bread

Vegan Caesar Panzanella

March 10, 2014 by Erica

Vegan Caesar Panzanella

I think we should celebrate springtime today.

To my friends in the Northeast still caught in the polar vortex, I apologize. Here in Utah, the birds are chirping, the crocuses are blooming, and I’m starting to feel like I should be spending time outside instead of huddled in front of the space heater wearing a robe and a hat.

Daylight savings seems to mark the beginning of spring here. It’s pretty lovely, even though I dread “springing forward” past an hour of sleep. I can hardly believe the sun doesn’t set until 7:30 tonight! That’s a guarantee that I won’t be leaving work in the dark. The mornings are a different story… back to running with my uber-dorky headlight on. But even that won’t last for long.

I hope it’s nice and warm and sunny where you are, too. Otherwise you might be getting mad. Because I thought we could celebrate the milder weather with a fresh springtime salad today.

Vegan Caesar Panzanella

I recently made a vegan Caesar dressing for the first time, and well, it pretty much blew Nate and me away. It tastes different from non-vegan Caesar, but in the same way that any homemade dressing will taste different from store-bought. I honestly don’t think you’d know it was vegan (unless you eat a lot of tahini, in which case you might be able to pick out the tahini flavor). I was afraid to tell Nate (tahini hater numero uno) what it’s made of when he asked, but he wasn’t scared off, which is really saying something. He requests it regularly, and I’ve been finding an excuse to eat it on top of everything, from salad to pasta to roasted veggies. I have to say that this panzanella is probably this dressing’s highest and best use, though.

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Coconut Quinoa Banana Bread (Vegan)

February 15, 2013 by Erica

What’s that you say? Quinoa in my banana bread?

I know, it sounds weird.

Actually, I had never heard of quinoa banana bread until a funny thing started happening recently. Remember those funny search terms I posted about earlier in the week? Well, this was one of those! I began noticing that people searching for ‘vegan quinoa banana bread’ were landing on my vegan but non-quinoa banana bread recipe. Whatttt.

Being a search engine marketer, I understand why this is happening. I have a vegan banana bread recipe, and my blog name contains ‘quinoa,’ so Google thinks my site might be relevant. But of course, I don’t have what these people are looking for! And I decided that was wrong of me… even if I’ve never heard of quinoa banana bread. My blog does have quinoa in the title, after all, so I should probably incorporate it into a few more recipes :) Also, I was pretty curious to see how this might turn out! So I ran to the kitchen and whipped up this vegan coconut quinoa banana bread.

Last week, when I posted a beet cake, I told you right up front that you can taste the beets. That was my way of building credibility so that when I say you can’t taste the quinoa in this banana bread, you’ll believe me. Smart, right? But seriously! This banana bread has some great texture from the oats, shredded coconut, and quinoa, but it doesn’t have any odd quinoa flavor, which I personally feel (despite my love of quinoa) would be unwelcome in my banana bread.

This is one dense and chewy banana bread, so be prepared. I love the nutty oats and shredded coconut in here, and the quinoa adds the chewy texture that I would usually add nuts and raisins to get. My favorite way to enjoy it is heated up and spread with coconut butter. Thank you, Google searchers of quinoa banana bread – you’ve turned me on to something great!

In my hunt for the perfect quinoa banana bread recipe, I did come across several that are made with quinoa flour or quinoa flakes. I haven’t tried one of those, because I had quinoa on hand, and was too lazy to go to the store just to buy an obscure ingredient. The Kitchn just posted an ingredient spotlight on quinoa flakes, so I’m curious. Have you ever made anything (especially banana bread) with quinoa flour or flakes? Next time I’m at Whole Foods, I may have to pick some up and develop a different banana bread recipe using one of those!

For now, enjoy this banana bread with coconut and whole quinoa grains. And have a great weekend!

4.7 from 7 reviews

Coconut Quinoa Banana Bread (Vegan)

Hands-on time

25 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

This dense banana bread is flecked with nutty oats and shredded coconut for texture. Cooked quinoa adds chewiness and whole grains. Enjoy it heated up and spread with coconut butter!

Author: Erica

Yields: 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (about 1 1/2 cups cooked)
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats + another small handful for topping
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut + another small handful for topping
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 cup coconut milk

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package directions. (I bring it to a boil with 3/4 cup of water, then simmer for 15 minutes and fluff with a fork, but I know some people prefer to use more water, probably depending on the stove.) Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a loaf pan.
In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Stir in the coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, shredded coconut, flaxseed, and cooked quinoa. Dump into the large bowl of wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the coconut milk.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until top of loaf is golden brown and sides are pulled away from the pan, 45-50 minutes.
Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before serving. Keeps wrapped in tin foil in the fridge for several days.

