Savory Apricot Muffins

Yesterday saw me waiting around the house, not wanting to head to far out...it was my due date. VeganBaby wasn't too interested in joining us on his dad's birthday. I got down to work and came up with a new recipe: Savory Apricot Muffins. I decided that with all of this time off (I know it will get a little busier once VeganBaby shows up), and encouraged by super crafty vegan mom's, like Darlene at Natural Violet , that I could start crafting my own bread, muffins and cake recipes from scratch - pushing myself beyond the cooking creations I feel much more comfortable with.

So, I ended up taking some very fresh apricots, and some cornmeal and going to town. What I turned out was this little batch of muffins that I think go wonderfully with hummus, guacamole or homemade salsa. I have never had too much of a sweet tooth, eschewing even the most decadent of candies as a young lassie, but I quite like the idea of combining a mild fruity flavour with the deeper and savory flavours of cornmeal and cinnamon. I am going to hold off sharing the recipe, since I want to try and make them a couple more times....not sure if they are perfect yet.


I did of course try one! I multi-tasked and spread half of the muffin with (sadly) store bought hummus, and the other half I covered with an organic tomato chutney. But I think they would have also been great with the other part of my lunch (though I did decide to stick with just the one muffin), which was reheated Pumpkin Soup, which I made for dinner on Tuesday.

I know! Pumpkin Soup and only a few days away from summer? Welcome to Belgium! We have had more then one day of rainy and slightly chilly weather since the calendar officially announced the arrival of 'spring'. But, to be honest, that is one of the things that I like about our current home, as it differs drastically from the unrelenting heat of Toronto. Tuesday had started out damp and rainy, and I thought a little bit of Pumpkin Soup would be the perfect treat. It was super tasty and well worth the roasting time I gave to the pumpkin before cutting it up and adding it to the rest of the soup.

Kevin's birthday was a success! Sadly, I have zero pictures of the cake - which was, in the end, Triple Chocolate, including a nummy layer of chocolate buttercream frosting on both the inside and outside of this cake. I pretty much winged the recipe, making sure to add soy yogurt and managing to avoid sugar (with the exception of the truck load that went into the frosting), opting for Agave Syrup instead. Kevin took the cake to work with him, a tradition in his department, and apparently there was lots of 'ohhhhs and awwwws' over its tastiness - glad they liked it!

He had prezzies in the morning (see robot below) from his VeganCowGirl, and then we joined friends for a pizza dinner after work. Lots of fun!