Blueberry Muffins, Spicy Black Eyed Peas, Calzones, and Susan's BBQ Seitan Ribs

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I was given the surprise of my life. My sister flew in from Texas to surprise both my mother and I. I didn't have my camera with me, but will get pictures before she leaves next Saturday.

Saturday was cooking day. The family requested Susan's lasagna again. http://http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/03/my-favorite-lasagna.html Since I just made it and posted a picture I didn't take another one this time. When making it this time the only thing I changed was adding grated zucchini instead of sliced. I made extra filling to use in my Calzones. Melody made some beautiful ones last week and I had to try my hand at them. http://melomeals.blogspot.com/search?q=calzones Brandie and I loved them. I made 6 so we could have them for lunches too. The crust was made from my Bread machine cookbook. They are filled with the leftover lasagna filling, crumbled Gardenburger sausage patties, olives, my marinara sauce and some vegan Parmesan cheez. Brandie loves the sausage patties and said I should put more in next time. I think I would prefer a bell pepper and onion filling. We both agreed they were fantastic. Brandie's sweetheart took on for lunch and loved it. Micah is her omniman. He had no clue what was in it, but sure loved it. We served it with some fabulous tomatoes. They are not organic, but are pesticide free and grown in California.

I used my bread machine to make the dough, but I am sure you can prepare it by hand. I would make a yeast sponge first.

Whole wheat pizza dough/calzone recipe:

3/4 cup water

1 1/3 Tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 Tablespoon vegan sugar

3/4 t. sea salt

1 cup whole wheat bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 t. gluten

2 t. yeast

Add all the ingredients to your bread maker and start dough cycle. When the cycle is completed place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.

Oven temp: 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

The dough made into 6 pieces = 3pts on weight watchers. :o)

I have to give credit to Susan at Fatfreevegan.com again. Susan I love your blog. It is so full of yummies. We fell in love with her Cranberry Orange Walnut muffins so I wondered if I could use blueberries. I changed the recipe a bit, but please visit Susan's site and try her delicious recipes. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/10/cranberry-orange-muffins.html

These are fantastic!

Enjoy!

Blueberry Orange Walnut Muffins:

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup whole wheat white flour

1 tablespoon flaxseed meal

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 water

1/2 tablespoon egg replacer powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup soy milk

1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Spray the muffin pan with non-stick spray. I used my new silicone muffin liners I got for Mother's Day.

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flours, flax seed meal, sugar, egg replacer, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. When you have finished sifting you will have quite a large amount of bran left over just dump it in. I like to sift so I don't get baking powder and soda lumps in my batter.

In another bowl, stir together water, orange juice, soymilk, apple sauce, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid. Stir just to until all flour is moistened;DO NOT OVER STIR OR YOU WILL HAVE TOUGH MUFFINS. Fold in the frozen blueberries and walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

* Bake for 12 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean. Remove muffin pan to a wire rack. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes before carefully removing muffins from cups. Makes about 14 regular-sized muffins.

14 muffins = 2 points each on Weight Watchers

* When I made Susan's cranberry muffins they only took 12 minutes to cook, but this blueberry muffin recipe took 20 minutes. I am not sure if it was the silicone muffins liners or the changes I made required a longer cooking time.

Diann over at http://eatnvegn.blogspot.com/ made some wonderful Spicy Rice & Black-eyed Peas, a recipe she found over at Susan's site. http://www.fatfreevegan.com/beans/spicy_rice.shtml I substituted some fire-roasted tomatoes for the stewed tomatoes. I would like to try this recipe again without the sub. Brandie loves them, but I think the fire-rosted tomatoes over powers the rest of the ingredients. Diann's photo looks so much better than mine. Please visit her site and see how good they really look.

Last, but by all means not least Susan's BBQ Seitan Ribs. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05/barbecued-seitan-ribz.html We throughly enjoyed these. They do puff up and are a bit thicker than I thought, but they are so quick and easy to make. I did elimated the liquid smoke. I am not a big fan of smoked flavor. I also used regular paprika because I have never been able to find the smoked kind. Baked seitan is the way to go. I used my indoor electric grill and they came out nicely. DH loves this comfort meal. What more could you ask for; BBQ ribs, baked potato, corn, and slice tomotoes. I think some coleslaw would have been nice too.