"59 Fins"

After several days of overcast, chilly, rainy/snowy weather with wind gusts over 60mph, Friday was finally a thing of springtime beauty. And the fact that BW got the day off made it more beautiful still. So after walking the dogs and spending much of the rest of the day doing yard work, we decided that Happy Hour was best spent on the front porch with homemade margaritas (1 part each lime juice, triple sec, and tequila). But alas, we were out of tequila! So, off to the liquor store. On the way, this 1959 Dodge Custom Royal convertible, looking rather like a lemon meringue pie on wheels (I had citrus on the brain), caught our eye as it sat in the visitor's parking lot at the hospital….

"So, Laloofah," you are probably wondering, "Do you always take your camera on tequila runs?" No, my delightfully smartass but astute blog readers, I do not. :-) But since we live just a mile and a half from the hospital, we bought our tequila (priorities!), took it home and grabbed the Rebel and returned to take these photos just for you. It was the least I could do, since we didn't have enough key limes to invite you all over for margaritas...

Check out the cool trim on those headlights…

And the unique pushbutton transmission selector on the far left side of the dashboard…

If you want to read about and see more details on a '59 Custom Royal Convertible, inside and out (with top down) and under the hood, I found this beautifully restored example. They call its two-tone color scheme "coral/quartz," but in keeping with my snappy citrus theme I prefer to call it Ruby Red Grapefruit Margarita. Cheers!:-)

SkyWatch Friday: Skies & Chocolate, My Valentine to You

Happy Friday and Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Goodness, where does the time go? Six weeks since my last post ~ I should be tossed into blogging prison for dereliction of duty (thank goodness there's no such place… is there?) :-) I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to put a blog post together only to stare blankly at my screen for 30 minutes before giving up in disgust. On a good day when my creative juices are flowing (at a glacial pace, but at least not completely stagnant), I may edit and upload some photos. But then all attempts to conjure words to accompany them are a vain and painful struggle, till like some pale, consumptive heroine in a gothic novel, I have to retire to my fainting couch. Ha. I'm PITIFUL!

Since I've enjoyed reading rather than writing, watching movies rather than taking photos, and relaxing rather than… well, pretty much anything else, I'm more certain than ever that this is what winter is for - filling our tanks, taking in inspiration and rest so we can expend our creative and physical energy when spring rolls around. At least that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it! 

But enough of this slothful lethargy - if SkyWatch Friday, a Full Moon, and Valentine's Day aren't enough reasons to get a new post published then I don't know what is. Just don't expect me to get around to updating my blog header till I've had at least several more naps. 

So here are a few lovely skies from January, followed by an extremely chocolatey chocolate recipe. Because if I can't make up for my long, lazy absence with an offering of colorful sunrises, dreamy clouds, a full moon above the tree tops, and above all chocolate - then romance as we know it is dead. ;-)

These first two sunrise shots were taken just a few minutes apart…

We've had a lot of wind this winter, and the only good thing about that is how beautifully it shapes and stirs the clouds...

I'm almost never entirely happy with my moon photos, and this one is no exception. But I do love the color of the moon, the way it illuminated that little whiff of a cloud above it, and the silhouettes of the trees beneath it…

On Valentine's Day and every Friday, skywatchers around the world really put their hearts into their beautiful SkyWatch posts, so go feast your eyes - 

And speaking of feasts, since I know how skywatching can work up an appetite, here's my other Valentine treat to you! 

Our neighbor Carol had us over for a delicious five-course vegan dinner (with a Valentine theme) about three weeks ago, and this was one of the two desserts she served: raw brownies. The recipe calls for making them in a loaf pan (which would definitely make things easier when it comes to frosting them!), but Carol had made them in these adorable little heart shapes, so despite my creative slump I was inspired to get the recipe, buy a silicone mini heart candy mold, and make up a batch for a Valentine's Day post (and for snarfing, of course!) And although it's only come together at the last minute, somehow I've managed to pull it off! Guess I'm not a doomed gothic heroine after all. :-)

Carol sent us home with those two little heart containers filled with dried fruit, 

and these little brownies just happen to fit in them perfectly! 

