Oatmeal Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies with Candied Ginger and Orange Zest

 

Experimenting with making gluten free cupcakes these past few weeks have given way to making cookies.  I have a basic vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe that I make all the time and wanted to change it up a little with some quinoa flour I spotted in the store a few weeks ago.  Cookies seemed like and even better idea when it actually started sleeting (for real) here in New York and a good reason to put an alternative heat source to use.    Quinoa flour is a gluten and grain free flour that has the highest protein count of any flour.  It is also a complete protein and has the added boon of being easy to digest.

Inspired by a cookie I watched Amy Chaplin (a fantastic vegan/vegetarian NYC chef) http://amychaplin.com/ at an equally fabulous foundation launch in NYC this past May that provides NYC schoolchildren access to natural food presentations/demonstrations/food tastings and fitness http://welcometobubble.org/.  Amy’s cookies used quinoa flour (which I had yet to use) delicately spiced with flecks of orange zest and bittersweet chunks of chocolate.  I have created a new version using some candied ginger and my house is smelling spicy and rich with an orange zing.

Oatmeal Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies with Candied Ginger and Orange Zest
makes approximately 40 cookies

Preheat oven to 350F.  I use a silicone baking sheet on top of my cookie sheet (which is really a jelly roll pan),  Alternatively, you can line your baking sheet with some parchment paper.

1 c. rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 c. oat bran (alternatively, you can use rolled oats)
1 c. quinoa flour
1 c. white whole wheat flour (whole wheat/whole wheat pastry flour/spelt flour also works well)
1 tblsp. finely chopped candied ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4-1 tsp. kosher salt

3/4 c. coconut oil (you could also use olive oil or softened butter)
1/2 c. sucanet/organic sugar (look for those that are still mineral rich)
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
zest of 1 large Navel or Minneola orange (or any orange for that matter)
1 tblsp. pure vanilla extract
1-10 oz. bag best quality dark chocolate chips

In a bowl combine all dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined.  Use your hands to mix in candied ginger so it is not in one big clump.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand up mixer or in a large bowl using a hand held mixer, cream softened coconut oil and sugar together until fluffy.  Add in maple syrup, applesauce, orange zest, and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.  Then, add the flour a third at a time, wiping down sides of mixer, and mixing until flour and oatmeal mixture is fully incorporated.  Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.  Scoop by the generous tablespoon and form into a ball.  Flatten slightly on cookie sheet.  Bake for 15-16 minutes.  Remove to drying rack and cool.

Fig and Ginger Cookies

Last week I was in the bookstore, as per usual perusing the cookbook aisles, looking for my next addition to the already overflowing bookcases.  Increasingly, I find myself a bit peeved when looking for new cookbooks because some celebrity chef’s cookbooks seem to be taking over.  Don’t get me wrong, I love and have much respect for a certain network and the chefs/talented cooks that make it up, but I find that many of their cookbooks are poorly written and pumped out way too quickly.  I used to work in one of the big box bookstores around 15 years ago when the Food Network did not exist and when cooking was not as cool as it is now.  I spent hours after my shift was over looking at Marcella Hazan’s, Julia Child’s, Coleman Andrew’s, and the classic Betty Crocker cookbooks reading the narratives and copying down recipes I wanted to try. These cookbooks were written with care, recipes meticulously tested, and have stood the test of time as they still stand proudly on bookshelves today.

At the clearance area my eyes were drawn to a book with a beautiful cover simply entitled Cookies by an author named Christabel Martin (and can be found in some Barnes and Nobles and Amazon).  There are artistically styled photos of unique cookies paired with design elements and serving pieces worth drooling over.  There is little to no narrative, just thoughtfully written recipes.   I couldn’t resist and this book has already been marked up with splatters and pencil marks.  I fiddled with a recipe for fig and ginger cookies mostly because I have had some candied ginger and dried figs simultaneously burning holes in my fridge and cabinets.  These cookies begged for these ingredients to be used with a few twists of my own.

prep time: 10-15 min.
cooking time: 12-15 min.

makes: approximately 30 cookies

scant 2/3 c. coconut oil (slightly melted/liquified in a saucepan over low heat)

1/4 c. maple syrup
1//4 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla paste/vanilla extract

1 flax egg (1 tblsp. ground flaxseed mixed with 1 tblsp. water, let sit for a few minutes)

1/2 c. dried (but still soft) dried figs, chopped fine

1/3 c. candied ginger, chopped fine
1 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350F

Using a hand or Kitchen-Aid type mixture, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, and flax egg in a bowl and cream until fluffy.  Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and add to wet mixture and combine so a soft dough forms. Mix in the dried figs and candied ginger.

