3-Minute Banana Bread or Carrot Cake (Single-serving)

First post-Iraq post!

Today is one of those days where I was planning to go to the gym earlier so I didn’t make lunch—but then I ate a bunch of gummy bears and shopped for furniture online and now it’s 1310 and I need to go buy a mattress. Well, now I want food before I go shopping. I am also procrastinating because I hate shopping for anything.

I went into my kitchen and spotted a brown, overripe banana. If I hadn’t eaten all my oatmeal, I would make oatmeal with a banana and walnuts. Instead, I decided to make a banana and walnut mash of goodness. But no, wait! How about banana bread?! Banana bread it is.

I know everyone’s been posting microwave single-serving desserts for a while now. I think it’s funny everyone “just” discovered that you can make baked things in the microwave. Perhaps they were never up late procrastinating  studying for finals.

This is a quick, sloppy banana bread recipe for the lazy or those in a hurry.

What you need:

• 1 very ripe banana
• a handful of walnuts (shelled of course. Unless you like to eat the shells.)
• about 2 1/2 tblsp whole wheat flour
• maybe 1/4 tsp baking soda or less.
• about 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• two dashes of nutmeg
• two dashes of allspice
• about 1/2 cup of water
• a bowl
• a fork
• a microwave

Peel the banana. Put it in the bowl and mash it up. Crumble the walnuts and put them in. Add the dry ingredients. Pour in enough water to make it a little wetter than cookie dough and more viscous than normal banana bread batter.

Cook it in the microwave for 2 minutes. It will be sticky at that point, but I like my banana bread sticky, so I went no further.

Now it’s time to buy a mattress.

It may not look particularly appetizing--but it's a single serving. Nobody's judging your skillz here.

P.S. I made carrot cake the next day.

5-Minute Carrot Cake Ingredients:

• 2 carrots
• 3 tblsp Whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tblsp molasses
• 1 tblsp honey
• about 1/2 cup water
• a handful of walnuts, crumbled

Shred the carrots. Mix the dry ingredients. Mix in the water, molasses and honey. Mix in the carrots and walnuts. Cook for 3 minutes. Consume.

 

Curried Carrot & Quinoa Soup

I (a) like curry, and (b) feel a little under the weather, and this turned out to be a pretty excellent feel-better soup. Basically, it’s chicken noodle soup for the vegetarian.

The heat and spice help you cough more and clean things out, and it feels good in your tummy, but the cayenne pepper & garlic here also have some mild benefits in terms of improving bloodflow, assisting digestion, minimizing inflammation, and heling to boost the immune system. Hey, every little bit helps.

The quinoa is optional; a good source of protein, it’s also the noodle equivalent in this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups dry quinoa (half normal, half red quinoa is ideal) – optional
• 3 Tbsp peanut (or other vegetable) oil
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds (I used yellow mustard)
• 1/2-1 tsp curry powder (I used the Spice Hunter “hot curry blend;” Madras works as well, but if you use that or “whatever” curry powder, cut back a bit on the honey or increase the cayenne, as you like)
• 1 1/2 inch cube (about 1 Tbsp) fresh ginger root, peeled and grated (or you can get 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the non-sugar-coated candied stuff and mince it fine)
• 1 clove garlic (more if you’re really sick and/or like garlic), minced finely

Polly’s Cranberry-Rosemary Glaze for Tofurkey

Originally a pork glaze, this recipe evolved through 2 or 3 of my friends and acquaintances to make something truly wondrous out of the common-or-garden Tofurkey. Great on its own as a normal glaze, it also combines incredibly well with the Tofurkey’s gravy to make a sweet, tasty sauce. (See the end of this post for easy vegetarian side-dish suggestions for a vegetarian “traditional” Thanksgiving.)

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small white onion, sliced pretty thin and then chopped stir-fry style
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth (save the rest of the broth for stuffing)
• 1 can cranberry sauce
• 2 Tbsp rosemary
• Zest of 1 orange
• Juice of 1/2 large (or 1 small) orange
   
• 2-3 large carrots, chopped
• 1-2 lb red potatoes (5-7 of the little kind), chopped into large cubes

1. Sauté the onion in the oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, cranberry sauce, rosemary, and orange zest and juice and bring to a boil, mixing thoroughly.
Reduce heat and simmer until sauce loses its watery texture and just starts to congeal into a jelly-like texture.

2. Remove gravy from heat and make stuffing.

3. Prepare the Tofurkey:
Stuff (or don’t stuff) tofurkey, as you prefer.
Arrange Tofurkey in a medium-sized baking dish, surrounding it with chopped carrots and potatoes.
Pour over everything the vegan “giblet” gravy that came with the tofurkey, then pour the cranberry mix over everything as well.
Cover baking dish with foil. Wrap stuffing in foil, separately, as well.
Bake Tofurkey for 45 min to 1 hour, until vegetables are cooked, adding foil-wrapped stuffing in for the final 30 min.

4. To serve, slice Tofurkey VERY thin. Place vegetables and cranberry gravy into a separate dish.
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Suggestions:

What to make with this for a simple but “complete” vegetarian traditional-Thanksgiving dinner (some of these aren’t vegan):

• Zesty Pecan-Apple-Cranberry Stuffing
• Mashed potatoes and an additional container of Tofurkey “Giblet” Gravy
• Trader Joe’s Frozen Croissants, or homemade Sweet Potato Crescent Rolls
• Green Bean and Fried Onions Casserole (very tasty, but use low-fat soup so it’s not too fatty)

Carrotcake

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans
   
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.