Plant-Based Oatmeal Banana Bread (No Oil)
Everyone makes banana bread (what else would we do with those aging brownish bananas in the fruit basket?) but the typical recipe calls for some combination of white flour, refined sugar, butter (margarine, or oil) and eggs. The challenge is to make a banana bread that is moist and delicious without those ingredients, and it’s not easy.
Eight years ago I posted a recipe for whole grain banana bread made with whole grain flours and maple syrup but it still contained oil (albeit only 3 tablespoons). So, of course, I kept thinking about how to make a great tasting banana bread without oil. After many attempts, I came up with a recipe that checked off all the boxes: the bread rises high but is moist, each slice tastes delicious, and this traditional favorite is actually nutritious. Plant-Based Oatmeal Banana Bread is slightly sweet and full of banana flavor and scrumptious. Read more 
Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Most blueberry muffins are made with butter or oil, eggs, white flour, and refined sugar with the only “healthy” ingredient being the blueberries. But, what if I told you that a moist, high-rising great tasting blueberry muffin can be made without butter, oil, eggs, and refined sugar?
The secret to making healthier blueberry muffins without giving up flavor or texture is to use healthier ingredients: a mixture of almond flour, whole grain spelt flour and a small amount of cake flour instead of just white flour; a non-dairy milk that is naturally high in fats (oat or walnut by Elmhurst work well) instead of butter or oil; and maple syrup instead of refined sugar – all of which combined with other clean ingredients create a healthy blueberry muffin that is truly scrumptious.
It is also important to include 10 full ounces of blueberries (I often use frozen wild). Don’t skimp on the blueberries as these super nutritious berries are not only natural sweeteners but also add moisture and flavor.
L’Artisane Creative Bakery in Miami Beach
When I made the transition from a vegetarian to a plant-based diet, there were foods I never thought I would ever eat again. One of those foods was a croissant: that exquisite French pastry known for its buttery layers of flaky baked dough, a crunchy exterior and a chewy melt-in-your-mouth interior. Without butter, how could a croissant be a croissant? And, so I thought my croissant days were over. Read more
The Best Ever Corn Muffins (Vegan)
Making a moist and flavorful corn muffin without butter, oil, milk, refined sugar, or eggs used to be a challenge until I was inspired by a recipe for Double Corn Muffins in the Forks Over Knives Flavor cookbook by Darshana Thacker. Her recipe is excellent but I want a lighter muffin so I use whole grain spelt flour or Hayden Flour Mills all purpose flour (instead of whole wheat flour which is a heavier flour), medium grain cornmeal (instead of coarse) and add a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to help leaven the muffins more than by using baking powder alone.
Whereas most corn muffins taste like corn but are often dry, these corn muffins are moist and delicious because fresh off-the-cob kernels are used along with medium coarse cornmeal and almond flour that provides just the right amount of granular texture. The result is best described as “the best ever corn muffins, period.” Read more
OWL Bakery in Asheville, NC
Asheville, North Carolina may be known for the Biltmore Estate (the largest privately owned house in the United States) but it’s also the home of OWL Bakery – a European-style bakery that specializes in pastries, handmade breads, salads, quiches, coffee, and teas.
Located in a small white cottage in West Asheville, just a few miles from the city center, OWL Bakery is not a vegan or vegetarian bakery, but a place that welcomes and caters to all types of foodies. What draws everyone to this incredible bakery, is the quality and flavor of the food, which is made using mostly locally grown ingredients. Read more
Consider Brandless™
Brandless™ is a relatively new company launched in July, 2017 that focuses on better access to better quality (i.e. Non-GMO, organic) goods at a more competitive price.
Instead of relying on grocery stores for common household goods (i.e. beans, ketchup, mustard, maple syrup, tomato sauce, jam, dried fruits and nuts, grains, rice, peanut butter, and more), consumers can buy directly from Brandless™ – a company that sources their goods directly from suppliers.
There are no distribution costs, wholesale to retail markups, shelf stocking fees, breakage and settlement costs, and no retail marketing costs because the supplier is linked directly with Brandless™ who delivers the goods directly to the consumer, for free (orders over $39 are shipped free, otherwise shipping is a flat rate of $6). Read more
Seeded-Grain Bread by Eat More Bakery
Finding a delicious loaf of gluten-free plant-based bread can be challenging because replicating the texture of wheat bread is difficult. Most gluten-free breads fall apart and lack the depth of flavor and texture inherent in breads made with wheat. But, not Seeded-Grain Bread by Eat More Bakery, a gluten-free bakery in Asheville, North Carolina that makes and sells this incredible loaf of bread for $7 a loaf. Read more
Simple Kneads™
Simple Kneads™ is a Burlington, North Carolina-based company that makes gluten-free artisan bread that is unlike any gluten-free bread you’ve tasted. The loaves are rounder, denser, and have more substance than other gluten-free breads because Simple Kneads™ uses a variety of flours (millet, sorghum, buckwheat, teff, and quinoa) along with whole food ingredients (flax meal, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, raisin juice concentrate, sunflower seeds, expeller pressed sunflower seed oil, brown sesame seeds, salt, and cultured dextrose) to make the artisan loaves. Read more
Best Bagels in NY: Tompkins Square Bagels
Everyone in New York and beyond has an opinion about bagels so I’m just going to put my two cents out there. Tompkins Square Bagels makes the best bagels, period. A great bagel has to be big and round, golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside and doughy on the inside – and that’s what Thompkins Square Bagels are.
With two locations (the original location at 165 Avenue A by Tompkins Square Park and 184 2nd Avenue between 11th and 12th Street) in the East Village, Tompkins Square Bagels is a neighborhood bagel shop but also a destination spot for many New Yorkers who know a good bagel when they taste one. Read more
Food For Life® English Muffins
An english muffin’s most defining characteristics are its nooks and crannies but the ingredients to make this breakfast favorite are even more important because most of these round fork-split yeast-leavened breads are made with enriched white flour, sugar, oil, dairy products, and scary sounding ingredients (mono and diglycerides) which from a nutrition standpoint is not optimal. Read more
Paddock Post 