Using a tablespoon measure or cookie scoop, form into balls and place on baking sheet prepared with a silicone baking sheet or lined with parchment paper.  Use the tines of a fork to flatten the cookies a bit.   Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes.  Let cool a bit on the sheet and remove to newspaper/paper bag/wire rack to cool.

Pantry Eggplant Pesto Lasagna Bowl

I’ve been a busy girl (maybe a bit lazy too) and haven’t gotten a chance to write this recipe down since I posted it.  It’s not really a recipe, just something that I threw together, a method if you will.  It involved stirring, boiling, baking, and blending for the most part.  Feel free to use any kind of tomato sauce that you have on hand whether it’s leftover or your favorite bottled sauce.  I have been trying to use up all of the open pasta boxes that I have laying around in my fridge so this meal fit the bill for that.

I remember a time when I would make gagging noises and faces (very classy) when my mother would serve any and all kind of eggplant.  Just like many kids, I spent a lot of my time deciding that I did not like something without even trying it.  My mom persisted, but to no avail.  When I was a teenager a small restaurant was next to my family’s store and they ran daily lunch specials.  One day, one of those specials was eggplant rollatine.  Little eggplant pillows, filled with creamy ricotta, and topped with a tangy tomato sauce.  I tasted a tiny bit and was hooked.  Now I like eggplant and cook it often.  It’s funny how our taste buds change and thank goodness they do!

Pantry Eggplant Pesto Lasagna Bowl

Eggplant

1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/2 -3/4 inch round slices
1 c. whole grain breadcrumbs
1/2 c. H2O
1 tblsp. x.virg.ol.oil

Preheat oven to 350F

I don’t salt my eggplant but you can if you’d like.  I find that as long as I use smallish eggplants they are not bitter in any way.  Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl and the H2O and oil together in another bowl.  Dip the eggplant slices in the H2O and oil mixture and then in the breadcrumb mixture.  Place on a lighly oiled cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes on each side.  The bottoms (when you flip them) should be golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool.

Basil Spinach Pesto

This is the kitchen sink of pestos and you can add anything you’d like in place of anything else.  Swap arugula or a bunch of blanched asparagus out for the spinach.  Use any nuts you have around.  Throw in some olives and/or sundried tomatoes.  The choice is yours.

1 pkge. basil
2-3 handfuls fresh baby spinach
2 handfuls of pumpkin seeds
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tblsp. balsamic vinegar
x.virg.ol.oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Blitz everything in the food processor except for the salt and olive oil until it is a coarse paste.  Stream in the olive oil until it is a bit more liquidy.  Add salt to taste a 1/4 tsp. at a time.

Pasta

Cook your choice of whole wheat pasta or any other kind of pasta you’d like.  I broke up some leftover whole wheat lasagna sheets that I had and cooked them until al dente (still a bit firm but not crunchy). 

To Serve

In a bowl I layered my freshly cooked pasta with the baked eggplant and then doused it with the sauce and topped the whole thing off with a dollop of pesto.  I also brought this to work for lunch for the next two days.

Black Bean and Plantain Wrap or Bowl

I seem to be having conflicting culinary points of view this week.  So far, I have made an Asian inspired slow roasted salmon and steamed broccoli on Monday night as I felt that Harry and I were in dire need of some quality Omega-3’s.  I also made up a pot of lentil stew because not only is it still cold here in Long Island (The Sun God is listening to me, I know it) but also I needed an easy to pack lunch for the rest of the week.  Tonight, I went towards the sun by making a decidedly Latin American dish.  I was in the mood to just throw something together and I wanted it to have a bright and fresh taste.  On hand, I had a can of black beans, a bit of brown rice to cook, an almost too ripe plantain, some grape tomatoes, salad greens, and cilantro.  I was not in the mood to cook anything complicated since I had just finished roasting Harry a lovely locally sourced chicken roasted over some root veggies and some pan gravy. 

