Hippie Muffins

With a New Year starting tomorrow after a holiday season of celebrating with lots of food and drinks, a lot of people are planning to eat healthier and drop a few pounds, myself included. I know that one of my down falls is not eating enough or any breakfast, then later when I'm starving, stuffing myself with whatever's handy.

These muffins, easily made vegan by substituting soy milk, provide a good punch of fiber and protein to keep me full, and add some fruit and a little bit of healthy fat to my diet. Plus, they actually taste good, particularly with a little dab of butter or almond butter I made in the last post.

Hippie Muffins

1 1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 mashed bananas
1/3 cup applesauce
1 cup dried fruit in bite size pieces (cut up peaches for this batch)
1/2 cup nut pieces (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 400 F and grease or line a muffin pan.
Add lemon juice to milk, and set aside to curdle while mixing other ingredients.
Mix flour, oatmeal, zest, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon thoroughly. Stir in bananas & applesauce, then milk and finally fold in dried fruit and nuts.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 18 min or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins, for roughly 200 cal apiece, if you like to count.

Fruit Quest

I'm still on a quest to actually liking fruit, or at least get more of it in my diet. Since my C.S.A. here is a grab bag, and I live in the agricultural center of the U.S., it tends to come with a fair amount of fruit. This past week included half a dozen Asian pears.

Now, I am giving eating fresh, unadulterated fruit a chance. After all, if it's fresh, organic and local, it's probably the best circumstances for me to like it, right? Well, Asian pears weren't my bag. The skin was so bitter and the texture horrible to me. But I did like the flavor of the pear itself, which I consider an excellent start. Googling poached pears, looking through my pantries, and some experimenting led me to these ginger poached pears. I suppose you could have them over ice cream, or as is for dessert. I personally have been eating them over granola and plain yogurt for breakfast. And of course, the sugar and ginger can be adjusted to your own tastes. I didn't add very much since I wanted this to be less of a dessert, but added more ginger because I like the kick, and it would cover any "yuckiness." Yup, I'm real mature about fruit. Someday you should ask me about dried apricots.

Ginger Poached Pears
6 pears, peeled, cored, sliced
2 inches fresh ginger, diced OR 1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups water

Bring ginger, sugar and water to a boil. Add pears, and allow to simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, or until tender.

Serves 6.

Fruit

I have a confession to make. I'm a very bad vegetarian.

You see, I love to say I eat a balanced diet. I eat tons of produce and dairy from my CSA and other local farms. But, the produce I choose is decidedly one sided, because...

I don't like fruit.

Oh, I'll eat apples, grapes and Craisins, have a piece of watermelon on the 4th of July, maybe even try a slice or two of fruit pies. I was even trying to adapt to citrus; oranges and grapefruits are pretty universally liked after all, but it turns out I have a food sensitivity. Other than that, it's a no go. Bananas, peaches, kiwis, even strawberries all make me go eww. And shockingly enough, despite my willingness to eat both grapes and dried cranberries, I can't stand raisins.

Why? I'm not entirely sure. I am big on texture, and I don't care for anything smooshy, grainy or with little seeds. Also, I have a terrific sweet tooth, I much prefer richness to just plain sugar. Offer me sugary candy like Starbursts, Sweet Tarts, etc, and I will turn you down every time.

Now I'm making a concerted effort to try fruit. Right now it's the beginning of strawberry season, and they look so pretty. So far I've blended them in smoothies (takes care of texture issues, yogurt adds a little fat, sugar takes the tart edge off) and made a cobbler of sorts. But I'd like to eventually enjoy fruit without masking it. Any advice?



Strawberry Breakfast Bake

4 cups strawberries, washed, hulled, halved
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 1/4 cups biscuit mix (I like Bisquick, trans fats and all)
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 F.
Mix strawberries, sugar and flour in the bottom of a pie pan.
Mix biscuit mix and milk in separate bowl.
Spoon dough on top of strawberry mix, and spread relatively evenly.
Bake for 20 min, until golden brown on top.

Serves 8. The Cajun likes this warm with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. I have it in the morning with a glass of cold milk for a semi-nutritionally balanced start to my day.