Friday, October 19, 2012

Coconut Banana Muffins & Fruit Salad; A Plant-Powered Breakfast

Coconut Banana Muffins. Our favorite muffins.


And fruit salad. Simple. Breakfast.


I've had some recipe requests.

And I am behind.

Fruit Salad.

Lemon cake.

Calzones.

And one other...oh, now I can't remember. I haven't forgotten you, though!

My sister, Aimee, requested the fruit salad. It's a simple recipe, but I really liked the flavor combinations. My kids ate it out of the bowl. Except Essie, who won't touch cantaloupe.

Isn't it interesting to see the things our kids don't like. I love cantaloupe.

Sometimes I don't want to drink my breakfast. I want to chew it.

Sometimes I actually eat green, leafy salads for breakfast.

Don't blame me, blame my Mom. Who first gave me the crazy idea. I think it's yummy. And no tummy ache in the morning from sugary cereals, all that stuff.

Salad for breakfast, haven't you heard? It's the new thing!


Simple Fruit Salad
By Ashlee Crozier

Ingredients:

1/2 cantaloupe, seeded and cut into small cubes
1 orange, peeled, and sliced, then cut the slices into bite-size pieces
1 bartlett pear, ripe, sliced and diced (core removed)
2 small bananas, or 1 very large banana, cut into coins
2 large handfuls (or more) of blueberries, (or grapes, in season)

Directions:

Thoroughly wash your blueberries and pear. Cut each kind as indicated. After cutting all of your fruit, gently toss them all together (except blueberries) in a pretty serving bowl until well combined. Sprinkle with a few handfuls of blueberries, for color and flavor. Eat hardy.


To complement your fruit salad.


These are some of our most favorite muffins. I modified them to be oil free. I actually have also tried making them with oil, and I did not like them nearly as much. The soy yogurt seemed to intensify the flavors. And when I eat these, for me it is reminiscent of a donut. Except these don't make me feel like I ate a donut.

My family loves them. I have to double the recipe, and still they are gone within half a day. Great for lunches. Great for on-the-go. They are just great.

I actually am going to make these again for breakfast today, for my kids. And pack it in Essie's school lunch.

This could be a great weekend breakfast, too!

Coconut Banana Muffins
Modified to be oil free from Dreena Burton's "Let Them Eat Vegan!"

Makes 11 small to medium muffins


Topping: (optional) (I never use it because it requires oil, and I like my muffin unadulterated. It's less work and just as deeeelish.)

1 1/2 tablespoons unrefined sugar
1/2 teaspoon neutral-flavored oil


Muffin mixture:

1 cup whole-grain spelt flour
1 cup oat or barley flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dried, and finely shredded coconut
1/4 cup unrefined sugar (I use coconut palm sugar)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (rounded) sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder (High Altitude: use only 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (High Altitude: use only 1/4 teaspoon)
3/4 cup mashed, over-ripe banana (1 to 1 1/2 bananas)
3/4 cup plain nondairy milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons soy vanilla yogurt (3 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil, if you are not oil free, yet)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients, if using, and set aside until the muffin batter is ready.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, sifting in the baking powder and baking soda. Stir until well mixed.

In another bowl, combine the mashed bananas, milk, maple syrup, vinegar, vanilla, and oil (or soy yogurt!). Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and gently fold and stir until well mixed.

If your muffins are oil free, you will need to either have a silicone muffin tin, or, you will need to use paper muffin liners, briefly sprayed with a tiny bit of nonstick spray. (If you don't like nonstick spray, then you could just wait for the muffins to cool quite a bit longer after baking, before you eat them, so that your muffin ingredients don't stick to the paper liners).

Scoop the mixture into a lined muffin pan, filling nine muffin cups (for larger muffins) or eleven or twelve muffin cups (for smaller muffins). If using the topping (I don't) sprinkle a few pinches of it on top of each muffin.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes (less time for smaller muffins, longer for larger), until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, let fool for a couple of minutes in the pan, and then transfer the muffins to cool on a cooling rack.



******

This is totally not a kosher question to ask.

But, has anyone tried the Pumpkin Mac yet? Alisa?

We had it again yesterday and I really like it. But it really matters to me whether or not YOU really like it. Or not. I'd love to know...one way or the other.


*****

And, our reduced computer time is going really well. I like it. I don't feel so much pressure to constantly be doing something else. I can be present. With my kids.

Samuel has reduced computer time, too. It is hard for him. He's thrown fits. But you know, I was able to sit down with him and talk about why it was important to do other things. He genuinely cared. His countenance, attitude, and behavior changed. He understands. Once I opened my mouth and talked.

We went to the park. We did laundry. Homework. Dishes. We played. Listened to music. Oh, yeah. My kids really love this song. We danced to it.




Have fun dancing, and have a happy weekend!




9 comments:

  1. I will put the pumpkin man on my recipes for next week! And those coconut muffins! Sounds delish :)

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    Replies
    1. I would try it with white pasta the first time around. The other pastas just don't seem to blend the flavors very well. Just a thought. Another reader and I were just discussing the pasta issue, and I may need to add a note on the page, but brown rice pasta just doesn't seem to work as well as white, for flavor and texture.

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  2. Ooh, I've been searching for a good muffin recipe. I'll give it a shot soon. And pumpkin mac is on the menu for tomorrow! finally restocked my canned pumpkin supply tonight.

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  3. Ashlee I just tried the pumpkin mac on both Thursday and Friday night. First with my own three kids and they all loved it (except mr picky who just liked it) They wanted it for leftovers the next day. Success! I can't believe how well the pumpkin does in that cheese sauce. I'm debating on always using it instead of the basic cheese sauce, because I think the taste is cheesier. I couldn't believe the taste of it! The only change I did was increasing the recipe by 1/2 to use a full can of pumpkin and a full can of coconut milk. Incredible recipe. Rachel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel, YAY! YAY! We all love cheese!

      I am going to try making the sauce using your modifications. Using a whole can of pumpkin would be very healthy. And fun.

      A trick I just discovered with the basic cheese sauce. Increase water from 2 cups, to 2 1/2 cups. Add a GENEROUS 1/4 cup of pimentos, and in addition to the 1 cup of cashews, add a tablespoon of corn starch. Thicken on stove top. It tames the garlic and onion powder tastes, and makes the texture silky smooth to add the corn starch. Anyway, I will put that on the blog on Monday. But I say, if the mac sauce works for your kids, use it!

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  4. I tried these muffins and love them. Congradulations! This is the first vegan muffin recipe I've used where the results taste like muffins (not dense clumps of healthy stuff). I've been craving them all day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, good! We love them, too!

      Dreena Burton has to be the baked goods queen. If you love baked goods, Dreena is the way to go. So much flavor, variety, and deliciousness in her books.

      Now I am craving them, too!

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  5. I am wanting to whip up these muffins today, but want to use wheat flour instead of the spelt. How do I go about making the substitutions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For every 1 cup of spelt flour, reduce it by 1/4 cups for wheat flour.

      Ex: 1 1/4 cups spelt
      replace with
      1 cup whole wheat flour

      Delete