 

What I came away from the kitchen with was a lovely room temperature meal that could be served as a salad or wrapped in a tortilla as I did.  I love plantains almost to the point of ridiculousness.  I love frying them in wedges in some coconut oil, smashing them, and then frying them some more.  I usually sprinkle them with a bit of salt and dip them in some guacamole or just squeeze some lime juice over them.  Today I didn’t want to fry them and thought about how last night I slow roasted my salmon.  Could I slow roast plantains too?  I was rewarded with a lovely result!  I know that there a many little steps here but it is really easy.

 

 Brown Rice
½ c brown rice
1 c. H20
½ tsp. salt

 

In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil; add brown rice, salt, stir, and lower heat to low.  Cover and simmer for about 45 min.  Take off heat when done.  I used about half this amount of rice so I put the leftovers in the freezer for another time.

 

Black Beans

1 (15 oz. can)

 

Drain and rinse well. Shake extra moisture off.  That’s it.

 

Plantains

1-2 ripe plantains, peeled and sliced about ½ inch thick
1 tblsp coconut oil (melted) or x virg olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F

 

Toss sliced plantains with coconut/olive oil and season with salt and pepper. I used my seasoned cast iron grill pan but you could use a lightly oiled cookie sheet or any roasting pan you have.  Put plantains in one layer and roast turning once for about 10 minutes.  I didn’t really keep track of time so just keep checking them and flip them when they have pretty grill marks and start becoming tender.  I drained mine on some on a brown grocery bag and let them cool.  Season with salt and pepper if you think they need it.  Cut into smaller pieces and try not to eat them all quite yet!

 

Additional Ingredients

1 ½ tsp cumin
Sprinkling of olive oil
Big handful of grape tomatoes, quartered
Big handful of cilantro (or as much as you’d like), chopped
Salad greens (I used a mixture of arugula and baby spinach)
Salt and pepper to season if you want extra
Whole-wheat tortillas

 

In a large bowl, stir rice and black beans together.  Add cumin, salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of olive oil to moisten.  Throw in the cilantro and give a final toss.  Assemble on top of salad greens with tomatoes or lay salad greens on a warm tortilla and put down a layer of salad greens and put the rice mixture over it with the tomatoes.  I sprinkled mine with a bit of chipotle hot sauce and wrapped it up.

Lentil Stew

 

 I did not grow up liking lentils or any bean for that matter.  I literally forced down green beans and aside from peanuts, never ingested any legumes as far as I know.  I have vague memories of pushing away the garbanzo bean salad that the Greek owned diner used to set out as a complimentary appetizer.  I turned my nose up at any other bean offering whether at a restaurant or in people’s homes.   I know, I can’t believe that I did that either.  I clearly did not know what I was missing.  Fast forward about 10 years to the late 80′s when I took my first trip abroad to Spain where I remember eating large white beans simply dressed with olive oil and salt and pepper served along side of the Catalonian favorite of garlic and tomato rubbed crusty bread.  They were delicious, but apparently not amazing enough for me to try any others once I returned to the USA.  I kept up my refusal and ignorance of legumes until the late 90′s when I returned to Spain to visit my former exchange student’s family after a tragic suicide.  While attending FIT in NYC, I began exploring food markets and an endless variety of cheap affordable lunch spots varying from Indian to Italian and everywhere inbetween.  It was at these places that I discovered that I actually really liked beans and any legume in general.  I liked them simply salted as in Japanese edamame, spicy in an Indian dal, richly seasoned as in a hearty portion of lentils under the protein of choice at a Mediterranean restaurant.  Then I started becoming very interested in nutrition and started learning about the nutritional profiles of legumes and how they are a great source of protein and vitamins.  They also transport well and are cheap; thousands of poor peasents across Europe surviving on rooty veggies and beans fortified with hearty bread were way ahead of their time nutritionally but set the standard to how Americans are learning to feed themselves once again. 

