging and dragging a suitcase full of food, among which will be a can of pumpkin!

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls always seemed to me like they would be a time consuming process that I just didn't wana deal with...I was wrong. Totally easy.



Cinnamon Rolls
Dough:
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tsp veg oil
2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp yeast

Inside icing:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp soft butter
heavy amount of cinnamon

Outside icing:
2 tbsp soft butter
3-4 tbsp cream cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1. Put dough ingredients into a bowl and mix well. When smooth, mash it around a bunch (or knead it if you wana use fancy pants terms) with floured hands. When you can pat it into a ball....do so. Then put it into a floured mixing bowl and let it hang out for 15 or so.

2. Roll out the dough into a rectangle (when i did this it kept shrinking back into a circle looking rectangle. stretchy stuff! but you know...just make it big enough to slather it with icing and roll up) on a floured surface. Spread with butter and then sprinkle with the cinnamon and brown sugar. Roll it up and slice. I rolled it hotdog style but you could do hamburger style and just have like 2-4 giant ones as opposed to 6ish small ones.

3. Bake 15 min at 400 degrees...or! refrigerate them overnight..or two nights if you're lazy like me, and bake them in the morning. Also...dont bake these on tin-foil like I did. They get all stuck. Grease the pan a little before and just bake right on the sheet.

4. Combine the icing ingredients (this requires a bit of elbow grease...just stick with it) and spread it over the hot rolls




Also! I baked my last (unless I cave) batch of pumpkin flavored treat for the season. Its the same recipe I used for the chocolate chip pumpkin bread..I just made them muffin style and used a little less chocolate chips so they are a little less rich and thus easier to eat in fatty quantities.



I made 20 last night and Pang, J and I scarfed a bunch right off the bat and then I took a bunch to work today so...just from last night to this morning we are down to like 9. Yay! I love when my baked good get eaten before they go bad!

Yogurt and Honey Muffins

As soon as I finished eating my cheesy yesterday the sun came out! It must have heard my cries..of course the sun also came out just as I was getting ready to go to work. Curse you sun! Today was a lovely pre-fall feeling day though so I was happy again.

I had time before class today so I whipped up some of these.



I had been wanting to make them for a while because I love yogurt (even though its gives me a tummy ache, Im dairy sensitive) and I have grown more and more fond of honey/agave nectar the more I use them. These turned out quite yummy but I think I should have thrown in a small handful of dried cranberries to sweeten things up a bit. But I love how these are good for me, will give me a little energy boost and wont make me want to eat all of them in one sitting.

Yogurt and Honey Muffins (The Cookie and Biscuit Bible
makes 12

4 tbsp butter
5 tbsp honey (i prefer raw honey but Im sure it doesn't matter)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
grated rind of one lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of grated nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and grease muffin tins
2. In a sauce pan, melt better and honey, remove from heat and set aside
3. In a bowl whisk together the yogurt, egg, lemon rind, and lemon juice. Add the butter and honey mixture.
4. In different bowl sift together the flours, baking soda and nutmeg. Fold into yogurt mixture until just blended.
5. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 min. Leave in tin to cool for 5 min then transfer to wire rack.



I paired my muffin with a mixed berry jam :) Don't worry Jon I will bring some with me tomorrow.

I plead guilty...but its the bacon's fault really!

Hibou humored me with a photoshoot over breakfast

Its been a long weekend, and that means bad eating habits :( I worked two doubles and a hostess shift ( as a favor, which will not happen again) this weekend which means 5 meals at Kazu in 3 days. Don't get me wrong, their food is no doubt all that and a bag of chips (do you all remember saying that? no? just me?) but its rich food and its really messes up my normal eating schedule. And plus! The last few days I have been on a egg and bacon kick..once I open the bacon pack I just can't stop thinking about it! So today I went back to my basics with a simple breakfast of fresh raspberries, organic applesauce, a small brie sandwich (thanks jon) and OJ. I like to eat lots of fresh, raw, simple food when I'm not planning full scale meals for jon and myself. Next on my list is bread. I have been really negligent in my bread making... but to defend myself a little...where can you find cracked wheat! I have been wanting to make a bread with cracked wheat and just cannot find the stuff!



PS. yesterday was Riz (the sushi-man) Aaron (the manager) and Kazu (the owner) 's birthday...3 in one day in our tiny restaurant! So I made brownies this morning to celebrate. Kazu says I will make a good housewife one day...gee fanks