Meatless Monday: Savory Zucchini Chive Muffins

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? We’ve had so many vegan events going on the last 5 weeks I’ve been here that J and I decided to take a break and just spend some quality time together (and we missed a vegan boat party that was supposedly off the hook but oh well!). Saturday we had a proper date and went for dinner and a movie. Dinner was at a Moroccan restaurant called Medina Oven & Bar, that has some easily veganized items on their menu. I was thrilled about this because I haven’t been to a Moroccan restaurant that I can remember. The food here was really fresh, clean, not overly spiced and well thought out. We had the 4 spread platter with pita bread to start, then a beautiful arugula salad with beets, raisins, roasted pine nuts and pomegranate vinaigrette, then a pizza for our final course sans cheese. If you are looking for something a bit nicer try Medina.

After a delish dinner we went to Magnolia to see Limitless. Bradley Cooper did a stellar job in this movie and wow is he so fine!! 😉 This is the theater that is showing Forks Over Knives and they showed the preview! I cheered after it really loudly.

After many requests, here are the other muffins I made for the vegan bakesale for Japan. They were quite a big hit at the bakesale! This muffins were the only savory thing that I remember at the bakesale. I got the idea from Namely Marly and her savory zucchini loaf. My recipe has totally different things in it and the base is made with cornmeal, barley and brown rice flour. But you could use whatever flour you have on hand.

Savory Zucchini Chive Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup brown rice flour
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk (or other unsweetened non-dairy milk)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 cup zucchini grated
5 tablespoons chives chopped fine
2 tablespoons shallot minced
6 cherry tomatoes halved

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners or spray lightly with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together the first seven dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl whisk together soymilk and vinegar until bubbling. Whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients and flax meal. Mix wet into dry until just combined then gently fold in zucchini chives and shallots. Spoon batter into muffin liners until 3/4ths full. Place one half tomato in the center of each muffin and press down slightly into the batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry when inserted into the muffin.

How was your weekend? Eat at any new restaurants?