Cheesy Corn Muffins

I seem to have muffins on the brain, which is odd, because I rarely EVER bake. And - I just found the last of the 'Nacho Cheese-Teese Sauce' (from the great Teese recipe Challenge) stuck away in the freezer. Now, I have no idea if the fine Teese people recommend that you freeze the stuff or not, but it appeared to survive the Ice Age with no harm done.

Since I had cornbread muffins on the brain anyway, I simply melted the Teese and substituted it for part of the oil/milk. It really made the muffins moist, dense and just "cheesy" enough to compliment the other flavors.

Of course, you could substitute any "meltable" vegan cheese here.

Cheesy Corn Muffins

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup rice milk or soymilk
• 1/4 cup olive oil or melted margarine
• 1/2 a 'tube' 'Teese' Nacho-Cheese sauce (aprox 1 cup?) or equal amount other vegan cheese
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon maple or rice syrup, (or agave which I dislike, and it dislikes me as well)
• 1 jalapeño minced (or to taste)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup corn kernels, patted dry (fresh raw, thawed from frozen or canned *gasp* yes indeed, I said canned!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease (fairly heavily with coconut oil or Earth Balance) a standard 12-muffin tin.
Combine the dry ingredients--cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Melt the Teese in the microwave or mix with margarine and melt on the stove if you're opposed to microwaves like I am. (The aliens and all... you know...).

Anyway.

Stir in the wet ingredients--soymilk, margarine/'Teese' mixture, vinegar, and maple syrup.
Gently fold in jalapeño, corn and cilantro.
Pour batter into muffin tins, slightly over 1/2 full.

Should make 12 muffins.

Bake for 18 minutes (more or less, depending on the type of muffin tins you have, your oven, the humidity and altitude and whatever other variables you can think of) until the sides begin brown and slightly pull away from the edge of the pan and wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Serve warm with margarine and honey (*gasp*) KIDDING or whatever you might use instead of honey...

Vegan Green Chile Cornbread

OK, I got to talking to friends on FaceBook today (yes, I have no life!!) and realized my "old" (old, old) favorite cornbread recipe was most decidedly NOT vegan. You can tell it's been quite a while, and that I've settled for other cornbread recipes like THIS ONE which are still amazing and good, but not the old favorite I grew up on.... So I set about veganizing my favorite! And since it turned out on the first attempt, I'm proudly posting the results!!

There's not anything terribly original or unique here. It uses creamed corn (yes, it's vegan 99% of the time, read the label to be sure) which adds corn kernals and keeps the bread moist and of course there's a few green chiles for a little heat.

Vegan Green Chile Corn Bread

• 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (you can use part whole wheat)
• 2 Tbsps. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 8oz. can creamed corn
• 1/4 cup WELL DRAINED chopped, roasted green chiles (settle for canned only as a last resort, if you have no access to the fresh or frozen authentic New Mexican green chiles...)
• 3/4 cup plant milk mixed with 2 Tbsp cider vinegar or lemon-juice (vegan "buttermilk")
• My "egg replacer" (1 Tbsp EnRGee Egg Replacer powder + 1 Tbsp ground flax seed, blended with 1/4 cup plant milk)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Pour 1 Tbsp coconut oil into a 9" pan (or cast iron skillet) and bake for 5 minutes, until the pan is very hot.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Make a well in the center of this mixture, and pour the creamed corn, green chiles, milk, remaining coconut oil and egg replacer into the well.
Stir until smooth.
Pour the batter into the hot pan.
Bake until the cornbread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove the cornbread from the oven, and allow it stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Have a great week!!

Layered Bean Dip, and Confetti Corn Bread

Just a few ideas from today's lunch potluck with friends...

My version of "7-Layer Dip" always changes a bit according to what I have on hand, but today it turned out SO YUMMY!

Layered Mexican Bean Dip
In a 9 X 11 baking pan I layered:

• Tofutti Sour "cream"
• salsa
• drained canned corn
• refried beans
• Tofutti Sour "cream
• guacamole
• alfalfa sprouts
• vegan (FYH) cheese shreds
• chopped bell pepper and sliced olives

Chill over night and serve.

It was a huge hit, but I sorta thought the alfalfa sprouts made it a bit weird and "stringy"... must have been just me, 'cause the pan was almost licked clean!! Use whatever you have on hand though - that's the beauty of this dish!

Next up, cornbread.
My aunt, who lives in Iowa, and is NOT vegan in any way, shape or form, sent me a winning cornbread recipe from their state fair a couple years back. She was so excited (and I think amazed) that it was a vegan recipe... so of course I had to try it.

It was awesome, (those Iowa people sure do know their cornbread!) but being me, I had to tweak and play and change things around...

Here's my (renamed) version.

Confetti Cornbread

• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 6 Tbsp. water
• 1 Cup white flour
• 1 Cup fine ground cornmeal
• 1/4 Cup white sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. table salt
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup vegan sour "cream" or soy yogurt
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 Cup canola oil
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped green pepper
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped red pepper
• 1 minced jalapeno
• 1/4 cup canned, drained corn kernels
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar-style vegan cheese
  

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees.
Grease 8 X 8 glass baking dish lightly.
Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the ground flax seed, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seed in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.
Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk, sour "cream, vinegar and canola oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat.).

Add peppers, corn and shredded cheese, stir well just to incorporate.
Turn into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve. (My kids like salsa on the side, so that's what we use - traditionally I think people prefer honey or butter?).