Vegan Cupcakes Take Over My Kitchen

We're going to a birthday party tomorrow, and Stella can't have birthday cake (peanut cross contamination, yada, yada, yada). Not to mention, most birthday cake isn't likely to be vegan!! So, we have to come to birthday parties with alternatives. Our alternative to birthday cake this time will be Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I used the recipe for Chocolate Cake and just made it into cupcakes. The recipe says that it will make 8 cupcakes.....I got 12 rather large ones from this recipe. The frosting recipe also says it is enough for 8 cupcakes.....again, I frosted all 12 and had extra frosting. The only changes I made were to the frosting recipe. Instead of 3 cups of confectioners sugar I used 2. They were plenty sweet, and I imagine they'd be almost sickeningly sweet if I'd added another cup of sugar. Mairin has a summer birthday so they are celebrating it next week at school, and she's requested these very cupcakes, so I think I'll try even less sugar when I make them next week.

We of course had to sample the cupcakes after lunch (actually, I made the girls eat lunch, cupcakes were my lunch.......sssshhhhhh!!) Wow, these are some delicious cupcakes. Better than any non-vegan recipe I've ever used. The recipe is on The Joy of Vegan Baking website, go make these now, don't wait another minute!!

By the way, I couldn't decide which photo I liked better, so I posted them both!!

Fall Cupcakes

In keeping with my fall themed cooking of late, I decided to make some fall themed cupcakes to accompany.

When I think of fall I think of cool weather, vibrantly colored leaves and bon fires. Of course, no bon fire is complete without S'mores.....................hence, S'mores cupcakes from VCTOTW. These are definitely reminiscent of S'mores, but they aren't spot on. I think they could be improved with a bit of Marshmallow Fluff (do they make vegan Marshmallow Fluff??) instead of the buttercream. Another idea might be to attempt to melt down some vegan marshmallows to drizzle on the tops. Maybe a vegan marshmallow hidden in the center of each cake? I don't know, they just need a little more marshmallow-y-ness!! Also, if you decide to make these, don't fill the muffin tins full, as directed......these babies rise and the result will be less than pretty tops (see photo below).

S'mores Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

And of course, like everyone else on Earth, I think of pumpkins when I think of fall. So, it only made sense to try out the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing from VCTOTW. Isa and Terry dare anyone to call these a muffin. I'm a girl that likes a dare, and I dare say, these are really more of a muffin than a cupcake. Nonetheless, they are out of this world. The sugar and spice is just right to allow the pumpkin and chocolate combo to shine through. And just like Isa and Terry say, the icing just adds a little somethin' somethin'. We did eat them as cupcakes for dessert one night, but I must admit that Mairin and I played "pretend" and ate them as muffins the next morning!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

More cupcakes

I still have 74 recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World to try out (ok, so maybe a few less since I have to pass on the nutty ones). However, my copy of Vegan with a Vengeance is due back to the library this week, and I couldn't let it go without trying the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. Yes, it's true that we are probably the only vegetarians in our town, and I'm quite sure we are the only vegans, so I could probably renew the book 100 times over and no one would complain........but, being a good vegan, I keep taking it back and leaving it on the shelves for a few months at a time just hoping someone will stumble upon it and try out a cruelty free diet. Never the less, about the cupcakes................Heaven doesn't even begin to describe them. These cupcakes are out of this world! I made them into mini-cupcakes and they are just perfect for popping in your mouth when you need a little sweet kick!! My experience with other cupcake recipes has taught me that most icing recipes are too sweet for my liking, so I started with just half the confectioners sugar that's called for, and it was just about right. I used slightly more than half of what the recipe calls for. If you have this book and you've never made these cupcakes, go do it now!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

My baby turned 2 on Saturday, so of course we celebrated with none other than........cupcakes!! I just made basic Golden Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They were topped with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream and Chocolate Vegan Fluffy Buttercream respectively. Needless to say, the cupcakes were a hit with all of the folks at the party. I made mini-cupcakes, and I believe almost everyone had more than one!!

We also had hummus, pita, veggies, and mini-falafel. All of which were devoured by our guests. There wasn't one falafel left on the tray, and I've had to share the hummus recipe with more than one person since the party!! It does make me laugh though, Stella's probably the only 2 year old that enjoyed having falafel and hummus at her birthday party!!

