Friday, August 23, 2013

I'm back! With Broccoli "Cheese" soup.


Hello, my myriad blog readers! You, and you, and you…all three of you! I apologize for my long absence. It’s been a big time of transition in my life, and after getting married, going on my honeymoon, and adjusting to step-mothering, I am now on a quest to make the perfect vegan cheese sauce—my requirements are simple: no Frankencheese (or else I’m not really making it, am I?), and my 4 year-old stepson must approve (this will be the hard part!).

Most vegan “cheese” pastas and soups I’ve found rely heavily on spices like concentrated garlic and horseradish-y mustard powder—which is yummy in its own right, and fine and dandy for the grown-up palate. But when it comes to just a real, solid cheese FLAVOR? These strong seasonings are only going to remind you that you’re not really eating cheese. Granted, the flavor of nutritional yeast, though delicious, is very distinctive. I try to think of it as its own kind of cheese, and that helps. :)

So I’ve been experimenting, and in the name of research, I tasted a teeny-tiny corner of real cheddar cheese—in order to really focus on the flavor and try to figure out what I could possibly use to imitate it.  The two flavors that really stand out are: really salty, obviously, but also: clearly fermented. This part is important! And often overlooked in vegan cheese experiments. So after a few days of thought, it occurred to me that maybe very dry white wine would be the ticket. I grabbed my bottle of cheap white cooking wine and tasted it. Salty and fermented. Exactly right.

So now instead of garlic powder, I use white cooking wine, and instead of mustard powder, I use plain sharp, tart yellow mustard (think French’s; though I buy Organic Tree of Life). I also tend to slightly increase the measurement of nutritional yeast, and never skimp on the salt. I’m not ready to declare it perfect just yet, though the cheese base for this soup came pretty dang close. The 4 year-old judge—who does not usually warm immediately to new foods—declared he did not like it, but ate it without whining when he had to in order to get more bread, so it may be on its way to success.

I may try increasing the mustard and wine—the measurements I give here are approximate, since I was silly and didn’t really measure mine as I made it. If it helps, I pulled out the stirring spatula and ran two thick lines of mustard across the bottom. I’m guessing that equaled about a teaspoon. Credit where credit is due: I tweaked the recipe from Novel Eats, another great vegan blog (there are so many!). Please click and give her some traffic.

Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup

  • 3 or 4 small heads broccoli, chopped (dice the stem bits you cut off as you go)
  • 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 heaping cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unbleached flour (I used Bob’s All-Purpose Gluten-Free and it worked dandy.)
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white cooking wine
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard (wet, not powdered)
  • 8 cups warm water
  • 5 tablespoons vegan butter (I always use organic Earth Balance)

Prepare your broccoli and onion, then steam it for about 15 minutes. It will not have enough time to cook in the soup itself, so it needs to be cooked separately. Just be sure to not over-steam it.

In a large soup pot (which will need to be at least 3 or 4 quarts), mix all of your dry ingredients together, then whisk in the water until the dry and the wet have been well mixed. Add in the cooking wine and mustard. Add the butter and allow it to melt as the soup cooks.
Turn on the heat to about medium high and stir constantly. It will take several minutes to thicken, but if you do not stir the soup it will burn on the bottom and not thicken evenly. (I used a grated metal spatula for this—it helped scrape the bottom of the pot most effectively, and also sifted the dry chunks.)

Make sure to stir constantly! As it thickens, taste and adjust seasoning—particularly white wine and mustard. Add a dash of garlic powder, agave or lemon juice if you think it is too bland/sharp/salty. I thought mine turned out just about perfect, but of course, tastes vary. :)

As soon as the soup thickens up to a consistency that you like, take the soup off the heat and stir in the steamed broccoli and onion. Next time I make it I may stir in some cooked rice for a heartier meal. You can serve immediately, or you can store it and serve it later.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

On Lunch and Deprivation

 

Two topics which go hand in hand for me since, as I wrote in my very first post here, I have historically struggled with making time to figure out hat to eat and then actually eat lunch. Like everybody else, I always have 100x more urgent things to get done than I have time in a day and eating lunch just seems like an extraneous luxury. Until, of course, around 3 PM when starvation hits and I want to stuff my face with Lays potato chips and Oreos. Then I feel like a crabby slug who doesn’t want to make a healthy dinner, much less eat it. Lose lose.

