An old recipe brought back to life: Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe is based on an old recipe that my mom picked up at a Weight Watchers meeting a long time ago. I don't know if the recipe actually came from WW or from a member of the class. The copies we have are all run off on a copy machine, are handwritten with a drawn pumpkin outline on it. To let you know just how old it is, the original recipe calls for Sweet N' Low! And it lists exchanges instead of WW points. I haven't seen a recipe like that in a long time.

Well, I've veganized it and replaced the Sweet and Low with sugar. So, it's no longer the no sugar added, reduced fat muffin that told you to eat 6 full size muffins as one serving! I never could do that. But they are pretty darn tasty and with all that pumpkin and carrot (and now almond meal and flax), still pretty nutritious. Because they are different nutritionally, I have figured out the nutritional information for these and posted them below the recipe.

Because of the low flour content/high pumpkin content, these are a dense chewy muffin rather than a cakey one. They taste pretty much the same (other than no artificial sweetener taste) as the originals, but I call them better because they are now vegan, have essential fats, and are no longer full of artificial anything.

Better than WW Mini Pumpkin Muffins (Makes 22 mini muffins, 11 servings)

• 2/3 cup almond meal
• 6 Tbsp brown rice flour
• 1/8 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 5 Tbsp ground flax
• 6 Tbsp water
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup grated carrot

Mix all the dry ingredients, except the ground flax, together in a medium bowl. Set aside Mix the flax and water with a fork until you have a gelatinous (egg-like) mixture. Add the vanilla and the pumpkin puree to the flax mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until well combined. Fold in the grated carrots. Raisins or nuts are optional and yummy additions. I left them out this time and they are not included in the nutritional information. If you choose to use them, fold them in after the carrots.

Lightly oil a mini muffin pan and fill to the top with muffin batter. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Because of the nature of these muffins, the bounce back test and the toothpick test wont work. They will be lightly set and browned on top.

Nutritional information (serving size 2 mini muffins)

• Calories: 96.6
• Fat: 4.7g
• Saturated Fat: 0.3g
• Carb: 11.5g
• Fiber: 2.8g
• Sugar: 4.5g
• Protein: 3g
• Weight Watchers points: 2

For me, comparison to a product/recipe I already like is helpful. So I looked up a chocolate coconut LaraBar. These are one of my favorites, but because of the sugar content (not to mention the cost) I have to limit them to the occasional treat. 4 mini pumpkin muffins have slightly fewer calories, less fat, half the saturated fat, more protein, and half the sugar!

This last week has been weird

I decided this past week that I missed some of my old, quick standbys. Black beans with tomatoes and hot sauce, sweet potato fries, pulling leftovers from the freezer, etc. So, I didn't cook last weekend for the upcoming week. I didn't realize how accustomed I'd become to having meals ready to eat. It was a disaster! It was way too easy to pick up chips or popcorn and skip fixing anything decent for dinner so I didn't have to think about it. I only did that once or twice, but the point is when I went back to the old plan - more like a non-plan - I went back to old, bad habits. Not enough vegetables, not enough whole grains, etc. At least I kept exercising. But, I discovered something: I like the new plan! So I'll be back to cooking this week. I might just have to mix in some of the old standbys in the weekly planning.

Valentine's Breakfast: Silver Dollar Corn Pancakes with Strawberries

I had some drama in the kitchen this morning trying to make crepes (the non-buckwheat ones) gluten free. I ruined the whole batch, but had already promised breakfast to my mom and dad. And, I'd already sliced the strawberries -how can you have Valentine's Day breakfast without strawberries? (Well, I guess you can if you can't get them where you live this time of year, but I was lucky). So I looked at the blueberry corn pancakes in Veganomicon for a little guidance, changed them up a lot based on my allergies, my pantry, and the fact that deglutenized/sans blueberries they were way too thin. I came up with a nice corn pancake recipe. These are money! (silver dollar...money...get it? ;)) We'll be having these again.

Silver Dollar Corn Pancakes (Makes 10, 3 servings - depending on how hungry everybody is!)

