Vegan's Chronicles

Staying dry and being productive

Looks like we're heading into a rather wet weekend! It's been rainy all day and I've just been hibernating indoors. One might think that the weather is making me gloomy, but I'm actually really enjoying being a homebody today and just listening to rain pitter patter outside. I've also been keeping myself busy with baking and painting! I even finally got around to filing my taxes, which I've been putting off for ages. I feel so productive... . :P

Breakfast today: corn muffins!

Corn muffins

I used this recipe from vegweb.com and only made a few modifications such as using room temperature water, instead of warm water. The recipe calls for Ener-G egg replacer, but if you don't have Ener-G, I'm sure you could replace it with 1 Tbs of ground flax meal. I brought the Ener-G egg replacer back with me from the US years ago when I first started vegan baking and thought it was an essential ingredient. Well, it has been sitting in my pantry all this time and I rarely use it, but every once in a while, I'll bust it out just to see what it can do.

Corn muffins

Cornbread Muffins (slightly adapted from this recipe)
Makes 8 muffins

{ Ingredients }

1 tablespoon vinegar (I used brown rice vinegar)
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 cup cornmeal (I used fine-ground)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon EnerG egg replacer powder (do not premix with water)
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water

{ Method }

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper cups.
2. Add vinegar to measuring cup, and fill with milk to 1 1/2 cups to make "buttermilk."
3. Sift together all dry ingredients and mix til incorporated.
4. Pour the oil, the "buttermilk", and the water into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. The batter should be somewhat thin and puffy (the leavening agents should really be working).
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake in oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Corn muffins

Perhaps it was because I used fine ground cornmeal, rather than medium, but these muffins came out verrry moist. Almost a little too moist. I probably could've baked them for about 5 minutes more, but I didn't want the tops to brown any further in my convection oven. It also would've been nice to add some actual corn in there for texture variety. Anyway, they tasted delicious and can't wait to make them again.

And here's a peek at what I painted today:

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Have a great Friday, everyone!

PS! I just realized that I've reached 300 Google followers!!!!! :) Holy ddong~~~~ Kevin is the lucky 300th follower, and I actually know him! (A very nice guy and a tireless animal rights advocate.) Yayyy!