Vegan Banana Bread

December 28, 2012 by Erica

Good morning and happy Friday!

As I write this (Thursday evening), I’m making my way back across the country after a wonderful Christmas with my family in Boston. When I’m booking a trip, it’s often tough for me to tell whether I’ll wish I had a longer or shorter time at my destination, but this is definitely a time that I wish I had an extra couple days to spend with everyone after the craziness of the holiday. Of course, everyone else starts heading home tomorrow, so maybe it’s good that I was the first one to leave… before I get bored or anything, you know :)

But instead of lounging around eating Mom’s cooking in their (newly redecorated and beautiful!) house, I’ll be headed into work tomorrow to catch up on the last stuff that needs to be done before the end of the year. I’m guessing about 50% of my co-workers will be there, and it should be a pretty relaxed day, although I do have a bunch to get done. But after that, thank goodness, is a 4-day weekend to spend skiing, cooking, and catching up on the other stuff in my life that obviously didn’t get done while I was playing Bejeweled and eating Christmas cookies in Boston.

The main thing I’m looking forward to this weekend is playing with my new camera! My dad and I tested it out for a few hours last night and again this morning, learning how to set the shutter speed and aperture, adjust the white balance and ISO exposure, and all kinds of other crazy stuff I’ve never done before. Of course, it has an auto mode, but I’m determined to use it like a DSLR and not just a point-and-shoot. We learned some cool stuff and I feel much less overwhelmed taking it home (like I’m a new parent or something) and learning what it can do. I took a few pictures this morning on the iPhone for contrast, and I’ll upload the DSLR and iPhone versions for contrast so you can see the difference at some point. It is CRAZY and I’m so excited to be using this awesome new camera! I really have a lot to learn, but I can already see that it will be WAY worth it.

Anyway, it shouldn’t come a surprise that I didn’t have time to try out any new recipes at my parents’ house this week. But I do want to share this banana bread recipe that I made before I left Salt Lake. (And because I made it last week, that means these are still iPhone photos!) If, like me, you have a relaxing 4-day weekend ahead of you, this would be the perfect thing to pop in the oven to make your kitchen smell wonderful. It’s vegan (unlike ALLLL the baked goods I ate this week) and relatively healthy (again… unlike the pounds and pounds of Christmas cookies I’ve consumed), so it’s the perfect snack for this weekend between holidays. The fact that this banana bread is vegan does mean that it’s a little denser than one you’d make with eggs. It doesn’t rise as high, but don’t let that deter you – it tastes amazing!

Those of you who saw this “his and hers” banana picture on Facebook a few weeks ago may be able to guess that we end up with a LOT of banana bread-worthy fruit in our house. Nate prefers rock-hard totally green fruit, and typically doesn’t eat any of the bananas on our counter once they’re blemished with a single speck of brown. I will eat bananas at almost any stage, but I haven’t quite gotten down the science of how many to buy for our various ripeness preferences. We often end up with many bananas that he won’t eat and I just can’t keep up with. So I’ve taken to freezing them in a big Ziploc, planning on making lots of banana bread. I’m still not keeping up, though… we probably have at least a dozen bananas in our freezer.

What I’m getting at is that there might be a LOT of banana bread in the Coffee & Quinoa future. I’m hoping to make a more seasonal one this weekend! Enjoy this vegan banana bread in the meantime, though, and if you have any favorite banana bread recipes for me to try out, please send them my way!

Vegan Banana Bread

Hands-on time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

This vegan banana bread is lightly seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and studded with raisins and walnuts.

Author: Erica

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

3-4 very ripe to overripe bananas
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup melted vegan butter or melted coconut oil (I used coconut oil)
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 cups spelt flour (whole wheat or white flour would also work)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
½ cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
½ cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Mash bananas (with a fork is fine) in a medium-sized bowl. Add sugar, coconut oil, and maple syrup and stir to combine.
In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Gently fold in the banana mixture, followed by the walnuts and raisins.
Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with moist crumbs, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack. After 15 minutes, run a knife around the edges and invert onto the rack to finish cooling.
Once cool (or you can even do this once the bread is warm, not hot), wrap in tin foil and store in the fridge. This keeps the edges nice and moist. I prefer to eat the banana bread the following day, not right out of the oven, but that's personal preference. It will keep for several days in the fridge.

Notes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and White Jacket Required.

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