I woke up this morning with the sudden urge to make muffins! Normally, I would go with the standard banana nut muffins, but I'm on my Locavore Challenge (remember?), so I'm all out of bananas. I decided to get creative and try a savory breakfast-type muffin, so I rummaged around my fridge and freezer to see what I had on hand. When I saw leftover olives, and tomato paste, it hit me:
Pizza muffins! I used dried herbs, olives and tomato paste to give it that pizza flavor. Even though most of those ingredients aren't local, I'm letting myself eat whatever I have left in my fridge and pantry, so it's all good~ I even added a bit of pureed fresh tomatoes into the batter, although the majority of the tomato flavor came from the tomato paste.
They came out a little chewy and dense, but were still quite delicious and did indeed tasted pizza-ish. Once I improve the texture, I'll be sure to post the recipe, but you could try this yourself pretty easily- just take a basic, plain muffin recipe, add about 1-2 Tbs of tomato paste, a Tbs of mixed dried herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, thyme), a handful of chopped olives, and about a tsp of garlic/onion powder. I also used olive oil instead of canola oil for added savory flavor, but you could just stick with canola oil or maybe do half-half, according to your tastes. And to make it even better, I would suggest sprinkling the top with nutritional yeast, or some kind of vegan cheese for perfect cheesy muffin tops. Anyway, these were a yummy way to start my week!
Lunch was a salad drizzled with maple-mustard dressing, steamed squash, tofu-mushroom scramble, and steamed chestnuts (all domestic-grown, if you're wondering!).
Oh, and the other day, I went to this cafe called 'Letter From Home.' It's been a while since I went to a coffee shop to be productive, so this was quite nice. I've been to this cafe before, but didn't get round to blogging about it. They don't have anything specifically vegan, but it's just another one of those cutesy independent Korean cafes with chill atmosphere (you know, unlike all the crowded, noisy chain coffee shops).
Americano (4000 won), 1 refill allowed.
Doodling for some creative projects up my sleeve.
Directions to 'Letter From Home':
Kundae Station, Line 7 & 2. Exit 4 or 5. If you come out exit 5, cross the street so that you are next to the Lotte Department store. If you come out exit 4, you will already be on the right side. Walk in the direction of Ttukseom Resort Station (towards the Han River) for about 5 minutes. Letter From Home will be on your left, after Family Mart.