I haven’t been keeping up the blog very well lately because I have been trying to limit internet time in favor of getting that overwhelming to-do list actually done. Finding balance is a tough task, in life as in eating as in blogging. But I’m doing my best to keep learning, and move past the bad days that don’t quite go as planned.

I’ve been really pleased with my progress in figuring out the lunch dilemma. I’ve become pretty adept at looking at leftover ingredients in my fridge and figuring out what goes with what.

Example 1: for a recent dinner, I had made herbed polenta cutlets with a mushroom ragout. I had some leftover herbed polenta that hadn’t yet been cut or fried. I also had a tomato that I grabbed at the farmers market three days prior, despite my lack of planned use for it, wooed by it’s purple-red beauty and Jefferson’s Monticello farm heritage. The basil in my garden was in need of harvest, I noticed while watering, and the spinach was bolting and had met the end of its very short spring season. So I gathered the leaves from the garden and cut them into a chiffonade (leaves stacked, rolled up like a cigar, and sliced thin), sliced the tomato, and tossed them together with a little olive oil and balsamic. I took the polenta, fried it up in a pan (I didn’t bother with cutting or crusting it), scooted it to the side, and briefly warmed up the tomato mixture next to it. An easy gourmet lunch! I was really proud.

Example 2: I had cooked up plenty of brown rice, since one of our staple dishes around here has become Thai pineapple fried rice and it’s best with rice that’s several days refrigerated. Still, I had a ton. (I think I cooked about 8 cups.) I also had a cilantro chutney I’d whipped up for a fun, experimental behlpuri Indian date night in, a red bell pepper that was on it’s way out, and half a can of black beans in a Pyrex. So in a skillet I threw some oil, rice, the beans, the pepper diced up, several spoonfuls of the chutney (Indian, but I figured hey, cilantro is cilantro and it’ll probably work great in Mexican inspired beans and rice!), and a handful of frozen corn for good measure. It took me about 5 minutes to heat up, and I had a great meal from leftovers and bought-on-a-whim ‘food with no purpose’ that would have ended up in the garbage in my past life.

I’m finding that in life as in interior decorating, you can’t worry about coordinating everything. You have to know yourself well enough to know what you really like, and trust that it will all come together with a little care and attention applied.

And I’ve been learning to keep things I like ready made in the fridge. I have a pot of Cajun-style red beans and rice on the stove right now; to be kept in the fridge, ready to feed us several reheated lunches on demand. I try to always have my black bean ‘dragon’ dip or some kind of hummus in the fridge, making sandwiches or veggie/fruit/olive/cracker/dip ‘antipasto’ lunches really easy to pull out as well. This usually requires just 20-30 minutes one day a week or so and my very beloved Kitchen Aid food processor. I’ve been feeling deprived a lot less often, now that I’m learning a new way to approach lunch.

And this brings me to further thoughts on deprivation. As I’ve been focusing on really learning what I especially enjoy eating, I’ve never looked forward to my meals more. I’ve tried more new foods and fantastic flavors since deciding to completely cut out animal foods than I ever could have imagined. I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of new meal ideas that excite me, and it seems like nearly every night I’m trying something for the first time.

Yet on a recent visit with a non-veg friend of Matt’s, I answered several questions that reminded me exactly what the word “vegan” would have brought to mind as recently as two years ago—complete and total deprivation, bland and boring food, and most inevitably, all of the delicious things I “wouldn’t be allowed” to eat anymore.

“I could never, ever. Ugh!” would have been my basic response if you’d asked me back then. Thankfully, our friend was much more thoughtful and curious than I would have been.

“So, what do you snack on during the day when you’re hungry?” he asked.
“Probably a lot of the same stuff you do,” I replied. “Veggies, dip, fruit, chips, salsa, crackers, peanut butter. Nut bars, sunflower seeds, popcorn. Dark chocolate. Sometimes Oreos. With peanut butter if it’s a really bad day.”
“Huh,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s funny, you always think of “vegan” as this thing that’s so different and really hard to do.”

