Woohoo! Today is the second anniversary of An Unrefined Vegan and I would really love to be celebrating in person with my friend, Somer, instead of virtually – but the next best thing is guest-posting on her blog, Vedged Out. Today I’m sharing a super easy, crazy delicious recipe for banana bread that would be absolutely perfect for sharing with a good friend over a cup of cocoa. No special occasion necessary. Please go visit Vedged Out for the (oil-free!) recipe. But before you go, two things:
1) If you haven’t signed up for the Virtual Vegan Potluck, you have until midnight ET on November 9. Sign up here.
2) Todd’s Seeds is hosting a giveaway that is really great: ONE POUND of a mix of broccoli, alfalfa, and radish sprouting seeds. I’m not a paid spokesperson (though Todd’s Seeds does sponsor the VVP), but these are the brand of seeds I buy and I’ve never had a failure. This is a great deal! Please enter this giveaway and show Todd’s Seeds some sproutin’ love. The giveaway is open until midnight October 31. Enter here.
I’ve got quite a few “favorite” recipes coming up this month, but this one ranks right up there. It’s got everything: peanut butter, jelly, nanners, cinnamon, pumpkin, and carbohydrates. This is a nod towards Number 2 on Buzzfeed’s 29 Ways to Honor the Glory of Peanut Butter & Jelly - a contribution from Macaroni and Cheesecake for Peanut Butter & Jelly French Toast Sandwich. That is some ooey-gooey goodness right there. Instead of a yeast bread which is what I’d typically use for French toast, I made a pumpkin quickbread rich with spices and the warm flavor of maple. I like it mighty fine.
Make the French toast:
One night not too long ago as I was contemplating dinner, I realized that I had no bread. Bread with dinner is nearly a must in our household – probably a holdover from when I was a kid and mom always had a loaf to go along with dinner (with luck, a crusty Italian one from Alesci’s). Even the freezer was bare. Luckily I remembered a quick and delicious recipe for oat quickbread and within 15 minutes, a batch was baking in the oven. I messed with the original recipe, of course, and now can’t remember from which cookbook the recipe came. I replaced whole oats with slightly ground oats (it’s a texture thing), used whole wheat flour for white, veganized and de-sugared.
2 cups quick-cooking oats (or lightly grind regular oats)
The Early Spring issue of The Baking Sheet came in the mail recently and – as usual – it had me primed to tie on the apron and let the flour fly. But this issue has even more recipes that I absolutely need to try, so dear reader, you will be seeing quite a few here on these “pages.” I get a real kick out of veganizing KAF recipes. They are, after all, the masters and I just a humble, bumbling home baker. They would be appalled, probably, at how I substitute whole grain flours, nix sugars and halve fats. But it is so much fun and for the most part, the results are delicious.
2/3 cup soy milk
(Instead of a loaf pan, use muffin tins, if you like. For this recipe, I halved the amount of butter and added prune puree – because I thought it would work well with the dates – to make up for the “missing” fat. Egg replacer and soy milk, of course – and instead of “bran flakes,” I used oat bran which adds very nicely to the bread’s texture – and boosts the nutritional content as well. I completely omitted the addition of 3 tbsp. sugar – so not needed. Finally, I replaced the white flour with whole wheat pastry flour.)