The only thing I subbed in this recipe was maple syrup instead of agave nectar. Though not low-calorie, for all their rich deliciousness these are surprisingly healthy, filled with fiber (especially in the dates), heart-healthy phytonutrients (in the cocoa powder & cocoa nibs), anti-inflammatory antioxidants (in the walnuts), and are sweetened entirely by dates and just 3 TBSP of maple syrup. Carol has a Vitamix and I'm sure a high-powered blender like that would work a lot better for mixing the batter than my food processor did, but it managed. It was a little messy (processing cocoa powder with dates and walnuts and no liquid does churn up some impressive clouds of brown powder!), but the end results were well worth it! The frosting is divine ~ you'll be fighting with your beloved over who gets to lick the bowl and spatula. These are deeply rich with the wonderful bittersweet taste that only dark chocolate can provide. Just look at this chocolatey bad boy; the Johnny Depp of desserts…

      

Hey, my blog, my fantasy. :-) 

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a great weekend!

SkyWatch Friday: Birthday Gifts

Each day comes bearing its gifts.

Untie the ribbons.

~ Ann Ruth Schabacker

How fun that this year my birthday coincides with SkyWatch Friday, something Mother Nature must have realized because after a lot of drab morning skies lately, this was "my" gorgeous birthday sunrise this morning! A lovely gift... 

I didn't intend to post all three of these next photos since they're so similar, but couldn't choose which one(s) to delete! So I'm using my birthday as an excuse to be self-indulgent and keep them all! :-) ...

I didn't even notice it when I took these, but I love how that group of trees seem to be holding up the small cloud!

Untie the ribbons on the gifts of more beautiful skies at...

This is also a perfect time to share my birthday gift from my talented quilting friend Joanne, which I teasingly mentioned in my post about Jo's visit in October, which is when she gave it to me (I love birthdays that are spread out over months like that, lol). 

Some of you may remember this photo I took of a rose last June...

Well, Joanne used that photo in a Thread Painting class she took, and made this wonderful birthday gift of the gorgeous results!

I love all the rich detail...

Even the raindrops showed up on the print!...

Joanne!

The always-wonderful BW took today off (especially nice since his hours at UPS continue to be gruesome) and as I write this he's in the kitchen preparing my favorite birthday cake, Ginger Carrot Cake with Orange Glaze (whose tantalizing photo and recipe link can be found here). After it has baked I plan to clone him and sell the clones on eBay for boatloads of money (lol) and then we plan to take the girls for a good walk before more winter weather hits later today, and then it's off to enjoy lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants (I haven't decided which one yet, the one with the delicious veggie burrito or the one with the delicious veggie fajitas! Tough choice, especially since both restaurants make kickass margaritas!) :-)

Wishing you all a great first Friday of 2014, a Happy New Year (what's left of it, lol), and a fun weekend! 

Not Your Grandma's Potato Salad...

Unless your grandma makes her potato salad with black beans, sweet potatoes, fresh mint, arugula, lime juice... 

I know you were expecting my next post to be my first vacation post, and I promise I've been working diligently and will have it ready this week. But this post does have a vacation tie-in, so it kinda counts!

When we were in Victoria, BC we went for a stroll through a residential neighborhood and stumbled upon a little neighborhood grocery store that had lots of organic produce and a small deli. They had one vegan item in the deli - a sweet potato, white potato, and black bean salad made with a vinaigrette. We bought some and shared it at one of their outdoor tables, and since we got back I've been trying to find a recipe to replicate it so I don't have to guess at the seasonings (we think cumin was one) and liquids involved. No luck yet, but in my search I did find this one, which sounded pretty interesting, so last night we made it for dinner. And interesting it is! A very unusual combination of flavors, it might not be for everyone but we really enjoyed it and will be making it again, including when BW's folks visit next month. It's very healthy and pretty, too, and even more flavorful the next day! We shared some with our neighbor, who later demanded the recipe. :-)

I was a good little blogger who obeyed the rule in fine print on the online publication where the recipe appeared, emailing Condé Nast last night for permission to share it on my personal blog with a link back to the original. They wrote back this morning telling me I could link it for free, but if I re-printed it here they'd "license the text for a fee based on usage." Well, Mr. Condé and Mr. Nast are just going to have to find a way to get along without my usage fee, I'm afraid! So here's the link to the recipe...

Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad

We omitted the olive oil (and BW, who was in charge of roasting the sweet potatoes, neglected to sprinkle them with the salt and pepper before roasting them so I just added the full measurement of both to the dressing). Since this batch was just for us we blew off using the lime wedge garnishes (or as BW put it, "We ain't about garnishes, we're about eatin' our food!" LOL) We were a little dubious about serving it on a bed of arugula (or in our case, a bed of organic arugula and baby spinach mix, since that's all I could find), but we really liked the combo! Oh, and the mint came from our little organic herb garden, our first harvest from it ever! So we're rather proud. :-)

Enjoy, and I'll see you in Butte, MT (virtually speaking) later this week! :-)

Pre-Yard Sale Rainbow, Post-Yard Sale Fiesta!

"A garage sale is basically when strangers come to your house 

and examine your personal belongings with undisguised contempt."

~ Dave Berry, Homes and Other Black Holes

Yep. But they came in droves on day #2 like they had on day#1 in spite of the deterioration in the weather, and bought most of our contemptible crap. :-)  We had thunderstorms all during Friday night, with thunder so loud and lightning so plentiful and bright that it woke me around 11pm in spite of my exhaustion (BW slept through it all!), and I wasn't able to get to back to sleep till about 4am. So I went through day #2 with even more sleep deprivation than I had the day before. The weather that morning was still so ominous we briefly debated whether to set up our sale at all. I guess this full rainbow that greeted us that morning from our front yard, like the one the evening before in our back yard, was an auspicious sign! The clouds finally moved out and the we had stiff breezes rather than the strong gusts they'd predicted, thankfully...

The rainbow's left side to our south,

and its right side across the street to our west

We sold everything except for a box of books we donated to the library, three boxes of miscellany we donated to a local church thrift shop, a box of equine supplies that we gave to the folks who board Mocha, and one small box of items we'll keep for now. All our new clutter-free space feels wonderful! Our yard sale partners did very well too - together our four families made almost $1500, so I guess we can put up with a few derogatory comments about our possessions for that. ;-)

It was too hectic to take photos - the sale was supposed to start at 8am, but people were arriving not long after 6:30 when we'd barely begun setting up! (Why do some people always show up that early? It's obnoxious, for one thing, and they end up only seeing about 1/4 of the merchandise!) Our sale ended at noon Saturday, but folks were still stopping by as late as 2:30 when BW and I were packing up the last of the stuff to haul away. But even that wasn't the latest of the "late birds" - our doorbell rang at 6pm, and there stood a woman wanting to know if we still had the computer desk! Nope, Robyn's desk is now available for purchase at the church thrift store! I mean, really.

Anyway, as I was saying - it was too hectic to take photos during the yard sale, but I did notice as we were closing down that our rose bush had put out its first bloom! So, proud plant mama that I am, I had to snap a photo...

Meanwhile, the amazing and indefatigable Robyn invited us over for dinner and margaritas later that evening, to show us her garden and enjoy a slightly belated celebration of BW's birthday. I don't know how she managed it, and I figured I'd fall asleep in my margarita after the first sip, but buoyed by our successful yard sale (and knowing how delicious Robyn's food is), no way were we tired enough - or foolish enough - to decline. So that evening found us touring Robyn's lovely yard and garden, and admiring her newest addition - this sweet faerie cart she bought at the local greenhouse, in part with a gift certificate we'd given her for her birthday... 

We thought it was adorable and especially love the disco ball for boogying faeries! 

And then we got to enjoy a Christmas present I'd given her this year, this festive string of margarita lights she'd put on her deck...

But what fun are margarita lights without any actual margaritas? Robyn had found a recipe for pomegranate margaritas she wanted to try, so she made it for the first time that night and it was a huge hit! We all loved it - it was a perfect, flavorful combination of sweet-tart. Pretty, too! (I've shared the recipe at the bottom of this post)...

And check out this colorful spread of nosh! Robyn had made a pasta salad and also put out fixin's for a delicious "Spicy Chick'n Taco Salad" with her homemade "fiery sauce" (in the bowl to the far left), and for BW's birthday she'd made the indescribably delicious Coconut Lime Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World...

Robyn had made these and several other flavors of vegan cupcakes for her daughter's Hawaiian themed wedding reception last spring and asked us to be taste testers for her. Though they're made with some unhealthful ingredients we typically avoid (margarine, oil, shortening, refined white flour, powdered sugar... yikes!), we thought it would be bad form not to help out a friend in need. ;-) I swear I gained at least 10 pounds passing judgement on those amazing cupcake samples, and this sublime flavor (teehee) was one of our absolute favorites. 

