The Voices In my Head

It doesn't take much for me to get a song stuck in my head. Even something as innocuous as my sister-in-law handing me a bag of oranges from the tree in her backyard sends me into a 24 hour loop of Lady Marmalade.

Me: What am I going to do with all these oranges? Her: Make orange marmalade! My Brain: Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Da Da

So, I spent the better par of yesterday cooking up a batch of fabulous Vanilla Bean Orange Marmalade courtesy of Always Order Dessert with a certain tune in my head (both versions). The addition of whole vanilla beans was so genius and made my house smell insanely good.

24 hours later with and still a "soul sister", I started researching vegan recipes. One of my resolutions is to eat vegan once a week and experiment with vegan baking. I found this great recipe on Nom! Nom! Nom! which sounded delicious and did not require ingredients I can't pronounce (sorghum? agar agar?) . Unfortunately, the recipe is entitled You Are My Sunshine Loaf. Seriously? You put the two together and now I have a Glee style disco/folk mash-up monopolizing most of my brain. It's worse than muzak, but the combination of wholesome, diet-friendly muffins and lip-smacking amazing orange marmalade is worth it. It will make you happy when skies are gray.


You Are My Sunshine Muffins (or Loaf)
adapted from Nom! Nom! Nom! Blog
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup shredded carrots
1 medium apple, peeled and shredded
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
¼ cup canola oil
zest of 1 medium orange
juice of one medium orange
½ cup raisins
½ cup walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine flours, sugar, baking powder and spices. In a large bowl mix carrots, apple and milk until well-combined. Add oil, orange zest and orange juice. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in raisins and walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin (or loaf pan) and bake for 22-25 minutes.

Cool muffins on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container at room temperature.

For the marmalade recipe, go here.