Banana. I love it anyway I can get it. Straight up banana, banana bread, banana non-dairy ice cream, banana sandwich (with a little peanut butter, of course), or these delicious super healthy donut-muffins I made the other day. Shaped like a donut, with the dense texture of a muffin, these are little cuties really are tasty. Thanks to Chef AJ for the original recipe and Healthy Girl’s Kitchen for tweaking them a bit and posting the recipe here: http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/03/chef-ajs-just-banana-muffins-possibly.html#more
The only change I made was I added 1/2 tsp nutmeg. These healthy treats have zero added sugar – they are sweetened naturally by the bananas, apple sauce and apple juice. They aren’t super sweet, which is partly why
I like them. While I still have a sweet tooth, thankfully it takes very little to satisfy it since I changed my evil eating ways. It’s confirmation that I really was a sugaraholic before.
I used a combination of my one donut pan (makes 6), and 6 muffins. I cooked them for 22 minutes, but the muffins, which are a little taller than the donuts, could have used another minute or 2 in the oven. The recipe doesnt specify banana size. My bananas were ginormous so I only used 3. So, I’m assuming using 4 average sized bananas would work perfectly.
I was at Costco and I saw this 2 lb container of cut up butternut squash. I had to have it. It’s not impossible certainly, but cutting that stuff yourself is sort of a pain. So, I put it in my cart along with my 8 bags of frozen mixed berries for smoothies, and immediately envisioned dinner: roasted butternut squash with herbs and balsamic vinegar, steamed broccolini and garlicky cannellini beans. Healthy, easy and super tasty, just the way I like it! 🙂
One of my favorite restaurants Native Foods has an African Peanut Soup that I adore. It tastes very fattening though so I wanted to try and make something similar, but with less fat. As well, theirs is a very smooth soup and I prefer chunkier soups – I like chewing! This version is thick and chunky, while still being creamy. And this can vary depending on how much of it you want blended, using your immersion or regular blender. Feel free to play around with spices and amounts. Those listed here result in a mild flavor.
I’m not proud of this, but when I was in junior high, I ate taquitos from the cafeteria nearly every day. I don’t even want to think about what they were filled with, but I just loved them; mostly for the crunchy corn tortilla and the green dipping sauce with which they were served. We won’t even talk about the Hostess mini crumb donuts I ate too. Geez. Gotta love the offerings in school cafeterias. Sad to say it’s no better 30 years later. Did I just say that? 30 YEARS? “sigh”.
Anyway, I digress…sorry. As we all know, traditional taquitos are deep fried. We also know deep fried foods = bad news. I set out to create a plant-based taquito that I could bake, but would still be crunchy. I don’t cook with oil as a rule, but for form and function, a small amount was required for this to work. I tried it without. Fail. However, I was amazed how such a small amount could make a difference. 1 tablespoon of olive oil or less for the entire batch of 12 taquitos. Not bad. Since these taquitos are filled with potatoes, I’m calling them paquitos. 🙂
These muffins are very similar to my Sunshine Muffins, with a few small changes, and the addition of blueberries and poppy seeds – yummy. I have only used fresh blueberries in this recipe but frozen (thawed) would work too. These go VERY quickly in my house.
I’ve been craving lemon lately, which isn’t normal for me. I’m guessing it’s because I associate lemon with spring and the outdoors, which are two things I also crave. Living in SoCal the winters are really no big deal, but it’s still winter, and we have our days of no sun, with plenty of rain and even some cold temps (all relative, I understand). Whatever. I’m over it. However, since I have a ways to go until fairly consistent warmth and sunshine ensue, I will satisfy my cravings with muffins like these. To me, they taste like sunshine. The cardamom flavor paired with the fresh lemon is quite delicious. And the best part is they are healthy, using whole grain flours, no animal products and no added fat. The sun is shining in my kitchen!
Extras: 1) Top muffins with candied lemon zest just prior to cooking for extra lemony goodness. 2) Add 1-2 TBS poppy seeds to batter for Sunshine Poppy Seed Muffins. 🙂
UPDATE 2/12/13: Apparently the cardamom I used the first few times I made these had been around awhile. I purchased fresh (as fresh as you can get in the store) and used it in the recipe yesterday and the cardamom flavor was way too strong for my tastes. If you like it strong, stick with the 2 tsp, but I’m adjusting the amount to call for 1/2-1 tsp. Also, I felt the need to improve texture a bit. I wanted to lighten them a little; do something to help them rise a bit more (always tricky with fat/free, vegan baking). I added ground chia seeds/water and was very happy with the end result. You can grind them in a clean coffee grinder or blender.
If any of you are familiar with the restaurant True Food Kitchen, you may know they make a sauce for their Brussels sprouts called umami sauce. Umami is one of the 5 flavors identified by our tastebuds; salty, bitter, sweet, sour, and savory or umami. Their sauce is AMAZING! Unfortunately, as is the case with most restaurant food, it’s loaded with fattening oil. I found the recipe online but tweaked it to significantly reduce the fat and cut the oil. If you can find oil-free hummus, this would be considered an oil-free dish. The hummus I had on hand did contain a small amount of oil.
I roasted a mixture of Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, onions and white beans (pictured) to serve with the sauce, but you could use this sauce with any vegetable, bean, grain or even as a salad dressing. Enjoy!
Nothin’ fancy about these veggie patties, but they are easy, tasty and satisfying. I ate mine plain, with catsup, but I would love to try one on a whole grain bun with caramelized onions and all the fixins. Yum. Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats and soy sauce (tamari) if you need these to be bona fide gluten-free.
I bought organic frozen pitted cherries from Costco recently and decided last night to actually do something with them besides eat them one by one out of the bag like I had been (they are like candy!). This is one instance (of many) when a Vitamix is the most amazing kitchen appliance you could hope to have. Love that thing. This creamy, delicious dessert is ready in about 2 minutes, and that includes gathering ingredients! It’s so sweet, you can’t believe there isn’t added sugar. Of course, when you sprinkle a few vegan mini chocolate chips on top as I did, that changes the no-sugar-added thing, but it doesn’t add much. You only need a few. I always have peeled, frozen bananas in the freezer for just this occasion. Enjoy!!
This savory, creamy gravy is delicious on anything from mashed potatoes, to stuffed squash, to tofu scramble. Since it’s so low in fat, it doesn’t have to be a once in a while treat.
Use brown rice flour to make this gluten-free.
I like them. While I still have a sweet tooth, thankfully it takes very little to satisfy it since I changed my evil eating ways. It’s confirmation that I really was a sugaraholic before.