This one's still in its paper baking cup so you can't see the "cake" part, but it has a lovely soft green hue with little flecks of lime zest through it. I don't have the cookbook or the recipe, but I found it online. They are beguilingly pretty and deliciously vegan, but they are also epic sugar-and-fat-bombs that are highly addictive! You've been warned... :-) 

And here's the margarita recipe I promised, so you'll have something to wash down your cupcakes with...

Pomegranate Margaritas

Ingredients:
1 cup tequila
1 cup triple sec (or orange liqueur of your choice)
3 TBSP agave nectar* (optional)
1¼ cups pomegranate juice
¾ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
4 cups ice

Directions:
Mix the tequila, triple sec, and agave nectar. Stir in the pomegranate and lime juices and ice. Serve and enjoy!

(We had ours without salt on the glass rim, but that's certainly an option. Update: Also optional is the agave nectar, we've since discovered! They're equally delicious without any sweetener).

I also found this very similar recipe (minus the sweetener but adding the salt) that just serves one... in case you prefer to drink alone or don't need to make a vat of it to unwind with your lushy friends after a grueling two-day yard sale!) :-)

We didn't get to bed till midnight, so we took it pretty easy on Sunday, BW's last day of vacation. One thing we did was take the girls to visit Mocha and go on a hike, and I got a few fun photos during that outing that I'll share in my next post. See you then! :-)

Pecan Leprechaun Shillelaghs :-)

A couple months ago, our neighbor brought over some delicious little homemade breadstick thingies called "Whole Wheat Oat Sticks." Now, we vegans are often wrongly accused of eating things like sticks and twigs. So not wishing to encourage such malicious falsehoods, I set about coming up with something new to call them. Especially since these "sticks" are too yummy for such a stodgy name. A bit reminiscent of a scone and not too sweet (they're sweetened only by dates, unless you use sweetened coconut), they're a wonderful breakfast treat or accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee. We made a batch of them recently and I decided to share the recipe for St. Patrick's Day... not because there's anything about them that's particularly Irish, but because I wanted a baked goodie to pose with my grandmother's shamrock teacup and saucer from Galway Ireland, and these were perfect...

And the tea within? Why, green tea of course! 

(A gift from my friend Rose, whose husband is from Ireland, no less!) :-)

So anyway, I figured I'd give them a name appropriate for St. Patrick's Day. BW had taken to calling them "Pecan Logs," so I thought about "Leprechaun Logs," but that just made them sound like leprechaun poo. :-) And then I remembered shillelaghs ~ the stout, knotty sticks associated with Ireland, Irish folklore, and leprechauns... 

And I thought, "Begorrah!" :-) So here is the recipe for Pecan Leprechaun Shillelaghs...

Pecan Leprechaun Shillelaghs 

(aka "Whole Wheat Oat Sticks." Boooorrring!)

Closely based on a recipe from Cooking with Natural Foods II by Muriel Beltz

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups oat flour or ground oats

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups dates, chopped

1 cup ground almonds

⅓ cup coconut (I use unsweetened)

1 cup water

Finely chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl. 

In a blender or food processor, mix the ground almonds, coconut and water.

Add the wet mix to the dry ingredients, stirring into a stiff dough. Add more water if necessary. 

Knead only enough to form a dough ball. 

Pinch off small handfuls of dough and shape into "breadsticks" approximately 4" long, 1" wide and ½" thick. 

Roll in finely chopped pecans and place on a non-stick cookie sheet.

Bake at 400º until brown on top and bottom, about 25-30 minutes, making sure the edges don't burn. 

Cool and store in a covered container.

Makes approximately 3 dozen "shillelaghs."

Sláinte chugat ~ "good health to you" ~ and enjoy a festive St. Patrick's Day! May you have a much better time (and hair day) than Medusa...

Panoramas and Pancakes

We had such a beautiful weekend! Friday (and the month of March) started out with a pretty sunrise...

