“No-Shame” Blueberry Bran Muffins From A Box

I love checking out the wonderful vegan recipe sites out there (and there are great ones) with their beautiful photos and delicious-looking recipes created from scratch. When I have time, I love to use these recipes and they very rarely disappoint me. Since I am the only vegan in my family, there is nothing worse than spending time and love preparing vegan foods only to have them rejected by my boys. This happens way too often despite my repeated attempts to make foods that I think they would like. I often deal with this problem by making quick, fast vegan foods for me while preparing other foods for my family. Hence, I have come to the conclusion that there is absolutely no shame in making baked goods from a box!!! This conclusion applies to everyone in the world, with or without a family to bake for, because I just dubbed it a “royal rule.” So get out your instant mixes and prepare to veganize!!!

There are many brands of boxed baked goods that I love to veganize: Hodgson Mill, Bob’s Red Mill, Cherrybrook Kitchen and Simply Organic (see my prior post, dated May 30, 2012, “Carrot Cake With Vanilla Frosting…In A Jiffy!!!”). The trick of veganizing any baked goods is deciding how to replace the eggs in the original recipe. To make this choice, you have to decide which substitute would work best with what you are baking. For example, mashed bananas, applesauce and ground flaxseeds mixed with water work best for muffins; whereas silken tofu and soy yogurt might work best in pancakes or other cakes. In this regard, you can find excellent charts on which vegan substitutes to use instead of eggs on PETA’s website or at www.veganbakingsecrets.com.

I made these delicious and quick blueberry bran muffins from a 7 ounce box of Hodgson Mill’s Whole Wheat Muffin Mix. I followed Rip Esselstyn’s recipe from his wonderful book “The Engine 2 Diet” which I highly recommend that you read. I took the liberty of adding 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries to Rip’s recipe. They came out great!!

“NO-SHAME” BLUEBERRY BRAN MUFFINS FROM A BOX

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

7 ounce box Hodgson Mill’s Whole Wheat Muffin Mix

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ingredients together (except the blueberries) until well-blended. Then add the blueberries to the bowl and mix. Spoon the batter into a non-stick muffin tin (I sprayed the muffin tin with canola spray first). Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

The photo below shows some other boxed baked goods that I use often.