So in honor of my European roots and travels, I give you a really simple recipe for a lentil soup that can be thrown together in under an hour.  I call it a stew because I make it quite thick.  It is also one of the few soups that I do not puree.  It is another pantry staple recipe since it consists of items lots of people have on hand such as: bagged lentils, onions, tomato paste or a few chopped up tomatoes, s & p, carrots, and a pepper.  You can change up the veggies as much as you like.  Additionally, it is a perfect recipe to make since NY doesn’t want to let winter go.

Lentil Stew

1 tblsp x virg. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, diced
2-3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 heaping tblp. tomato paste
1 c. green or brown lentils, rinsed and picked over
approx. 5 c. H2O (with one high quality veggie broth bouillon) or 5 c. high quality low sodium veggie stock (or any other low sodium stock)
1 bunch swiss chard, washed well and chopped into ribbons
salt and pepper to taste

In a large heavy stockpot , (I used the Le Creuset knockoff from the Food Network brand my mom gave me for Christmas this past year) heat oil over medium/high heat (so it shimmers but not smoking).  Add the onions and sauté until translucent and starting to color.  Add the garlic, carrots, red pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, a few grindings of pepper, and sauté till veggies starting to soften (about 8 minutes).  Add tomato paste and stir around.  Add rinsed lentils and stock.  Bring mixture up to a boil, lower heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 35-40 minutes (until lentils are soft).  Check for seasoning and add salt and/or pepper if needed.  Turn off heat and add the sliced swiss chard.  Stir it around and let it cook into stew. 

 Serve with rustic crusty whole grain bread.  It would also be nice with a dollop of pesto or olive or sundried tomato tapenade.  It gets better with age and it would also be nice under or over slow roasted salmon and/or roasted chicken.  Enjoy and pray for spring weather!

Red Lentil Dal

 I made this partially because I didn’t want to go the grocery store again this week and partially because I am always attempting to use what I have in my pantry. You will also notice that it has the requisite orange color that I seen to duplicate whenever I make soups. Check some of my other soups/stews/dals out here and you will see what I mean! I love Indian food and have been recreating Northern and Southern Indian recipes for the past couple of years. I especially like dals. Dal is essentially a way of preparing dried beans and the stew like dish that is made from them. Dals are commonly made of lentils or split lentils. This recipe was also inspired by a fellow blogger that can be found at http://homecookkirsten.blogspot.com.

 This is great on its own or served atop of brown basmati rice or with whole wheat naan bread or pitas to scoop the dal up.

Red Lentil Dal

1 c. red split lentils, rinsed and sorted (to remove any rocks that may have found their way in)
3 c. H2O
½ tsp. salt
½ c. crushed tomatoes
1 inch of fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic
1 tblsp coconut oil
1 large onion, sliced into thin half moons
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
1 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. cumin
½ c. coconut milk
Handful of chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to your liking

Put rinsed lentils into a pot with H2O. In a blender puree up the tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and add to the pot with the lentils and H20. Add tumeric and ½ tsp. salt and a few grindings of pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes. In a large skillet over medium heat melt the coconut oil and add the onions, jalapeno, 1/ 4 tsp. salt, and pepper and saute till onion is starting to color. Add cumin and curry paste and cook until onions are soft and fragrant. Add the coconut milk, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low and let simmer until onions are done. Add a bit more coconut milk if onions start to dry out. Add onion mixture to lentils and garnish with some chopped cilantro if you have any.

 

 

 

 

 

Banana Coconut Bread

 

Growing up, my mom made a lot of banana bread and we all loved it.  Over the years, along with the conflicting nutritional news/fads/trends, the recipe changed slightly as well.  Originally, the recipe used  butter.  When butter became the nemesis of the American public, margarine replaced it.  When fat in general became the newest public enemy, it was replaced with applesauce.  Straight-up whole wheat flour for awhile also replaced the unbleached all purpose flour used.  What never changed were the bananas and walnuts.  Even though the recipe changed with the times it still remained delicious anyway it was baked.  It was a treat that quickly disappeared from its foil wrapping.  My mom also frequently made two loaves and stashed one in the freezer already sliced.  It was originally my Grandma Ruth’s (mom’s mom) recipe and it consisted of conventional sugar, butter, sour milk (milk made sour by adding vinegar to it if you didn’t want to use real sour milk or buttermilk), about 4 ripe mashed bananas, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and chopped walnuts.  My grandmother and my mother would take bananas that had slightly gone past their prime and store them in the freezer until the desire to make banana bread came.  Like them, I also store my bananas in the freezer for this use.

