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Vegan banana nut muffins

I always save 2-3 over ripe bananas for baking. Sometimes my dh will use them for smoothies, upon which I release the wrath of my fury. After I pick up a bunch or two of bananas, I start walking around the store thinking of what I'm going to do with the extra ripe ones. Then I watch them start turning brown on the counter as I thumb through cookbooks trying to figure out what to make with them. So, when he uses them for smoothies, my four days of planning their future has been fruitless (no pun intended!) He says I should put a note on them (how 21st century!).

Typically when the bananas start really turning south I open my cookbooks to find a tempting recipe, but yesterday I did a quick google search and landed on another blog Eat Air - A Vegan Food Log. With ten ingredients, and quick directions I figured I could make these with my 4 year old. The result is a light, delicious and quick muffin. Hope you enjoy:

Banana Nut Muffins
2 ripe bananas
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. + 2 Tbs. soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Mash bananas in a large bowl then add oil, sugar, soy milk and vanilla and mix well. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and gently mix until well combined (it will be a fairly stiff batter). Fold in nuts, then divide equally into oiled muffin tins (makes 12). Bake at 350º for 25 minutes.

I'll be making another dozen to take camping with us as muffins are easy to bring on a hike and for little hands to hold.

Vegan Cheese Tasting

I've started a new series on my personal blog called 'Easy Vegan', where I provide recipes and other suggestions for making the transition to veganism easier. One of my readers had asked for recommendations for the best vegan cheeses, so with the help of the rest of the Humboldt Vegans team, I organized a vegan cheese tasting. Last Saturday, before a lovely dinner at Wildflower in Arcata, we all got together and sampled a variety of cheeses. (Thanks Heather, for hosting again!) Sadly, I forgot to bring the camera, so these stock product photos will have to suffice.

Round One - Mozzarella Smack-Down

~ VS. ~

To determine the best mozzarella-style cheese for melting, I made some cute little pizza bites on slices of baguette with sauce, spices, sauteed onions, and of course, cheese. We pitted Follow Your Heart Mozzarella (my personal standby for at-home pizza and sandwich making) against underdog Cheezly Mozzarella. The results of this particular showdown were rather anticlimactic - all of the tasters agreed that they tasted nearly identical, at least in their melted form.

A few quick notes on melting these non-dairy cheeses - If you didn't already read it, be sure to check out my earlier note explaining how to encourage vegan cheeses to melt in the oven. I also just found this promotional video from Follow Your Heart that shows how to use their cheeses for pizzas, mac and cheese, and quesadillas. The chef mentions that the cheese melts at 450 degrees, and I usually cook my pizzas around 425 degrees, so I'm thinking maybe if I just cooked them at a slightly higher temperature, I wouldn't have to go through the water-spritzing routine I usually use.

Back to the Follow Your Heart vs. Cheezly competition - I had some leftover cheese so I decided to follow up today by sampling them both un-melted. I tasted each alone and on crackers. My personal opinion was that I liked the taste and texture of Follow Your Heart better than Cheezly, but that could have been just because it's what I've become accustomed to.

Moving on...

Which Cheddar is Better?

~ VS. ~

We sampled two varieties of cheddar cheese - Teese Cheddar* and Sheese Medium Cheddar. We ate slices of each with crackers, apples, and alone. The general concensus among group members was that the Teese was more Velveeta-ish, and the Sheese was pretty amazing, with a more mature flavor and a nice firm texture. I would definitely buy the Sheese again - it's the first vegan cheddar cheese I've tried that is good enough to snack on straight from the container.

Again, I had some leftovers, and I offered Carlos some of the Teese today, which he thoroughly enjoyed - I think he ended up eating something like four slices. This was a major breakthrough - in the past, he has shunned all of the vegan cheeses I've offered, and I've had to compromise by buying him the soy slices that contain casein. Now that I know he likes Cheddar Teese though, I'm definitely planning to eliminate those nasty processed, casein-laden slices from his diet - hooray! So the loser of the adult taste test (Teese) had some redeeming value from a three-year-old's perspective at least.

* Yes, if you're very observant, you may have noticed that the Teese photo shows the nacho cheese flavor; it's the only decent image I could find online, but the variety we actually sampled was cheddar.

