Small Batch Vegan Banana Bread

I love baking. And eating baked goodies. But living in a small household spells trouble when I pull out the loaf pans and announce my desire to bake. Especially when that desire is for banana bread, since I am the only one at home who likes banana in my baked goods. So I played with a variety of recipes and tweaked a combination of a couple in order to create this small-batch vegan banana bread. It made two mini loaf pans which meant one to enjoy and one to share!

In order to get the breakfast (dessert?) I shared in the picture, just cube up one half of a mini loaf of banana bread and served it over some grilled pineapple spears with a dollop of your favorite dairy or non-dairy yogurt.

Small-Batch Vegan Banana Bread
(makes two mini loaves)
2 2/3 tbsp brown sugar, loose
2 2/3 tbsp white sugar
2 2/3 tbsp Earth Balance Vegan buttery spread (or your margarine of choice)
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 1/3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk mixed with 1/3 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/10 tsp baking soda (you can use 1/8 of a tsp but it has a slight after taste, in my opinion)
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two small loaf pans and set aside.

Mix flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside.

Cream sugars and margarine together. Add banana, almond milk mixture, and vanilla. Mix until blended.

Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture until it has been combined.

Pour into loaf pans and bake for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven (mine took 45 minutes but a friend who tried it said it took about an hour in her oven). You want the bread firm with a toothpick coming out clean, but you want to prevent it from drying out.

Using Weight Watchers PointPlus, this recipe comes out to 6 PP per 1/4 of the recipe.

Cinnaholic: Cinnamon Roll Addiction Defined

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cinnamon Roll from Cinnaholic

There is something about the smell of a fresh baked cinnamon roll that relaxes the soul and brings a smile to the face of this exhausted debate teacher. After teaching every day for seven days straight and listening to numerous debates about space exploration, I needed a dosing of dessert. Consulting Yelp for assistance in my quest, Cinnaholic stood out as a must-hit after reading rave reviews and scoping out the Yelp-mobile special offer.

Located in Berkeley, at the base of the Cal campus, Cinnaholic offers some of the best tasting cinnamon rolls that have graced these lips. Colleagues who have had the opportunity to dine with me this weekend, were also surprised to learn that everything at Cinnaholic is vegan! And there are a lot of ways to customize these fabulous treats.

You can order the basic roll and top it with a variety of icings and toppings to make your own fun combinations. My first roll was topped with a hazelnut icing which complimented the subtle cinnamon notes and doughy goodness, packing a full-flavor punch. I polished that first roll off in a matter of minutes! No, seriously, while my colleague waited for his roll to bake (they really do make them fresh for you) I managed to polish mine off and even contemplated licking the box. Note that if you have the Yelp mobile app and check-in at Cinnaholic, they currently have an offer for a free icing or topping!

The toppings are also quite fabulous. I ordered a specialty roll today which included several of the toppings off the menu. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough roll has icing, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, and a vegan cookie dough on top. The toppings melt into the roll making each sweet doughy bite a flavor explosion of cookie and cinnamon roll. This roll was so rich, I could only finish half of it in one sitting and am saving the rest for late night snacking. The specialty menu also includes some other flavors I can't want to nosh on like Mocha Almond and Rocky Road.

In addition to the basic roll, the design-it-yourself options, and the specialty rolls, Cinnaholic also has Specialty Pie Rolls complete with a brown sugar & oatmeal crumble on top. And if you can't finish off the full size roll, there are Baby Buns (mini versions of the full-size rolls), cookies, and brownies. And if you only want a bit of sugar, you can buy frosting by the shot!

Make sure you grab a frequent punch card, even if you think you will only have one roll. After one bite, you will be back again and again for more!

Can't make it to Berkeley to enjoy the goodness? After scoping out their Web site, I learned that you can also order Cinnaholic products online! However, if you can get out to the East Bay, Cinnaholic is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday (closed on Mondays) at 2132 Oxford Street.

Vegan Zucchini Walnut Muffins

Zucchini Walnut Muffin

***Before you read about these moist, delicious, healthy muffins -- Project Food Blog Challenge Two is open for voting! Please take a minute to vote for Uncovering Food. Voting closes September 30 at 5pm PST***

Whenever I go to Starbucks (which is more often than most), I long for the baked pastries in the glass cases to pair with my iced soy latte. But alas, I know how bad those baked goodie are for me, which is why I was happy to find a recipe for Zucchini bread in Breaking the Food Seduction that I modified into portable breakfasts, snacks and desserts. These muffins are sweet without being loaded with processed sugars and now is a perfect time to make them and take the October: Unprocessed pledge at Eating Rules. You will read more about this from me over the coming month, but I encourage you to join the movement to eat only unprocessed foods in October. You can find out more by clicking the image below.

Zucchini Walnut Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (approximately one large squash)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup all-natural concentrated apple juice, thawed
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp organic canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12 muffin tins with cooking spray (I used a Chicago Metallic Pretty Pansy muffin tin that I got at the International Food Bloggers Conference). Whisk flour, baing powder, baking soda, cinnamon, chili powder, and cloves together in a bowl. In a seperate bowl mix zucchini, applesauce, apple juice, maple syrup, canola oil, and vanilla extract together.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together, be careful to mix only until batter is blended and evenly moist. Fold in walnuts. Pour into muffins tins. Bake muffins for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. You will know they are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove muffins from tin to cool. Wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

Each muffin contains 130 calories, 5 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein.