I haven't been up to much other cooking lately.....we were on a camping trip last week, and I think roasting Tofu Pups over a camp fire hardly counts as cooking.

Independence Day

What better way to celebrate the 4th than with cupcakes of course!! These were Classic Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Iced with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, piped in star shapes and of course sprinkled with red and blue sugar. Best plain vanilla cupcakes EVER!!

Peach-Rosewater Cupcakes

The last time I was at Whole Foods Market I was in the baking aisle, looking for some good vanilla extract and came across this beautiful bottle of Rose Flower Water. I didn't really know what to do with it, but thought the bottle was just so intriguing, it looked so old, and it was just so pretty....so I bought it.

Lo and behold, when looking through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World I saw a recipe for Pistachio Rosewater Cupcakes. So, now I had something to do with my rosewater, only, when am I going to be able to get away with making cupcakes that contain nuts and not have Stella begging for one? So, I file away the fact that the recipe is there, I put the beautiful bottle of rosewater in the drawer and more or less forget about it, until tonight.


I pulled out VCTOTW, looked over the recipe, and decided to give it a go sans pistachios. The result was this absolutely gorgeous Peach-Rosewater Cupcake with Rosewater Buttercream Icing. They became "peach" because I didn't have any vanilla soy yogurt. My two options were peach or blueberry, and well, peach just seemed to go better with rosewater. I also didn't have the cardamom that the recipe calls for, so I omitted that. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. I also used the buttercream recipe from VCTOTW, reducing the sugar by 1 full cup, and adding 1 tsp of rosewater to the icing.

The resulting cupcake was a wonderfully moist, not too sweet, peach flavored cake with a hint of rose in the background. They were so elegant and delicious, and of course, loved by all!!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!

Yesterday was my friend Shannon's baby boy's first birthday. A few weeks ago they got the unfortunate news that he has some food allergies. I know from experience how stressful and irritating food allergies can be, and I truly feel for anyone that has to deal with them. It turns out that his allergies are to eggs and beet sugar. With the beet sugar allergy, if something's ingredients include sugar, and it doesn't specify "cane sugar" then you must assume it's beet sugar, and avoid it. So, with eggs out, and with unknown sources of sugar out, that pretty much means any cake from a bakery is out. So, knowing all of the wonderful things I know about vegan baking, and knowing that I only buy cane sugar, I volunteered to bake the little sweetie a birthday cake.

Now, I'm not much of a baker and even less of a cake decorator. So, my initial plan was a plain sheet cake with plain icing. Then, I had the idea of making cupcakes instead. Well, that all seemed so incredibly boring for a baby's first birthday cake. So, I decided to put the two together and make a cake in the shape of a lego. Brilliant, I know!!

The cake I decided on was Dreena's vanilla cake (I don't remember the real name of it) from ED&BV. It's a very easy cake consisting of flour, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, applesauce, oil and soymilk (but I subbed rice milk). I baked it in a 9x9 square pan, instead of the 2 round pans suggested and it took significantly longer than directed to bake. I also made 4 cupcakes to use as the "knobs" on the lego.

For the icing I used a simple uncooked, egg free buttercream recipe that I got from allrecipes.com. The icing wasn't vegan, I used real butter. I can't use Earth Balance because of our soy elimination. For the yellow coloring I added 1/2 tsp. of turmeric powder. The turmeric gave the icing a very interesting, gingery flavor.

I iced some extra cupcakes and let my girls sample them before we went to the party, and they loved them. Stella got to share cake with baby boy since she can't have eggs either. I think she ate more of his birthday cake than he did!!

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Icing and Chocolate Ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The BEST cupcake I've ever eaten. Not too sweet and minty delicious. We were all pining for seconds!! Make these ASAP!!

Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

I finally got my hands on a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. With 2 birthdays coming up in less than a month I thought it was time to expand my cupcake repetoire a bit. Now comes the fun part.......sampling these yummy recipes in search of just the right cupcakes to make for the girls parties!!

Our first test was Cookies n Cream. Very, very good, although the icing is a little too sweet for my tastes. I will definately make these again, only I'll add less powdered sugar in the icing, and I'll also use less soy milk, as the icing didn't set up as firm as I like it.

