Ahhhh bananas, I love 'em! Not only are they good for you, they work great as an egg replacer, they travel well, they are a great ready to eat snack and they taste AWESOME! I use bananas a lot...banana bread, banana waffles, bananas in my green smoothie, peanut butter and banana sandwich, you get the idea. I love me some bananas! I baked and ate a lot of banana muffins to come up with this recipe and I'm pretty happy with it. The streusel topping makes all the difference so don't skip it! I change the topping up depending on what I have in my pantry. Today I used sliced almonds in the streusel topping but last time I used pecans so be creative but add some nuts. Nuts give the topping a nice crunch and texture.  You could make this as a loaf of banana bread but nothing beats a handy-dandy-easy-to-eat muffin.  Enjoy!

 

Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Streusel Topping

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c applesauce
3 very ripe bananas
vegan chocolate chips
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c vanilla soy milk  plus 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Streusel Topping
1/3 c regular uncooked oats
1/3 c flour
1/3 c light brown sugar
3 T vegan margarine
1/3 c nuts of your choice

Get Cookin'

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Add the apple cider vinegar to the soy milk and set aside.

Cream together the oil, applesauce and sugars. Add the mashed bananas, soy milk and vanilla. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix well but do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips.

Make streusel topping by mixing all dry streusel ingredients together, then cut in the margarine with a pastry tool or just use a fork (like I do) until mixture is crumbly.

Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan with liners. Fill about 3/4 full then top with struesel topping. These muffins don't rise a whole lot so don't worry if the muffin cups are almost full.



Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool and Enjoy!







All done!

I enjoy cooking with Seitan. It's a great meat substitute and just about every recipe I've used it in has been a success. So, call me a sinner but Seitan is my friend. I buy pre-made Seitan (wheat gluten, wheat meat, mock duck) from Whole Foods or Ada's which is my local health foodie market. I have yet to make my own but I've read that people have great success making it from scratch. I'm just not that adventurous yet and the pre-made Seitan works great for everything I've used it for. So, if you have plenty of time and want to try to make your own that's awesome but if you are a bit lazy or too tired after working all day like me just buy the pre-made stuff!

I came up with this recipe because I love the flavor of Marsala wine and mushrooms. My husband and daughter both love this recipe. Me, I love just about anything served with mashed potatoes!

 I hope you enjoy it!

Marsala Seitan with Mashed potatoes

2 cloves garlic

2 shallots (chopped)

2 T. olive oil (approx)

1 cup (or more because I love mushrooms) Baby Bella mushrooms (sliced or whole, your choice)

1 cup Marsala wine

1 T. flour

1 T. margerine or butter

1 cup Vegetable broth

salt/pepper seasoning to taste

parsley for garnish

Get cookin'

Saute shallots and garlic in olive oil, add mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes and then add Marsala wine. Continue to simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Pour mushroom mixture into a bowl and set aside. place pan back on stove and add 1 T butter/margerine. Melt butter and add 1 T. flour to make a roux. Whisk and cook until light brown and smooth. Add vegetable stock and whisk to make a gravy. Slowly add mushroom mixture and return to simmer. Stirring occasionally. Remove seitan from box, drain and discard liquid, separate and add to Marsala mushroom mixture and continue to simmer until heated through. Add more vegetable stock if you want a thinner gravy.

To plate...mound mashed potatoes on plate and spoon Marsala Seitan with gravy over mashed potatoes and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve with a nice bread of your choice for sopping up that yummy Marsala gravy.

Balsamic Herb Roasted Vegetables

I grew up eating a lot of vegetables and I love experimenting with roasting vegetables. This recipe is one my daughter loves. This is a beautiful vegetable dish that is delicious served by itself with some yummy bread or as a side dish. Give it a try...you'll love it!

2 small butternut squash, sliced thick

2 sweet potatoes, cubed with or without skin

1 sweet onion, cut into big pieces

1 container baby bella mushrooms whole or halved

1 zucchini, sliced thick

1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme

2 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary

1/3 c olive oil

2 Tbs balsamic vinegar

Salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt/pepper.

Place all veggies in a baking pan or dish. Pour vinegar oil mixture over and toss to coat. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes taking care to open the oven and stir every 10 minutes or so until veggies are cooked and browned.

Ugly Fried Pies

These fried pies look like they were shook out of the ugly tree and hit every branch going down…but they are yummy and a great snack. My grandma used to make these for me when I was a child and the applesauce is my all time favorite.

 

Can regular biscuits (not those giant Grandes)

Organic applesauce or any canned fruit pie filling

Cinnamon

Sugar

Margerine or oil for frying

Open can of biscuits and separate. Lightly flour work surface and roll out each biscuit until it is flat and thin about triple its size. Spoon about 1-1 ½ Tbs fruit filling in center. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Fold over to make a crescent pie and crimp edges with fork. You can dip the fork in water and it will seal the edges a bit better.

Heat skillet over medium heat and melt butter. Add pies and fry each side until browned and dough is cooked. Remove to plate to cool. After pies have cooled store in fridge for a yummy cold snack!