Vegan Apple-Walnut Muffins

Some nice person at work has been bringing in bags of apples fresh from her tree so we've been doing lots of baking . . . apple crisps, apple pies, apple breads, and this week's creation: Apple-Walnut Muffins. Spicy, moist and yummy. The perfect fall snack. Make an extra batch too as these freeze well.

Apple Walnut Muffins

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup rice milk (or other nondairy milk)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 medium cooking apples, grated or minced in a food processor (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil 12 muffin tins.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon and ginger. In  medium-size bowl, whisk or beat oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, rice milk, vanilla, and vinegar until smooth. Stir in the grated apples and add to the flour mixture along with the nuts. Stir until just mixed. Divide between the 12 muffin tins. Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out dry. Cool 10 minutes before removing muffins from tins. Cool on a rack or serve warm.

Makes 1 dozen muffins

Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Galette

How wonderful to have a long weekend to get caught up after this last crazy month. And with having both Friday and Monday off, I even got to do some things I haven't had time for . . . like getting through a whole yoga video, a walk on the beach, going out with friends, and baking! Here's a yummy treat that combines some of my favorite winter foods.

Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Galette

Crust:
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry or unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons unbleached granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) vegan butter
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
2 cups fresh (or thawed frozen) cranberries
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced apples (about 2)
1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

A little nondairy milk and granulated sugar

Prepare pastry crust by placing flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl or food processor. Mix to combine. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons water and mix until the pastry holds together when pinched. Add additional water, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary to get the dough to hold together. Form the dough into a ball, place in a small covered container or wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place baking rack to slightly below the middle of the oven. Mix filling ingredients together in a bowl. Roll dough out on a piece of parchment paper to a 12-inch circle. Place the parchment/dough onto a baking sheet. Spread the cranberry-apple filling over the pastry dough, leaving 2 inches of border around the perimeter. Carefully, fold the pastry edges up around the filling, pinching closed any cracks that appear. Brush the crust lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until crust is golden. Cool about 15 minutes, before serving. (This is best served warm but you can make it ahead of time and heat in 350 oven for about 5 minutes before serving.)

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Cranberry Bread

Ever since the success of the cranberry apple sauce on Thanksgiving, I've been thinking what else I could make with fresh cranberries. Maybe it's my New England upbringing, but I just love the flavor of those tart berries. So, though I've been adding them to pies, sorbets, galettes, etc. . . . this weekend, decided to go back to basics and try a good old-fashioned cranberry bread . . . but a healthier, vegan version, of course. So here's what I came up with:

Cranberry Bread
I love the flavor of the tart berries in this slightly sweet bread. We love to dip it in yogurt for breakfast.

2 cups whole wheat pastry or unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch cardamom
Grated peel of 1 orange (optional)
3/4 cup nondairy milk
1 tablespoon vinegar (I used blood orange champagne vinegar but apple cider vinegar is fine)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups fresh (or thawed frozen) cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a loaf pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardommon and orange peel in a medium bowl. In a separate larger bowl, beat milk, vinegar, oil, and sugars together. Gently mix flour mixture into wet mixture. Fold in cranberries and walnuts. Bakin 50 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf

Really good vegan cookies

When I want a cookie, it pretty much has to be homemade. Storebought cookies never seem to have the right texture. Either they're too chewy or too dry--and almost always too sweet, especially the supposedly healthy fruit-sweetened ones.

But even homemade ones have to be right . . . so I'm always experimenting. Well, I hit on these the other day and I I have say these are one of the best I've come up with. They are crisp but moist, taste great--and best of all they are made with whole grain flour and are lower in fat and sugar than most cookies. Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
3/4 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinammon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil 2 cookie sheets. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the oil, peanut butter, applesauce, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk the spelt flour, white flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Pour the flour mixture into the wet mixture and stir until combined into a stiff dough. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes 3 dozen

My competition!

My 10-year-old daughter invented a recipe for peanut butter-banana cookies.

At her dad’s house.

Without me advising, coaching, or otherwise sticking my two cents in.

They were great!

And when I asked her if she wrote down the recipe because I’d like to put it in my next cookbook, she told me, "Sorry, Mom. It's going in MY cookbook."

Rhubarb-Peach-Raspberry Crisp

We just can't get enough of all these delicious local summer fruits--nor can we get enough of the yummy desserts made with them. Here's our latest experiment. I did the filling and my daughter Emily came up with the topping!











Rhubarb-Peach-Raspberry Crisp
Serve with whipped topping, ice cream, or try our favorite—a generous dollop of vanilla yogurt.