Sweet Treats on the Street! SF Street Food Festival Part 2

It was so hot out today that I was craving a sweet cold treat. Which meant changing up the posts and sharing the desserts before the main courses that I got the opportunity to try on Saturday at the San Francisco Street Food Festival put together by La Cocina. Because looking at a glorious scoop of ice cream is almost as good as the real thing... almost....

Three Twins Ice Cream was serving up two of their popular flavors on Saturday and I was able to try a cup of the lemon cookie flavor. With giant chunks of lemon cookies that reminded me of snack time in elementary school, this ice cream brought back whimsical memories with a refined flavor and fabulous texture. I can still taste it when I close my eyes!

If you live in the area or maybe will be visiting this year, Three Twins has a fabulous package that they are auctioning off to support La Cocina. You should bid on it, win it, and then invite your favorite Uncovering Food blogger, okay? The auction closes on August 26 so get those bids in!

There were lots of beverages available during the festival and unfortunately by the time I was ready to start trying some of them, the lines were growing. I secretly wished there was a beverage express line! However, I did manage to snag a drink that I had never heard of before. Bissap, served up by Purple Hibiscus, is the national drink of Senegal and is a hibiscus vanilla drink that is sweet without being overly sugary. A light and refreshing cleanser, I need to find a way to make this at home! A business that is working with La Cocina, Purple Hibiscus made their first public appearance at the festival, and I am certain they are on a path to success!

I love ice cream, so when I saw a balsamic-strawberry ice cream sandwich on homemade sugar cookies being sold by Bi-Rite Creamery, I just had to try it. My coworker who loves balsamic would be jealous to learn how the balance of flavors allowed the celebration of balsamic to merge with the sweet strawberries in an ice cream that wasn't overly sweet. The cookies brought the sweetness to this portable street dessert.

When one of the women in my photography group came up and showed me what she had found, I was confused... was there an art show somewhere near the food festival?

Then she flipped the floral dome face down, popped off the lid and scooped up a flavorful gelatin for me to try. We marveled at the beauty but also at the layering of flavors in this edible art made by Sweets Collection.

I thought that perhaps the flower was a real flower or made out of fondant or some other traditional method but the ladies in the booth told me they were all gelatin! Amazing! Their Web site says they use "ingredients that have no preservatives, no cholesterol, fresh fruit, juices, (and) vegetarian products."

There was one last dessert I had an opportunity to try but that will get it's own post. Can you guess what kind of dessert might be?

Oikos Miniature Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake

When my students performed well at a local debate tournament, I wanted to celebrate their success. However, I wanted to keep that celebration healthy and include my students with gluten and nut allergies.

As a health conscious individual who has a fetish for Greek yogurt, I was excited to hear about Stonyfield's Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt recipe contest. Combining Greek yogurt with some seasonal flavors, I came up with a celebratory treat that had my whole debate team cheering. These mini cheesecakes weren't just tasty and allergy-conscious, but the high protein and lack of fat in the Oikos yogurt made it a low-calorie treat for me as well!

Oikos Miniature Pumpkin Cheesecakes with Chocolate Drizzle

Crust:
3/4 cup brown rice flour
2 tbsp flax meal
1/6 cup tapioca starch
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of water

Filling:
5.3 oz container Oikos Fat Free Organic Plain Greek Yogurt
3/4 cup reduced fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup egg whites
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Topping (Instead of including the chocolate in the cheesecake, I turned it into a drizzle so that I could leave it off a couple of servings for students who couldn't have chocolate.):
Chocolate (I use a gluten free, nut free, semi sweet chocolate)

Preheat over to 300 degrees. Coat a mini muffin tin with your choice of oil/spray (count additional calories accordingly). Mix crust ingredients together. Press crust into the bottom of each tin. Blend the cottage cheese, yogurt and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the remaining filling ingredients. Spoon the filling into the tins. Do not overfill. Remember it will bake up slightly.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheesecakes are firm to a gentle touch. Turn off the oven and let the cakes sit in the oven for an additional ten minutes. Remove and refrigerate in the tin overnight before loosening and removing.

The final optional touch is drizzling melted chocolate or dipping the cheesecakes into the chocolate to form a candy crust. I melt a measure amount of chocolate in the microwave (heat for 10 seconds, remove and stir and repeat until desired consistency).


My students LOVED the cheesecake bites and didn't realize how healthy they were until I told them after! The cheesecakes disappeared so quickly the other teachers in my department never got to try them. So it looks like I will be hitting the store for more Oikos yogurt to whip up another batch.

Each miniature cheesecake sans chocolate: 62 calories, 1.7 grams fat, .6 grams fiber, 2.8 grams protein

Do you want a chance to try your hand at crafting an amazing recipe that feature Oikos Greek yogurt? Are you a fan of Greek yogurt and just want to share your love with other fans? How about scoring some free coupons for this fabulous yogurt (that has amazing calorie stats... only 80 calories in a single serving cup!)? Become a fan of Stonyfield Farm Organic Oikos Greek Yorgut on Facebook today!

I am also excited to announce that Oikos is sponsoring a fabulous relaxation giveaway that starts tomorrow on Uncovering Food. I hope that tomorrow you will grab a cup of yogurt goodness, open your laptop, and visit us tomorrow to check out this spa themed giveaway :o)