La Dolce Vegan Challenge, Day 1: Wolffie's Banana Blueberry Muffins

Well boys and girls, here we are on Day One of the Vegan Culinary Institute's 'La Dolce Vegan Challenge' - isn't it exciting?!

I decided, in honour of the first recipe, to splash out and buy the blueberries, for an authentic start. Well, sort of. I omitted the granulated sugar in favour of palm sugar (non-refined, more subtle flavour - a bit caramelly), to make the muffins a bit more breakfast-friendly. Maple syrup would probably have worked nicely too as a substitute, but it's about 10 times the price. Instead of adding it to the dry ingredients, I just put it on with the wet instead - it's not really wet, but it is sticky!

Strangely, having consumed many sweets made with palm sugar (t'other half uses it a lot, especially in his favourite black rice pudding), this was the first time I've ever actually cooked with it. It comes in little cakes, which are rather solid. My blender sounded like it was trying to grind a golf ball. In hindsight I should have dissolved it first in some warmed soya milk - in fact I think that was my original plan, but after a long day at work (12-8, got in at 8.30, ate some dinner, sat for 5 mins, got up and made muffins) my gameplan dribbled out of my ears somewhere on the bike ride home.

For some reason my muffins rose spectacularly, like rocky outcrops with exploded blueberry rivers. More scone-y than muffin-y in shape. Flavour and texture-wise they were very good, though I under-palm sugared them a bit, and IMHO they could stand a bit more banana. But then I always think things could stand more banana. I also had to add a bit more soya milk, because the mixture became so solid once I started combining the wet and dry ingredients that I was literally unable to mix them together. As a result the batter probably got rather more glutinous and stretchy than it ought, but they certainly weren't tough.

Tomorrow: No Salt Shaker - but on what... (Actually, I'm having some people round for dinner tomorrow, so I'm going to cheat a bit and get a few more of this week's recipes ticked off the list while I'm at it! For continuity, though, I will blog about each recipe on the proper day.)

Breakfast magic

I have many a post to catch up on here, but right now I'm consuming a delicious chocolatey breakfast (for the second morning in a row) that needs documenting! I got a massive bag of bananas from Hulme market for £1 on Monday (end of day stuff), which has prompted this spell of semi-decadence. I've made this concoction before, but never for breakfast, and it was surprisingly sustaining. Normally even a big bowl of porridge and raisins leaves me starving by 12 (lunch is at 1 at work), but yesterday I wasn't really much more than peckish by the time lunch came round.

So, breakfast chocolate-peanut-banana milkshake. You'll need a blender! Throw in some soya milk, some oats (do these first so the oats can soak while you assemble the rest of the ingredients), a sliced banana, one teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, a drizzle of maple syrup or other liquid sweetener of your choice, a small handful of raisins and a spoonful of peanut butter. Blend. Adjust quantities of chocolate/banana/peanut to taste. (Yesterday I got carried away with the chocolate and had to add another banana to balance it out...)

Yummy yummy yummy! And not altogether unhealthy either.

Basilicious!

That's what I should call the smoothie I made this morning when I finally write that cookbook.

Two kiwis, one banana (all slightly too ripe for eating but perfect for smoothies!), three large basil leaves, a dollop of plain soya yoghurt, a splash of water and some raisins for good measure. It could probably stand more basil as it was a very subtle flavour, but I didn't want to overdo it on my first try and ruin the whole thing!

I've also heard that pineapple and basil is something of an experience, so I shall have to keep my eyes peeled for reduced pineapples!