Sift together and set aside:

• 3/8 cup this gf all purpose flour mix
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/3 tsp baking soda & 2/3 tsp cream of tartar (1 tsp baking powder would work instead of these two)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Mix the following:

• 3/4 cup rice milk
• 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp water (approx 1/6 of a cup)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Mix the two groups together until just combined. Brush a light layer of coconut oil onto a preheated (medium-low heat) heavy skillet. Pour batter into pan using a 1/8 cup measuring cup. Cook until the top bubbles, the edges are drying and the bottom is golden brown. Flip pancakes and cook until the bottoms are golden brown. I found that I didn't have to re-oil each time - just use the brush to redistribute the oil that may have moved to the edges of the pan. If your pan is dry, reapply a thin layer of oil. I had to make these in 4 batches (3 of 3 pancakes and then 1 lone pancake), so you might want a plate and a piece of foil handy to keep them warm.

To make the strawberry pancakes that are shown in the picture: Place 3 pancakes on each plate. (Wrap the leftover pancake in the foil and save in the refrigerator for later or give somebody an extra). Top with fresh, sliced strawberries. Using a small metal sieve/strainer, sprinkle on the powdered sugar - about a tsp per plate. Serve while pancakes are still warm.

Just a note for the lovers of the the light, fluffy pancakes. These are not those! They are a nice hearty, heavier pancake. In fact, the one leftover was great cold with almond butter spread on it. It was almost like eating bread, and made a perfect after-walk snack.

I hit a produce sale at the grocery today!

I went to a convenient, but usually overpriced grocery store today to pick up some fresh produce for the upcoming week. They were having sales on lots of stuff today. I didn't think I'd see those prices 'til spring. 98c/lb for zucchini in February is a surprise blessing. Look at this beautiful haul.

For under $30, I got the following:

• 2 leeks
• 1/2 container almond butter
• 1 can organic navy beans
• 5 sweet potatoes
• 1 large lemon
• 3 large onions
• 2 pints blueberries
• 1 lb strawberries
• 5 (or maybe 6) zucchini
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 fuji apple
• 1 bosc pear
• 1 nectarine
• 1/2 lb sliced baby bella mushrooms
• a lot of baby spinach

The only thing better would be to get a bunch of local produce at the farmer's market. But in the middle of winter, I take what I can get.

I couldn't do this again if I tried

Yes, I know that you generally don't want to know what a klutz I am. But this act of klutziness ended in an unusual way. I had used one of my favorite totally unnecessary, but much used kitchen gadgets - the can-sized strainer. (It fits right on the top of a standard 14-16 oz can so that I don't have to mess the big strainers!) In wiping up a spill, I knocked the strainer off of the island and as a natural reaction my hand tried to catch it and my hip swung toward the cabinet to keep the strainer from reaching the floor. I didn't feel the strainer and I didn't hear it hit the floor? Had I become a magician without knowing it? Nope...look where the strainer landed.

I haven't had a really good crepe in years...

I can't say that any more. I made the buckwheat crepes from Veganomicon, filled them with an apple-mango filling and drizzled the top with an almond sauce. Delish! If I keep cooking things like this for my family, I'm going to have to cook more often because yet again...no leftovers.

I've tried to make buckwheat crepes from a different recipe a few years ago. They tasted pretty good but were kinda strong. They had much more buckwheat in them, so they were also a little on the heavy side. That is not the case with these. They were milder and had the light consistency that "real" crepes are supposed to have.

To make the crepes, I substituted the following:

• GF all purpose flour for the regular flour. Because the majority of the flour was buckwheat and chickpea, both naturally gluten free, this was a great substitution here.
• Rice milk for soy milk
• Coconut oil in place of margarine for brushing on the pan

Just 3 quick subs - easy, eh?


I also neglected to read the recipe last night or even before I made the filling so instead of refrigerating the batter for the hour or more as specified, I stuck the batter in the freezer for 15 minutes--worked like a charm. One note: I used the 1/2 cup measure per crepe and I only got 5 instead of the 8-10 stated in the recipe. There were 5 of us for breakfast, so it worked out ok. But I ended up eating mine as kind of chopped up mess, because I ate the first crepe which notoriously never turns out in one piece.

The other ones were lovely though.

The apple-mango filling came about because I had 3 apples that were starting to soften in a couple spots and some mango chunks in the freezer.

Apple-Mango Crepe Filling (for 5 large crepes)

3 red delicious apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 cup frozen mango chunks, cut into smaller chunks
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp turbinado sugar
2 tsp arrowroot
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp each ground ginger, ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix all of the above ingredients in a 2 quart casserole (or whatever glass dish it will fit in with a little stirring room) and bake for 50-60 minutes until the fruit is soft and a nice light syrup is forming. Stir every 20 minutes or so to keep the top fruit as juicy as the bottom.

