A while back, I came across olive bread at a restaurant when they brought out a basket of olive bread as appetizers. I really liked it. The salty olives added a nice flavor to the rustic bread. Later that week, I decided to bake some muffins and add chopped pieces of olives to them to make a savory and delicate muffin. I picked up a small container of kalamata olives from Titan Foods (awesome Greek specialty food market in Astoria) and proceeded home to do some baking.

Ingredients: (Makes 8-12 muffins)

• 2 cups flour (I used 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp flaxseed meal (optional)
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 oz chopped olives (I used kalamata olives)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flaxseed meal and nutritional yeast, if desired.
3. In another bowl, bean the eggs and add honey, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and water.
4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
5. Add chopped olives and stir.
6. Pour mixture into greased muffin trays/cups.
7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until ready. Insert and remove toothpick and it should come out clean.
8. Let the muffin cool in the oven for an additional 5 minutes.
9. Serve warm.

I used a really basic muffin recipe and added nutritional yeast and flaxseed meal into the muffin batter to enhance the nutrition a bit. The muffins were soft and by itself didn’t have much taste to it, but the kalamata olives added a nice bold flavor to the finished product. I liked how it came out. I’m thinking about redoing something similar next time – pickle bread, perhaps.

No egg?
I read that flax seed meal can be used to make an egg substitute for baking. I conveniently have a bag of flax seed meal in my fridge. I like to add a scoop of flax seed meal to my cereals, oatmeal, smoothies, pancakes, and such. It’s a great source of extra fiber. It also adds a light nutty flavor. The writing on the package says that 1 tbsp of flax seed meal can be combined with 3 tbsps of hot water to make one egg replacer.

No shortening?
Fruit puree makes a good shortening or butter substitute for baked goods. I usually like to use either bananas, applesauce, prunes. I had a ripe banana laying around the counter and it was the perfect candidate. Fruit puree will add a hint of flavor to the baked product, so we should make sure that the fruit will complement the product well. Bananas and cornbread works.

No milk?
This one was easy. I rarely ever have cow’s milk in the fridge since I’m lactose intolerant. I like to alternate between soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk. This week was soy milk and so, I substitute the regular milk with the soy milk.

Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
• 6 tbsp hot water
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup if want sweeter)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 medium size banana, mushed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray muffin pan/baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Bring some water to boil. In a small bowl, add the ground flax seed. Pour 6 tbsps of hot water into the bowl. Stir until the mixture thickens. Set it aside to rest for a few minutes. (You’ve just made an egg substitute.)
4. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
5. Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk, and mushed banana to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth.
6. Pour mixture into muffin pan/baking dish.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle
   comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.
9. Serve warm.

This recipe created a very savory cornbread. The cornbread smelled amazing and tasted great as well. It would be perfect for soups and stews, or dipped in some gravy sauce.

For a sweet cornbread, you can add more sugar into the recipe instead. You can also add some honey or maple syrup to give it extra sweetness.

The cornbread freezes very well too. I wrapped them up individually in plastic wrap, placed them in a ziplock bag and tossed the bag into the freezer. The cornbread can be reheated in a microwave or toaster oven and it tastes just as great.

Happy eating!

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat cake flour
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• cloves
• allspice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked* (detailed directions below)

• 2 oz cream cheese
• 2 oz ricotta cheese
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, rice flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, salt, baking soda, and 1/2 cup of sugar.
2. Add the beaten eggs and the pumpkin puree.
3. Stir in the cooked quinoa.
4. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp of sugar.

   (So, there’s the muffin mixture and the cheese mixture. I thought about simply mixing the two contents together and baking it in muffin molds. I decided not to mix them together, but instead, layer them so that the cheese mixture is in the middle. Therefore, it would taste like cheesecake inside a pumpkin muffin.)

5. Transfer the cheese mixture into a plastic sandwich bag. Make a small slit at one of the corners of the sandwich bag. Twist the open end of the bag.

   (Now, I have an icing bag.)

6. For each muffin cup, spray PAM baking spray (or your choice of no-stick cooking spray). Put a heaping spoon of pumpkin mixture in the bottom. Squeeze some cheese mixture with the icing bag. Top with a smaller spoon of pumpkin mixture. Repeat.

   (I sprinkled some crushed almonds and placed a whole almond on top of each piece, as garnish.

7. Bake muffins at 350 degrees for about 20-25 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Here they are!

These muffins were very tasty and moist. They are lightly sweeten. The cheese mixture is not overwhelming. Using both ricotta cheese and cream cheese made the cheese mixture very creamy and light. The combination of cheesecake and pumpkin muffin is great!

Next time, I might try swirling the cheese and pumpkin mixtures together instead of layering them.

* How to cook quinoa:
Prepare the quinoa:

1. Soak the quinoa in cold water for at least 15 to 30 minutes, or overnight if desired. Soaking makes the grain tastier and gives it a nutty, light flavor. Without soaking, the grain may be a bit bitter. Soaking helps loosens the outer coating of bitter-tasting saponins. Many commercial quinoa are pre-washed to remove this coating, but giving it an extra rinse helps remove any excess saponin.
2. Rinse the quinoa by stirring it with your hand and draining off the water with a fine mesh strainer.

Cook the quinoa:

1. Combine 1 part grain and 2 part water in a saucepan.
2. Bring to boil.
3. Reduce the heat to simmer and cover.
4. One cup of quinoa usually takes about 15-20 minutes to cook.
5. Remove the quinoa from heat.
6. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes.
7. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and serve.