More photos of this sunrise and Saturday's will appear in my next SkyWatch post

... and the day and the weekend just kept getting prettier. We hit a high on Saturday of 56º with no wind and and lots of sunshine, so we boosted our depleted Vitamin D levels with a good bask on the patio (in shorts!), and after a lunch of elaborate kale salads, we boosted our cardio with a long walk with the dogs. We ended up in our old Dragonfly Cottage neighborhood and caught up on the latest with a former neighbor there. It seemed like everyone (and their dogs) was out enjoying the first really beautiful day we've had!

Sunday wasn't quite as nice, so we... well, actually I... decided that a pancake brunch would be grand. BW is the pancake-master in this house, so I'm usually the one who decides when pancakes are a good idea - which he then implements. I think it's a great system. :-) Although cloudy it was pleasantly warm, but the weather was predicted to deteriorate by late afternoon (and did it ever, abruptly obliterating our lovely weekend with very sudden 60 mph winds and snow that are continuing today!) So we took the dogs on another good walk, and this time I took my camera and got some nice photos of the mountains. As with the sunrise photos and a couple of eerie ones I took of the winter storm's leading edge blowing by, I'm saving most of them for SkyWatch posts ~ but here's another sneak peek...

By the time we got home it was about 1pm and BW thought that meant he was off the hook for a pancake brunch. But since I was hungry AND wanting to take photos of them so I could share the recipe on this post, I held him to it. And aren't you glad I'm such a hardass? :-)

Chunky Apple Oatmeal Pancakes
based on a recipe at FatFree Vegan Recipes

Ingredients:

1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour 
¼ cup rolled oats
¼ cup oat bran
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 TBSP baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
½ cup raisins
1 apple, peeled and chopped (we usually use organic Granny Smith or Gala)
2¼ cups apple juice (we use organic unfiltered apple juice)

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients. Add nuts, raisins and apple. Gently stir in juice until dry ingredients are completely moistened. Ladle batter by 1/4 - 1/3 cupfuls onto a hot non-stick skillet or griddle. Cook until bottom is brown and spatula slips easily underneath. Turn and brown other side. Makes about 10 plump 4" pancakes.

Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes

I've been debating whether to post this recipe now or save it till next autumn, since sweet potatoes are usually associated with fall dishes. But it's a winter veggie and a recipe that we're still enjoying, and here in Wyoming and across much of the rest of North America, there is plenty of winter left. Besides, there are no guarantees in life, so why wait? 

Am I therefore going to post it now? I yam indeed. 

For those of you who groaned aloud, let me assure you that my punny little bon mot actually serves as a useful introduction to the often confusing topic of yams vs. sweet potatoes. Most Americans (me included until a few years ago) think they're much the same and use the terms interchangeably. This is understandable, given USDA labeling requirements that insist the word "yam" be accompanied by the term "sweet potato." While far from the most egregious or confounding thing the USDA does, this requirement - created to resolve the confusion over these two distinctly different plants and veggies - has only served to further befuddle. Sweet potatoes are what are grown in the US (and in South America where they originated, but they're not imported due to concerns over diseases and insects). Yams are not grown in the mainland US (US yams are only grown in Hawaii) so the vast majority are imported, and unless you're specifically looking for yams at a specialty foods/import/ethnic foods market, what you're undoubtedly getting in the US when you buy a "yam" is a soft-fleshed variety of sweet potato, the kind usually called "yams" here. To add to the confusion, sweet potatoes, which are the tubers (or bulbs) of a tropical vine in the Morning Glory family, aren't potatoes - root vegetables in the nightshade family - at all! 

So, clear as a summer sky now? :-)

Here are a few of the differences between yams and sweet potatoes:

Sweet Potatoes:

Tubers (Morning Glory family)

Smooth skin
Sweet, moist flesh
Originated in tropical South America
Grown domestically (mostly in FL and CA)
Very high in Vitamin A (containing more than carrots), Vitamin C, Beta-Carotene and other nutrients

Yams:
Roots
Rough, scaly skin
Dry, starchy flesh
Originated in Africa ("yam" is thought to come from the West African word nyami, "to eat") and Asia
Imported to the US and Canada 
Very low in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Beta-Carotene and other nutrients

So the good news is that sweet potatoes are easy to find, deliciously high in health-promoting, disease-fighting nutrients, and now you won't get confused when I tell you that we use organic Garnet "yams" in this yummy Sweet Potatoes recipe. :-)