Filling:
3 peaches, diced (about 2 cups)
3 cups sliced rhubarb
1 cup raspberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup natural granulated sugar
pinch salt

Topping:
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup barley, spelt, or whole wheat flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch square baking pan. Gently toss filling ingredients together until fruit is coated. Pour into baking pan. Stir topping ingredients together. Pour evenly over filling. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until topping is golden.
Makes 9 servings

Gluten-Free Ginger Peach Corn Muffins

Once again, putting off grocery shopping has forced me to be creative with surprising results. I was in the mood for muffins but since I didn't have any wheat flour, I tried brown rice and corn flour. And it was yummy--and not only are these muffins vegan, but they're gluten-free as well. I already made a second batch to freeze for school lunches.

Ginger Peach Corn Muffins (Gluten-free)
Sweet, spicy, and moist.

3/4 cup corn meal
1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup nondairy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 peaches, diced
3 tablespoons diced candied ginger (found this at Trader Joes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil 12 muffin tins. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, vanilla, milk, and vinegar. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Fold in the peaches and ginger. Pour into muffin tin, filling each cup about 3/4 of the way full. Bake 30 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing muffins from tin. Serve warm or room temperate. Cool completely on a wire rack before store in a covered container. These freeze great too!

Makes 12

Vegan Rhubarb-Raspberry Cake

Rhubarb always brings me back to my childhood. We had a monster plant in our yard and it seems like we ate it all summer long. So when I saw some at Rutiz Farms, I just had to get some. My mom usually stewed it, but many people are turned off by rhubarb cooked that way because it gets kind of mushy and stringy (though I never minded). I thought I'd try something different and thought it would be good in a cake--that would retain a better texture.

Well, I was halfway through putting together the batter when I opened the freezer to get my whole wheat pastry flour (the staple of almost all of my baked goods) and found I was just about out. Not willing to stop for a trip to the store, I made due with some brown rice and buckwheat flour I had. According to my family, not only did they not mind the mixture of flours--they thought it made it better. In fact, I don't know when I've had an experiment have such a resounding success on the first try.

So, if you're game--you try this and let me know what you think. If you don't what to use the different flours, just use 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour--or even unbleached white flour.

Rhubarb-Raspberry Cake

1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup nondairy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups diced rhubarb (3-4 stalks)*
1 cup raspberries

Topping:
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinammon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, whisk sugar and oil together. Add the vanilla, milk, and vinegar. Whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together flours, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and whisk just until combined. Gently fold rhubarb and raspberries into the batter. Pour into prepared baking pan. Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle evenly over the batter. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes before cutting into squares and serving. Serve with some whipped cream-type topping if desired.

Makes 15 squares.

*For thick stalks of rhubarb, cut then in half lengthwise and then slice --sort of like you'd dice up celery for soup. Remove any tough strings.

Boysenberry-Blueberry Buckle

My daughters and I just could not resist the amazingly flavorful berries at Windmill Farms in Arroyo Grande. The blueberries in particular are so delicious. I talked to the owner and he told me that his blueberries are the Sharp Blue variety. Most farmers grow Jewel because the berries are bigger and the plants yield more--but unfortunately they don't have much flavor. The Sharp Blues on the other hand taste absolutely amazing.

So my daughters and I wanted to make a special dessert with our boysenberries and blueberries, but we couldn't agree on what to make . . . a cake? a crisp? a pie? a tart? So we decided to make a buckle . . . sort of a cake, pie, and crisp all in one. Oh--and it's vegan too!

Boysenberry-Blueberry Buckle

Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup rolled oats (regular or quick)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch cardomom
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons oil

Fruit filling:
2 cups boysenberries
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Cake:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinammon
1/8 teaspoon cardomom
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup nondairy milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch square baking pan.
Place all topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix with a fork until combined.
Place fruit in another bowl. Pour sugar and juice over the fruit. Toss gently until fruit is coated.
To prepare cake. Place flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir gently with a fork or whisk to combine. In a larger bowl, whisk sugar and oil together until smooth. Add the vanilla and milk and whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture and whisk until combined.
To assemble buckle, pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Carefully, spoon the fruit filling evenly over the batter. Use your hands to crumble the topping evenly over the batter and fruit. Bake for 50 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and tester comes out clean (other than berry juice). Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Vegan desserts with no added sweeteners

After my appearance on KCBX yesterday, I received many requests for these cookies from my cookbook Simply Natural Baby Food. They are sweetened only with bananas and raisins, and have been very popular at my book signings.

Banana-Oatmeal Cookies
These moist cookies contain no sweeteners, butter, eggs, or wheat.

2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup safflower or other flavorless oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil baking sheet. Grind oats and almonds to a coarse powder in food processor or blender. Pour them into a large mixing bowl. Stir in baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.In separate bowl or in food processor, beat together bananas, oil, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add banana mixture and raisins to oat mixture. Mix well. Drop cookie dough by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 13 to 16 minutes, or until bottoms are golden brown.

