Laurasana Recipe: Vegan Zucchini Muffins

I was talking to a friend the other night on the phone. We hadn’t spoken in several months, and when she asked, “So what’s going on in your life?” I felt lost. Where to start? Everything, I mean EVERYTHING about my life is upside down right now, comparatively speaking. I said to her, “I don’t know where to start telling you.” She said, “Well, you could do it chronologically, or start with a topic.” 

I heard recently that 70% of people are self-censoring on Facebook (Right, this is probably a good thing, don’t you think?) I am also self-censoring on this blog, and there’s a lot I haven’t been able to share with you all. At some point, perhaps, there will be more information. In the meantime, as my friend suggests, I’m starting with a topic. One thing at a time. This week, it’s muffins. A recipe and a glimpse at my life through a muffin-baking lens. 

Laurasana Vegan Zucchini Muffins

Yields… maybe 18 muffins if you don’t eat too much batter? Hard to say. 😉 Adapted from Kingman’s Vegan Zucchini Bread recipe on allrecipes.com. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups white whole-wheat flour (King Arthur is great- you won’t know it’s whole wheat)
  
• 3 tablespoons flax seeds  or 3 T chia seeds (what? you don’t have any? what kind of yoga hippie are you? just kidding, the original recipe says you can omit.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup mushed-up bananas (this was like 2.5 bananas for me. I recommend always having lots of frozen bananas on hand for smoothie or muffin emergencies)
• 1 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar, if you are a broke yoga teacher. Sucanat is better though)
• 1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or white sugar. see previous comment) 
• 3/4 cup oil (I love peanut oil, but coconut oil would be nice too)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2.5 cups shredded zucchini (like one medium zucchini? A little more or less is not a big deal. You could also use carrot here. Yum)
• 1.5 cups walnuts, optional (toast them first if you want fancy toasted walnut taste)

What You Do Now: 

1. Receive your CSA box with way too many zucchini. Experience some brief mild depression over the fact that you don’t have time, or inclination to cook as many vegetables as you now have on hand since all you are in the mood for is carbs. Experience a small wave of joy as you remember the glory that is zucchini muffins. Yes! Off to the kitchen. Gather your ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep your muffin pans- I like to grease them (veg oil) or use muffin cups. If you don’t have muffin cups, try not to think about how irritating it is going to be to clean the dang pan afterward, unless you are lucky enough to have one of these things. I don’t.
3. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder together in a bowl.
4. Mix up your flax or chia seed, sugars, oil, vanilla, and bananas. If you have a stand mixer, by all means, use it. You want your bananas to be just gooped up evenly with the other ingredients. When you have a smooth consistency, fold in the flour mixture and zucchini and nuts if you’re using them.
5. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full and slide into the oven. Helpful hint: If you’ve already greased the tins and then find that you don’t have enough batter for all of the cups (say you’re using two pans and one isn’t quite full), then fill the empty ones with water. Easier cleanup. See #1. 
6. Bake for something like 25 minutes. Use a toothpick etc. to check the center- when it comes out clean, you’re good to go.
7. Optional: Take a picture using your elderly iPhone. Be patient as the app crashes again and again and dogs circle in and out of the photo shoot. When you discover that the photo is blurry, apply a kitschy photo filter so it looks like you meant it to be that way. Nobody will suspect a thing.
8. These freeze beautifully for later consumption. Deliver to friends as needed.