banana bread muffins
I’ve been in kind of a creative rut. And when I say creative rut, I mean more of a life style rut.
Since I arrived home from my travels about a month and a half ago, life has been a little upside down. House guests (which were actually the best), new jobs, semi-new homes, lots of dining out and not a lot of time for thinking or baking. I’m not exactly complaining… I’m just sayin’. It’s been crazy.
Even now, a week after my house guests departed, I still can’t seem to find a rhythm. I guess this might take a while.In the meantime, I’ll make muffins. It seems to be what I do when I’m having trouble re-adjusting.
Chocolate Banana Bread
Adapted from Daily Garnish
1/2 c brown sugar (loosely packed)
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c coconut oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c oat milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 c chocolate chips
1/4 c walnuts
Add sugar, syrup, and coconut oil to bowl and beat until well combined. You can do this manually, or with a mixer.
In a separate bowl, combine oat milk with the apple cider vinegar. Add this mixture as well as the mashed banana and vanilla to the sugar/syrup/oil bowl and combine.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients and slowly combine them into the wet. Fold in the walnuts & chocolate but don’t over mix.
Spoon the mixture into muffins cups and bake for 20ish minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean.
xxx
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Tagged as banana, bread, breakfast, butcanshebake, Caitlin Hicks, chocolate, delicious, food photography, muffins, walnuts
hello, it’s nice to meet you
Hot damn. I think I just saw a tumbleweed…
Sorry. In case you didn’t get the memo… I was off traveling the world and I totally just abandoned this site. That was… not my intention. But hell, who knew that backpacking for four months while keeping a travel blog would hinder my abilities to also keep up a vegan baking blog?
Me – I knew that. I should have warned myself. But instead I just pretended that I could keep this up with some mediocre post about eating vegan in different countries that would be few and far between. Hmmm. Well, that just didn’t pan out, did it?
I did do some really good Vegan eating though, it a lot of really unexpected places. Maybe I will continue to post some of those experiences in the near future. Maybe I won’t. No more promises. ‘Cause I think I am really bad at keeping those when living gets in the way. Living is like a full time job and it’s really hard. Really fun – but oh my god, so time consuming.
But there is more. I didn’t JUST get back from travels. I got back over a month ago. A MONTH. and here I sit now, 25 days into 2014, and I haven’t posted a god damn thing.
Let’s remedy that, shall we?
With pictures of… SEAGULLS!
I have some baking for you too… but I really like seagulls.
I have a new found obsession with them. Actually, I think I have been harbouring an obsession for some time. But put a camera in my hand when I’m near the beach and kablammy – let’s take some pictures of Seagulls.
They are just so… Gully. I dunno.
I feel changes rolling in.
Just sayin’
x
*if you don’t hate me and are interested in seeing what i got up to on my travels visit sporkvsfoon.wordpress.com – i was traveling with my main man, Sean. He’s pretty ok. ;)
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Tagged as Caitlin Hicks, change, life, living, seagulls, travel
veggie eats in: St. Pete’s
Before I left on my trip I did a bit of research – specifically for vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Russia. I heard that it might be a challenge to eat well as a vego in Russia and I didn’t want to starve. Over the next couple months I am going to try and share some of delicious places that I have tried around the world. (Complete with pictures if I was brave enough to take out my Camera… which I clearly was not while in St Petersburg.)
Cafe Ukrop
Ulitsa Marata 23 (191025)
I stopped by this cafe on my first day in St Petersburg when I was all alone. I had read that Cafe Ukrop had English menus, so I knew that I would be ok there. The cafe is quite cute but on the first floor they don’t speak any English. The guy behind the counter smiled, but then opened a notebook that had various English phrases written out. He pointed to: English Restaurant upstairs.
So up I went.
The Restaurant was very nicely decorated, very clean and modern and very organic. The menus were clear and just about every dish looked amazing. The vegan dishes were marked, as were raw dishes and anything that you add milk or cheese to.
I settled on a potato, pea and cucumber salad with a cashew mayonnaise and lots of dill – Those Russians love their dill. I was craving vegetables in a bad way, so I also had a carrot juice. Gotta keep my orange glow.
I would definitely recommend this place for vegans and veggies alike. I didn’t try their desserts, but they looked amaze. I found all these places on HappyCow.com so check that out too – usually opening hours are listed but most places in Russia are open late (9 or 10)
Cafe Botanika
7 Ulitsa Pestelya (near Mukhinskoye Arts Institute)
We visited Botanika on our second day. And then our third. And then our fourth. They, too, had an English menu and waitresses that were adorable. On our first visit, Sean and I both had a juice and I went the full Russian and followed that up with a beet salad and then some Borsch. BEET OVERLOAD (but not – I could eat Beets forever.) Both dishes were sooooo good. Sean had a Dillwich, whichh was some kind of wrap – and a mulled wine. The prices were reasonable and the food was so comforting.
We returned the next two days for multiple coffees. Mostly cause the waitresses were so cute.
The Idiot
Nab. reky Moiky 82
The Idiot was our restaurant of choice for our night out to the theater. We arrived at about 6.15pm and were greeted and seated immediately. The decor was very homely – it kind of felt like I was in a Babushka’s dinning room. There were tall candles on each table and china cabinets against each wallpapered wall. It was sort of in the basement of a building which made it a very cozy place to dine. The menu was in both Russian and English with some charming spelling and grammar mistakes. We opted for the non-smoking section, but pretty much everyone smokes in Russia and you can do it pretty much everywhere – so that is something to keep in mind, it was rather smokey.