Another Birthday

This time we celebrated my Big Girls birthday. Mairin turned 5 on Friday, and we had her a little party this afternoon. We celebrated Fancy Nancy style, with a fancy dress tea party. The kids had a great time decorating tiaras, sipping their raspberry tea (decaf of course), and getting all dolled up in feather boas.

And, what party would be complete with out cake?? Cupcakes for us of course. I just did the basic chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW, with fluffy buttercream frosting that had been dyed, just to add to the fancy factor.

The party was at lunch time, so we served soy nut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, pretzels, and of course, you can't have a proper English tea party without scones!! I used this recipe, and they were probably the best scones I've had......lot's of compliments on these! Another vegan birthday party that was entirely a success!

School starts this week , so things will probably be changing around here a bit as far as dinner goes. With me teaching until almost 7 three nights a week, and the girls needing to get to bed earlier, most of our week night meals are going to become quick and simple (and probably un-blog-worthy). As a matter of fact, we may turn in to that family that designates each night a meal (i.e. Monday is taco night, Wednesday is spaghetti night, etc.). Tuesday, Friday and the weekend will be the days that I will really be able to cook, so hopefully I'll be able to get in a few exciting things in those days and keep you guys interested and entertained with my cooking adventures. And maybe, if I get creative, I may even have a few good "vegan school lunch box" posts.

A day of Good Eats

We started our Sunday with the Banana Split Bread that I posted about this morning. Our day of good eating continued at lunch time with these Mushroom-Spinach Phyllo Triangles from Vegan Planet. These were like a mini version of Spanikopita. The filling is made with spinach, silken tofu, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and just a pinch of nutmeg. They are a great lunch, but would be awesome to take along to a pitch in, or as an appetizer for a dinner party. They are just a little time consuming though, working with the delicate phyllo and all.

We spent our afternoon at a birthday party, where there just happened to be vegan cupcakes available!! Upon our return home I started on our dinner, which was the Avocado and Pinto Bean Enchiladas from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. These were so quick to put together, and mighty tasty as well. Mairin claimed she didn't like them, but she did manage to eat half of hers!! We had them with some blue corn chips and home made guacamole.

And to finish off our day of good vegan eating we had this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pudding Cake by Vegan Dad. If you like chocolate you have to make this cake.........it is to.die.for!!! I didn't let mine cool quite long enough, so the "pudding" was a bit runny, but believe me, it doesn't matter, this stuff is seriously good.

I love vegan desserts. I've never been much of a dessert person until I became vegan, now I can't get enough dessert. Vegan desserts are sooo good. And, while this one in particular is a little heavy on the sugar, I like to remember what Rob says about vegan desserts........"they are healthier than most people's dinner!!".

Coldplay......and a few other things

I apologize for my recent absence. We have been eating, but I just haven't been cooking much that's new, exciting, or blog worthy. Part of my absence was due to the fact that Rob and I headed up to Chicago for a few days to catch Coldplay. The show was phenomenal, Rob won an on-line auction and we had seats in the 13th row!! Coldplay never fails to put on a tremendous stadium show, and this one didn't disappoint, complete with giant orbs dropping down from the ceiling to show live footage of the band, a seemingly endless shower of butterfly confetti, and a few songs on a makeshift stage just feet from where we were sitting. And then of course there's Chris Martin (swoon!). Ok, back to being an adult now........

The concert was nice, and the eating was great. We started our visit with a trip to Jamba Juice for an Acai smoothie. For lunch is was off to the Silver Spoon for some crispy fried tofu, and spicy basil leaves (sans fish sauce). Our dinner was with our good friends Jesse and Holly at Karyn's, and as expected after our last visit, didn't disappoint. We started with Thai Skewers (skewered thin sliced seitan, slathered in peanut sauce). The main course for me was the Seitan Fajitas with a side of guacamole. And, of course, I can't eat at an all vegan restaurant without having dessert, so I finished with a slice of Pecan Pie and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. Yum!! I'm sorry that I don't have any pics for you, I just feel so weird about taking pictures of food in restaurants. We started the next morning with cereal and soy milk from room service, and made a stop at Dao's for Spicy Crazy Noodles with Tofu (again, sans fish sauce)before heading back to the airport. It was a lovely trip of good music, good friends, and good food!!


