Mason sampling the muffins.
These whole grain, wheat-free, sugar-free muffins are great ones to make ahead and freeze any surplus for breakfast on the go. This is another recipe that children can help with, and for small children, the mini-muffin size is a good choice. This recipe yields about 18 mini-muffins.
As a vehicle for blueberries (or other berries if you like), these muffins do not puff up as much as some muffins might, but are tasty and hearty. With whole grain oatmeal and no processed sugar added, two of these muffins make a filling breakfast for me. The frozen ones reheat very nicely in an oven or toaster oven at 325ºF for 15 to 20 minutes.
The flax and soymilk egg replacement mixture after about 15 minutes.
The ground flax seed soaked in soymilk is the egg replacement for this recipe. It’s egg-like consistency becomes apparent after in a few minutes of soaking. This mixture makes a good egg replacement for almost anything.
The oatmeal flour can be ground from old fashioned oats in a blender or coffee grinder if you don’t have oatmeal flour on hand.
Coating the blueberries with the dry ingredients before stirring in wet mixture helps to keep them separate in the muffins.
As with all muffins, to avoid a tough finished product, the batter requires only a few strokes to bring it together. If cooking with children, you might want to oversee this part. Little hands can also help oil the muffin tins and load the batter in.
Coating the blueberries with the dry ingredients.
Filling the muffin tins.
Vegan Oatmeal Blueberry Breakfast Muffins
Yield: 9 regular size muffins or 18 minis
¾ cup soymilk, ricemilk, or almondmilk
¼ cup ground flax seed
½ cup applesauce or pearsauce
1 1/3 cups old fashioned oatmeal flour (ground from 1 ½ cups old fashioned oatmeal)
½ tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup blueberries
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Let the ground flax seed soak in the soymilk while measuring the other ingredients. Spray or spread oil in nine spaces in a regular muffin tin or line them with paper cups. Fill nine muffin spaces, and bake 20 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Let them cool for a few minutes before trying to remove them.
Muffins cooling in the tin.
February 28, 2010
As much as possible I like to eat either what I can grow or find locally. There occasionally comes a time in the middle of winter when I give in to the less green options, especially when the pineapples start showing up from Central America, and the oranges and pomegranates are harvested in Southern California. So for a special treat recently with snow on the ground the icicles falling, Mason and I put together a colorful winter fruit ambrosia. His small hands were quite adept at separating the pomegranate seeds from their membranes after I opened it up for him. After slicing off the top off a pomegranate, you can usually see it has five sections separated by membranes that can be slit down with a knife and pulled open for easy access. If you can’t find a pomegranate, dried cranberries are a good substitute.
For chunks from a fresh pineapple, slice off about ½ inch of the top and bottom, then stand the fruit upright. Using a flexible, serrated knife, slice off the skin following the curve of the pineapple, cutting off as many of the dark brown eyes as possible with each downward slice and leaving as much fruit as possible. (You can always nibble out any good bits left attached to the removed skin). If you don’t get all the eyes with the first cutting, a shallow “V” cut can be made diagonally around the pineapple following the pattern of the eyes to lift them out. For pineapple chunks, cut the whole pineapple lengthwise into quarters, slice out the core, and chop into chunks.
We added fresh organic navel orange chunks and slices of a banana to the bowl along with some unsweetened shredded coconut, plus a touch of almond extract. The juices from the fresh fruit dress the mixture. This is definitely kid friendly food, as illustrated below. Mason has a pomegranate juice beard.
Mason mixing the Winter Fruit Ambrosia.
Winter Fruit Ambrosia
Yield: 8 to 10 cups
2 oranges, peeled and chopped
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
1 banana, sliced
1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
This makes a wonderful winter fruit treat since all these fruits should be easy to find seasonally in a supermarket. It can be made a day ahead without the banana, which can be sliced and added upon serving. Serve as a salad, snack, or dessert.
Sampling the Ambrosia.
February 1, 2010
