Vegan Date Bread

Old growth forest interrupted by creeks and waterfalls. Lush ferns in the undergrowth, the sighting of a some vividly colored snakes and spectacular views of the Columbia river. And just ninety minutes from the suburbs. I do feel lucky to live in Portland. The hike to Angel's  Rest in the Columbia Gorge is perfect for families with young kids. The terrain is interesting and you can make the hike short (2.3 miles each way) or as long as you like by combining it with Horse Tail falls and Wahkeena falls to form a loop.  The hike is mainly in the shade except for a couple of patches and the ledge at Angels Point is perfect for lunch break. It is at a high point and offers vast view of the Columbia River. 

Food for the soul satisfied- this date bread satisfied food for the body. Studded with plumped dates, it is perfectly moist and not too sweet a. Perfect for snacking or toasted  with a dab of vegan butter.

Vegan Date Bread (slightly adapted from Ann Arbor Vegan Kitchen)

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup applesauce ( 4ounces)

2 tbsp Earth balance

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups chopped dates

1 cup very warm soy or almond milk

Preheat oven to  350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan.

• Heat the milk until it is hot and pour it over the chopped dates and allow to soak for 15- 20 minutes.
• Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.
•  In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, Earth balance, and applesauce together until it becomes creamy. Add the vanilla and whisk once more.
• Pour the liquid ingredients and the dates along with the milk into the dry ingredients and fold in with a spatula. 

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan,and bake @ 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and invert the bread onto a cooling rack. Cool completely and then cut into slices.
Keep well wrapped at room temperature for 3 days. 

Cardamom chocolate chip banana muffins

Whenever there are a bunch of bananas in the fruit bowl,  I secretly hope that no one will eat them. I will them to ripen and soften and get speckled with brown spots - because now there is an excuse to make banana bread. This is my favorite; especially since the bananas lend themselves so favorably to vegan baking. I promise you no one will be even able to tell that it is vegan and relatively low fat. These muffins fill your house with a heavenly scent as they are cooking up.

adapted from Jolinda Hackett's recipe

2 cups all purpose flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cardamom powder

1/4 c oil

1 cup brown sugar

3 large ripe bananas

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350deg.  Grease your mini muffin pan and two mini loaf pans (or line it with baking liners).

Measure the first five ingredients into a small bowl and mix lightly to remove any lumps.

Measure the brown sugar into a large bowl. Mash the bananas into the bowl using a fork. Add the oil to the bowl. Mix the ingredients with a handheld whisk or wooden spoon until completely smooth.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two batches. If your batter looks a little stiff, mash in an additional banana. If you don't have an additional banana, add a 1/4 cup of warm non dairy milk. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the mini muffin tin till about 3/4 full. I usually have a little left over and I bake them into a couple of mini loaves for the kids. Or you could try to bake this in a regular muffin tin,

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer in the center of the muffin( in a chocolate chip free zone) comes out clean.  Remove from oven. Cool for 5 minutes in tin and then on a wire rack.  Eat while still a little warm. These muffins taste real good the next day, toasted lightly in a toaster oven.

Applesauce muffins

Winter came to Portland late this year, we had the threat of snow and then rain, glorious rain. The weather was the perfect excuse to bake up these muffins.  There are very few things that I bake that are edible and this is one of them.
I adapted this from a recipe I found on Recipe Source.  In 2001 when there were not that many blogs around, this was my go to source for all recipes.This is a fat free recipe, but my version had 1/2 c of oil.
If you do try the fat free version, please let me know how it turns out.

The recipe with our minor tweaks. This made 12 standard muffins and 2 mini loaves.

2 cups flour 
1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch
 2 teaspoons baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp tea masala

1 tsp ground ginger

16 ounces aplesauce (use a liquid measuring cup)

1/2 c of oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees  and line a muffin tray with muffin cup liners. Mix dry ingredients together. 

Beat the applesauce and the oil together until frothy. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Combine just until well mixed.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Pancakes for breakfast

When we turned vegan, the quest for the perfect vegan pancake recipe took on a life of its own. The first version we tried was substituting the eggs with egg re-placer. We tried versions with applesauce. We tried a version with tofu. We tried increasing the baking soda. Many trials and errors later the wonderful father of my children hit upon this winning recipe for a pancake mix. We wrote it down on the storage jar with permanent marker.
Dry ingredients
 2 cups flour
2 tbsps baking powder
2 tsps sugar
1 tsp cinamon

Now what you do is mix the dry ingredients in a storage jar with a lid, double it triple it quadruple it. Close the lid and give it a good shake.
Then for every cup of this mix you add:

1 cup non dairy milk
2 tbsps melted butter (Earth Balance)
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp water.

We were very happy with this recipe for the longest time. But the pancakes were not fluffy, they were not light and airy.

More research... and then I came across this posting and I can confidently say we are not messing with this recipe for a long time to come.
We added a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the liquid ingredients. Add the vinegar to the milk and let sit till the milk curdles.
And then we swapped the oil and the water for more butter.

1 cup non dairy milk warmed in the microwave
1 tsp apple cider vinegar.
2  3 tbsps melted butter (Earth Balance or similar)
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp water.


And then we decided that pancakes are a treat and now we make them with all purpose flour.

If you are wondering, the preferred way to eat these pancakes is with

•  syrup(maple or agave nectar) 
• powdered sugar
• a side of fruit

and if you are feeling especially indulgent some mango sorbet.