Although I haven’t committed to a completely vegan diet, I have found myself continuing down this path to a more compassionate way of eating. This journey began almost 19 years ago when I gradually stopped eating meat and became a vegetarian. During that time, I continued to eat dairy and eggs. My rationale was that no animal died for my food choices. I willfully ignored the reality that dairy cows and chickens still suffer terribly in factory farms.

With documentaries like Food, Inc., that reality is becoming harder to ignore. The plight of animals in factory farming is going main stream. The health benefits of a vegan diet are becoming more apparent in books like the China Study. Again, I am reminded about the reasons I became a vegetarian in the first place; eating meat is bad for my health, factory farming is cruel for animals, and the meat industry is bad for the planet. It just doesn’t make sense.

In the end, it is a personal choice. I do think that everyone benefits from a whole foods, plant based diet. If it begins with joining Meatless Mondays, that’s a great start. If it means bypassing the fast-food drive-through and going home to cook, even better. I’ve always been a middle-path kind of person. My path is now just a little farther along than it was before.

This is my favorite Banana Bread recipe from Cook’s Illustrated that I modified to be vegan. It’s may not be the healthiest, as it is using all-purpose flour and granulated sugar, but it is delicious. This vegan version is a little lighter tasting without the butter. The banana and pecans flavors come through in a more pronounced way.

Vegan Banana Nut Muffins

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 1 ¼ cups toasted pecans, chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
• 3 very ripe bananas, soft, darkly speckled, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
• ¼ cup vanilla soy yogurt
• Ener-G Egg Replacer (1 tablespoon dissolved in 4 tablespoons of water)
• 6 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• * I added some vegan chocolate chips and coconut. Feel free to mix in other ingredients to suit your taste.

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with parchment liners or spray with cooking spray. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.
2. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, egg substitute, oil, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. (If the mashed bananas are less than 1 1/2 cups, make up the rest with soy yogurt.) Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Fill the muffin tins to 3/4 full; bake until muffins are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 22-25  minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Orange Cranberry Bread with Chocolate

(I’m reposting this from my main blog. It’s been far too long since I’ve posted here. I was surprised to find people actually read it, so I’m going to try to be better.)

Although, I’m not a vegan, I have been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for 18 years. Lately, we have been cutting back on dairy and eggs. I’ve experimented with using soy milk in place of cow’s milk since we don’t have it in the house anymore. I’ve found that it actually works better in quick breads. It seems to add a bit of tanginess, not unlike buttermilk.

I decided to try making a complete vegan bread using a recipe that was already close. It called for buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Substituting soy milk and soy yogurt was easy. I also am trying egg substitute and this recipe only had one egg, so I thought it would be a good test. As an added bonus, I tried adding a bit of chopped vegan dark chocolate. Dave thought it would be good in orange bread, and boy was he right!

This bread was delicious, both warm and cold. I’ve made this bread using dairy and eggs and now I’ve made the vegan version. I have to admit, the vegan version is better. It’s clean and bright with the orange contrasting nicely with the chocolate and the tang of the cranberry adding the extra zing.

Vegan Orange Cranberry Bread with Chocolate

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 orange (zest and juice)
• 1/4 cup of vanilla soy yogurt
• 1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk
• 1 serving Ener-G egg substitute
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup of fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
• 2-3 ounces of vegan dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

1. Using a Microplane zester, zest the orange making sure not to go into the white pith. Juice the orange and place the zest in the juice to bloom.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the orange juice and zest, yogurt, soymilk, egg substitute and vegetable oil.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Fold in the cranberries and chocolate.
6. Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
7. Bake the bread for 55 – 65 minutes until a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean and the bread starts to pull away from the edges of the pan.
8. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes and then run out of the pan to finish cooling.