Later, as we were prepping dinner together in his kitchen he said, “You know, when I think about ‘going vegan’ the first thing I think about is all the things I wouldn’t be able to eat anymore, and it just seems like too much. I don’t think about the things I can eat!” He gestured to all of the food surrounding us on the counter.

“I know,” I said. “Trust me, I felt exactly the same way! I don’t think I ever could have done it cold turkey. Some people can, and that’s great, but first I had to learn how much I really still enjoyed food and cooking without meat in it, and how much I did not miss meat. Then when I decided to give up dairy [the holy grail; which it seems I may have an allergy to] and eggs, I found myself trying yet more new foods and exciting flavors that made the whole thing feel more like an adventure than an exercise in deprivation.” (I said a bunch of things that added up to that, anyway. I think it's pretty obvious that is not EXACTLY what I said. :) )

And that’s the key: try to add more plant-based recipes to your life first; don’t think “I am eliminating meat, cheese and eggs; things I grew up with that my parents made me, things that are the basis for Granny’s potluck recipes and the soup I ate when I was pregnant with Janie and couldn’t keep anything else down.” You’re asking to fail when you put too much pressure on yourself, too soon. Instead, designate one day a week ‘All Plant Day” and look in cookbooks and online for plant-based recipes that sound yummy to you. Pull them out on your designated day, and try them! Enjoy new flavors and foods you’ve never heard of before!

And try not to think in terms of  “not allowed” but rather, “what else is there that might work?” I will cheerfully admit that sometimes I fail at being 100% vegan. I’m a beginner yet at this.

And while the idea of eating flesh food has, over time (I used to crave pepperoni like you wouldn’t believe, and sometimes drunkenly indulge), become nauseating to me, eating milk or butter buried in a sauce or pastry is much more difficult to resist. Hypocritical though I know it is. When I’m PMSing, sometimes I’m just desperate for a Kraft American cheese grilled cheese on white bread. I found a vegan substitute, but it didn’t cut it. I found another one to try that supposedly tastes more like the real Kraft, but if it doesn’t cut it either and I really can’t resist it one day every few months, I won’t. It isn’t a good thing, but it’s a much better thing than saying “Vegan is too hard!” and giving up altogether. And just the other day I caved to my craving for vegetarian-but-not-vegan Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Sure, I feel inconsistent and guilty. But the truth is, I am anyway, whether I feel that way or not. I’d rather feel like I still have a lot of work to do to be perfect than to feel vastly superior to everybody else.

Secret: the “vegan police” don’t actually exist. Nobody’s going to pull in and arrest you for giving in to your Ben and Jerry’s craving or deciding you’ll drink the milk at your dad’s house because he’s a wonderful dairy farmer who loves his cows and respects their right to live to die of old age. Outside of the movie Scott Pilgrim, the vegan police don’t exist, I promise.

What does exist, unfortunately, everywhere in life including among plant-based eaters, are mean, judgmental people. These are the only people who are truly deprived: deprived of kindness, grace, growth, and the truth about themselves and their neighbors. I try not to refer to myself as ‘vegan’ in public because these kinds of people are very puritanical in doctrine and defensive of their label. I don’t want to be associated with them anyway. I’m plant-based, or an herbivore, or an animal food avoider, but I’m not a pure VEGAN (or pure anything else, for that matter).

We are all inconsistent; that is not a reason to be consistently cruel and thoughtless. In fact, I find my spiritual awareness is heightened by the humbling recognition of my own inconsistency. Don’t let your absolute certainty that your addiction to frozen yogurt is too deeply cemented in your soul to ever give it up convince you that there is no point in reducing your animal foods at all. This is just false.

