Kale in the cornbread?!
Vegan cornbread muffins with kale. Why? Because GREENS! Greens everywhere, everyday, all the time, for everyone! People, dark leafy green vegetables are the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. That means that per calorie, they deliver more nutrition than anything else out there. Sadly, most of us don’t eat many of them, which is why it’s fun to have recipes like this. Try incorporating greens in unexpected places, you just might love it.
“One farmer says to me, ‘You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;’ and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle.”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods
Nutrient Density is Key.
I firmly believe that a nutrient-dense diet is key to long-lasting health and vitality. The good news is, we can all take steps to increase the nutrient density of our diets. Those steps can be small and gradual. Sweeping overhauls can be overwhelming and unsustainable for many of us. So what’s a person to do? Well, try to add as many whole plant foods as possible to what you’re already eating every day. That approach, my friends, is why we’re putting kale in the muffins.
This recipe is based on a recipe from the fabulous book: Greens 24/7. There are LOADS of great recipes in that book, which embodies this approach perfectly. All I’ve done is swapped out some of the oil for applesauce, subbed in whole wheat flour for all purpose, tripled the amount of kale, advised you to massage that kale, and paired down the ingredient list a bit. The original recipe calls for the addition of fresh herbs. I left them out to keep this recipe simple, but if you’ve got some throw them in!
Vegan Cornbread Muffins with Kale
INGREDIENTS (Yields 12 muffins)
- 2 cups plant-based milk of choice (I prefer unsweetened soy)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour (or an additional cup of whole wheat flour)
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt (divided)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups kale – finely chopped and massaged* (can substitute spinach or collard greens)
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly oil a 12 cup muffin tin.
- Mix together the milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle. (You can use this trick anytime you need vegan buttermilk.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients, using just 1/2 tsp of the salt. Use the other 1/2 tsp of salt to massage the kale.
- Now add the applesauce and oil to the milk/vinegar mixture and stir to combine well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine. Fold in the massaged kale.
- Portion into muffin tins and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 20 to 25 minutes.
*All you need to do is de-stem the kale and finely chop it. Then toss it with 1/2 tsp of salt and give it a good massage with your hands. It’ll decrease in volume and soften up a bit. This will make it more palatable inside the muffins. (For future reference, you can massage kale without salt. It’ll still work.)
Enjoy these vegan cornbread muffins with salads, soups, or on their own as a snack. They’re AWESOME. xx
