Rachel Garcia's Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Kevin has been working on a website all weekend... literally for the past 48 hours he has worked 30 of them in order to meet a deadline this week. We are leaving on vacation as well this week to visit my family in Indiana. So as Kevin has been working I have been packing, cleaning and baking!

I realized as I was chopping tomatoes for homemade pasta sauce and cooking down a pumpkin to puree and freeze that I had two apples in my fruit basket. I can't stand the thought of wasting anything from my kitchen so I quickly went online to see if anybody had any great quick recipes. The first person I thought of was Rachel Garcia and her blog Recipe of the Month . Rachel and her husband Patrick went to college with us.

I was in luck! Rachel had just posted that same day a recipe for Cinnamon Apple Muffins. I scanned the ingredients realized I had everything and could easily convert it over to dairy free; so I sprinted to the kitchen! I am SO glad I did. These are AMAZING.

Click Rachel's blog above to see her original recipe. Here is my dairy free version:

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 small apples, diced

2 cups flour

2/3 cups vegan cane sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

brown sugar for topping

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 400 degrees

* Line muffin tins with baking cups and spray with non-stick cooking spray

* Combine all ingredients (save brown sugar) and mix. Leave the batter to be lumpy and thick

* Fill muffin tins and top mixture with brown sugar

* Bake 15-20 minutes

* Remove from pan and cool on plate

Kitchen Notes:

* I used 2 small apples instead of Rachel using 1 medium apple. The apples were yellow golden delicious and I did not take the time to peel them.

* Rachel uses rolled oats for a topping. This would be great and next time I will try this but for tonight I didn't feel like digging them out of the cupboard so I just went with the brown sugar.

THANKS RACHEL for this great recipe. What a great way to end a long weekend!

Dairy Free Scalloped Potatoes

As we approach Thanksgiving and the weather is cooling off around here I start thinking about some of my favorite comfort foods. Scalloped Potatoes is one that comes to mind first. Here is my recreated version of a family favorite at our house.

Dairy Free Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 TBS earth balance butter

1/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cup chicken broth (veg broth = vegan)

1/4 cup mayo (vegannaise = vegan)

5 large potatoes

1 onion

paprika

salt and pepper

Directions:

* Heat earth balance butter, flour, broth, mayo, salt and pepper. Whisk until bubbly and thick.

* Slice potatoes thin and chop onions. Place both in a deep oven safe bowl or pan and pour sauce over. Sprinkle mixture with paprika

* Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Kitchen Notes:

* We love this with some bacon or ham chopped up and added in. However if you are going vegan you could use the recipe as is or use a soy protein substitute.