I’ll close with this thought from author Isaac Beshevis Singer, recently shared with me by a new local veg friend: “A vegetarian is an inconsistent person. If a mosquito is biting me, I swat it. But it is better to be an inconsistent vegetarian than to not be a vegetarian.” Amen to that.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

OMGooey

I have fallen in love again. With another cookbook. Chloe's Kitchen, by young vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli, is AMAZING. While maybe a touch less healthy than Color Me Vegan, this is such a fantastic cookbook for the newly inducted/those transitioning from a SAD (Standard American Diet) to a healthier, plant-based diet. And Chloe's vegan mac and cheese (which I also made gluten free!), while certainly a treat, isn't all that unhealthy--and it's actually amazingly delicious, comforting and gooey. Mine came out of the oven picture-perfect--and Matt flipped over it! (Well, so did I. But he made himself ill. :)

Though the recipe says elbow macaroni, I used spiral pasta because I ordered a bulk shipment of Tinkyada Organic from Amazon. This saves money on a pretty pricey pasta (about $3/pack instead of $5). Also, the organic version isn't available yet at my local co-op, though I requested it so hopefully it will come in soon. I think elbows, shells, spiral or penne would all work pretty nicely. I used almond milk, because rice milk seems like it would be too thin and jury is still out on eating a lot of unfermented soy, so no soy milk in my house.

*I am tweaking this every time I make it, so I will add my notes in italics. :)

Best Ever Baked Mac and Cheese

We were too hungry to remember to take the picture first.
Ingredients
1 lb elbow macaroni(Use Tinkyada and only Tinkyada if you want this to be gluten-free; but note that a package is 12 oz, or 3/4 pound. Get a second package!)
¼ cup vegan margarine (I use organic Earth Balance)
1/3 cup flour or gluten-free flour
3 cups soy, almond or rice milk
½ cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp lemon juice (I replaced with cooking wine for a slightly more 'fermented' cheese flavor)
                                                                                    1 tbsp agave
2 tbsp white cooking wine
                                                                                    2 tbsp seasoned bread crumbs

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 pan if metal/aluminum. Glass and ceramic don’t need it.

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. I do 2 tsp per quart of water, and use about 3 quarts of water, so--6 tsp. Add macaroni and cook according to package directions.  Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a medium/large saucepan, whisk margarine and flour together over medium heat until it forms a thick paste. (I use a fork for this, then switch to a whisk or beater attachment from the hand-held mixer to blend the forthcoming ingredients.) Add non-dairy milk, tomato paste, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Don’t walk away or it will stick to the pan! Reduce heat and let it simmer for a few moments if needed to thicken. Adjust seasoning to taste and whisk in the cooking wine and agave. Toss noodles with the sauce and transfer to the prepared pan. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of the pasta and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and crisp and the edges are bubbly. Remove from oven and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving. YUM.

Monday, April 15, 2013

A perfect meal.

I love this meal so much. Just made it for dinner tonight and thought I should post. I discovered it over a year ago, and it's been a constant favorite ever since. It's quick, easy, nutritious, super tasty, and there are plenty of leftovers (well, when cooking for only two or using as a side dish). It manages to be hearty AND refreshing at the same time. Kind of a miracle meal.

I used to make it without onion and it came off as too lemony, so I reduced the amount of lemon juice. But since I've become obsessed with raw red onion (very, very wisely obsessed, since raw red onion is SO DELICIOUS), the original amount of lemon juice tastes just perfect; setting off the sweet and slightly spicy onion with citrusy goodness. Try it!

Moroccan Quinoa Salad


Ingredients
  • 3 Cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dried)
  • 1/3 Cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoons sugar
  • 1-1/2 Cups canned black beans, rinsed
  • 1-1/2 Cups corn kernels (about 2 cobs) or defrosted frozen
  • 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 11 fluid ounce cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1/2 Cups slivered almonds, toasted
  • 1/4 cup chopped green or black olives
  • 1/4 Cups chopped fresh mint
  • 1/4 Cups chopped fresh cilantro
  • Directions
  • 1.Cook quinoa, according to package instructions.
  • 2.While quinoa is cooking, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, salt and sugar into a vinaigrette in a small bowl.
  • 3.Combine quinoa and all remaining ingredients, except fresh herbs, into a medium-sized bowl.
  • 4.Drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss to combine.
  • 5.Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow flavours to combine. Add fresh herbs just prior to serving. May be served at room temperature.
  • Nutrients Per Serving
    Nutrients per serving: 407 calories, 17 g fat, 14 g protein, 56 g carbohydrates, 11 g fibre. Excellent source of vitamin E, folic acid, thiamin, iron, zinc, phosphorus and magnesium.
    Moroccan Quinoa Salad

    Tuesday, April 9, 2013

    Gardening, smoothies and tempeh

    It's been so busy around here and it's hard keeping up with a blog--I've made so many things I want to share, been working on my new garden and going to yoga almost every day. So I'm going to cheat and take elaborate blog posts and combine them into a super quick catch-up:

    Gardening!