 

I eat a banana almost everyday atop of my granola with coconut milk for breakfast.  I almost always end up with at least one banana per week that is relegated to the freezer.  I had been wanting to make banana bread and alter my grandmother’s recipe.  What I ended up with was delicious and not too sweet with a slightly less dense texture.  I also had to adjust a bit since I only had 2 bananas.  I can’t wait to toast a slice up and spread it with a bit of raspberry jam.

 

Banana Coconut Bread

 

prep time: 10 minutes (approximately)

cook time: 40 minutes

serving size: makes 10-12 slices (approximately)

 

½ c. whole wheat pastry flour

½ c. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Mix

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 ripe bananas, mashed well

½ c. + 2 tblsp coconut milk

¼ c. pure maple syrup

3 tbslp coconut oil, melted

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

½ c. unsweetened shredded coconut

2 handfuls pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted if you’d like

1 tblsp dark rum or maple syrup or coconut milk for brushing over the bread

 

Preheat the oven to 375F and grease an 8 ½” x4 ½ “ loaf pan

 

In a medium bowl sift together all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).  In a large bowl (or with a mixer) mix all wet ingredients until combined (bananas, coconut milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, and cider vinegar).  Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and mix till combined and smooth (don’t over mix!).  Stir in the coconut and the pumpkin seeds.  Pour into the prepped pan and bake for 30 minutes.

 

Remove banana bread from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 350F.  Brush the rum/maple syrup/coconut milk onto the banana bread and bake banana bread for another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and check for doneness.  A knife when inserted should come out pretty clean and not feel loose when checking if it’s done.

Carrot Fennel Soup

 

I love the read food memoirs.  I love that they combine snippets of a person’s/family’s life interspersed with favorite recipes, memories of cooking, and events coinciding with the meals eaten alone or shared.   They are essentially two books in one, part cookbook and part biography/novel. The first food memoir of sorts that I remember becoming very attached to (and still am) is Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, that is not really a memoir but a fictionalized biographical tale of her husband Almanzo Wilder growing up in upstate NY, the son of prosperous dairy farmers/merchants.  As I got older, I kept on reading and seeking out food memoirs.  Recently, I have picked up some new gems such as Nani Power’s Feed the Hungry and Diana Abu-Jaber’s The Language of Baklava: A Memoir. 

Among others, I have become almost obsessed with Amanda Hesser’s (New York Times food editor for column “Recipe Redux” and currently working on a cookbook) Cooking For Mr. Latte.  I know, it has a title that has gotten some chuckles (not by me Amanda!), but it chronicles her courtship with her now husband, Tad Friend.  I’ll let the title slide, as I too have (and still am) been in love and can excuse that kind of “in love behavior” from couples that other people perpetually want to strangle.  In any case, it has lovely recipes from her, her friends, family, and acquaintances. At this point, I know the book backwards and forwards and have my favorite parts that I constantly re-read and others that I skip right through.  It’s a book that I frequently pick up when I am at a loss of what to make or when I want to reminisce about my own grandmothers through Amanda’s.

My fridge has been holding a week old fennel bulb (from a pizza) and a little over a pound of carrots .  What to make?  In paging through Amanda’s book, I was kindly reminded of a fresh sounding soup I’d always wanted to make but never seemed to have carrots and fennel on hand together.  The rest of the ingredients are pantry staples that most people usually have on hand.  I made a few alterations according to what I had on hand that night and I was rewarded with a fabulous soup that was velvety smooth and easily transferable between the winter and spring seasons.  It was even good cold.  Enjoy and thank you for your inspiration Amanda!

