LynnH's Teff Spice Muffins

I am finally easing out of my baking funk. I tried LynnH's enticing recipe for Teff Spice Muffins, and they were absolutely lovely. The photo doesn't do them justice. I first took photos of the three most attractive muffins, and then we ate them for breakfast. After breakfast, I realized the colors in the photos were way off, and I couldn't adjust them to my liking. So, I ended up taking retakes with the leftover muffins. I'm still learning the ins and outs of my new camera. So, use Lynn's photo as a guide for how beautiful they look. But enough of that.

I used three tablespoons of date sugar as a substitute for the sugar in the recipe, and that worked out great. And the spices are so nice. Actually the color and flavors remind me a bit of old fashioned gingerbread, despite the lack of ginger in the recipe.

Polenta, Tomato and Basil Bread with Butternut Squash Soup

I have been in a baking rut for quite some time. Really ever since my muffin disaster last month, nothing I have baked has turned out. But I haven't given up. The closest to a success I've had is this Polenta, Tomato and Basil Bread. It was delicious! It didn't really rise very much, but it's hard to make dough rise that is mainly spelt flour, so I didn't have high hopes in the first place. Plus, I have very little experience making bread by hand, so I certainly could use more practice. Despite all of that, it wasn't overly heavy or dry. It was plenty flavorful and moist. The recipe is surprising because it contains no oil. Maybe the tomato flavor was too dominant though. Anyway, I think I'll try the recipe again sometime, as it was tasty and went nicely with soup. By the way, I substituted date sugar for the brown sugar.

To make the soup, all I did was make a batch of Sauteed Squash with Onions and then blended it in the blender with some vegetable broth. But, you can make it easier by skipping the step of sauteing, and putting the sliced raw onions and raw whole garlic cloves in the baking pan along with the raw chopped squash, toss everything with olive oil and bake for about a half hour, or until everything is soft. Then blend it in the blender. Place it in a saucepan with about a cup of vegetable broth, or more if needed, to get a soupy consistency. Simmer until hot. Season with salt and pepper.

Hmmm, I guess the theme of this week must be polenta. Oops! I guess I better move on to another grain!

Curried Split Peas with Millet Bread

In a class at Conscious Gourmet we learned a recipe for Curried Split Pea Soup. But today I decided to make a thicker version, instead of a soup, as I love thick bean dishes. I basically used as little water to simmer the beans as I could. Then when everything was cooked and tender, I pureed in my blender a good portion of the batch. I topped my beans with slices of green onions and a few splashes of ume plum vinegar. And I toasted some millet bread to eat with it. This millet bread is really great. It's made at Deland Bakery in Florida, and I am able to buy it at my local natural foods markets. Here is the list of ingredients for the bread: organic millet flour, brown rice flour, water, sea salt. That's it!

Berry Hill Muffins at the Conscious Gourmet

Well, you win some, you lose some. Above is pictured the Berry Hill muffins we made during our final class at Conscious Gourmet. They were fabulous, moist, chewy, with great texture and a wonderful flavor. I brought home a few that were leftover, and Pedro loved them too. So, over the weekend, we tried to make them. And here's how they turned out:

A pile of crumbs! Tasty crumbs, I should add. So, as long as we don't mind eating muffins with a spoon, we're all set! I don't even know where to begin explaining what we did wrong, as there were many things. One thing that we may have a hard time correcting in our next attempt is the sweetener. The recipe calls for maple sugar, and I can't find anywhere in my city that sells it. Probably I can get some online. Anyway, we used brown rice syrup as a substitute and used less of the liquid ingredients to try to compensate, but somehow, we may not have compensated correctly. Other things went wrong too though, from the coconut oil congealing, to the muffins sticking to the pans, etc. At least the flavor was still there! Ovo-vegetarian.

Breakfast Burrito

For breakfast I used some of my leftover greens in scrambled eggs and made breakfast burritos. I used tortillas made from whole grain spelt flour. I heated some leftover mashed sweet potatoes as well. And, I topped everything with leftover spicy Thai satay sauce. This combination worked for me, as I love spicy food and can handle it some mornings. But it would have also made a nice lunch. We made similar use of leftovers in breakfast at Conscious Gourmet. Ovo-vegetarian.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

This Peanut Butter Banana Bread is some of the best banana bread we've ever had. It's super moist and the peanut butter flavor goes so well with the bananas and chocolate chips. It's a recipe from the March issue of Vegetarian Times, located on page 85. I find myself buying large bunches of clearance ripe bananas just to have the excuse to make this. One thing I do add to the recipe is a bit of unsweetened applesauce. So, I don't know if that contributes to the moistness, or if it would be just as moist without it. The Slashfood Blog posted the recipe for this dish. Lacto-ovo vegetarian.

[Added 4/20: If you try this recipe, note that in the instructions, it doesn't say when to add the sugar, so don't forget to add it. If you use a liquid sweetener, add it with the wet ingredients, and if you use a dry sweetener, add it with the dry ingredients. Also, be sure to use really ripe bananas for the best flavor.]

White Bean Dip with Pita

My friend Tess makes this homemade pita type bread. When she does, I make a double batch of a dip, such as Ful Medames, hummus, or the such. Then I trade some of my dip for some of her bread. Today I used cannellini beans to make this White Bean Dip, using this recipe by Giada de Laurentiis posted on the Food Network website. Vegan.