Muffin.

Ok, here’s a more or less recipe for the banana/strawberry/almond/flaxseed muffins I mentioned. Like I said, I think they are rather good, but we’re talking in a crunchy granola girl kind of way so you know…you can kind of adapt as you see fit. Me, I am big into granola girl hippie chow.

The basis of the recipe comes from Vegan With A Vengenance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I have recommended this book before and I will recommend it again. I AM NOT A VEGAN and I use this book all the time. Will it make me a vegan? Maybe eventually, but it has made me try some new stuff and so far, every recipe I have tried has been pretty damn good. I never liked brussel sprouts until this book. That’s gotta say something (it was the descroption of their “popcorn-y flavor” that lured me in). So credit where credit is due and props to the vegans for the good eats. The original recipe is for Cherry-Almond Muffins but it makes a great base.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (this is much finer than regular whole wheat flour and results in a much softer muffin. If you can only find regular whole wheat flour use 1 cup of whole wheat and 1 cup of white, unless you are a super hippie and can handle the crazy fiber overload)

1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar (The actual recipe calls for 1/3 c. but I have successfully cut it down to 1/4 c. it’s all about you baby, if you need a little extra sweet, then go for it)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil (I actually use a little less than this depending on how many bananas I have, two bananas=a little less oil, I’d say about a tablespoon less.)

3/4 cups soy milk ( I use low fat or fat free, you could easily replace with rice milk, almond milk or, if you just aren’t quite there yet, go ahead and use the cow milk, but don’t tell the vegan that I said you could)

1 6oz. container of soy yogurt, plain or vanilla. (I have never NOT used soy yogurt in this recipe, I’m guessing you can, if you hate animals or something! Nah, do what you can, regular yogurt should work just fine, but if you can, try the soy, it’s not great on it’s own but it’s just fine in cooking)

bananas (1 or 2, what ever you have on hand, the darker the better and mash ‘em up good)

strawberries (I just used what I had on hand, and they had been in the fridge, sliced up, for a few days, so they were a little dry, which was good for me, I don’t like gooey fruit in my muffins, but again, you gotta go with your gut here, and I’d say not more than about 1/3 cup, chopped small)

about 1/2 cup of chopped almonds

1 tablespoon of flax seeds, ground

vanilla extract (most recipes will call for a teaspoon, I like vanilla so it’s more like a table spoon)

Preheat oven to 400°, Lightly grease a 12 muffin tin or use muffin liners OR (and this is kind of cool, I learned it from Cupcake Bakeshop) there are these fruit and nut cups that you can get at party stores or Smart and Final, they are a little small er than the average muffin but they are strong enough to stand on their own so you can just put them on a cookie sheet and not even bother with the muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a little well in the center and add the oil, soy milk, yogurt, banana, flax seed and vanilla extract. Mix until just combined. Fold in the strawberries and the almonds.

Fill your muffin cups 3/4 of the way and bake for about 20 minutes.

Look, it’s all very sketchy, I just kind of make it up as I go along, but this is a pretty good starting point. Add some chocolate chips, use all white flour, add some peanut butter, whatever makes you happy. But I will say, if you stick with the whole wheat pastry flour, the flax seeds and the almonds, you’re getting some decent nutrition. Use the white flour and the chocolate chips and your getting a pretty tasty dessert. It’s all good.

I hope you like them, if not, send them to me, I’ll eat them!