Vegan + Gluten Free Banana Cinnamon Muffins

Greg and I seem to be developing a Sunday morning routine. Waking up slowly (but still setting an alarm, otherwise we’d never wake!). Making coffee in our new French press. Enjoying the coffee while relaxing over whatever interesting things we see on the computer. And also, muffins. Muffins to hold us over before we enjoy a weekend breakfast that includes eggs. And then each getting to work. Him on science-related things and me on food. This past Sunday he took a slight break from his work to give me a hand with photos – notice the action shots below – love them.

These muffins are an adaptation of the vegan + gluten free pumpkin cranberry muffins I shared with you in December. Those were inspired by this recipe. I make the pumpkin muffins every week for snacking, so it’s now nice to have a new version to throw into the mix. These banana cinnamon muffins are free of white flour, dairy, butter and oil. But trust me, you won’t miss any of those things. A flax egg is used in place of a chicken egg in this recipe. Applesauce is used in place of butter or oil and my hearty oat + pecan flour blend is used in place of white flour.

These are a healthy every-day-of-the-week muffin, made using a short list of natural, recognizable ingredients. They are incredibly moist and full of banana cinnamon flavor. One muffin fills you up and keeps you satisfied.

Vegan + Gluten Free Banana Cinnamon Muffins

2014-01-22 07:13:30

Yields 12

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Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons ground flax
4 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup pecans
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas (or 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup applesauce
scant 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350*. Line a muffin pan with 12 liners and lightly spray with non-stick spray.
Prepare the flax egg. Add the ground flax and water to a medium mixing bowl and stir together well. Set aside.
Add the oats, pecans, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a food processor and process until the mixture resembles a fine crumb. Transfer to a separate bowl and set aside.
Add the bananas, applesauce, sugar and cinnamon to the food processor and process until smooth.
Add the banana mixture to the bowl with the flax egg and stir until combined. Add the oat + pecan mixture to the mixing bowl and stir until incorporated.
Scoop the batter into the 12 prepared muffin liners and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe based on my vegan + gluten free pumpkin cranberry muffins. That recipe was inspired by vegan banana muffins from Healthy Green Kitchen blog.
If you don't have a food processor, you can try to make the oat + pecan flour in a blender. The banana mixture can be mashed together with a potato masher or fork.

The Dreaming Foodie https://www.thedreamingfoodie.com/

Calm Life

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“It’s okay to be happy with a calm life.”
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I’ve been seeing this quote float around on Pinterest and I’m in love with it. It fits me right now, it resonates with me now. More and more I’m feeling that for me, the calmer, the quieter, the more low-key, the better. I’m choosing staying in over going out every time. And I’m happy with it.

Yesterday, Greg and I took a hike in the Wissahickon after I worked. He met me at the café, and we hiked for about an hour. I took my camera along, hoping to find some things to capture along the way. I fell in love with this tree. A beautiful tree in the middle of the woods that so many people decided to leave a mark on.

And the sun. The sun couldn’t have been more stunning.

We went home from the hike, made dinner together and enjoyed a quiet evening in our quiet apartment. The perfect calm night.

Happy Sunday!

A Cake + A New Year

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Happy 2014, everyone!

I hope that your holidays were delightful!

Now, let’s talk about this cake + this brand new year.

I made this cake on Monday. I don’t know why, I just wanted to. And so I did. This cake was to me, so beautiful and also so delicious. This cake is a combination of two wonderful ideas. I used this recipe, for lemon cake, from Always With Butter and this rosemary buttercream, idea from My Name is Yeh. While this is an unconventional cake flavor combination, trust me when I say it’s delicious. For what I like in a dessert, it is close to perfection. Not overly sweet, not overly common and the flavors are meant to be together.

Let’s do more of that in this new year. Let’s do things just because we want to. We do so many things because we (feel like) we have to. Let’s do more of the stuff that makes our hearts happy.

What are you looking for in the new year?

I’m looking at the new year as a way to refocus my ideas, visions and the things that I want to do. I don’t quite know yet exactly where I want to be one year from now, or what I want to have accomplished, but I am slowly working through having a more concrete idea in my mind.

I am now a college graduate, and have been for 8 months. I made it through the end of 2013 often struggling to know exactly what the future will look like for me. I resolve to embrace the blank canvas ahead of me this year, rather than concern myself with the unknown. I resolve to keep doing what makes my heart happy, and trust that I’m doing the right thing.

