Vegan Muffin Love

Two of my favourite people have come together on a new project that I absolutely love! Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes not only paired up to write the tastiest (upcoming) vegan sandwich cookbook, they also decided to start up a new blogsite dedicated to Vegan Baketavism, called Vegan Muffins On The Move. Now, I can't say I'm sure that's a real word but I'm making it one now. They took this idea and invited Lisa and Gabrielle from Vegans On The Move to join in with them which makes it even better! This new blogsite encourages all of us to get baking, particularly muffins and share them with the world. I love this idea of sharing something vegan but less intimidating and showing everyone that vegan doesn't mean cardboard or tasteless. They are sharing recipes once a month to give you the motivation and hoping you will join in and share the vegan muffin deliciousness. The first recipe posted for Cinnacrunch Muffins is from Tamasin's book, American Vegan Kitchen. I have this book but will admit with testing my cookbooks can get ignored from time to time. I had never made these muffins but in the past month, I've made them twice...they're that good! I sent (most) of my first batch off with Ryan to work to share with his co-workers and everyone loved them. The next batch I made I didn't have the applesauce needed on hand but I did have some pumpkin so I just switcherooed it and they were delicious. The second batch I dropped off at a local charity bake sale/bazaar that was in support of a local animal rescue. Definitely check out this new site and get baking, show the world what vegan baking can taste like and share your experience with vegan living with someone else. And I totally can't wait to see what the next recipe will be!

All packed up, getting ready to shine for Ryan's co-workers!

My First Loveletter...to a condiment

I really love sauces. Call them what you like, condiments, dipping sauces, spreads, drizzles, reductions...I love them and I really don't eat anything without something! I found when I went vegan that as long as I could have the same sauce, it really didn't matter what it was on. I realized that even before I was vegan, I didn't love the steak part, I loved the sauce that came with it and the fried onions and mushrooms. I didn't love the chicken, I loved the spice rub on it and the side dishes. Once I figured that out, life got a lot easier. Most sauces or condiments rely on veggies or fruits for their flavour (think mushrooms, soy, garlic, shallots, tomatoes, etc.) and if not, some creative vegan out there has found a way to recreate it without it...trust me, vegans are wild when it comes to creativity in the kitchen!

This post though...it's all about one condiment that I have seriously fallen for. Let me introduce you to a favourite of mine, Cheezy Mayo from American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes! If you haven't had it, get ready because your world is about to change! It is super simple to make yet incredibly complex flavour wise. It is full of umami flavour that makes you go "Mmmm!". Around here we use it whenever we can find a reason to. It is especially good on burgers (even more so with sauteed mushrooms) and completely replaces the need for any cheese. It works awesome on hot dogs and you don't even need anything else with it. I love it on baked potatoes in lieu of sour cream with minced green onions. I have dipped broccoli in it and green beans too. And recently we tried it on a different kind of potato. This one was in the latest edition of Food Network Magazine in that little booklet in the middle. The whole booklet is about stuffed baked potatoes and alot of them are easily veganized. The first one I saw had sauteed mushrooms and onions with sour cream on top and I swear as I was saying it out loud to Ryan and started to utter "Cheezy mayo", Ryan smiled and said "I was just thinking that". Sometimes we have those moments...it's usually inner fat kid moments like that one! And oh boy were we right!! Like you need to go preheat your oven right now and bake a potato to try it kinda right. Tamasin is so kind that when I asked if I could share the recipe for Cheezy Mayo, she gave me the go ahead.

 

Cheezy Mayo

Recipe printed with permission from American Vegan Kitchen,

©2010 Tamasin Noyes.

Makes 1/3 cup

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon white miso paste

1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Properly stored, it will keep for up to 5 days.

For a delicious baked potato, like the one we had the other night just take 8oz thinly sliced mushrooms (any kind you like, I used cremini) and saute them in a little bit of olive oil until golden brown. Set those aside and saute one medium sized onion, halved and sliced real thin maybe adding another little bit of oil because those mushrooms most likely soaked it all up before. Once you get the onions slightly browned (that's where the yummy is), add the mushrooms back into the pan to get them hot again. Now take the baked potato and cut a slit across the top then squeeze the ends together to get that perfect baked potato you get at restaurants. (I'll be honest I make my mom squeeze them all for us since she has self-proclaimed asbestos hands) Top with a good scoop of the mushroom/onion mix then top with a dollop of the Cheezy Mayo. A little pepper wouldn't hurt either and ENJOY!

Here's a picture of mine to drool over until you make these!