Friday, March 02, 2007

Not-So-Supersized Muffins

I make steel cut oats in a little mini slow cooker every day for breakfast, and one day, I decided to make extra and put a few cooked oats aside to make some muffins. I was craving an apple-oatmeal-style muffin - one like the fluffy, oversized versions I used to get from muffin stores in the mall food court, but obviously vegan.

I came up with a tasty recipe that incorporated the cooked steel cut oats, applesauce, uncooked rolled oats, walnuts and other tasty goodies. They had the same texture and taste I was craving, but I was hoping for something bigger that would 'spill' out of the tin and make a typical shape with a muffin top. So I'll have to revise my quantities, and will post the recipe once I've perfected it.


I also tried another VT recipe, this time, from March 2007's issue. I've found that VT has been pretty vegan-friendly lately, so I've been making quite a bit of stuff from there lately. Last night, I made the Israeli Couscous with Shiitakes. I made some modifications, as I couldn't find Israeli couscous at Loblaws for the life of me. Of course, when I got home, I re-read the recipe after spending an extra 20 minutes on that task, and discovered that I could have used orzo instead. Argh...

Anyways, I made this without the chile and chives, used corn instead of peas, and used 4 cups of veggie stock instead of the 6 cups of broth that were called for. The recipe also called for tarragon, a fresh herb that I can't say I've ever tried before. I found it smelled like licorice, and it actually gave the dish a great flavour. Although it took a lot of time to stir in the stock like I was making risotto, I would make this again, with chickpeas or seitan chunks for extra protein.


7 comments:

Amey said...

ooh! The orzo looks tasty! Good idea to add in some chickpeas. I really like the orzo shape, and haven't had it in a while. fun idea!
:)

Sheree' said...

I can't wait for your muffin recipe they look great. Can you email me how to make your steel cut oats in a slow cooker? shereeb@cox.net That would be awesome.

Your couscous looks great. I will have to check out VT again.

Sheree' said...

oops, Sorry your orzo looks great. I just found Isreal Couscous for the first time at Whole Foods.

bazu said...

Oh, I would love to see your recipe- I've been loving oat muffins lately and I'd love an excuse to use up some applesauce!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

As for the muffin recipe - I will post as soon as I can type it up!

Veg-a-nut: I use a little mini slow cooker, and for a single serving, I use 1/4 cup steel cut oats with 1 cup of water (for two servings, I use 1/2 cup SCO, with about 1 3/4 cups water). I turn to Low, and cook overnight (8 hours). In the morning, I top with frozen raspberries, walnuts, hemp seeds, maple syrup and soymilk. Yum!

The pot would be a little hard to clean, but I soak it all day, and the oats come off easy by the time I get home.

Kati said...

Ooh those muffins look great. I need a recipe to use up this big jar of applesauce I have since I don't like it by itself...I only bought it to bake with.

Annelie said...

Your muffins inspired me to make my own! This is how they turned out:
Applemuffins
. I didn't follow your recipe exactly but they turned out good anyway. Thanks for the inspiration!