Cornbread Muffins

Yum! Quick, easy, tasty, savory cornbread muffins to go with chili or gallo pinto or black bean soup or on their own with just a little agave nectar on top.

Dry ingredients:
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c medium ground (i.e. not coarse, not masa harina) cornmeal
1/2 c coarse ground cornmeal
1/4 c sugar
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Wet ingredients:
1 c soy milk
1 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 c apple sauce
1/4 c canola oil

Preheat oven to 400 F. Whisk soy milk and vinegar together, let sit for 10 minutes to make soy "buttermilk". Mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, stir gently to combine. Put batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden-brown on top.

Cashew-Tofu Spread for Lasagna

I have been playing around with variations on the theme of a tofu and cashew based spread, having been inspired by various vegan ricotta and cream cheese recipes that rely on these ingredients. I have quickly come to wonder how I ever lived without a recipe like this. Adding cashews to the tofu makes it wonderfully creamy and rich without being oily, and it has a nice little tang from the garlic and lemon juice. The first version I made worked wonderfully on a pizza, and the leftovers were great on a tomato sandwich. This particular version was used in a transcendental batch of vegetable lasagna. I'll post other variants as I continue to experiment.

4 T olive oil
3 T soy milk
2 T lemon juice
2 T rice vinegar
2 t salt
3/4 c cashews
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1.5 lbs tofu firm tofu, crumbled
1 T nutritional yeast
1 t dried basil

Blend liquids, salt, and cashews on low speed in a food processor until they form a thick, mostly smooth, paste.
Add tofu to food processor, blend on high speed until tofu is creamy and mostly smooth (it can still be a little grainy, but you don't want any big lumps). It may be best to add the tofu 1/3 at a time if your food processor can't handle all of it at once.
Add nutritional yeast and basil, blend until totally mixed.