Roasted Veggie Chili and Corn Muffins

I have made the chili and corn bread recipes in the past. This time, I added a large batch of roasted veggies to the chili, including red and green peppers, mushrooms, carrots, and eggplant. I only used black beans, no kidney. I also left of the TVP.

Bran Muffins

While packing to move from Austria to Denmark, I had to dwindle our kitchen supplies down, including a hearty supply of wheat bran. I made these muffins, which were not fantastic. I would go as far as to say "good" for bran muffins though!

The recipe is not vegan but easily made so. I substituted agave for honey, powdered egg substitute for egg, soy butter for butter, and soy yogurt for regular. I added hazelnuts and dried mango to the mix for a bit of flavor.

Toasted Coconut and Mango Muffins

Travel, family visits, and general laziness have kept me away from blogging much this month. Most of my cooking has focused on making things from the past that we enjoyed and eating out. We are also preparing to move to Denmark in a month! I have heard the vegan scene is much more dismal there. I guess the balance is that it is so expensive to dine out, finding a vegan restaurant won't even be an issue.

This morning, I made muffins from Vegan Brunch. Here is the recipe. Delicious!

Cocoa Strawberry Muffins

Originally, they are Cocoa Raspberry Muffins from Vegan Brunch. But, I didn't have enough raspberries for the recipe and did have enough frozen strawberries that were begging to get out of my freezer. The substitute was definitely a success but I can see how raspberries would be a bit better. The strawberries did lose a lot of flavor and the texture was much more gooey than raspberries would have been. At any rate, these muffins were very delicate and moist and lasted less than a day in our house!

Tofu Benny

Even though Isa Chandra Moskowitz says that this is her favorite vegan translation to date in Vegan Brunch, I held out on making it, expecting it to be a huge amount of work. I was surprised to find that it wasn't bad! I did most of the prep work the day before, and that made all the difference!

This was my first attempt at vegan English Muffins. They turned out delicious and I will absolutely make them again. They were not quite as "spongy" as store bought English Muffins but I chalked that up to the fact that they were fresh and natural!

The tofu can marinate overnight. It has black salt in the mixture so the smell is pretty awful while soaking but after cooked, it has that "egg" texture and taste. I bought fresh tofu from the Asian market and it fried to the perfect consistency, crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside.

The Hollandaise Sauce was very rich and creamy and the slice of heirloom tomato added a nice finishing touch.

Bakery-Style Berry Muffins

Another awesome hit from Vegan Brunch. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup soy yogurt of which I did not have. I did have 1/2 cup silken tofu and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. I found a blog that identified this as a suitable substitute, and it was! I managed to eat 3 of these, slathered in butter, hot out of the oven. We will see how much longer they last!

Vegan Brunch Takes Over My Kitchen!!!

I decided today would be the first day to have a "Brunch Event" as Isa says it should be in the cookbook Vegan Brunch.

In reality, I prepared enough food for guests, which would typically be included in an event. But, as it turned out, it was just John and I! Someday we will live somewhere with friends and have brunch blowouts!

The menu included the following:

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (from Vegan Brunch)


I made the batter the night before to save time this morning. They were very sticky and I think it has to do with the over processing of the gluten?! Maybe. Anyway, next time I will make them the morning of to get a less gummy-like muffin.

Red Flannel Hash (from Vegan Brunch)


Potatoes, beets, onion, salt, and pepper. Sauteed, then baked. Amazing!

Scrambled Tofu (from Vegan Dad blog)



A great recipe for scrambled tofu that will stand alone. It doesn't need veggies or anything else to make it taste terrific. Just wholesome, delicious tofu!

Fresh Fruit (from the Market down the street)

Banana Nut Muffins

I selected this recipe but made a few adjustments. Instead of three bananas, I used 4. For the flour I used 1 1/2 cups spelt and 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry. I didn't have 1 tsp of the powdered ginger, instead I used 1 teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice. They turned out really great but instead of 12 like the recipe indicates, I ended up with about 3 dozen!