Powerhouse Filling

• 1/2 purple onion, diced (more if you like onion)
• 1/8 c dried garlic flakes
• 1/4 dried vegetable flakes
• 1/2 c grated carrot
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini
• 1 c. diced cauliflower
• 1/2 c soy protein granules
• 1/2 c snow pea pods diced
• 1/2 c dice red peppers
• 1/2 - 3/4 c pureed tomato or tomato paste mixed 3 parts to 1 part water
• 3/4 c crushed pineapple (not drained)
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp seasoned pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp basil
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 2 tsp dill

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Be sure that your rack is not too close to the element of the bread will burn on the bottom before it is cooked entirely. The middle set of shelves seems to work best. Spray muffin tins or empty clean tuna tins with safe spray (like Pam) or if you are fortunate enough to have one, the non-aerosol spray from Pampered Chef.
2. Dice or combine vegetables into a large steel mixing bowl. Add seasonings, vinegar, oil and egg and stir. Set aside. If you are using agar agar instead of eggs, soak the 3 inches of agar in blood temperature water for about ten minutes. Once it is soft, break it into tiny pieces and combine with the vegetable mix.
3. In a second bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder. Sift twice to add air and lightness to the fine flours.
4. Mix the two bowls together, combining flours with vegetable/egg mix slowly. Do not use a stand mixer. I find it is best to do this by hand. This batter will be difficult to stir and quite thick.
5. Add the cup of lemon perrier. Do not stir too much or you will mix the bubbles out of the perrier and defeat the purpose of this sparkling water. If the mix is too thin (it should look like very thick cake batter and be able to be spooned into the tins) then you may add small amounts of preferred flour (sorghum or sweet rice) until it is the right consistency. If you have to add more than 1/2 c more flour, increase the baking powder to the 4 tblsp.
6. Spoon this batter into prepared muffin tins or bun forms. My children do not care what shape it's in, they just love these muffins for breakfast, lunch or supper and will eat them all day if I don't hide them. My husband actually complained that the kids were eating too much veggies. And when asked my 5 year old son remarked that he just wanted to grow tall like daddy.

Like many things, agar agar comes in different forms. If you can only get the powdered form, which looks very similar to Knox gelatin, I believe the recipe is 1 tsp per egg. Remember to soak the agar in blood temperature water or a portion of the liquid from the recipe before adding to the other liquids.

© 2000 by Brenda-Lee Olson