http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/pumpkin-pie-brownie/

= awesome.

That is all.

Black bean garlic sauce rocks me. The smell, the texture. Oh, I have
to learn how to make this potent paste myself. Until then, I'll buy a
jar and slather some all over cabbage and potatoes.

This recipe is in my binder as "Cabbage Yum" I have no idea where that
name came from.

CABBAGE YUM

5 medium potatoes, diced
1 1/2 # cabbage (a medium-small head), cored and cut into 1" squares
1 T neutral oil (sunflower, canola)
2 T rice wine or non-red cooking wine of your choice
4-6 t black bean sauce
4 t toasted sesame oil
4 t rice vinegar
1 bunch scallions, chopped

heat oven to 500F
chop potatoes
toss with oil
roast 20 minutes
while the potatoes cook, chop the cabbage
mix together all sauce ingredients (everything left except the scallions)
after the potatoes have cooked 20 minutes, add everything except scallions
stir to coat everything with the sauce mixture
continue to cook at 500F for 15 minutes
toss, add chopped scallions
cook another 5 minutes or to desired done-ness.

No pictures, tough luck.

The cakes worked beautifully. I made each only two layers instead of
three. I would like to make them 4 sometime by doubling the recipes.
It will wait.

Highlights
--the cream cheeze frosting was primo. It was as fluffy as shaving
cream. Many thanks to the good folks at Tofutti.
--the petit four cake did not stand up to slicing well. Ideally, the
knife needs a dip in hot water between cuts. Still, it was delicious.
--I got some of the highest praise I can imagine from my uncle, my
baking role model. He said the banana was excellent, but the petit
four was something else entirely

Assembling the cakes proved easier than I expected. I bakes them 25F
lower than prescribed for a few extra minutes. That make them more
flat on top. Since there were only two layers, I layered them bottoms
facing (naughty!) and that kept everything more level. Rolling out the
marzipan was easy since I used wax paper under and over it. Letting
the cream cheeze and shortening get to room temperature was--of
course--is about the smartest baking thing I'll ever do.

Things I'd like to have for future baking but get by without just fine:

I remember stuffed peppers as drenched in tomato sauce and mushy. Feh.

We'd accumulated several peppers from our farm share. Mostly green
ones, so my usual sweet-n-sour or roasting uses weren't really going
to work. I used one in tofu scram. Yeah, one out of 7.

So I decided stuffed peppers would have to be the way to go.

But tomato sauce in that configuration is a sure-fire route to
heartburn for the hubby. So nix the tomato sauce. And I don't like my
vegetables cooked to mush (obvious exceptions include eggplant and
potatoes).

Stuffed Peppers
You might like this if you don't like stuffed peppers

5 or 6 bell peppers, big and cup-shaped
1/2 - 1C chopped onion
1 package Veggie Crumbles of your choosing
1/2 C bulgur
1 1/2 C water or mushroom broth
2 t thyme
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 t garlic

preheat oven to 375

saute onion
add crumbles
add bulgur
de-glaze with water or broth
mix in spices
bring to boil, cover and simmer 15 minutes

fill peppers
stand in baking dish
cover with foil
bake 30-45 minutes

not mushy! no heartburn!

The cakes came out tasty. The ganache worked. The combination went
over really well at the office potluck today. I cut a piece for Adam
before I left for work and it might be the only taste he gets of round
1.

Tweaks from round one include:

The first cake trial run is out of the oven. It looks like the
pistachio cake worked.

For my next trick, I'll try to put a layer of ganache between three
9-inch cakes, then cover the outside of the layered cakes with more
ganache.

breakfast: steel cut oats with banana and raisins; toast* with heirloom tomato*
snack: 20-oz-apple* crisp with vanilla soy yogurt; a Brooks or Stanley plum*
lunch: tomato soup and Red Hen bread*; mixed greens* salad with
tempeh*, broccoli, and heirloom tomato*
bonus: homemade chai with almond milk

All between 7 and 8:15AM. I feel like a star.

TIP

Don't compost those broccoli stems. Trim the woody parts from the
bottom. Peel the stalks, chop them, and cook with the florets.


*local

...probably similar to last year's, but it smelled different. so there.

2 T olive oil
one bunch of green onions, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, pressed (probably 5 or six normal-sized ones)*
1 t salt
1 t dried rosemary
2 t dried basil
6 grinds of black pepper
2 28-oz cans of tomatoes, pureed
6 T dry sherry or a sweet rice wine
2 t agave
1 C soy milk

saute everything but the tomatoes, sherry, and agave until fragrant.
You don't need to brown anything, but the garlic should lose its
sharpness.

Add the pureed tomatoes, sherry, and agave. Simmer covered for 15 minutes.

Add the soymilk and stir. Cook until it starts to bubble again. Serve
with crusty bread. We had Red Hen Bakery's Crossett Hill Round. I got
a coworker's bread share this week.