The best part about the Idiot is by far the bread basket. It comes with about 5 different kinds of the best bread ever. They also bring you a trio of flavoured butters (not vegan) but still a nice touch.
For drinks we ordered a honey and pepper spiced shot of Vodka (when is Russia) and Sean got a beer while I ordered a wine. Upon serving our drinks the waitress also brought another complimentary shot of vodka from the bar. So just to sum up – 2 shots each and an extra drink. I have read that they give this complimentary shot to everyone. Bonus!
I had a delicious meal of salad and with an odd main that ended up being a ginormous plate of green beans.
I would suggest trying something with a bit more variety – but just a side note, those beans were AWESOME.
Sean ordered a burger – which he said was awesome… but why didn’t it come with a bun? Peculiar.
Still a great place – a bit more expensive but really nice for a night out.
:)
See you in Moscow!
x
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Tagged as breakfast, butcanshebake, Caitlin Hicks, coffee, dinner, lunch, Russia, St Petersburg, vegan, vegetarian, yummy
I’m HOME!
and then it was September…
HOLLA!
I’ve got some BIG news…
I’m in CAN-A-DA!
I’m on vacation for FOUR MONTHS!
Yes. This is happening. More then a couple of days ago I boarded a plane in Sydney and then 3 countries and a couple of brief days later… (I kid I kid, but it was a looong trip) I arrived in Toronto.
After some love and puppies in Toronto, I am heading on a 3.5 month trip to various places in various corners of the world with one very lovely man named my boyfriend. I’m going to try and document some of that trip via blog, but we’re gunna have to see how it goes based on wifi availability etc. Anyway, I didn’t wanna over take my baking blog with tales from a backpacker so instead I am introducing a second blog: www.sporkvsfoon.wordpress.com. If you are interested… head over there for some pictures (hopefully), some spork and foon puns and some updates from foreign countries. YAY! ( i’m most excited about the puns!)
(but i’m also realllllly excited about the travelling)
In the meantime… I am here in Toronto making cocktails and pretending I never left. Apparently this is what I dooo in Toronto.
Welcome to Margarita-ville.
Population: ME.
My dad got a Vitamix… Colour me jealous…
Margaritas!
as per the Vitamix cookbook recipe
1 Lemon, peeled and halved
1 Lime, peeled and halved
1 Orange, peeled and halved
6 ounces of Tequila
2 ounces of Grand Marnier
1/4 c. sugar
6 c. of ice
1/4 c. water
Put in vita mix.
MIX! Pour. Drink.
I salted a glass, but that is optional. (I had just gone to hot yoga so I was replenishing my electrolytes. Obviously.)
If you don’t have a vitamix, this is still doable in any blender or food processor even. The ice may not mix as well, but it will still be delicious.
Mine turned out rather yellow, but I think it’s supposed to be more green. This recipe makes 8 cups, but I halved it. However, my grandma and I split the four cup batch and we were just finnnnne and dannnnnnnnnnndy.
Now if you’re keen on puppy pictures, head over to Spork vs. Foon!
preview below ;)
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strawberry muffins and ohmygod it’s august.
woah.
Where did I go?
Where did time go? Is it august? Is it MID-august? Holy moly, you guys. I can’t even.
Things are happening behind the scenes over here and it seems I haven’t baked in like… 67 549 years. That is an exact estimate.
Let’s not dwell on excuses as I have none. STRAWBERRY MUFFIN TIME!
I feel like strawberries aren’t put into muffins enough. Blueberries, for sure. But strawberries? And I don’t know why NOT, cause these are delicious. Crazy yummy. And I like to over stuff the muffins liners so you have ginormous cafe-like muffins. oh yes.
Strawberry Muffins
Adapted from my blueberry muffins.
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. oats
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c. raw sugar
1 c. oat milk (or any non-dairy)
3 tbsp mushed banana
1 lemon, zested
1 c. fresh or frozen strawberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 12 inch muffin pan with liners. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking powder and salt. Create a well and add the milk 1/2 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Mix in lemon zest, vanilla and banana and stir until fully combined. Gently fold in strawberries, try not to over mix muffin batter.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake muffins for 22 – 25 minutes until fully baked. OR fill the liners all the way full, bake as normal or maybe a few minutes more and enjoy huge muffins.
Check back next week! I promise to post more than once a month. :) I have more things to share! Exciting things!
xxx
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Filed under Adventures in Australia, Breakfast, Muffins
Tagged as butcanshebake, Caitlin Hicks, delicious, muffins, strawberry, vegan, yummy
winter
Let’s keep the words to a minimum and just focus on some beach-side pictures. This is Australia. In the winter.
Eww. Just… Ewwwww. Amiright?
These tiny little holes in the rocks FASCINATE me. It’s like who-ville in there. A whole nother world.
Also: Highlight of the weekend: I went to look for whales… and i saw DOLPHINS!!! (Whales woulda been cool… since I can speak whale and all… but I will see them next week… when I go WHALLLLE WATCHINNNNNNGGGG) (said in an Oprah voice)
eeeeeeeeeeee!
xxx