Refined sugar-free and vegan, these blueberry muffins are delicious and way healthier than what you’ll buy at the store.
It’s Election Day in North America, a day that everyone has been dreading, looking forward to, crying, cheering, praying and yelling over for many months. Personally I’m sad that Obama can’t be voted back in for 4 more or 24 more years. But I’m also excited and hopeful about what’s to come. I want more women in my life. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
The aspect of escape, of running away, of the wild woman; I am so drawn to that archetype. It’s all I’ve wanted to do these past few months: run away. I’ll come back, I want to be here, too. But I also want out, I want the mountains, I want the red rocks. I want to run free.
A few years back my husband and I flew to Salt Lake City, drove to Moab, then Arches National Park, and then Canyonlands National Park. For those 7 days, we listened to nothing but Pink Floyd’s Division Bell, over and over and over. That album was one of my favorites in high school, and then I put it away and forgot about it for two decades, until he brought it back out. And talk about something that will take you away. I can’t hear it now and not picture the red rocks; they’re forever engrained in my memory when that album begins. And that landscape, it’s breathtaking, better than the Grand Canyon, prettier than most places I’ve been.
Take me away. That’s mostly what we really want in life right? To be surprised and in awe and in wonder. To be taken away, from reality, from work, from pressure, for just a few moments. All of us, we have the ways in which we can escape: music, drugs, movement, travel, sex, alcohol, movies, books, shopping, eating. And we’ve all been told which ones we should do and which ones we shouldn’t, and many of us have taken that advice. But it’s just someone’s advice. Someone who you may not even know. Like me, here I am, giving you my advice: do what feels good and what doesn’t hurt you or those around you. Take it or leave it. Do what works for you.
There are times when all we need is alcohol or drugs, I get that, and I’m not saying it’s wrong. This year, alcohol was a huge addition to our lives. I don’t know how you deal with some of the things presented to you in life without that drug to release you from the moment you’re in. But you get to the point where you realize, it’s not helping. This is making it worse. And so you cut it out. And you replace it with the things that are healthy and give you more hope, more highs. For us, music and yoga. Those two things take us away from the pain, they present us with moments of peace and clarity, with love and magic.
Listening to the Division Bell, to High Hopes, I’m completely, wholeheartedly, taken away. I enter that new world that’s so hard to get to in life – that magical place where we can escape and focus in, while at the same time, zoning out. That land of daydreams, my favorite place. I get there on my mat, and I get there in the mountains, and I often get there with music and books. It’s pure magic, to be taken away, if only for a minute.
Take Me to These Vegan Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. ground flax
- 1 c. frozen blueberries (or fresh)
- 1 and 1/2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/3 c. coconut oil melted
- 1/3 c. almond milk
- 2 tbsp. almond milk
- 1/2 c. maple syrup
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees, and spray a muffin tin with oil.
- Mix the ground flax with 6 tbsp. warm water in a small bowl, and set aside.
- If using frozen blueberries, place in a small bowl and cover with warm water to allow them to defrost.
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and baking powder.
- Melt the coconut oil, and add to the flour, along with the flax mixture, almond milk and maple syrup. Stir well.
- Rinse and drain the blueberries, and fold them into the flour mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the muffin tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes,until edges have browned and muffins have cooked through. Serve warm with a pat of coconut oil, peanut butter, or plain!