Pumpkin Sweet Bread

A co-worker of mine, who shares my love of all things pumpkin, brought in a recipe for a sweet bread. The recipe she brought in wasn't vegan, but she said she thought maybe I could veganize it. Once I looked at it, I, too, thought that veganizing it would be easy. And it was! This is the kind of recipe when applesauce serves as the perfect egg substitute. The recipe can be used to make a loaf of bread or muffins; I made these on Thanksgiving, when baking time was a consideration, so I opted for muffins. These are really sweet and moist and fluffy, but the batter could be stretched to make 13 or 14 muffins, because some of the muffins in my dozen had serious muffin top.

You'll need:
1/2 C canola oil
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 C applesauce
1 C pumpkin
1/2 C water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. If you want to bake muffins, spoon batter into tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
5. If you want to bake a loaf of bread, pour batter into bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Beg-worthy Banana Bread

Safari and/or iPhoto is/are conspiring against me, because although iPhoto displays this picture properly rotated, it appears this way when I go to upload it. So forgive me, it's not my fault.

This is another yummy recipea from Peas and Thank You. I almost always have extra ripe bananas sitting around, and therefore am always looking for new ways to use them up. I mean, my freezer can store but so many frozen bananas. The almond butter and almond extract used in this recipe was a nice departure from my standard banana bread recipe. You can find an online reproduction of the recipe here!

If you're in the Baltimore area, don't forget about Vegtoberfest tomorrow afternoon! There will be live music, a variety of speakers/exhibitors, a chili cook-off, and of course lots of yummy vegan food. Leashed pets are permitted, too; I will definitely have Dakota in tow tomorrow, taking in the gorgeous weather and eating as much food as my jeans will allow.

Zucchini Bread

I picked up a couple of beautiful zucchini on my way home from the beach. I love zucchini in a variety of forms, but my favorite, hands down, is zucchini bread. When I saw the bins overflowing with zucchini, I knew what was on my to-do list for the week: make zucchini bread!

This recipe makes two loaves, so I either give away a loaf, or freeze half the batter. In light of being frugal while I'm unemployed this summer, I opted to freeze half the batter as muffins and save them for a later date when I might be broke. This recipe from Hell Yeah It's Vegan! is one I've used many times over, and the results are always perfect! 

Black Bean & Corn Soup with Fired-up Jalapeno Cornbread

Source: 1000 Vegan Recipes

For my birthday - over the summer, mind you - a good friend of mine gave me 1000 Vegan Recipes. New cookbooks incite a special kind of excitement, but this particular book also invoked a feeling not typically associated with recipe books: trepidation. One thousand recipes? Kind of intimidating. I didn't know where to start. I've made a few recipes over the months I've had it, but I hadn't really dug into it.

One day, I decided enough was enough. I felt foolish for letting the sheer size of the book deter me, but I also kind of felt like a jerk for not getting the most out of a very thoughtful gift from one of my favorite friends. Whether I was ready or not, I added 1000 Vegan Recipes into my regular rotation.

Given my newfound sense of determination, I first tackled Black Bean Soup. Mexican-inspired food is easily one of my favorites. I attribute this to my affinity for: beans of all kinds, corn, and spicy foods.

The soup turned out beautifully. I love everything about this soup: the colors, the texture, the flavor. I also whipped up a batch of the Jalapeno corn bread, which went with this soup perfectly.

The undeniable yumminess of the soup only adds to my feelings of foolishness and jerkfulness. Oh, well. You live and learn.