banana bread muffins

I’ve been in kind of a creative rut. And when I say creative rut, I mean more of a life style rut.

Since I arrived home from my travels about a month and a half ago, life has been a little upside down. House guests (which were actually the best), new jobs, semi-new homes, lots of dining out and not a lot of time for thinking or baking. I’m not exactly complaining… I’m just sayin’. It’s been crazy.

Even now, a week after my house guests departed, I still can’t seem to find a rhythm. I guess this might take a while.In the meantime, I’ll make muffins. It seems to be what I do when I’m having trouble re-adjusting.

Chocolate Banana Bread
Adapted from Daily Garnish

1/2 c brown sugar (loosely packed)
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c coconut oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c oat milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 c chocolate chips
1/4 c walnuts

Add sugar, syrup, and coconut oil to bowl and beat until well combined. You can do this manually, or with a mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine oat milk with the apple cider vinegar. Add this mixture as well as the mashed banana and vanilla to the sugar/syrup/oil bowl and combine.

In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients and slowly combine them into the wet. Fold in the walnuts & chocolate but don’t over mix.

Spoon the mixture into muffins cups and bake for 20ish minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean.

xxx

strawberry muffins and ohmygod it’s august.

woah.

Where did I go?

Where did time go? Is it august? Is it MID-august? Holy moly, you guys. I can’t even.

Things are happening behind the scenes over here and it seems I haven’t baked in like… 67 549 years. That is an exact estimate.

Let’s not dwell on excuses as I have none. STRAWBERRY MUFFIN TIME!

I feel like strawberries aren’t put into muffins enough. Blueberries, for sure. But strawberries? And I don’t know why NOT, cause these are delicious. Crazy yummy. And I like to over stuff the muffins liners so you have ginormous cafe-like muffins. oh yes.

Strawberry Muffins
Adapted from my blueberry muffins.

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. all purpose flour

1/4 c. oats

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c. raw sugar

1 c. oat milk (or any non-dairy)

3 tbsp mushed banana

1 lemon, zested

1 c. fresh or frozen strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 12 inch muffin pan with liners. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking powder and salt. Create a well and add the milk 1/2 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Mix in lemon zest, vanilla and banana and stir until fully combined. Gently fold in strawberries, try not to over mix muffin batter.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake muffins for 22 – 25 minutes until fully baked. OR fill the liners all the way full, bake as normal or maybe a few minutes more and enjoy huge muffins.

Check back next week! I promise to post more than once a month. 🙂 I have more things to share! Exciting things!

xxx

razzleberry muffins

So, its official. Summer is over. March 1st was the first day of Autumn. Traditionally my favourite season! It’s just… I wasn’t done with summer yet.

I didn’t get to the beach enough… I didn’t see ONE jelly fish… I didn’t even make boozy popsicles.

Well… it’s a good thing I live in Australia and I can still do those things for a while longer without feeling foolish. Anyway, I did drink a lot of coconuts… and I did go camping… and I did wear a dress to a wedding in such heat that I thought I was going to have bum shaped sweat marks. Gross? no. just a reality.

I’ll get on with it though, I’ll celebrate fall even though I feel its a tad too early. I will make soup and bake sweet potatoes. And I will make delicious muffins.

Gluten-free isn’t something I really think about that often. I really enjoy my gluten… but every now and then I wonder about this gluten-free baking that is so popular these days and I try my hand at it. It does NOT always work out… let me tell you. But these muffins were quite a nice surprise.

Now… buckwheat flour isn’t for everyone, it has a very distinct taste… but after I asked Sean-no less than 5 times-what he thought of these muffins (Really? I mean really though…? But did they taste weird? But really? You liked them?) He assured me they were really good. SO without further ado!

Raspberry Gluten-Free Muffins
Adapted from Edible Perspective

1 c. buckwheat flour
3/4 c. gluten-free oat flour
1/2 c. almond meal
3 tbsp rapadura sugar
2 1/2 tbsps ground flax meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 chia eggs (2 tbsp + 6 tsbp water)
1/2 c. + 1 tbsp mashed banana
6 tbsp oat milk
1/3 c. maple syrup
1 vanilla bean
1/4 c. unrefined coconut oil, melted
1 1/4  c. frozen raspberries

First preheat your oven to 350* F and line a muffin tin with pretty liners. Mix up your chia eggs and set aside. Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the banana, milk, maple syrup, chia eggs, coconut oil and vanilla until fully combined. Add the wet to the dry and mix until only just combined, but do not overmix! fold in the raspberries very gently and then spoon the mixture into the muffins liners. Fill each liner about 2/3 full. If you like, you can top with a cinnamin crumble. (1/4 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. rapadura sugar, 3 tbsp oat flour, 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, salt) Mix together and then sprinkle on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Try to resist until the muffins are cool as they do not stay together that well when warm!

Enjoy!

xxx

 

carrot fingers

Do you know what my all-time favourite vegetable is?

I think if you had a look at my palms and the soles of my feet you might be able to guess. You see… I eat a lot of this vegetable. Quite a lot. And it has a tendency to give my skin an orangey glow. It seems that this vegetable is quite high beta-carotene, and since I eat so much, my body has an overload of it and so I store that extra beta-carotene in my skin! And thus it turns yellowy-orange.

Funny Story: I was meeting a friend a couple months ago and as I was walking up to her to with open arms she started laughing. She grabbed my hands and exclaimed: ‘You used fake tan and forgot to wash your hands after… DIDN’T YOU!?’

Awkward.

