Vegan Banana Oatmeal Soy Chocolate Chip Muffins

Muffin Ingredients
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1 cup packed light brown sugar
7 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
6 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
3 large mashed bananas
1 cup regular oats
1/2 cup soy milk

Topping:
3 t brown sugar
3 t regular oats
1 t wheat germ

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix topping ingredients. Set aside.

Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix with a whisk to combine. Add walnuts and chocolate chips. Set aside.

Mix flax seeds with water and set aside for about 3 minutes (while you work on getting the rest of the ingredients together).

Combine brown sugar, flax/water mixture, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a mixer on medium speed until well combined.

Combine banana, oats, soy milk. Add to the sugar mixture. Mix with mixer on medium speed, and beat until combined. Make sure to give your dog a piece of banana at this point.

Fold flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined (don't over stir).

Spoon batter into 16-18 paper lined muffin tins. Top with topping mixture. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Move to a wire rack to cool.

Daniela's Cantina - Worst Mexican Ever

A while back the Aegean (a greek restaurant) moved down the road in Framingham to a bigger and better location. I recently noticed that a Mexican restaurant moved into its place: Daniela's Cantina. Mike and I were tired tonight and didn't want to cook dinner so we decided we would drive by and look at the menu and then decide whether it looked good enough to risk going in. I expected it to be a Framingham dive that I would be afraid to go into. We drove up and noticed that they had nice big menus posted outside the door (with a vegetarian section) and when we peeked inside the decor looked ok. We went in. The decor was surprisingly pretty good. But the food was something else.

Bottom line on top: It was the worst Mexican food I have ever had and that is saying a lot. I have had some pretty bad mexican food, but this is the clear winner of the worst mexican food award. We started with Margaritas. I had a regular Margarita. I am pretty sure the ice had specks of dirt frozen into it. I kept holding my glass up to the light but I couldn't determine if this was a reflection or real dirt. Mike had a "Coco Loco" Margarita which had coconut flavor. I took a sip of his and my margarita tasted like coconut for about 3 sips later. Yuck.

The chips and salsa were passable at best and they were pre-made (not made there) which might be why they were passable.

I ordered vegetable enchiladas with rice and refried beans (this was listed in the vegetarian section). Mike had Refried Bean Tacos. The enchiladas were awful. The sauce tasted like plain tomato sauce and the vegetables inside the enchiladas included broccoli. I was surprised by this as I asked what vegetables would be in them and was told peppers, onions, stuff. The rice was clearly made with chicken stock (even though it was served with a vegetarian dish and listed in the vegetarian section of the menu). Mike's tacos were edible. They kept us from going away hungry. They had a ton of bland refried beans, a ton of lettuce.

Give this place wide berth and thank me later for taking that bullet for you. I repeat, do not eat at Daniela's Cantina. The Aztec has better margaritas, better food, and lower prices.