    My garden. (This is supposed to be about 'home ec' after all, and what's more home economical than investing in a garden??) We put in a mixture of seed and seedlings, planters and raised beds. All told, we have in the ground: basil, thyme, mint, lettuce, arugula, mizuna, kale, spinach, bok choy, pumpkins, watermelons, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, climbing beans, malabar spinach, red bell peppers, jalapenos and carrots.  It's beautiful and cute, see? And I have this handsome guy to stand guard:















    And this handsome guy as a chore boy:



    And I love everything about it. *sipping lemonade from the sidelines* *...yeah, right.*

    I have a feeling this is the beginning of a long and beautiful love affair between gardening and I.

     Smoothies! I've been drinking one every day as my first meal of the day. It's my first effort towards getting more fruit, greens and raw food into my diet--not to mention probiotics (from almond yogurt), omegas (from flax) and maca root. It's convenient and fast to be able to consume all these things quickly so I have more time in my day to do what I do best: write. And make dinner. :)

    Side note: for a long time I didn't understand or care to understand the "raw food" movement. If you're like I was, you don't either, so here's the quickie, super-simplified explanation (it's actually interesting!)--your body needs enzymes to do everything, including to digest food. So, food already has enzymes in it, if you don't cook 'em dead. If you're not eating your enzymes, the enzymes elsewhere in your body are all 'Aw, man! I was just in the middle of stopping this cancer cell or healing this inflamed joint! And now I have to go help digest this food! Sorry to abandon you, Other Lifesaving Work, but basic nutrition trumps all!' So. Make sense? Increasing raw foods, if not going on a pure raw diet (kind of pointlessly rigid, in my opinion), is good for you. The End.

    Smoothies have been very experimental and some have been better than others. I made a post-workout smoothie the other day that was outstanding; it tasted like a delicious chocolate covered raspberry dessert. But, and I quote from the source: "The walnuts in this shake provide heart-healthy fats and about 4.5 grams of protein, as well as potassium and magnesium, essential electrolytes for muscle function." So drink up, workout junkies!

    Raspberry Walnut Smoothie:

    1 cup unsweetened almond milk
    1/3 cup frozen raspberries
    1/4 cup chopped walnuts
    1/2 frozen banana
    1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao nibs
    1 tsp vanilla
    dash of lemon juice
    dash of agave syrup

    Ridiculously good.




    And tempeh! 

    My new staple food! I think I've had it maybe once before, but I couldn't really remember so I definitely didn't have it as good as I made it last night. Why I love it: it's super high in protein, it's a fermented soy product (assuaging my soy do-I-or-don't-I? anxiety--Google "fermented soy" if you're like 'huh?'), and it's really freaking yummy.

    Recipe for the salad I made for dinner last night, from Food 52.








    Snow Pea, Cabbage, and Mizuna Salad with Marinated and Seared Tempeh

    By • April 3, 2013 •


    Serves 4 (or 2 if making as a dinner salad)