I've had this recipe for so long I don't remember where I first got it, but I've seen it (or close variations of it) on a few online recipe sites. (The No-oil Oil recipe comes via FatFree Vegan, since we never cook with added fats). My only experience with sweet potatoes till this recipe was my paternal grandmother's candied "yams" (see, there we go again!) at Thanksgiving, which I thought were vile. I was a veggie-loving kid and not at all a fussy eater, but found them too cloyingly sweet and much preferred my mother's mashed potatoes, butternut squash, and mashed rutabaga. It wasn't until trying this recipe about a decade ago that I was won over by sweet potatoes, and now also enjoy them just baked and eaten plain (BW even likes them cold that way). I say this in case any of you think you don't like sweet potatoes - I'd encourage you to try these. Especially if, like me, your dislike came from childhood and/or a dislike for candied "yams!"

ROASTED SPICED SWEET POTATOES

~ 1 tsp coriander seeds
~ 1/2 tsp fennel seeds*
~ 1/2 tsp dried oregano
~ 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
~ 1 tsp sea salt
~ 2 lbs medium sweet potatoes
~ 3 TBSP "No-Oil" Oil (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 425º F.

Coarsely grind coriander, fennel, oregano, red pepper flakes and salt in an electric coffee/spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.

Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1-inch wedges.

Toss wedges with "no-oil" oil and spices in a large roasting pan or glass baking dish and roast in middle of oven for 20 minutes. Turn wedges over with a spatula and roast until tender and slightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes more.

NOTE: Grinding the spices yields more potent flavor, since the seeds retain flavorful oils that are lost in pre-ground spices. (You also get a wonderful dose of delicious aromatherapy!)

"NO-OIL" OIL

~ 1 cup water
~ 1 TBSP cornstarch
~ 1/2 tsp salt
~ 1 TBSP dried basil

Whiz in blender** the water, cornstarch and salt. Pour into saucepan, stir in basil. Heat to a boil. Cool. This will have the shine and consistency of oil to use in place of oil for those certain recipes. Great for glazing breads (like focaccia) before baking, or for coating veggies or potatoes so seasonings stick to them (like the roasted sweet 'taters above!) Store leftover "oil" in a lidded glass container in the refrigerator.

*I'm aware that a few of my regular visitors are card-carrying members of the "Fennel Loathers Club," there will be no convincing you to try this, and you are likely to leave disparaging remarks about fennel in the comments. What can I say except, "Can't please everybody!" :-)

**Don't literally whiz in your blender, please. That's nasty. ;-)

Banana Coconut Muffins

Last November, my blogging buddy Jane kindly obliged my demand request for the recipe for some lovely muffins she'd taunted us with in photos. :-) I couldn't wait to make them, but wanted to eliminate the added fat, reduce the sugar and do some other, minor tweaking. Now food alchemy doesn't come naturally to me (binders, thickeners, and leaveners, oh my!) and my frugality makes me cringe at the thought of a recipe failure, limitations which often inhibit my willingness to do a lot of experimenting with recipes. But this was one of those times I was inspired to tinker more than usual and we've really been enjoying the results. If you just want the recipe version I've come up with, it can be found beneath the first muffin photo. If you want the dirty details of my Area 51 muffin experiments, read on :-) ... 

Although already vegan, the original recipe called for margarine. Since we never use added fats, my quest was to come up with a good substitute. I've always replaced oil with unsweetened applesauce in baked goods with great success, but I wasn't as confident about using it as a margarine sub. After reading several - often wildly differing - margarine substitution tips, I decided to just stick with applesauce and see how it went. The one thing every article agreed on is that every recipe is different, and experimenting with ingredients and amounts is usually required for best results. At least even the "mistakes" are tasty - it's mostly the texture you're manipulating. Anyway, though the advice often differed on the replacement ratio to use, I used what I always have - a 1:1 amount of applesauce to fat. The only thing I did differently was gently stirring the applesauce into the already-mixed liquid ingredients, based on this advice from this article:

One of the best ways to help applesauce integrate into a batter is to keep it separated until the very end. Many cooks will mix their dry ingredients separately, only adding the wet components just before baking. The longer applesauce sits in a batter, the more likely it is to grow soupy or cause separation.

