So what, so it’s Friday? I was planning to post this last night, but Rob and I ended up going to a show that further reinforced how old I am getting, because all the kids were wearing t-shirts of bands I’d never even heard of. I was like, “Rob, what does To Write Love on Her Arms mean?” and he was like “DUH IT’S A BAND” and I was like, “…oh.” Then I came home and examined my arm-wobble in the mirror. Do you hear that? Arm-wobble. It’s the beginning of the end. Oh well, onto muffins!

Vegan Banana Chocolate Muffins

This is adapted from a recipe on the internet, who adapted it from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

You will need:
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat spelt flour, but you could probably use anything you wanted)
1 and 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
4 mashed bananas: the riper, the better
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Here’s the thing. I used to buy the grocery store brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips because they were vegan. This time, I picked up the package and checked, and they had BUTTERFAT in them. Ack! They un-veganized them! The store’s meager supply contains no other vegan chocolate chips, so lately I’ve been using this Baker’s chocolate, which is vegan, and just cutting it into chunks. Ghetto.)

Okay, so set your oven to 350 and put paper things in your muffin tin. You could grease each individual cup, but why would you do that when you can just use papers? See? Genius.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and the oil together until evenly mixed. Add the mashed banana (I mashed mine with a potato masher but left some chunks of banana-y goodness and chocolate chips/chunks. Stir in the water and vanilla. Add the dry mixture a little at a time and stir until just mixed.

Fill your muffin cups evenly and bake for about 30 minutes. This recipe made about 15 muffins.

Muffins in the morning sun. I only wish that I was eating it with my feet up and a cup of coffee instead of on the way to the bus stop to go to work.

Unnggggh. So good. These muffins were literally gone in 15 minutes at my office. Of course, as anyone who works in an office knows, these people will eat anything!

1) Updating this blog.
Here’s the thing. I have been cooking up a storm lately. I have been photographing these foods. I have NOT been doing a very good job of updating this. Right now I have three nights of class a week for a total of 13 hours–after my 40 hour work week. Plus, you know, homework. Plus, since my old band broke up (miss you, Kacyn!), I have been pretty busy getting my new band off the ground for shows. This busy busy schedule not only makes me crabby with my loved ones, but also keeps me from doing things I enjoy, such as writing here. Luckily, I am only two weeks from finishing this crappy semester, and then I have big plans, including MUFFIN THURSDAYS, which must always be typed in caps because “muffin thursdays” is not nearly as thunderous as MUFFIN THURSDAYS. Plus, I love making muffins but can’t (and shouldn’t) eat them all the time, so I like to bring them to my office’s staff meetings on Thursday mornings. I’ve been canvassing for more good muffin recipes, so if you’ve got one, please please send it to me at food at thefoodsex dot com.

2) Making tofu scramble. What the hell? I’m usually pretty adept with tofu, but I am a failure at breakfast-tofu.

This is one I made by heating some olive oil in a pan, then crumbling tofu in and cooking it for a few minutes, adding some garlic powder and granulated onion (because I’m stinky, okay??) and then tossing in some vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes) and cooking a bit longer, finally topping with sliced green onions. It really looks pretty, but it just wasn’t all I dreamed it would be. Help me, internet–what am I doing wrong?

I mean, duh. I know it’s no longer soup season, but i just can’t give it up.

Anyway, as is typical of Italian families, whenever any long-lost cousin gets married or dies, we’re all expected to be there. This can be a royal pain in the ass when you are mourning the death of the father of the husband of a cousin you’ve never met, but it can totally rule when the wedding dinner includes wedding soup—or at least, it ruled in my meat-eating days. Wedding soup is, in my opinion, the ultimate soup. It’s like the entire food pyramid in your bowl! And veg-izing it wasn’t even too difficult, given the meat-alternatives on the market today. I know they aren’t the healthiest thing ever, but your life will [probably] go on.

Vegan Wedding Soup

You will need (for 3-4 servings):

Base:
½ yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced (this is a LOT. Use 1 or 2 if you’re not down with stinking for days)
2 stalks celery, chopped
Olive oil
Dried oregano
2-3 cups vegetable stock. In soups, I usually use a combination of stock and water with a vegetable bouillon cube…or if you are a better human being than me, make your own broth. I am not that great.
1/8 – ¼ cup uncooked small pasta such as acini pepe (Italian for “peppercorns”) or pastina (Italian for “tiny dough”.) I actually used a bigger star-shaped pasta, because I’m emo or something
Bunch of greens, chopped. Any kind will do. Escarole is traditional, I used spinach because I had it around.
Fresh parsley, chopped

‘Meat’balls:
¼ tube of Gimme Lean, either sausage or beef-style
Dried Italian seasoning

‘Chicken’
½ pound seitan, store bought or homemade
olive oil
lemon juice
Dried Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Okay so, I know that seems like a lot of ingredients, but it’s really not. I actually started this soup the night before so prep on the day of would go quickly. Start with the ‘meat’balls. Take the Gimme Lean (you can find this at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and supermarkets that are not crappy, in the refrigerated section.) Add seasoning as you see fit, and roll into tiny balls. Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet and cook the meatballs until just browned on the outside. When they were done, I let them cool in the pan and then put them in a plastic container in the fridge.
Next, the ‘chicken.’ Cut the seitan into chicken-like, bite-size pieces. You know what I mean, think chicken noodle soup. Throw it in a Ziploc bag with a glug of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and the herbs/spices. I have no measurements for any of this and I don’t think it really matters too much. Add some chopped fresh parsley if you’re feeling saucy. Toss the seitan to coat and stash it in the fridge. The next day when I went to make the soup, I just dumped the whole mess into a pan and stirred it around until the seitan was a little crispy and browned.

So, that’s all the pre-soup work. Now, to make the soup itself. Heat some olive oil in a pot and add the onion and celery. I’m pretty sure celery isn’t traditional in this soup, but I like celery in all soups, so you can omit it if you want. Cook until onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and a good amount of dried oregano and cook, stirring often, another minute or so. Add the stock/broth/water/bouillon/whatever you’re using, and bring to a boil. Pour in the pasta and cook about 5 minutes. Add the meatballs and browned seitan. Stir it all around and taste-test until your pasta is cooked to your liking. Add the greens and stir until they wilt. Add the chopped parsley and you’re done!

A word to the wise- eat this soup the night you make it. While many soups are great, sometimes even better, when they’ve had a day to hang out and are reheated, the meatballs get SICK NASTY in the broth overnight. So either eat it all that night, or pull the meatballs out before you refrigerate it.