Spicy Almond-Pear Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. wheat flour
1/4 c. flax meal
1/2 t. salt
6 t. baking powder
1 c. vegan sugar
egg replacer for 4 eggs
1/2 c. canola oil
1.5 c. sour soy milk (soy milk + 2 t. vinegar)
2 sm. pears (peeled and shredded)
toasted almonds (about 1/4-1/3 c. or so)

For cinnamony topping:
4 T. sugar
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients together (you may wanna add a little bit shy of the 1/5 c. sour milk if you have particularly ripe and juicy pears--which I did). Line a muffin pan with cupcake cups. Spray with nonstick-spray. Throw some batter into each cup, about 3/4 full or so. After all the cups are full, sprinkle some of the cinnamony topping on each one. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes (or until you poke with a fork and it comes out clean).

Makes about 18 muffins.

Originally, I used 1 t. salt (the recipe I modified it from called for this amount), but they came out a bit salty for my taste--I suspect either the almonds add a bit more saltiness to the batter or the recipe (that I very loosely based this muffin recipe on) intended Sea Salt to be used without specifying it (this is coming to be a bit of a pet peeve of mine). So I've adjusted that here. Also, the nutmeg is a bit spicy and overpowering, so I've cut down on the quantity here as well.

Overall, these muffins weren't bad. They're not obnoxiously sweet, but they have a bit of subtle flavoring and a good crunch to them. The consistency came out perfect on them (which with my temperamental stove is always a bit of a feat), so I was definitely pleased on that front. And the batter itself is tasty as all get-out--I had the worst stomach-ache all night because I kept chowing down on it while baking, only to realize that, given the massive amount of baking powder in the recipe, it was making my stomach bloat and making me wanna walk around letting out huge Barney-esque belches all night. And given that I only burp about twice a year, I was worried at some point I would explode.



VERDICT: A-/B+

Nannery-Almond French Toast

Having seen a recipe for some tasty-looking nutty french toast in the current issue of VegNews, I decided to experiment with some as well Sunday morning. I have no specific measurements, but to make the batter, I used the following:

Almonds
Soy milk
1 banana
Vanilla

I pulsed the blanched almond slivers in my food processer until they were pulverized into a sort of powder. Then I added in the banana. Once that was a pasty mushy gook, I added in a tiny bit of vanilla and gradually started adding in soy milk until it got to a consistency I liked.

The batter was a bit of a pain to deal with upon frying--the first batch I suspect was a bit too thick and, since it was more pancake-batterish than soupy, it was not sticking to the bread but peeling off when it hit the hot hot heat. So I kept adding soy milk until finally (on the last batch) it was doing a bit better.

I tend to make french toast with hearty grain breads (because I like them to be a bit more nutty and rich-tasting) but in the future, I'ma try a simple french bread of some sort--sometimes the heartiness of the grain bread overpowers the flavor of the batter on these things.

Despite all that, I really quite liked the results--the french toast was very almondy and banana-ish, and I thought it was very flavorful and yummy (though perhaps a bit too soggy). My feller seemed to like them too, though he did comment about how "it's difficult to duplicate the taste of eggs in a non-egg french toast." True, but nanners ain't EVER gonna duplicate eggs anyways, so only aim to make these if you're a big fan of nannery-goodness.

VERDICT: A-

Polenta-Pie with Hot Black Beans and Sweet Plums

I'd been wanting to try this polena-pie-ish recipe from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine and finally got around to it on Saturday night. Basically, it's a casserole of sorts using black rice as a crust (which is a fantastically plummish purple color--so pretty) and polenta as a filling. I wanted to spice it up a little as well, so I added some broiled asparagus and sundried tomatoes to the filling as well.

I've never made polenta before so I was a bit worried, especially when I realized that the recipe itself wasn't very explanatory in that department--it never stated how long you should cook the polenta for or whether you just mix it all together, pop it into the casserole, and then throw it in the oven. Traditionally, I've read that polenta is something that takes about 30 minutes to cook, with continuous stirring. But this recipe never clarified, so I just followed the directions as is and threw all the polenta ingredients together and then into the rice-lined casserole without cooking the polenta for 30 minutes.

I've only ever *eaten* polenta once before as well, so I was kind of at a loss as to whether it was a *decent* polenta that I'd made, but regardless, I was not impressed with the polenta-part of the recipe. It was incredibly incredibly bland, despite the addition of the asparagus. Thankfully I'd made a roasted red-pepper, sundried tomato, soy milky sauce for the top, so this added a bit of depth and flavor (along with some toasted pine nuts), otherwise I suspect it would've been a major flop. If anyone has tips or suggestions about polenta or what might spice this recipe up, feel free to leave them here. For leftovers last night, I just topped it with a spicy hot sauce and it was a bit more flavorful, so I suspect it's all about the "sauce" or "topping" in this one though--and I'd recommend (if I ever experiment with this again) making or buying some sort of mango-ish salsa or a black bean salsa of some sort and scooping that on top. It might add enough kick and flavor to make this a successful dish.

VERDICT: C

On the side, I made this Hot Black Beans and Sweet Plums recipe that I'd also had my eye on for awhile as well.

This was much more successful--my feller kept talking about how he'd had his doubts (black beans and plums?!?, he kept saying) but we both cowed this down like it was the last food on earth (until I bit into a piece of clove and had to stop due to major gross-out factor). This is a very flavorful recipe, and the plums add a surprising sweetness to the mix. I might add a little bit more black beans the next time I make it, but my feller said it was the perfect amount as is.

RECIPE: Here (under "Sides"--no direct link)

VERDICT: B+/A- (damn clove!)