Carrot and Fennel Soup

2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb (cut down to only white bulb) and chopped roughly
11/2 lbs carrots, peeled and thick cut
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
1 tsp. salt (more to taste if needed)
pepper
 enough low sodium vegetable stock or water to cover veggies in pot
2 tsp honey
juice of ½ of a lemon

In a heavy pot heat olive oil over medium heat, heat the olive oil.  Add fennel and onion and sauté until soft and starting to take on some color.  Add the carrots, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for another 5-8 minutes.  Cover the veggies with the low sodium vegetable broth or water.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat to low.  Cover and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, until the carrots can be pierced easily by a fork.  Puree the soup in batches with a blender (or use your immersion blender right inside the pot)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Nut Butter Cups

Two days after my own birthday (I turned 36) it was my dear mother in law’s birthday on February 17th.  Harry and I were planning a trip up to their house in Putnam County, NY to see them.  Then came my dilemma of what to get her for her birthday.  For the past year or so I have been making a serious effort to make the bulk of gifts that I give.  That translates into food gifts or jewelry most frequently.  My mother in law, Karen, loves peanut butter cups so I decides to try my hand at making those.  So with a little trepidation (with the peanut butter scare in recent weeks) I used the best quality organic and natural peanut butter I could find.  I hope that you like them as much as she did!  You could also simply make these into truffle or “buckeye” like candy as well by rolling the peanut butter mixture into balls and rolling them in the chocolate.

Nut Butter Cups

Mini cupcake liners or candy size liners
paintbrush
cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper
12 oz. dark (I used 72%) chocolate
1 c. nut butter (stir if necessary)
1/3 c. powdered sugar
2 tblsp. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt (if your nut butter is not salted)

Melt chocolate down in double boiler (I used a bowl over a pot of barely simmering water) over low heat (stirring periodically) until smooth.  I did not bother tempering the chocolate.

In bowl mix together nut butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt (if using) until it’s combined and the consistency of play dough and chill.  Using the paintbrush, paint the bottom and sides of the liners with a thick coating of the chocolate. Put these into the refrigerator and chill until hardened.  When chilled, roll the nut butter mixture into approx. 3/4 inch balls that will fit inside the chilling chocolate cups.  Remove the chocolate cups from the fridge and press the nut butter balls into the chocolate cups.  Brush/fill the cups the rest of the way with the melted chocolate mixture.  Chill until hardened.

I wrapped mine in squares of waxed paper (the way that salt water taffy is wrapped).

Whole Wheat Chai Banana Coconut Muffins aka One Percent Muffins

Now that’s a long name for a muffin.  They are true tropical muffins in every sense, even down to the Tahitian vanilla.  Let me preface the recipe by saying that I eat my own granola 98% of the time for breakfast.  The other one percent of the time I can be seen devouring a bagel with buttery smoked salmon (on a special occasion).  The final percent is when I have run out of granola (and money) and must resort to what is currently in my kitchen.  This morning was one of those days.  I opened my freezer and found a lone box of Hodgson Mills Whole Wheat Muffin Mix (one of the only mixes I ever buy), a ripening banana in my fruit bowl. and some chai spiced tea bags.  I wanted to veganize the recipe that was on the package and this is what I did.  They turned out delicious and had a great texture also.  I added a few chocolate chips to the top of one and I ate that one for breakfast.

Whole Wheat Chai Banana Coconut Muffins

1 box Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Muffin Mix
1 tblsp. olive oil (I would have used coconut oil but I am out)
3/4 c. fresh brewed chai tea
1/3 c. dried, unsweetened, and shredded coconut
1 ripe banana, pureed
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F and line regular sized muffin/cupcake tins with 6 paper liners.  If your muffin tin has more that six muffin spaces, fill the remaining muffin spaces with a bit of water so they don’t scorch.  In a bowl combine muffin mix, olive oil, chai tea, coconut, banana, and vanilla extract and mix until just blended.  Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin and bake for 15 min.  Remove from oven and cool. 

These would also be great spread with butter (if you are not doing the vegan thing) or jam.  You can also add some chopped nuts and/or a handful (or 2) of chocolate chips.