And last but not least -

Dr. Cow's - No Competition

There really is nothing to compare Dr. Cow's cheeses to - except perhaps the other flavors in their lineup. As far as I know, nothing else like it exists - Dr. Cow's crafts exquisite raw, vegan cheeses by hand using traditional techniques. I will confess up front that I never was a 'fancy cheese' connoisseur, so I honestly can't compare it to cheeses like brie and the like; however, everyone at our tasting thought that the Dr. Cow's Aged Cashew cheese was totally delicious and amazing. It was a little tangy, and a lot yummy. If you're looking for a fancy-schmancy, spreadable cheese, and you don't mind shelling out some dough, this is an excellent choice.

I think that just about wraps things up... if you have a favorite (or least favorite) vegan cheese, please leave a comment, and if you were present at the tasting and there's anything I left out, please feel free to add on!

More Potluck Recipes

Here are Heather's recipes from the February potluck. Thanks Heather, both for hosting and for sharing your delicious recipes!

Baked Rice (based on a recipe from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook)

1/3 cup chopped onion (though I use anywhere up to a whole onion)
2 Tbsp margarine/veg oil
1 cup rice
2 cups water
2 veggie bouillon cubes
chopped mushrooms and/or bell peppers (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375F. Saute the onion in the margarine about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir, cooking just long enough to coat it - about 2 or 3 minutes. Pour in the water, bring to a boil, stir in the bouillon cubes, dissolve, and mix well. Turn into a 1-quart casserole, cover, and bake for 30 minutes.

This dish is easily doubled.


Amazing Vegan Cheesecake (from vegweb)

Crust:
16 vegan graham crackers
1/4 cup margarine
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon flour

Filling:
16 oz. (2 tubs) vegan cream cheese
1/3 cup raw sugar or fructose
4 EnerG egg substitute eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
juice from one lemon (optional)

Directions:

Crust: Mush firmly with fingers and press into spring form pan

Filling: Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Pour on top of crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until set.

Note from Heather: this definitely did not turn out right for the potluck. I forgot the Egg Replacer and that made a big difference. Normally very delicious and I often serve it to non-vegans. Also, for the crust, I often just mash up some cookies, like gingersnaps, since it is hard to find graham crackers without honey.

Note from Tamara: If you're lazy like me, you can buy vegan graham cracker crusts pre-made at the natural foods store. I think I actually scored a few recently at Grocery Outlet as well.


Fava Bean Dip

Ingredients:
1 bog frozen fava beans
1 onion
Olive oil
Salt

Directions:
1. Cook the fava beans according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Chop the onion. Saute in olive oil with high heat for a few minutes. Continue to sauté until onion is soft and then begins to caramelize. Stir frequently.
3. Blend onions and fava beans. Salt to taste.


Creamy Broccoli Soup

vegetable oil
3 onions, chopped
chopped vegetables for broth (I used one carrot and two celery stalks)
4 big broccoli heads, cut into large florets
soy milk
1 package tofu (aseptic package kind)

1. Saute in olive oil with high heat for a few minutes. Continue to sauté until onion is soft and then begins to caramelize. Stir frequently. Set aside.

2. While onion is sauteing, saute vegetables in just a little oil for a few minutes. Add broccoli and saute for another couple of minutes.

3. Add soymilk until most of the vegetables are covered. Cook gently until vegetables are soft.

4. Blend together the vegetables and the onion, adding the soymilk and tofu until you are happy with the taste and consistency. Salt to taste.

Yummy dip

(originally posted at McFarland Designs' blog)

I tweaked Bella's original apple dip recipe today and I like the results... give it a try!

Creamy Peanut Butter Dip

1 block firm silken tofu (I used 'lite')
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Cover, chill, and serve with sliced apples for dipping. Enjoy!

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part Four

(originally posted at McFarland Designs' blog)

Here it is, the fourth and final post in my 'Making Responsible Food Choices' series. I hope I've been able to shed some light on the ethical problems that go along with some common vegan foods, as well as provide some solutions. In case you missed them, feel free to check out parts one, two, and three.

Today I'm going to discuss palm oil, a substance often found in crackers, pastries, cereals, and microwave popcorn. Keebler, Oreo, Mrs. Fields, Pepperidge Farm and other companies use palm oil in some of their cookies. Of particular interest to vegans, palm oil is a major ingredient in our beloved Earth Balance buttery spread.