I do have a few food pics for you, of some things I made last week. First up we have Red Velvety Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, or something like that , from VCTOTW. I didn't have the full 2 Tbs of red food dye that the recipe called for, so mine aren't as red as I would have liked, but the flavor wasn't affected any. These were awesome!! I think I like the cream cheese icing better than the buttercream I've been making (although, once again, the sugar needs to be cut quite a bit next time).
I also made this simple maple dijon pasta salad last week when we went swimming at my mom's house. All I did was just grill our CSA veggies (squash, zucchini, onion) and toss it with some whole wheat penne, some diced roasted red peppers, and then drizzle it all with a dressing made of dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and maple syrup. This turned out awesome. Everyone LOVED it!!


I'm off for another trip to Chicago tomorrow. Going on a girls weekend with a friend, so I'll be sampling some more tasty vegan fare from the Windy City.......who knows, maybe this time I'll get brave enough to snap some shots!!!

Chocolatey Goodness

Here are a few pics of some desserts we've been eating lately. As many of you know, I was on a major cupcake kick for the biggest part of a year. While I still love cupcakes, and plan to be baking them again soon, I thought it was time indulge in my other favorite sweet treat for awhile....Brownies!!

Until now I've been quite disappointed with vegan brownies. Don't get me wrong, I've made and eaten them. They tasted fine, OK, they tasted good. But they just didn't' have that satisfying, moist gooey goodness that I love in a brownie. I've found most vegan brownies to be dry or cake-like, and to be honest, just too darn healthy. I love health food, I even have strange cravings for it at times, but when I eat a brownie, I don't want it to be health food, ya know?

Flipping through Vegan Planet one day I fast forwarded to the dessert chapter, and saw the recipe for some sort of peanut butter swirl brownie. It really started the brownie craving, but a) peanuts are forbidden in our house, and b) I don't like things mixed into my brownies. Lo and behold, the recipe had an option to leave out the peanut butter. Lucky me, I had all of the ingredients and went straight to work. This brownie recipe is both delicious and gooey. As a matter of fact, best I can remember, it's just like its non-vegan counterpart. I am convinced that what does it for this brownie is the chocolate chips melted in canola oil. This is what lends that gooey brownie goodness. Most brownies call for cocoa powder, which in my opinion just makes them cake. Anyway, if you are a brownie lover, get this book and make these brownies STAT!!


Next up is another recipe that I can't quite remember the exact name of. It comes from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. The name of it goes something like this, Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies. Really though, the name's not that important, what you people want to know is, are they good. Good, you ask......these are delicious!! I didn't have enough dark chocolate to chunk, so I combined chocolate chunks and chocolate chips for these cookies. The chocolate and spice is a perfect combination as we finish out these last few weeks of winter.

Speaking of finishing the last few weeks of winter..........I can't wait!! I can't wait for my CSA to begin. I can't wait to get some things planted in the garden. I can't wait for the grocery store to be full of fresh, local produce. I can't wait for the days to get longer. I can't wait to have natural light when I photograph my food!!

To take some of the burden of all of that waiting we are taking the girls to Disney World for Spring Break in a few weeks. We are staying in a cabin at Fort Wilderness, so a lot of our meals will be cooked by me there. But, I am excited to check out our vegan options throughout the park. We have one special dinner planned with the princesses, and when I told them we were vegan and had food allergy issues with Stella the chef from the restaurant called me and assured me that we would all have plenty to eat. I'm also under the impression that both Rice Dream ice-cream and Tofutti ice-cream are available at the ice cream shops in the parks!!! So, expect a Disney review coming up here in a few weeks!!

Pumpkin

I have so much pumpkin, I don't know what to do with it all. We've been getting giant pie pumpkins from the CSA every week!! I've done pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cupcakes, and pumpkin cake. I've also made pumpkin sauces for pasta. Now I still have about 4 cups of pumpkin puree in the refrigerator, and TWO more pie pumpkins sitting on the counter! Luckily winter squashes will last on the counter for awhile (because I also have butternut squash, carnival squash, and sweet dumpling squash), but at some point I'm going to have to cook those pumpkins. I'm open to any suggestions and ideas.......by the way, does pumpkin puree freeze well??

Anyway, while I like lots of savory squash dishes, I really do like pumpkin best in sweet, dessert type dishes. Following are my "veganizations" of two pumpkin recipes I love.

