Roasted Asparagus ready for noshing.
The asparagus is starting to come up and I am ready. My favorite way to eat asparagus is to snap it off and eat it raw, grazing in the garden. My next favorite way it to roast it. Roasting does an excellent job of reviving supermarket asparagus. It can be roasted plain, just rolled in a little olive oil with a sprinkle of salt, or add some pressed garlic and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice. So simple, and so good. Serve as an appetizer, vegetable, snack, or in salad.
Roasted Asparagus
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
1 pound fresh asparagus
1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sprinkle of salt
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced (optional)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or lemon juice (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Rinse the asparagus. Break the tough ends of the asparagus by holding the stalk gently by both ends and bending until it breaks and discard the tough end. Alternatively, peel the tougher bottom end of the asparagus with a peeler down to a more tender level.
Lay the prepared asparagus in a single layer on a dark roasting pan and sprinkle with the olive oil. Roll the spears back and forth over the pan until they are evenly coated with the oil. Sprinkle with salt and the optional garlic and/or vinegar or lemon juice. Roll the spears again to distribute all evenly.
Asparagus in the pan ready to roast.
Roast in the oven 8 to 10 minutes, depending on how thick the spears are, until just tender when pierced with a fork.
April 28, 2010
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
