Lemon Blueberry Muffins

The pressure of January has officially hit: everyone is telling you to exercise, eat properly, and of course, they offer you some magical way to disappear the extra pounds you've gained over the holidays. So I just wanted to put my opinion out there...while all of that may be good (I know I indulged over the holidays) I'm still going to "indulge" in a muffin or two. While some may claim that carbs are evil and that baking is making you fat, these muffins are loaded with good grains like sorghum, quinoa and millet (with very little starch). They're also (almost) vegan and while I wouldn't eat a ton of them, we can all feel pretty good about a muffin like this. They're not low fat--fat really is required to make gluten free baked goods work, but they're loaded with some pretty good stuff. So I'm going to relax, sip some tea, read a book, and eat a muffin. And ignore most of the diet craze that'll eventually disappear as reality hits the masses.

My camera was charging while I was making these, so I don't have full pictures to show. But I can tell you that these muffins are seriously good. My mom, who hates anything baked with blueberries, said this was the best blueberry muffin she's ever had. It is soft and has a nice, moist crumb and perfect texture. I sincerely hope you'll try making these--they're definitely worth spending 30 minutes making.

You can make these completely vegan by subbing out the buttermilk for 1/2 cup non-dairy milk soured with 1 tsp of vinegar.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
1 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 rounded cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1-1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 6 oz container of Greek yogurt or sour cream
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk (moo-cow or non-dairy)
1 tsp vanilla
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 1/4 cup hot water

Directions:
Mix together dry ingredients, from sorghum to brown sugar. Add wet ingredients straight into the dry. Mix well. Consistency should be that of a wheaty-muffin batter. Semi-stiff, but wet.

Spoon into 12 muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Muffins are done when golden brown and a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.

Serves 12

COST BREAKDOWN
Sorghum Flour $1.60
Quinoa Flour $.62
Millet Flour $.52
Cornmeal $.08
Tapioca $.51
Xanthan Gum $.10
Baking Powder $.08
Baking Soda $.003 (that's not a typo--$.50 box has 94.5 tsp)
Sea Salt $.001 (also not typo--$3 for 5lb bag )
Brown Sugar $.70 (total guestimation)
Oil $.10 ($2 bottle, don't feel like doing the math)
Buttermilk $.28 ($2.30/qt, 1 qt=4 cups)
Milk $.36 ($1.20/pt, 1 pt=2 cups)
vanilla $.15 (total guestimation)
lemon $.25
Egg Replacer $.28 (guestimation $.28 is cost for 1 oz)




TOTAL=$5.63, $.47 per serving (muffin)

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Chorizo Soup with Black Eyed Peas

This is a warm, comforting and flavorful soup to soothe your winter blues. And I'd guess, that most of us are pretty much full of winter blues. With record snowfall all across the country, airports being closed, and people being stuck in historical interstate closures, I think we all need a bowl of soup. While I don't usually recommend commercial products, I did make this vegetarian by using Trader Joe's soy chorizo. It's gluten-free as well as vegan and actually tastes pretty good and even better, it's affordable. In fact, this entire dish cost me about $3.46, which makes this $.43-$.58 per serving! Count this one as an affordable dish! You can also make this dish vegan by omitting the added cheese.

Start with this: soy chorizo. Or use real chorizo. It's a free world, man.

Mexican chorizo comes in a non-edible casing. Especially the vegetarian kind. This is plastic. And you don't want to eat plastic!

See? Unwrap to get to the goods!

Now dump it in your pan of choice.

Now cook it over medium-low heat. If you're using the real stuff, it will give off a lot more fat. If you're using the vegetarian stuff, it won't give off so much. The point is to warm it up and get as much stuff in the pan as possible here.

Now while the chorizo is doing it's thing, grab an onion.

And dice it up.

Now remove the chorizo from the pan and set it aside. My kitchen pretty much smells divine at this moment. Avoid the urge to eat the chorizo.

This is what you want in your pan. This is the delicious, beautiful aftermath of chorizo. Again, if you're using true chorizo you'll have quite a lot more fat at the bottom. But no worries. Fat = flavor.

Now throw in that diced onion. The onion will sweat and absorb all that wonderful flavor. That'll take around 5 minutes.

While the onion does its thing, grab a few cloves of garlic and a few jalapenos, if you're opting in for some heat.

Dice 'em up.

Now throw the jalapeno and garlic in with the now caramelized onions. Let that cook for a little it, just don't let the garlic burn.

Now either grab the jar for your blender, or, if you happen to have a stick blender, a nice large container to blend your veggies in.

Put all the veggies from the pan into your container or your blender.

Grab a 15 oz can of tomatoes. I used the fire roasted variety here.

Put the tomatoes in the container or blender too. But wait! There's more...

We've gotta have cumin. This looks like a half teaspoon or so.

And some Mexican oregano. If you don't have the Mexican variety, you can just throw in the regular stuff too. Doesn't taste the same, but I got alone fine for years. This is about a teaspoon of whole Mexican oregano, but otherwise use half a teaspoon.

Now blend it up until it's relatively smooth.

Like this!

Now add it back to your original pan along with the cooked chorizo.

Add in 4 cups of water + base OR broth.

Add in your black eyed peas. Mine were obviously frozen.

Now grate up some cheese. This is about a cup of cheddar. But pepper jack would be good too. Or some smoked gouda...actually that sounds really good. Maybe next time.

Throw the cheese into the pot. Stir it around and let it melt into the wonderful soup.

Then pour into a dish and devour. Mmmm...this was smokey, chunky, and really, really good. Try this! Serves 4 -6 hungry adults.

Chorizo Soup with Black Eyed Peas (Vegetarian) PDF printer friendly version

Ingredients
12 oz. Vegetarian Mexican Chorizo, removed from casing
1 onion, diced
2 jalapenos (optional)
3 cloves garlic
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp Mexican oregano
4 cups water (or broth)
1 tbsp no-chicken vegetarian base (omit if using broth)
2 15 oz. cans of black eyed peas or 2 cups cooked from scratch
1 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:
Add chorizo to pan over medium low heat. Remove from pan once it has released any oils and is heated through. Remove chorizo from pan and set aside.

Add diced onion to pan and cook until caramelized. Add chopped jalapeno and garlic to pan for 30 seconds.

Remove vegetables to a blender or a container for use with an immersion blender. Add tomatoes, cumin and oregano, and blend until smooth. Pour mixture back into pan, adding the chorizo back to the pan and adding the water or broth. Finally, add the black eyed peas, the cheddar cheese and heat through.

Serves 4 - 6

COST BREAKDOWN
Soy Chorizo $1.99
Onion $.30 ($.40/lb)
2 jalapenos $.16 ($.88/lb)
2 cloves garlic $.09 ($1.30 for bag of 4 heads, approx 10 cloves per head)
1 Tbsp no-chicken base $.10 (guestimation--each jar was $2.50)
2 cups cooked black eyed peas $.32 (dried price $.96/lb, guessing 1/3 lb)
1 cup cheese $.50 (guestimation--each 2 lb block was $4)

TOTAL=$3.46, $.43-$.58 per serving

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