Makes 3 dozen

Variation: You can also replace the raisins with chocolate chips if desired (you can get grain-sweetened chips from Sunspire).

And here is a sorbet from Lick It! Creamy Dream Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love made without sweeteners.

Blueberry-Banana Sorbet
Makes 1 quart
No sweeteners are used in this delicious sorbet—it’s all fruit!

3 bananas
1 cup blueberries
1 cup unsweetened apple juice

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. If the mixture is cold, it may be frozen immediately; otherwise, chill it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Blue Corn Crackers

I don't buy crackers very often as they always seem to have ingredients I prefer not to eat like hydrogenated oils or non-organic corn or soy ingredients that are most likely genetically engineered. Crackers are easy to make though -- pretty similar to making pie crust. I have many recipes in both Simply Natural Baby Food and The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook, but here's a new one I came up with recently. My daughter's friend liked it spread with freshly made peanut butter and sprinkled with sea salt.

Blue Corn Crackers
Crispy, flavorful, perfect with soup or as a snack. If you don't have blue corn meal, the regular yellow variety works just fine.

3/4 cup blue corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup oil
1 tablespoon agave
3 – 4 tablespoons water, as needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Large a medium cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix cornmeal, whole wheat flour, and sea salt in large mixing bowl with fork. Add oil and agave and mix with fork until it begins to hold together. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time and mix with hands until mixture holds together.

Press dough into parchment lined cookie sheet. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Score into squares with knife or pizza cutter. Bake 15 minutes, or until edges are golden. Cool 10 minutes before serving or remove to rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen crackers

Orange-Cardamom Scones

Here's an easy scone recipe that we love. The scones have a delicious flavor from the orange and spice. We especially love them topped with apricot jam (try the 20-minute apricot jam recipe in The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook made from dried apricots!)

Orange-Cardamom Scones

2 cups whole wheat pastry or spelt flour
2 tablespoons unbleached sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Juice and grated peel or 1 orange
1/4 cup cold vegan butter or coconut oil, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup nondairy milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom, and grated peel of one orange. Mix the butter into the flour mixture with a fork, pastry cutter, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. A food processor works well for this too.

Mix the juice of one orange (about 1/4 cup) and the milk together in small cup. Stir into flour mixture, until it begins to hold together. Knead with your hands to form a ball. Add more milk if necessary together it to hold together. Place dough on floured board and roll out to a 7-inch disc of about 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 8 wedges. Place wedges on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, or until bottom and edges are golden brown. Cool slightly before serving.

Makes 8 scones

Vegan Bake-arama!

Another marathon recipe creating day for my new cookbook . . . and on a crazy warm 80-degree winter day in California too! But I have to take advantage of those days off from work.

I bought some coconut flour that I wanted to experiment with, so my first try was a coconut-ginger shortbread. I used half coconut flour and half brown rice flour, plus coconut oil, sugar, ground ginger, and shredded coconut. Sounds like a good combo right? Well, it came out looking and smelling great and actually it had a really nice taste, but the texture was like eating powder. Not pleasant at all. Well, back to the drawing board on that one but luckily my next two experiments did a lot better.

I took a break from the coconut flour and tried a muffin combination that my daughter suggested . . . orange and chocolate . . . and created Chocolate Chip Orange Muffins. And they came out great--moist, with gooey chunks of chocolate and a hint of orange throughout. Two thumbs up from the whole family.

I wanted to give the coconut flour another try so for my last experiment I thought I'd go for some banana-coconut muffins. I used half coconut flour and half whole wheat flour, plus mashed bananas, coconut milk and shredded coconut but the batter came out very stiff--so . . . I turned them into Banana Coconut Scones. And they were yummy--moist inside with a nice crisp crust. Another hit with the family.

Sometimes creating recipes reminds me of writing a novel. You kind of let your characters loose and wait to see what they decide to do.

BTW -- if anyone is using coconut flour, please feel free to let me know what has worked and what has not worked. Next I want to try coconut sugar.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies

These are a combination of my favorite cookies and boy are they good. They keep well too -- store in a covered tin and they'll keep for a week or more (if they last). They freeze well too.

Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies
Makes 3 dozen

1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon nondairy milk (rice, almond, soy, etc.)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry or unbleached white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 cup nondairy chocolate chips
1/4 cup natural granulated sugar (for rolling)

In a large bowl, beat margarine and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses and water. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, baking soda, and spices. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined. Fold in chocolate ships. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until you are ready to bake.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are firm and tops begin to crack. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Ginger Pear Cake

Had some pears, some ginger, and came up with this treat that was a big hit with the family. I think it would be yummy with apples, peaches or plums too . . .

