Bananas 4 this frozen treat

Yumumum.

Roast some bananas (I used 4 smallish ones) for thirty minutes in the oven. They should be cut into bananaslices, and placed on parchment paper. The oven should already be 400F by they time they hop on in there.

Then let them cool, pop them in the freezer, and blend them when frozen! Eat them right away. It's a very filling snack, so share with friends.



See here for the origin of this wonder.
-Anna

Muffin in the Rough

Muffin went for a hike and found a maze. Actually there were two kinds of muffins. Muffins with just raisins (à la recette) and muffins with goozed banana, blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry.



These are moist and the best bran so far. And they're rugged!


-Amanda

The Muffin Cup Conundrum

Wrapper versus naked? Naked is difficult to remove, but paper means a lot of the muffin outer layer is left clinging... I think in the end the extra effort is worth it to get the whole muffin.



These are my third batch in my search for the perfect bran muffin. More bran-y than the last. These call for wheat bran--of which I bought a HUGE bag. They're not as sturdy as the first though. But I I got the right portion of fruit finally!

I adapted the recipe from here, except I
a) Zested a huge orange and put that all in: reminds me of fruit cake for some reason.
b) Used a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice instead of the recommended pinches of cardamom, all spice, and cinnamon.
c)Uped the apple sauce to 1/2 a cup instead of 1/4.
d)Used splenda instead of regular sugar.
e) Added a banana that was going bad.
f) Added maybe 3/4-1 cup of fresh blueberries.
g) Used only maybe 2 teaspoons of oil.
h) Used skim clabbered milk, instead of low-fat buttermilk.
i) Used almond extract instead of vanilla.

I would say more almond extract and maybe to make it sturdier add flax seed?

And I think this is a good song for them in the morning, it especially complements the tartness of the cranberries.
Anna made a few of these in her pixie muffin pan, yummy. They bled and it was beautiful.



Countdown to True Blood?

-Amanda

Brighter Bran

Banana Berry Bran Muffins



So this bran is a little bit lighter, maybe it's because it's oat bran instead of wheat. These are simpler to make than the other bran muffins, a bit less interesting. Again, I should have put more fruit, maybe some spices too.. I wonder what would be good to put in a banana berry bran muffin, ginger? Cardamom? Cinnamon is over-used, nutmeg, allspice, or cloves, would have been too much...Oooh maybe almond extract?

Here's the original recipe. You could nibble listening to this song.



-Amanda

Getting Up Close and Personal with Bran

If I had to choose two foods to live on for the rest of my life they would be greek yogurt and bran muffins. Some people don't like bran muffins--they are unenlightened.



But until last week, I'd actually never made them myself. If you live in L.a. I recommend Zen Bakery's vegan line. The cranberry (not dried!), blueberry, mango are incredible.

I found this recipe here.

{Their blog entry is funny-read it!)
Except, I
a) Doubled the recipe--yay more bran!
b)Used skim milk instead of soy or low fat.
c) Put in extra orange zest--good call, I recommend!
d)Put in dates instead of raisins, but only half the amount called for.
e)Added frozen cranberries.
f)Used almonds instead of walnuts but only a few tablespoons.
g)Added some chopped strawberries that were going bad.



I would say next time--more fruit and less honey. There was wayway too much honey. Any vegan would have cried. Well they wouldn't have touched it in the first place thanks to the eggs or milk, but regardless. I would say halve the amount of honey.



Also they would go well with this song.. Actually, I don't know what wouldn't go well with bran, or this song.
Enjoy!
-Amanda

Okrasaurus

I don't like shopping lists. I like going to the store (Berkeley Bowl mmmm) and figuring out what's going to happen inside my stomach for the next week or two once I actually get there. So last week I settled on a little crop of okra, and a small bunch of dinosaur kale. I tried making Bhindi Bhaji (http://www.indianfoodforever.com/vegetables/bhindi-bhaji.html) but I won't put up my own altered recipe for it until I'm happier with the result. Here's some okra though! I ate it all.



And I made some kale chips (see Amanda's recipe for chard chips a few posts down) with the dinosaur kale. With some freshly ground garlic chips and sea salt. Mm mm mmm.



I got thirsty, so I made a quick banana shake (banana + ice + milk + blender, wapoosh!) This got me discussing ice with a friend who went through a rough patch where her dependence on the stuff was just a little too much for her to handle. One fine afternoon, we made ourselves a snack of ice, pudding, and chocolate fudge. Best meal I've ever had. It is worth it to face the gates of Porter Ranch just to have Angela (aforementioned friend) make you a glass of that fine concoction. And she's promised to make me my first Orange Julius over the summer!

And yes, I did just redo the layout. That is my tongue you are staring at. Four times. I hope Amanda likes it, this will be news to her.

-Anna

Where's Walnut

Today I discovered the only thing better than ditching your first ochem lab lecture because you found out the bio lab that was supposed to follow was not happening. The nostril-warming aroma of freshly baked banana walnut muffin. Illuminated by a particularly resplendent flash of lightning.

What you'll need:

1 egg
1 big banana
1/2c olive oil
1c all purpose flour
1/2c brown sugar
1/2c buttermilk (I didn't have any, so I used fat free milk clabbered with some apple cider vinegar)
1/3c walnut pieces
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda


Preheat the oven to 400F. Line your muffin tin with muffin liners.

Beat together the oil and sugar, followed by the egg. Then the banana. This part was fun. I threw in chunks and watched the mixer devour them.

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder+soda. Alternate adding this and the buttermilk to the mixer bowl. I probably overmixed the dough, but I liked the fine texture of the muffins.

Stir in walnuts and vanilla.

Fill your muffin tin (I had more dough than could fit into 6 muffin holes, so I used one of my nice large goodwill cupcake container-shaped ramekins to make an oversized muffin.

These are supposed to bake for 20 minutes, but it took me a while longer. It should be nice and golden brown on top. But, as always, poke that guy with a toothpick and make sure that upon extracting your little wooden helper, he leaves your toothpick-touching finger nice and dry. I'm not sure how well I avoided being confusing right there in that sentence. Umm. That's alright.

Oh and, I don't like things that are too sweet, so this was not very sweet at all. Worked well for me. Actually a bit more sugar wouldn't have hurt. Maybe like an 1/8c of granulated. Goodbye.

-Anna




based on this recipe, halved.