Have you figured it out yet? My favourite veggie? That contains lots of CAROT-ene?
Carrots!
Yum. Raw, with hummus, roasted. It doesn’t matter! I’ll take them anyway. anytime.

So let’s talk breakfast…

Maybe you’d fancy some Carrot muffins? Perfect.

Carrot Muffins
Adapted from this recipe

2 c. spelt flour
3 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. raisins

2 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 c. non-dairy milk
1 c. shredded carrot
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c. coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix together dry ingredients. Mix together wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix until combined.

Bake at for 25-27 in a lined muffin tin!

Serve with a some tofu-cream cheese (cause then its more like carrot cake. aka the best dessert ever.)

Enjoy a year round tan! With NO skin cancer! YAY!

ps. Did you ever see that youtube video called ‘salad fingers?’ Jeeez. if not, don’t look it up. Salad fingers haunts me.

xxx

And just for fun, a sneak peek at some of the hotness I’ve been photographing lately.

boom!

more to come…

x

Fancy a prune? How ’bout a date?

Things areeeeeee happening!

Leaves have fallen, scarves have been purchased, leases have been signed, boxes have been packed, and dates have been pureed.

datin’

Yep, stuff is going down in funky town. Exciting things, sad things, scary things… but also delicious things. In the form of date squares. Very simple, very delicious and somewhat healthy. I used to think that dates squares were for old people. Totally for old people.

I think I associated them with prunes. Which definitely carry negative connotations of being primarily enjoyed by senior citizens, in juice form… weird.

I hated prunes when I was little. You know why?! Yeah youuuu know. I’m looking at you Dad… and those god awful prune muffins you made that ONE time. I honestly don’t even remember if they were that bad, but my brother and I made a point of hating them and never letting my Dad live it down.

Hey Dad… Member that time you made those horrible prune muffins…? yeah… me too.

Funny thing is, my Dad is now an incredible baker. Like top-notch. After the Prune-muffin incident (henceforth known as The PMI), I don’t think he baked again until I was in highschool. Or maybe he did and I blocked it out of my memory because of The PMI. Anyway, I was uber skeptical of his baking for a while, but day after day I would come home from school and there would be warm muffins, cookies and scones piled high on the kitchen table. It didn’t take long for me to forget all about the PMI. And when I did… there were muffins to consume on the regular. And consume them I did. Two at a time.

However, that is not really the point. The point is, I thought dates were gross, until I finally tasted my Dad’s date squares. After crossing over to the vegan-side, I thought that date-squares should be an easy treat to re-create vegan styles. I found this great recipe on OhSheGlows. Check it out. And make it!

I’ve presented these date squares to many a people, all of whom have been thoroughly impressed given the simple ingredient list. These can easily be made raw and gluten free!

Date-Squares
From OhSheGlows!

1 1/2 c. roasted almonds

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

1 tsp. salt

1/4 c. (or slightly more) melted coconut oil

3 c pitted dates

First, add 2 1/2 c. of the chopped dates to 1/2 c. of boiling water.

For the crust, put the almonds, salt and oats in the food processor and blend into a fine crumble. Add about 1/2 c. of chopped dates and blend until combined. Add the coconut oil and blend once more until the crumble is sticky.

Set aside 1/2 c. for crumbling on top, and then pack the rest into an 8″x8″ parchment lined pan. Press down the crumble until it is packed in.

Next, blend up the remaining dates and boiling water until a paste is formed. Scoop the paste on top of the crust and spread until even. Sprinkle the remaining crumble on top and press lightly.

Allow the squares to set in the freezer for 1-2 hours before slicing and enjoying! Keep in freezer or fridge, as the coconut oil needs to stay solid to hold everything together.

yum.

x

 

 

 

 

apple muffins and life

What happened to my second Tasmania post? Oh that’s right. I got sick of editing pictures. Woops. OK well… SURPRISE POST… at some point in the next year! Get ready. brace yourselves. it could come at any moment.

But for now, I’m organizing life. Filling in forms, photocopying every piece of identification that I have and cleaning my apartment like a woman possessed.

I’m also making bowls of cereal and pouring in vegetable stock instead of oat milk. it’s my life ya know? unedited.

I made things last week! I made pie! Apple pie! but I made it with butter as it was my boyfriends birthday and a crust made of vegan margarine is really nothing to brag about. Also Australia seems to be against vegetable shortening. Where is my CRISCO!?

I also made muffins! Apple ones. Kinda like mini apple cakes. I think I’m on an apple kick.

Apples, cinnamon, brown sugar. what could be better?

Apple Crisp Muffins!
a recipe adapted from Happy Herbivore

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. rolled oats

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 c. raw sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar (not packed)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

sprinkle of salt

1 c. homemade apple sauce!* (the best kind)

1 c. of diced apple

1/4 c. maple syrup

*To make the apple sauce, peel and chop two apples. Place apple in a saucepan with a tiny bit of water on the bottom of the pan. Cover and let the water boil and steam the apples. When the apple are good and tender (can be smushed with a spoon or fork) Drain any remaining liquid and add a dash of cinnamon. Blend the mixture in a food processor or with a stick blender until smooth. Taste and add more cinnamon if desired.

Mix the dry ingredients and preheat the oven to 350*F. Line a muffin tin with papers, or lightly grease with margarine.

Add applesauce, sugars, and maple syrup to dry mixture and mix until almost combined. Then add the diced apple and mix until everything is just combined. Spoon mixture into muffin liners, about 3/4 way full. Sprinkle some oats on top.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Eat warm!

 

Enjoy muffins! Organize your life! Pour Vegetable stock on your cereal!

x