    Basic Marinated Tempeh
    • 2 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar (apple cider is my preference)
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
    • 2 tablespoons water
    • 1 teaspoon grated or minced ginger root
    • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
    • 8 ounces tempeh, sliced into thin strips (about 1/4 inch or a little less)
    • 2 teaspoons coconut oil (optional, for frying)
    Snow Pea, Cabbage, and Mizuna Salad with Miso Mustard Dressing
    • 6 ounces snow peas, trimmed
    • 2 cups red cabbage, shredded
    • 1 cup carrot, shredded
    • 2 cups mizuna
    • 2 green onions, sliced thin
    • 1/4 cup cilantro, diced
    • 2 tablespoons mellow white miso
    • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
    • 1 small clove garlic, minced
    • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
    1. To prepare the tempeh, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, water, ginger, and sesame oil. Arrange tempeh in a large, shallow bowl (a small casserole will also work) and pour the marinade over the pieces. Allow them to marinate for 2-3 hours (or over the course of a day, refrigerated).
    2. You can either bake or pan fry the tempeh. To fry, heat the coconut oil on a skillet pan or in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Cook each side for about four minutes, and serve hot. To bake, heat an oven to 375 degrees and bake them tempeh pieces for 25 minutes, flipping once through.
    3. To prepare the salad, heat a small pot of water to a boil and boil the snow peas for about thirty seconds. Rinse under cold water and let them dry, then cut the peas in halves or thirds.
    4. Mix all remaining salad ingredients.
    5. To make the vinaigrette, blend the miso, mustard, lemon, oil, garlic, and syrup in a blender till smooth or whisk together briskly. Dress the salad to taste, and top with the seared tempeh. 
    Wow is all I have to say about that dish. Just vegan perfection on a plate. (I opted to fry my tempeh in coconut oil, FYI.) I couldn't find mizuna anywhere, however, so I mixed arugula with more mellow spinach figuring I'd get a similar flavor profile. I was also in a huge hurry and forgot the snow peas. OOPS. And STILL amazing. Here's what mine looked like:

     
    And that's all she (me) wrote! Off to the library for some novel research...





    Saturday, April 6, 2013

    Fatty McFatson

    I was craving some serious fatty fat tonight. SO, I hauled out the coconut milk, pine nuts, peanut butter and olive oil, and threw a party. I made the summer squash and tomato dish yet again (a new family favorite) and indulged us all in some noodles with spicy Thai peanut sauce topped with shiitake mushrooms (fresh from the farmer's market!) and broccoli.

    I love making peanut sauce because it's easy to do without a recipe. If I want a quick and sweet peanut sauce, I melt peanut butter in veggie broth, adding brown sugar and curry powder to taste.

    If I want a more decadent sauce, like I made tonight, I still start with a little veg broth, melt the peanut butter, add some red Thai curry paste and a can of coconut milk, and then salt and cayenne to taste. (I could use more expensive curry paste for the same kick, but I like to cut a cash corner here and cheat with cayenne instead.) It's one of the few things I make without measuring...I eyeball it and taste through the whole process. (Oh, it's tough tasting peanutty coconutty sauce, but somebody has to do it.)

    Then for dessert (of course this meal needed a dessert!) I made DELICIOUS Kiwi Banana Muffins from (what else?) Color Me Vegan. The muffins were tart and delicious (and made with gluten free flour they turned out great!), and the zest from one divine Minneola tangelo really made them special...oh, yum.

    None of these food items matched, or even coordinated. But they were all delicious. It was all so worth it. Salads and smoothies tomorrow. :)

    Kiwi Banana Muffins

    2 cups all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Gluten-Free All Purpose)
    1 tsp baking powder
    1/4 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    zest from 1 medium orange (or tangelo. :) )
    3 ripe bananas, peeled
    8 ripe kiwis, peeled and divided (maybe less; read directions before peeling)
    1/2 cup non-dairy butter, softened (I used Organic Earth Balance)
    1/3 cup granulated sugar

    Directions:

    Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil muffin pan (or two; recipe makes 12-14 muffins)

    In a large bowl, stir together the flour, orange zest, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

    In a medium bowl or in a food processor or blender, mash/puree the bananas and 5* of the kiwis.
    (*you are looking to get about 1/2 cup of kiwi puree. My 5 kiwis gave me a whole cup; so try 2 or 3 at a time and see if you need more.) Add the butter and sugar and stir to combine. Your non-dairy butter will probably look chunky in the mix; that's okay.

    Chop the 3 remaining kiwis into bite sized pieces. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the chopped kiwi, and stir to combine.

    Spoon the batter into individual muffin tins. If using GF flour, feel free to fill the cups pretty high...mine didn't rise too terribly much. Or at all, even. The book didn't specify, so I went on the generous side of 1/2 full, but could have done more. If you're using regular flour, I can't vouch for it.

    Bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took 20) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of your muffins comes out clean.

    Cool for ten minutes on wire rack. (Don't cave to temptation and dig in, those kiwi chunks inside are HOT!) Slather with Earth Balance butter for a sweet, tart and salty decadent treat. :)