Sunday, January 31, 2010

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I promise, not everything I bake has bananas in it. I just had some leftover bananas from the cookies.

Being vegan can be problematic, especially around breakfast time. Most of the typical American breakfast is animal-based. Eggs, cheese, milk, sausage, bacon. So preparing a breakfast that is both vegan and still reminds me of a breakfast can be a challenge. This morning, I made a quick batch of banana chocolate chip muffins. I was thrilled to find that the whole process took less than an hour, mostly baking time. I used a recipe from "The Joy of Vegan Baking," so I can't put it online without breaking copyright laws. However I highly recommend this book (for non-vegans as well!). It's one of my two or three go-to books for all my basic recipes.

The book:


















And the muffins:

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Banana-Sugar Cookies

So I promised my roommate that, in exchange for a favor, I'd make her some cookies. Went to Woodman's and got some flour and bananas, because there was some communal sugar, vanilla extract, and baking soda that I could use. The flour and bananas were less than $3 together. Buying all the ingredients would have probably been closer to $10, but hooray for sharing! I made chocolate chip cookies several months ago substituting banana for egg, and they were pretty good, so I decided to leave out the brown sugar and chocolate chips for these, and they turned out to be pretty good! Here's the recipe (it's all just estimation, so feel free to adjust the proportions)

Makes about 16 medium-small cookies.

Tools:
Oven/cookie oven with trays, cooking spray/extra margarine, some sort of measuring cup, microwave, microwavable bowl, larger bowl for mixing, (large) spoon, fork, oven mitt/towel, plate or container to store cookies.

Ingredients:
1/2 c vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
1 and 1/4 c white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 very ripe banana
1ish tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 and 1/2 c flour

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 (The cookie oven I use is just on and off, but I assume it's 350). Melt the margarine in a microwave-safe container. Dump it into the larger bowl and add the sugar and vanilla, then mix. Microwave the banana for 20-30 seconds to soften it, then mash it as well as you can with the fork. Combine with sugar mix. Add the baking soda and salt, and mix. Add about a cup of flour, and if the batter is still too soft or sticky add more. Grease a pan. Form the dough into balls, about 2 tbsp per ball. Flatten them with your hand a bit before putting them in the oven. Cook for around 8 minutes, checking often. They should turn light brown around the edges. You can also try poking the center with your finger - if the cookie deflates a lot, they aren't done yet. Let them cool a bit before eating.

Here are some pictures:
















I can't wait to make these again, to try modifying them. Like I said, this was originally a chocolate chip cookie recipe, so if you replace half of the sugar with brown sugar and add chocolate chips, you get banana-chocolate-chip cookies. But adding walnuts or chocolate chips, or maybe topping these with some peanut butter frosting, would be delicious. Well, that's it for now, and happy baking!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

About Me!

So, thought I'd be selfish for a bit and post about myself. I promise, the next post will be food-related.

Basically, I'm a 16-year-old vegan who loves to cook. I'm never sure whether to be complimented or insulted when one of my omni friends tells me something I made doesn't taste vegan at all. I decided to start this blog to share some of my recipes, food tips, and anything else that has to do with food, with my friends and (hopefully!) other vegans.

Most people ask me why I'm vegan, and how I came to be vegan. Though I was raised omni, when I was ten, I decided to try vegetarianism for a few weeks just for the fun of it. But when my aunt and grandparents expressed doubts that I would really be able to stick to it for more than a day or so, I took it as a challenge. I really didn't start to think that eating meat was wrong until several months later. Five years later, I watched an Oprah show on the treatment of dogs in puppy mills. At one point, Oprah (or someone else) said "My god, those dogs are being treated like livestock!" I was shocked - it was okay for cows and chickens to live like that, but not dogs? The next day, I went vegan. Since then, I have come to believe that it is wrong to use other living animals for food, in any way.

Now, about this blog. I go to a residential high school, so I have to deal with the same issues as vegans in college do. My goal with this blog is to offer recipes and advice that are easy and cheap. And when I say easy and cheap, I mean it. I hate it so much when cookbooks or people say that a recipe is easy or cheap, and you end up needing a blender, food processor, microwave, and oven for it. I usually have less than $20, which needs to last me a couple of weeks. The only tools I have at my disposal are a dull knife, small cutting board, bowls, silverware, a microwave, and a small cookie oven. That's it. So I promise to be as honest as I can with my recipes, with the hopes of helping some other poor, starving, or just plain lazy, vegans out there.

One last thing before I sign off is that I don't eat honey. Now I know that there are vegans out there who do eat honey, and I respect that. Though I do consider honey an animal product, I understand why some vegans may eat honey, and I don't think that there is a purely rational argument against eating honey, since it's more an issue of belief.

With all that said, I bid goodbye for now.