I don't really know if it made a difference. I didn't do it with the first batch, which came out a bit rubbery and too dense, so it's one of the things I changed when I made the second batch. I also changed my egg substitute and baking time though, so it's hard to say what made the difference ~ but the second batch was nearly perfect. Our only issue with it was that the muffins were too sweet for us despite using unsweetened coconut. So in my third batch I reduced the amount of sugar, and since the less sugar the better, that's the amount I'll stick with. However, since the starch in bananas converts to sugars as they ripen, the ripeness of your bananas will definitely affect the sweetness of your muffins, so you may want to adjust the amount of sweetener accordingly. (I used very ripe bananas).

The original recipe called for creaming the softened margarine and sugar, which of course doesn't work with applesauce. So instead I creamed the bananas and sugar, which worked quite nicely! Smelled really good, too. Just don't expect it to get "fluffy." :-) 

As for the egg substitute, I was really leery of using the ratio of water to ground flaxseed as written in the original. Though Jane's muffins turned out fine, I'd never seen that much water (½ cup) called for before. I tried Ener-G egg replacer in my first batch, but for the second and third batches I went with the flaxseed mixture, using the more conventional measurement of 3 TBSP water to 1 TBSP ground flaxseed, with great success. I'm not done experimenting, though, as the next time I make these I want to try chickpea flour as my egg replacer (how poetic, chickpeas subbing for eggs!), having heard increasingly great things about it. By the way, since bananas and applesauce also happen to act as binders and thickeners, they too can function as egg replacers (3 TBSP of applesauce or puréed banana per egg) in baked goods like muffins or quick breads, as long as ½ tsp of baking powder is added as a leavener. So it may be that all this recipe needs as an egg replacer is three additional tablespoons of banana or applesauce and some extra baking powder. More Area 51 experimentation! Bwwwaahaha! :-)

My minor tweaks to the original recipe in all three batches consist of using the unsweetened coconut, whole wheat pastry flour, and sucanat for the sugar. And I use organic ingredients whenever possible (especially the flour, applesauce and bananas).

Some articles about subbing applesauce for fat in baked goods recommend reducing the baking time by 25%. Reducing the baking time for baked goods that replace eggs with the flaxseed mixture is also recommended, due to their faster browning time. Complicating matters, I bake using silicone muffin cups (set on a dark baking tray), and baking in silicone usually requires a few minutes of added baking time! So I set my timer for 20 minutes and checked them every minute or two using the clean toothpick method as well as the "bake until golden" rule. My first batch was over-baked at 25 minutes. My next two batches were just right at the 22 minute mark. Every oven is different, and humidity and altitude will also affect baking times, so baking for 20-25 minutes is just a guide.

Although the texture of most - though not all - oil-free vegan baked goods benefits greatly from being allowed to sit for a few hours or overnight before eating, these were just as good as soon as they'd cooled as they were two days later. They don't tend to last much beyond that at our house, so I'm having to take the recipe author's word for it that "they freeze beautifully." :-)

Banana Coconut Muffins

1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ - ⅔  cup sucanat (adjust for ripeness of bananas and sweetness of your sweet tooth!)
2 very ripe bananas 
1 tsp vanilla
equivalent of one egg (I use 1 TBSP ground flax mixed with 3 TBSP water, whisked until thickened or microwaved on high for 20 sec)
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided

• Preheat oven to 375ºF. Put liners into muffin tin. (I use silicone muffin cups placed on a baking sheet).
• Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, cream the bananas with the sucanat. Mix in the vanilla, egg replacer, and ¾ cup of the coconut. Gently stir in the applesauce. Add the flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
• Distribute evenly in the muffin cups (fill about ¾ full) and sprinkle the remaining coconut on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and/or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (I bake mine for about 22 minutes).
• Makes 12 (I usually get 14).

They freeze beautifully.

(Based on a recipe from Jane at The Maple Syrup Mob)

My favorite source for both no-added fat vegan recipes and advice on fat-free substitutions and cooking techniques is Susan Voisin's FatFree Vegan Kitchen. And I also find The Sweet Life's Complete Guide to Replacing Eggs very helpful! 

If you're especially bananas over banana-y baked goodies or have additional over-ripe bananas to use up, try Susan's delicious Banana-Date-Walnut Muffin recipe, which calls for 3 very ripe bananas.