The smell of this soup was surprisingly perfumey. It tasted fresh and
rich. A great start to soup season. It's gonna be even better
tomorrow.

*in the name of absolute accuracy, I used 2 large-ish cloves of garlic
and 2/3 t of garlic granules.

improvised dinner last night, kind of a last minute thing...

stuffed delicata squash

6 small delicata squash, cut in half lengthwise and freed of their seeds

1 C quinoa
2 C water
1/2 C applesauce
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C walnuts
1 tsp sage
fresh ground black pepper
salt
1 onion, or 1 t onion powder
two ribs celery (optional)

Steam the squash for 15 minutes, then set aside.

Rinse the quinoa.
Put everything except the squash into a pot large enough to allow the
quinoa to more than double in bulk.
Bring to a boil.
Stir a little.
Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Fill the halves of the squash with the quinoa mixture.

Voila!

Here's the veganized recipe (here's the original ). I'll try a smaller version of it
today, maybe a single layer.

Disclaimer: This recipe is copied and pasted almost word for word from the
smitten kitchen. I'm not going to take any credit for this unless it goes
really wrong. Then it's all on me. I needed a place to put this recipe while
I work on it. This is that place. I don't fool myself that this blog gets
much traffic, so I hope my putting my working version of this recipe here is
not a problem. If it is, I'll take it down immediately.

*Pistachio Petit Four Cake*
* *

*For the cake*
3/4 cup skinned pistachio nuts
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 cups AP flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces EB margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 fleggs

8 oz marzipan

*For the dark ganache glaze*
1 pound extra-bittersweet chocolate
1 1/4 cups Silk creamer

and
3/4 cup apricot preserves
* *

*Make the cake*
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease three 8-inch round cake pans.
Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and oil
the paper.

2. Spread out the pistachios in a baking pan and toast in the oven for 7 to
10 minutes, or until lightly colored. Transfer to a dish and let cool
completely. Finely chop. Set aside 1/4 cup for decoration.

3. Put the remaining 1/2 cup pistachios in a food processor. Add the sugar
and pulse just enough to grind them finely.

4. Pour into a large mixing bowl and add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Blend with the mixer on low for 30 seconds. Add the EB, milk, and vanilla
and, with the mixer on low, beat until completely incorporated.

5. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3
minutes. Add the fleggs in 2 or 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the
bowl well and mixing only long enough to blend after each addition. Divide
the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

6. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick
inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans
for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper
liners, and let cool completely.

**

*Make the dark ganache glaze*
1. Chop the chocolate coarsely and put it in a heatproof bowl. Bring the
creamer to a bare simmer. Pour the hot creamer over the chocolate and let
stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth and use the glaze soon after making
so that it doesn’t set.

*Assemble the cake*
1. Roll out a third of the marzipan on a work surface dusted with a little
confectioners’ sugar to about 1/8-inch thickness.

2. Set one of the cake pans upside down on the marzipan and trim around it
with a small knife to make an 8-inch round. Repeat two more times with the
remaining marzipan. Save all your scraps to make roses for decoration, if
you like.

3. Place one cake layer on a cake board, flat side up. Spread 1/4 cup of the
preserves evenly over the top, leaving a 1/4-inch margin all around. Place
one marzipan round on top of the preserves and spread 1/3 cup of the Dark
Ganache Glaze over the marzipan so that it completely covers the surface.
Repeat with the second cake layer, adding more preserves, another round of
marzipan, and more ganache glaze. Top the cake with the third layer. Spread
the last of the apricot preserves over the top of the cake and cover it with
the last round of marzipan.

4. Place the cake on a wire cooling rack that is nesting in a baking pan.
Pour the remaining ganache glaze over the cake, in several additions,
spreading to coat the top and sides. Allow the ganache to set. Garnish the
cake with the reserved chopped toasted pistachio nuts and a single marzipan
rose or several smaller roses.

*Note: To make marzipan roses*
1. First, tint the marzipan, if desired, by kneading in a tiny amount of
paste food coloring, dabbing just a small bit onto the marzipan with the tip
of a toothpick. Flatten the tinted marzipan into a disk and roll out on a
work surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar or between 2 sheets of waxed
paper to a sheet 1/8 inch thick.

2. With a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 8 or 9 circles. Cover all
the marzipan you are not using immediately with plastic wrap so it doesn’t
dry out.

3. Roll one piece of marzipan into a ball the size of a marble and pinch
with your fingers to shape into a cone about 1 to 1 1/4 inches high,
tapering to a fine point at the top.

4. Take another round of marzipan and wrap it like a petal around the cone,
pinching it at the bottom to adhere and at the top to thin and ruffle
slightly like a flower. Repeat with the remaining “petals”, overlapping
slightly as you work your way around. If necessary, use a little water to
help glue the marzipan in place.