I have this need to drizzle something on the top of crepes, so again, I just looked in my refrigerator to see what I could come up with. I didn't think to measure for the almond syrup, but these are approximate: 1 tbsp all natural almond butter, 3 tbsp water (just thin to desired consistency), 1/2-1 tsp agave nectar. Mix and drizzle on the top of each filled crepe.

Serve warm. Actually, they'd probably be good cold too, but nobody let it sit around long enough to find out.

No Soup for You! (Because there wasn't any left)

When Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero said that the Baked Potato and Greens Soup with Potato-Wedge Croutons serves 6, they weren't kidding. There were 6 of us for dinner last night, and it was a perfect amount for each of us to have one generous bowlful. There was a little less than 1/2 cup of potato/kale mixture with no broth left in the pot. This was the second time I've made this soup, and yet again it was a hit. I don't think there was a drop left in any bowl. This is one of the easiest recipes for me to convert to gluten free and soy free. There's no gluten in the original Veganomicon recipe, and the only soy is the milk. So, I replaced the soy milk with rice milk and had a scrumptious soup. Even my father, a self proclaimed kale-hater, loved it. So, if you like to have leftovers or you think somebody will want seconds, make a double batch. You wont be sorry.

We served it with a light salad of spring mix, grape tomatoes and cucumbers in a mustard-agave dressing. There wasn't any of that left over either. Hmmm...I guess I'll have to cook today.

Stuffed full of Spanish Food

After months of overlooking and then weeks of wanting to make the Chickpeas Romesco and Saffron & Garlic Rice from Veganomicon, I finally did it. Believe it or not, I only made one substitution. I used brown basmati rice instead of white. Everything else, I did teaspoon for teaspoon the way it was written.

Served with fresh spinach and grape tomatoes dressed with lemon juice, the meal was really filling. It didn't look like I'd gotten a lot, but I was stuffed. I put my workout clothes on while it was reducing so I could get some exercise tonight. Yeah, that didn't happen. In fact 3 hours later I'm still a little full and now it's my bedtime.

This stuff was slap-your-mama good. For those of you not familiar with that expression, please don't call the authorities. There is no abuse going on here. It's simply a phrase to express that it was better than really good (without using an expletive).

Just a tip: do be careful with the serrano pepper. I still haven't been able to get it all off my hands and it's stinging a wee bit.

A word about blog labels and a little news from my kitchen

I'm trying to add more labels on the messages I've been posting lately. I plan on going back and adding them to old posts too. But I'm wondering, do y'all find them useful as blogs grow? If so, what do you like best - by ingredient, by meal, by cookbook, all of the above?

My little news - I got a new cookbook today - The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I've already planned (and mostly prepared) meals for this week, but I will be flipping through it to get ideas for the upcoming weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Muffins Fit for a Bunny! Carrot-Walnut Muffins

Ok, so a real bunny might not really like these. But I love them, and I dressed up like a bunny for halloween a few times in my life, so that should count for something - right? I used the recipe for Carrot-Raisin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance and made the following substitutions:

• The "all-purpose" flour mixture that I posted in December in place of the flour. Because the carrots make up so much of the body of the muffin, that substitute worked out great without any other tweeking.


• Chopped Walnuts in place of raisins. I've made these with the raisins once before and they were good, but I subbed walnuts this time to keep the sugar down: dried fruit tends to aggravate blood sugar levels. Besides, walnuts are jam-packed with omega 3 fatty acids and lots of other good stuff. If you want to learn about these precious gifts in a shell, you can find out more at the World's Healthiest Foods website.


• A 2-1 ratio of Cream of Tartar/Baking Soda in place of the baking powder. I don't remember the reason I started doing this a few years ago (maybe aluminum/corn/gluten issues?), but it works so I stick with it. If you do this don't skip the actual baking soda from the recipe. You still need it. But if you don't have issues with baking powder, go ahead and use it.
  
• Not really a substitution - just a note: I used turbinado sugar.

The subtly sweet, slightly spicy muffins rose nicely and are incredibly moist. I baked last night and could hardly wait for this morning's breakfast to have one. They were definitely worth the wait. Just call me "bunny." Or don't, but feel free to call when the muffins are ready ;-)

Oops...almost forgot the picture