As far as my blog goes, I know I want it to improve, but in what exact ways I am not sure yet. The word improve is very vague, but that’s all I’ve got so far. I read this interview yesterday on The Huffington Post, with Sarah from The Vanilla Bean Blog. I absolutely love the advice she gave to bloggers. She said:

“Discover your voice and be true to it. It’s okay to learn from others and emulate them while you’re learning and practicing, but figure out what unique things you want to bring to your photos, your words, your recipes, and always be moving towards them. Also, quality over quantity is important.”

That’s about as concrete a goal as any for me right now. I want to do what she said. I want to find out what exactly it is I want from this blog and for this blog. I want my intentions to be clear in my head. I potentially want this blog to lead me to something someday. What that something is, I have no idea at this point. But as I see it, to be completely in love with what I put on here and for it to be a complete representation of me is the first step to getting to that something.

For the first few months of The Dreaming Foodie, I was obsessed with posting something 5 days a week. I put so much work into creating those posts. While I don’t regret that at all (it’s all part of the process that Sarah talks about in her advice), that is not the direction I intend to go any longer. There was a period during the summer that I stressed about not posting enough. I stressed about not even being able to post twice a week. That’s going to be all behind me now. I intend to not even pick a number for how often I will post. Instead, I will work hard to develop ideas and to execute those ideas in the best way until I bring them to this blog. When they come, they come. Because of that and because I will still be working to make money, I probably won’t be posting as often.

But know that I won’t be stressing about it. No more. I resolve for this blog to bring no stress, only happiness + growth. Know that when I do post, it will be a complete representation of me and what I want to bring to the world.

I do know that I love this blog and I love sharing ideas with all of you. Thank you, to all of you!, for reading, for your comments and for your support of The Dreaming Foodie.

Thanks for listening to my new year ramblings. Let’s make it a good + completely delicious year!

DIY: Wine Cork Label Holder

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Things are getting crafty today on The Dreaming Foodie!

I don’t think that I’ve really talked about it much before, but you should know, I do like to try to be crafty. I always have. It’s just the type of person I am – I like to make things. Things like food and decorations, and wine cork label holders. Mostly things that are cute and pretty!

My mom and I have made many seasonal wreaths over the years, many centerpieces for various events and I’ve always jumped at the chance to try DIY home decor things.

But honestly, I haven’t done anything crafty in so long. Too long! I was so excited about these wine cork label holders, I thought I just had to share them with you!

So, a few weeks ago, I helped a friend from work host a holiday party. We prepared a bunch of delicious food and drinks and had a wonderful time. While planning for this party, I was trying to think of ways to label the food. I came across this page, which featured these amazing wine cork appetizer place cards, and that was my inspiration! The instructions on that blog, Raisin & Fig, are excellent, so you should definitely check that out too! The way I did it is just a bit different and I am going to show you now!

Here’s what you need:

-Assorted wine corks
-Kitchen twine or string
-Small card stock paper
-A pen or other writing utensil

Four simple things, that’s it! I don’t save a lot of things or keep a lot of things around, but one thing I have saved over a couple of years is wine corks. I have a little white box that I put them in after they are out of the bottle. In the box, they are out of the way and not cluttering anything, but, I always know where they are. I’m so glad I had them around when I decided to do this little craft.

I got the kitchen twine and small card stock at Michaels. Each were cheap and will last a long time and will be used for many different things! I used a fine point black pen to do the writing.

So, all you do is choose two corks that are the same height. They definitely don’t have to be from the same winery, and I actually kind of like it when the two corks are different.

Cut a piece of twine or string to about 16 inches. Place the wine corks down on the string, wrap the string around to the front and tie a tight double knot. Here’s what it will look like at this point:

Now, wrap the string around the corks several times. I wrapped mine around two more times. There should be enough string left after wrapping to tie a bow. So, tie the wrapped string into another knot to make it tight, and then in a bow. Here’s what you’ll have:

Stand the corks up, with the smooth side of the cork down, and here’s what you’ll have:

Next, write on the pieces of card stock and place the card stock in between the two wine corks. That’s it! Easy as pie.

This idea is so cute and went over very well at the party. I love that it’s so easy to do and requires so few materials. These add a nice little touch without much work. That’s the best.

Also, these can be customized to different occasions by using different colors of twine or string. Get creative with the color you use depending on the reason for celebrating!

Hope you enjoyed this little craft!

And, just one more picture to share, my little helper!