Pumpkin Crumb Bars

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup Earth Balance, room temperature

2 cups pumpkin puree (or one 16 oz can)

2/3 cup hemp milk (or other non dairy milk of your choice)

1/3 cup light brown sugar

Ener-G egg replacer for 1 egg

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground allspice

Preheat oven to 375. Combine oats, flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, salt, baking soda and Earth Balance in bowl of stand mixer. Mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture and press remaining mixture into a 13x9 baking dish that has been sprayed with canola oil. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare filling. Combine pumpkin, hemp milk, brown sugar, egg replacer and spices. Beat until smooth and well blended. Spread over crust, sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until filling is set and crumb topping is golden brown. Cool in pan and cut into bars. These can be served at room temperature, but I prefer them after they've been refrigerated.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup unbleached bread flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cloves

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 Tsp canola oil

1 6 oz container vegan yogurt (I used vanilla Coconut Milk yogurt)

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs water

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In bowl of stand mixer combine dry ingredients. Mix to combine well. In a small bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. With stand mixer running, pour wet ingredients into dry. Combine just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into 9x5 bread pan that has been sprayed with canola oil. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on wire rack until completely cooled.

Graduation Day

On Saturday my baby brother graduated from high-school. As you can see, he's hardly a baby, but I still remember the day he was born just as well as I remember the days my own children were born. There are 13 years difference between my brother and I. I remember spending mornings laying in my mom's recliner, watching television, and letting that cute little baby boy nap on my chest. I also remember, surprisingly enough, all of the arguing we did. You wouldn't think that with so much age difference there would be a lot of arguing.....well, you'd be wrong. Teenage girls aren't too keen on little toddler boys getting into all of their stuff!! Anyway, reminiscing aside, I absolutely can not believe that he's graduated from high school.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day on Saturday, and our family had a nice little cook out to celebrate the big day (and to celebrate my grandpa's 86th birthday!!). Now, apparently my mom isn't quite down with the whole vegan thing yet, and is seemingly unwilling to accommodate us, seeing as she didn't make one single dish that we could eat. OK, to be fair, she did have chips and salsa and some dinner rolls that were vegan, but I'd hardly call that a meal.

Luckily I didn't come empty handed. I brought the baked beans and orzo salad that I blogged about previously. I also brought along some Creamy Vegan Cole Slaw. I made this on mother's day and my grandpa just raved about it, so I decided to make some for him. I must admit, it is some damn good cole slaw. Rob and I also provided some huge portobello mushroom caps to throw on the barbie. And what celebration would be complete without dessert?? I made some chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing to take care of that!!

Creamy Vegan Cole Slaw

3/4 cup Vegenaise

2 Tbs unrefined sugar

2 Tbs Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbs dry mustard

2 tsp celery seed

1 small onion diced small

1 bag Dole Cole Slaw Mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)

salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients up to onion. Add onion and cole slaw mix to bowl and fold to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy.

Now that's what I call a meal!!!!

Happy Birthday........

...........to Adventures in Vegetarianism. This blog turns 1 year old today. I can hardly believe it’s been a whole year since I started this. And it’s even more unbelievable that I’ve been able to keep up with it!! Little did I know when I started this blog that it’s birthday falls during Vegetarian Awareness Month and VeganMOFO…….so, we’ve a lot to celebrate this month.

This year has been quite and Adventure indeed. This started out as a vegetarian food blog, and has now morphed into a vegan food blog. As I learned more and more about the effects of farming both on the animals and the Earth, I couldn’t help but take the next step and switch to Vegan. I feel better both physically and spiritually for having made the switch, and I can’t imagine ever going back. I’m now living an almost entirely vegan lifestyle (save for a few exceptions, like my non-vegan deodorant that I just can’t find a good replacement for). Rob has converted to vegetarianism 100%, and both he and the girls are embracing veganism with only a few exceptions (like I still can’t convince them to order pizza without cheese). I’ve even convinced a few people to try out more vegan and vegetarian options.

I’ve learned a few things along the way as well. First, I’ve learned that being vegan isn’t nearly as hard as everyone assumes it is. I’ve learned that I love seitan, but that I prefer not to make it from scratch. I’ve learned that pizza is good……maybe even better…….without cheese. I’ve learned that vegan eating in Chicago is fabulous, but in Indianapolis, not so much. I’ve learned not to be afraid to scramble tofu, it’s really good, and really easy. I’ve learned that I LOVE vegan cupcakes. And finally, I’ve learned that I’m much more creative in the kitchen than I thought I was!!