According to a report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), "Though not as unhealthy as partially hydrogenated oil, palm oil still promotes heart disease." Going beyond palm oil's consequences at the individual health level, the cultivation of oil palm is a major factor in the destruction of the rainforests in Southeast Asia. These rapidly shrinking forests are home to the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, Asian elephant, and Sumatran rhinoceros. CSPI reports "Each of those species is endangered, with the three eponymous Sumatran species critically endangered. They once flourished in precisely those areas where rainforests have since been cleared for oil palm."


Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas has been studying orangutans in Indonesia for nearly forty years. According to a recent AP report, "the red apes she studies in Indonesia are on the verge of extinction because forests are being clear-cut and burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations." Galdikas has established a non-profit to help protect these threatened animals - Orangutan Foundation International - and has published an autobiography detailing her many years working with these amazing creatures.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any fair-trade, environmentally-friendly versions of palm oil, so the best solutions I can think of are as follows:

1. Contact companies whose products contain palm oil and let them know that you support the elimination of palm oil from their food lineup. (You can start with Earth Balance!)

2. Reduce or eliminate your use of palm oil. Personally, since coming across this disturbing information, I've been able to drastically reduce my consumption of Earth Balance (probably a good thing for my figure too!) - there are a lot of ways I used to use it that were easy to give up... jam instead of butter on toast, always using olive or canola oil for sauteing rather than Earth Balance, and choosing recipes for baked goods that call for non-palm-oil fats, to name a few (be careful though, and be sure to actually check the label - the other day I thought, 'oh, I'll use non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening instead of EB for these cookies,' but when I checked the shortening label, it was 100% palm oil!!! Eek.)

If anyone else has suggestions for ways that we can advocate to end the habitat destruction currently taking place for the sake of our collective palates, please post 'em here!

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part Three

(originally posted at McFarland Designs' blog)

This here is the third installment in my four-part series* examining the ethical issues surrounding a few vegetarian diet staples. Today's subject is rice.

* In case you missed them, you might want to read part one and part two first.


While most of the white and brown rice we eat in the US is grown domestically, the majority of the aromatics, such as basmati and jasmine, are grown in Thailand, India, and Pakistan. It is mainly harvested by hand on small farms in rural communities. These small-scale growers are at the mercy of a volatile market and are often exploited by middle merchants, who frequently underpay the farmers.

In addition, profits for these small family farmers are diminishing due to the use of expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are also, not surprisingly, adversely affecting workers' health as well as polluting the water and eroding the topsoil of these rural communities.

If this topic interests you and you'd like to learn more, you can read more about the issues surrounding fair trade rice here.

So as I mentioned before in the case of bananas and chocolate, the solution to these problems lies in supporting the growing fair trade market. You can buy fair trade rice online or find it at your local natural foods store.


I'd like to take a moment to discuss what you can do if your local store doesn't carry the fair trade products you seek, so this applies equally to rice, chocolate, bananas, and a whole score of products with growing fair trade availability. Personally, I spend a fair amount of time (and money) at our local natural foods store, and I make an effort to be friendly with the people who work there. They are generally a nice bunch of people who care, like I do, about eating responsibly, and in my experience, they are very open to stocking new products to meet customer demand. The key is to take the legwork out of it for them; find the product you want them to carry (the specific product, brand and all, not just a general idea), print out the name of the product and the details of how the store can contact the company who distributes the product, then pass this information on to a manager at the store, either in person or with a hand-written note explaining why you would like to see it in their store. Only through customer requests like these will stores learn what is important to us, and by helping to bring these fair trade options to the grocery store shelves, we can expose many other shoppers to the choices that exist for eating in a way that supports humane ways of life on this earth.

This post wraps up the information I wanted to share from the 'Food, Inc.' article in the Jan-Feb '09 issue of VegNews magazine. This is an excellent article that goes into more detail than I have provided here, so if it's something you care about, I highly recommend getting your hands on this magazine, or better yet, subscribing. (They just added a tree-free subscription option, so you can get all the good stuff without wasting paper - hooray!)

Stay tuned for one final installment in this series on making responsible food choices within the framework of a veg*n diet...