Cooking Baking Eating

I’ve been drawn to vegan recipes for a while now. Not that I have any inclination to turn vegan, but they can have some VERY healthy desserts and I don’t feel quite as guilty eating a vegan dessert as I do a regular dessert.

I think that’s just because I sometimes feel guilty eating butter for some reason. Random personal quirk I guess.

I was looking for some vegan breakfast ideas since I’m a bit convinced I’ve got an egg intolerance, and came across oatmeal bars. I’ve done the baked oatmeal muffins before, but wasn’t too impressed by it. I’m very finicky about my oatmeal texture, it has to be just right or I won’t eat it.

But these…they looked delicious.

Now, because it’s me, I used the recipe as more of a guideline instead of actually following it.

If you’re surprised, you just don’t know me very well. Read more »

Work has really been evil for me lately. My schedule got knocked around majorly, I now have to be at work at 5:00am. Because of my commute I have to leave at 4:20am. I have to wake up by 3:10am to go shower.

Yeah, its early and yeah it sucks. Hopefully it’ll only be temporary.

It feels as though my soul has taken a little beating lately with the stress of a new work schedule and the stress of getting up so flipping early. It almost feels as though my soul needs a hug. Or maybe a band-aid and a bubble bath. Either way I know there is one thing to feed my soul.

Baking.
Read more »

Normally, I’m not that big fan of banana bread. Don’t get me wrong, it’s best when warm, with a little butter and the outside has a little bit of crunch.

The husband loves pretty much anything sweet or covered in chocolate, so in the mode of trying to help our waist lines while still enjoying what we’re eating, I found a great recipe for one of his favorites. Banana bread.

One of the things that really stick out to me in this recipe is that it uses apple sauce to keep it moist and not a whole lot of butter. I changed the recipe around a bit from the original, mainly using half whole wheat flour. One of the reasons this is a great trick is it keeps you fuller for longer. Eat two muffins and you feel full and satisfied for hours.

One of the things to note about this recipe is that it definitely does need to rest before going into the oven. Usually the time it takes for the oven to preheat is enough time for the batter to relax a bit before baking. If it doesn’t rest, then it sometimes can have a rubbery outside to it, and not the soft yet crunchy that we all love. Read more »