In short, it’s been a great year. This blog has served it’s purpose well, and I look forward to sharing another year of my Adventures in Vegetarianism with you.

Orange Sesame Tofu

We had another Eat, Drink and Be Vegan night last night (we had quite a break from it and I was excited to start in on some more of Dreena's recipes, they are always winners with me.). I made Orange Sesame Tofu over Coconut Lime Basmati Rice, with a side of roasted broccoli that was drizzled with toasted sesame oil and tamari. I started by pressing the tofu for about an hour to remove the excess moisture. To do this I cut a block of extra firm tofu in half horizontally, wrap both halves in cheese cloth then I sit a smaller plate upside down on top of a larger plate, place the tofu on top of that and weight it down with a cast iron skillet. After about an hour the tofu is pretty well pressed, although if you'd like a drier tofu you can always press it longer.

I then proceeded with Dreena's recipe for both the Coconut Lime Rice and for the Orange Sesame Tofu. The tofu marinated while the rice cooked and then I prepped the broccoli. I washed and trimmed one head of broccoli into bite-sized florets. After it has dried slightly I place it on a baking sheet, drizzle it with toasted sesame oil, a dash of salt and pepper, then stick it in the oven at 400 with the tofu. The tofu took about 20 minutes total, and I let the broccoli cook for as long. After the broccoli is removed from the oven I splash on just a dash of tamari and mix it all up real good.

I served it all up and we ate it with chopsticks just for fun. Mairin was determined to use chopsticks and lo and behold, she was able to eat with them on her first try........it took me forever to learn to use chopsticks. She tasted her tofu and claimed to not like it, but I think she was just being obstinate, as she didn't make a face or spit it out as is what generally happens when she doesn't like something. She did eat all of her broccoli though, and for that I am happy!!

To finish it off we had Coconut Cake (also from ED&BV), but instead of a 2-layer cake, I turned it into cupcakes. I was also going to make the Coconut Icing, but it required Xanthan Gum, which costs over $10 at WFM, and I refuse to pay that much for any one ingredient. So instead, we drizzled it with Warm Raspberry Sauce.......ok, so I didn't drizzle it, I poured it on because that stuff is so dang delicious (we used the rest of it to cover our pancakes this morning).

All in all, it was a delicious meal. It was actually meant to be my birthday meal last week until my mom offered to take us out. It would have made a fantastic birthday meal, even if I did have to cook it myself. We did decide that next time the tofu needs some red chili flakes sprinkled on it. It just really needed another layer of flavor, and some heat as well.

Cakes

This is almost embarrassing.....I've made 2 cakes this week. Shameful I know. It's quite surprising that my family and I are not grossly over-weight!! What with all the cupcakes I've been obsessed with lately, and now the cakes!!

In my defense, neither of the cakes have been all that unhealthy. While they were both made from white flour, neither of them contained refined sugar, and of course both were cholesterol free (unfortunately I can't say they were fat free!!). Actually, one of them is a great way to eat your veggies.......but in a surprisingly sweet dessert!!

First I made the Chocolate Sin-namon Cake from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. This Chocolate cake is delicious with just a hint of cinnamon to add some interest. I decided to frost it with some Fluffy Buttercream from VCTOTW. I added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the frosting and then sprinkled the entire cake with cinnamon when it was finished. The recipe makes two 9 inch cakes that I stacked together with a layer of buttercream in the center. Yum!

Next was this awesome Zucchini Cake that the Dalai Mama posted about earlier in the week. I ended up with 4 giant zucchini in my CSA share this week and was looking for ways to use them up. This cake was incredible. Rob could not believe that it had zucchini in it (one of his least favorite veggies). I made a few minor changes to the recipe; I only used 1 banana, I used only half the amount of sugar called for, I subbed applesauce for half the oil, I added about 2 Tbs of vanilla soy milk, and I of course left out the walnuts. And, as you can see, I added some Quick Melty Ganache from VCTOTW to the top!! Definitely a dessert I didn't feel bad about letting Mairin have 2 pieces of!! The refrigerated left-overs made an awesome breakfast with a nice cup of hot coffee.