Sugar free, the way to be!

In my never ending quest to eliminate the white stuff from my diet, I am always on the lookout for healthier non-chemical sugar substitutes. Enter: Brown Rice Syrup. I picked up a jar at Woodman’s. I am in awe of their extensive organic/veg/natural food isle and freezer section, massive selection with lower prices than standard grocery stores. Oh, how I love thee Woodman’s.

I modified my banana bread recipe to make pumpkin muffins with zero refined sugar. Results are tasty! Here’s the recipe.

Pumpkin Cranberry Nut Muffins (or quickbread)

2 T whole flax seeds (or 4 T pre-ground)
6 T water
4 T softened margarine (I use Earth Balance)
¼ c applesauce (I use unsweetened)
½ c soy milk
2/3 c brown rice syrup
2 T maple syrup
1 T molasses
1 t vanilla
1 c pumpkin (I use canned, I’m sure any cooked winter squash would work)
1 ¾ c flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
2 t baking powder
¾ t baking soda
¼ t salt
Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or ginger to taste
¼ c walnuts
¼ c dried cranberries (or any dried fruit you fancy)

Banana bread variation: Use 1 c mashed banana in place of pumpkin, decrease soy milk to 2 T. I haven’t tried this with the brown rice syrup sub yet, but it should work just fine.

If using whole flax seeds, finely grind in coffee grinder (I have one I use just for spices and seeds) or spice grinder or food processor and put in a large mixing bowl. Add the water. Mix on high speed until mixture becomes thick and glutinous

Add margarine, applesauce, soy milk, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, molasses and vanilla, beat until smooth, then add pumpkin (or banana) and beat 1 – 2 min more on high speed.

Combine dry ingredients and slowly mix into batter until just combined. Stir in your walnuts and dried fruit.

Bake at 350 degrees, 55 – 60 min if you make one larger loaf, about 40 – 45 if you make 2 shallower loaves and about 30 - 35 min for muffins.

Not as sweet as the brown sugar version, but still very good!

I had some VwaV seitan sitting around in my fridge, and I vaguely remembered Vivacious Vegan posting ages ago about some country fried seitan that I wanted to try (I remember the most random stuff). After looking it up I did up a quick lunch for myself. I rolled the seitan in flour, dipped in soy milk, rolled in Italian herbed bread crumbs (from a can) and browned them up in my cast iron just lightly coated with 2 t of olive oil. I didn’t really feel like whipping up any gravy since it was only me eating, but I ate it with some boiled purple potatoes from the farmers market and steamed green beans on the side. Delicious! As close to a fried chicken dinner as I’d ever want to get.

Sorry, no pictures. :( Jason took my point-n-shoot camera back east with him and I am scared to touch his fancy-pants camera.