Ginger Pear Cake
This European style cake is spiced up with chunks of ginger and topped with pear slices. Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream (or dairy-free alternative below) if desired.

2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, melted
1/3 cup minced crystallized ginger
1 pear, cut into thin slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8-inch cake pan. Sift the flour and ground ginger together. Stir in the sugar and crystallized ginger. Add the beaten egg and melted butter. Stir just until combined. Press batter into the prepared cake pan. Arrange the pear slices in a spiral on the cake and press them gently into the batter. Bake about 40 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and middle is set. Cool before serving.

Makes 8 servings

The following dairy-free whipped topping is from Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love.

Whipped Cashew Cream
Makes 2 cups
Cashews are amazingly creamy and make a wonderful, thick topping similar to whipped cream.

1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1/2 cup rice milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the cashews in a blender and grind them into a powder. Add the rice milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and process until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until cold and firm.

Pumpkin Bread

I wanted to bake something for my writers' group, but make enough that my family would have a treat too so I came up with this pumkin bread recipe that makes two loaves. Perfect! One for my group and one to leave home. It's not too sweet--we liked it with butter or cream cheese (dairy or nondairy versions). This would be great with soup for dinner . . . unfortunately, I don't think there'll be any left by then.

Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup natural granulated sugar
2/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumkin pie spice
1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans.

In large mixing bowl, beat pumpkin, sugars, oil, vanilla, and eggs until combined. In a separate bowl, sift together flours, baking soda, salt and spice. Pour flour mixture into pumpkin mixture. Still gently just until flour is mixed in. Fold in nuts.

Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Carefully remove loaves from pan. Cool on a rack for 1 hour before slicing.

Banana Molasses Muffins

With the weather getting colder, we've been enjoying lots of soup for dinners and lunches. And what goes better with soup than fresh, warm muffins!

This weekend we made a batch of Banana Molasses Muffins from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. I especially like these because they are sweetened with just three tablespoons of blackstrap molasses (for the whole batch of 12 muffins!). Blackstrap molasses is a good source of calcium and iron so it's a healthy sweetener. If there are any leftover muffins, freeze them to pack in your child's school lunch (they thaw by lunchtime.)

Banana-Molasses Muffins
Blackstrap molasses, and almonds add vitamins and minerals to these moist, flavorful muffins. To make these vegan, use nondairy yogurt and omit the egg.

1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup almonds
1 cup whole wheat, spelt, or barley flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 bananas)
1 egg (optional)
1/3 cup oil
3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup plain yogurt (dairy or nondairy)

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly oil muffin tins. In food processor or blender, grind oats and nuts to a coarse meal. Transfer to mixing bowl and whisk in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Beat remaining ingredients together until smooth. Add to oat mixture and stir just until mixed. Pour batter into prepared tins. Bake 20 minutes, or until tops are firm to the touch.

Makes 1 dozen

Note: For quick preparation, puree liquid ingredients in food processor or blender after removing oat/nut mixture.

Rainy Day Baking

My daughter baked up a batch of Everything Cookies from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook for us (though she omitted the raisons and used extra chocolate chips). Tea, cookies, and Scrabble . . . a great way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Zucchini Bread

I don't know how those zucchinis manage to hide but there are always a couple that get HUGE before we notice them. Great excuse to make some zucchini bread though. Aimie made a couple of loaves yesterday using Ken Haedrich's Country Baking. The only change we made to the recipe is to use half the sugar . . . oh yeah, we didn't have any lemons so we used blood orange vinegar instead of lemon juice. They came out delicious.

Celebrate Pregnancy Awareness Month

May is Pregnancy Awareness Month! Check out these cool flags and decals for your car from Sign of Labor! You can publicly celebrate your pregnancy, while raising awareness of your precious cargo. Five percent of all sales go to Pregnancy Awareness Month.

What better way to celebrate by cooking up some healthy food for mommy and baby with recipes from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. How about some:

Sunflower-Sesame Molasses Cookies
These are packed with iron, calcium, and whole wheat goodness. Great with a cup of mint tea.

1 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, or honey
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
1 egg or egg replacer
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk or yogurt (dairy or nondairy)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil cookie sheet(s). Coarsely chop sunflower and sesame seeds in food processor, blender, or by hand. Place in large mixing bowl with flour, spice, salt, and baking soda and whisk together. In separate bowl, beat together oil, sweetener, molasses, egg, vanilla, and milk or yogurt. Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture. Stir until combined. Scoop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes, or until bottoms are golden. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 4 1/2 dozen

Note: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg.