Daring Bakers Challenge: Flourless Chocolate Cake

This month's Daring Baker's challenge crept up on me like no other. And it failed on me like no other. Since it was so last minute, I went with a simple tofu variation of a flourless chocolate cake recipe. Wish I had beans to make Hannah's version. It looked alright coming out of the oven....
But once it was de-panned... it turned into a mushy mess, not cakey at all! At least the vegan vanilla mimicreme ice cream made it somewhat edible.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I promise to post for real tomorrow, and catch up on blogs! I'm sooooo behind....

Pushing 30

I am now officially in the last year of my 20's. Here I am blowing out the first of two sets of candles.

If you remember my birthday last year, John made me an ice cream cake. Well this year he outdid himself and made a mocha devastation cake (from My Sweet Vegan) and got fancy with a piping bag! It was a lesson in patience to stand by and watch someone else decorate a cake, but I tried my best to keep my mouth shut (except I had to say something when he accidentally wrote a "b" instead of a '"p" in "happy"). I can't wait to see how he tops this next year!!
Sunday was the Houston Vegan Knitters first meeting, the perfect occassion to make knit cupcakes (inspired of course by vegan yumyum's version)! Simple vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream right out of VCTOTW decorated with natural sprinkles and fondant "knitting". One was a mini-version of my very first knitting project, a pink and white dishcloth (which I'm still working on). I am so excited for more knitting projects, including making blankets to donate to pet shelters, a hobo bag, belt, fruit cozies, cupcakes, and maybe a scarf or two. Now I just need to learn how to purl....
I have been in the mood to make a fancy dinner ever since I saw the recipe for Emerald Rice Cakes in the June 2008 Vegetarian Times (originally from Millennium). There were four separate elements to this dish, including a butternut squash puree, habanero jerk sauce, homemade seitan and cauliflower stir fry, and jasmine rice cakes. It was certainly worth all of the work, and the puree and sauce could easily be made a few days ahead.

And on my actual birthday (the 8th), my mom made me a chocolate pecan pie (from La Dolce Vegan), since the weekend had been been filled with too much cake already. The two red candles apparently represented 10 candles each.... 29 candles on one cake is a bit too much.
Thanks so much to everyone for the birthday wishes!!! And a special thanks to my family and friends for making it such a special weekend.

Virtual Trip to PDX via Everyday Dish TV

It's been over a year since my last trip to Portland, and with the Try Vegan Week and Let Live Conference going on in the month of June; I've found myself wishing for a free plane ticket to this vegan friendly city! Instead, I think I found the next best thing.... a gastronomical tour of Portland's cuisine from right here in Houston, courtesy of Everyday Dish TV.

I started my virtual trip with a simple, yet fancy-sounding dish served at the vegan restaurant Nutshell (where there has been some recent controversy), sauteed chard with cherry ginger gastrique. This is a great way to eat more greens! The sweet yet sour sauce really helps mask the bitterness of the chard. I served this over sauteed polenta, with a side of grilled tempeh.
This next dish I was super-psyched to see, since it is the exact dish I got for dinner at the Farm Cafe.... herb crusted tofu with mushroom marsala. Although it took a bit of time to put together, this was a perfect Friday night meal to celebrate the end of the week. I think this is a tofu dish that would really impress for dinner parties, it's so crisp and flavorful! Plus you can have fun with the presentation. (and oops! I forgot to cut my tofu into pretty triangles!)
Next I tackled a recipe that has made the rounds already on pretty much every blog I've seen (and for good reason!), Julie's spicy Italian sausages. Where have these been all my life? I made a few sausages as well as some cutlets. The cutlets I sauteed in the leftover breading from the herb crusted tofu and served over pasta.... parmigiana-style. Soooo good. And I thought it was so cute to see Julie's dog roam into the kitchen during the demonstration! And to complete my tour, I had to make dessert! Chocolate mocha cake seemed like the natural choice. This is a rich, deep chocolatey cake that gets a kick from fresh-brewed coffee and a splash of alcohol (I used Kahlua versus the suggested rum). Finished with a chocolate ganache... what could be better?
I was sad to miss the vegan prom in Portland last weekend, so I took a trip down memory lane instead and dug out my high school prom pictures! Don't you just love the cheesy backdrop? Even though I did have the sparkly dress on, at least I didn't have big Texas hair! Isn't my date cute :-) Too bad he only exists in photoshop.
Thanks so much to Julie for bringing us such wonderful vegan cooking shows on Everyday Dish TV. Now hurry and go take a virtual trip of your own! Plane tickets aren't getting any cheaper....

And on another note, tune into Go Vegan Texas this coming Monday at 10am CST. I'll be cohosting with Kristen and Stacey for the show themed "Walking the Walk" where we interview Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking at the Roots. You can listen online or download the show from the archives. Should be a good show!

See? I Have Been Cooking...

Looking back on my posts from the last few weeks, there has been very little vegan noodle-made food! That comes along with being out of town and just being generally busy (like everyone else isn't and you're still cooking fabulous dishes, puts me to shame...) and not cooking anything too spectacular. But I thought some of these were definitely blog-worthy. Let's see if you agree.

Here is the spinach tarragon "quiche" from V-con. It was different from other vegan quiches that I've tried because it's not made with tofu, but navy beans and walnuts and asparagus. I subbed dill for all of the tarragon, just because I needed to use it up. We both really enjoyed this dish, plus I thought it was kind of pretty. Oh, and I was really proud that I made the crust on my own, usually I just cheat and use the frozen ones.


A side and up-close shot of a slice. I served this with a simple spinach salad topped with pine nuts and grape tomatoes (and I think avocado, but I don't see it in the pic and I've since forgotten). I think next time I would top it with some balsamic glace to finish it.

The Sunday before last, my family came over for brunch since my brother was in town for a bachelor party (impressive that he made it to our place on time!). My mom was awesome enough to make cinnamon rolls from JOVB. Yum yum yum. This is the one I saved for the next morning when I was up in Calgary.

My contribution was another V-con recipe, the blue flannel hash, fitting since my latest obsession has been with blue/purple potatoes (I have a bag in the pantry, any suggestions on what I use them for next?). And of course you can never get enough tempeh.

And finally, for dessert, the lower fat deep chocolate bundt cake from V-con. It really was some seriously deep chocolate, thanks to the coffee I'm thinking. My first bundt cake ever too. I was so glad to have a piece of this on the plane ride (and shhhh, for breakfast)


I was recently tagged by LizzyQ to tell all you readers five things about myself. So, here you go...
1. I have never owned a pet (excluding inheriting my best friend's two hamsters when she moved to Singapore). But I would like to someday if we live in a place with an actual yard. I'm thinking I'm a dog person, mainly because I'm allergic to cats.
2. I am eligible to run for president in 2016. I figured this out when I was about twelve.
3. I have never eaten a fast food hamburger. As a kid I thought they were disgusting.
4. I have been married 169 days / 4063 hours / 243803 minutes / 14628214 no 15 no 16 seconds
5. Okay, what a spinoff.... I was going to write here that this year is my ten year high school reunion and instead of going to my own, I'm gonna crash (with her permission) my friend's in Las Vegas (she's the one who went to Singapore, so they're meeting back in the US). BUT out of curiosity I google my high school, and what do you know, they are actually getting together. Now I'm wondering, should I go??

Alright, I'm supposed to tag five people but I'm sleepy, so consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

Mostly Winners Here

So if you've ever leveled a cake for a fancy frosting job (I usually don't mind the bump), you've probably also found yourself munching on the "throw away" top part of the cake. Not that I'm saying you should stop this sensible and traditional practice, but if you're looking for something else to do with it, here's an idea.... cake truffles!

Got this idea from my cake decorating class. You simply pulverize your leftover cake in a food processor, then mix with just enough frosting to form balls. Pop them in the fridge and you've got cake truffles! You can thank me later. Just be careful not to eat them all yourself.

For the super bowl on Saturday, we went over to my parent's house where my mom had a platter of veggies and tofutti cream cheese french onion dip (thinned with a little soymilk) waiting. The best part? Some of the super addivtice tamari roasted chickpeas that seemed to disappear before kick off!

For dinner we had personal pizzas, a favorite now for get togethers as it allows everyone to put on their own toppings to their liking. I used tomato sauce, pesto, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichokes. Yum. Forget to snap a photo I was so engulfed the game (yeah right, I was engulfed in pizza). But I did manage to sneak a picture of dessert, coconut cream pie from My Sweet Vegan! My mom was looking forward to making this one as coconut has always been one of her favorites. So in the photo, a winner (the pie) and a loser (the Patriots)....

I was rooting for no team in particular. But since John is from Boston and all his family and nieces and nephews were rooting for the Patriots, I was pulling for the Giants just a bit (sshhh, I've always been a bit of a black sheep).

Okay, enough about football. Last week we also tried the Green Wa from Yellow Rose Recipes. Since I couldn't find plain soy yogurt in the grocery store, I went with the Indian version and used coconut. Since I love quinoa so much, it's great to find new recipes that use it, and this was no exception. If you like cilantro, this one's for you!
There was even enough to serve as a side dish (along with some lunches) the next night alongside curried soy curls with red pepper and snow peas. I'm telling you the soy curl possibilities are endless....

Much prep work and cooking to be done in the next few days. I'm in charge of bringing in breakfast to work on Friday. Most people just stop by the donut shop, or the kolache shop, or McDonald's (ick) and bring in something greasy and unhealthy. Come to think of it, although I attend these breakfast meetings every other week, I've never actually eaten anything at them. That will all change on Friday.
And on Saturday evening John and I are hosting a "Vegan Sweets and Eats Potluck" for the local Society of PEACE group. I've got some fun door prizes to show off, and I'm sure all the food will be fabulous as well. Can't wait to tell yall all about it! (Please note, I realize how southern I sound when I say yall all...)

Saint Nick Delivers

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care... in hope that yummy vegan treats soon would be there.

And what do you know, maybe I should start believing in Santa Claus! Christmas day dinner with my family was full of new, yummy vegan treats. For the main course, I made the Festive Chickpea Tart (thanks to Dreena) from the November issue of VegNews.
I loved the different textures of chickpeas, paired with crunchy walnuts, tart cranberries, and the green (festive!) parsley and spinach. We topped it with a balsamic maple sauce as Dreena suggested, but since I didn't have ED&BV with me, I just made one up (combined some maple syrup and balsamic vinegar (duh) with olive oil and whole grain mustard). The whole family loved this one, and I'm kinda sad that it's already gone :-( Maybe I'll make some more before the winter season is over.
The rest of the dinner was rounded out with twice baked potatoes (topped with FYH mozzarella), broccoli, homemade bread, and a green salad with raspberries and strawberries.

And another new recipe for the holidays... I got my mom (and myself, shhh) a copy of Hannah's My Sweet Vegan and perused it for quite awhile trying to figure out what to make for our holiday dessert. The answer was obvious when I saw the Mocha Devastation Cake. Two layers of moist chocolate cake with a mocha buttercream frosting and crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans in the center and topped with chocolate ganache and more chocolate-covered espresso beans. Wow.

I think maybe I should have crushed my beans a little more because mine didn't look nearly as pretty as the one in the book. And I made a little booboo with the ganache. I got unsweetened dark chocolate, and didn't notice till I tasted it halfway through frosting. Whoops. We ate it anyway and just discarded most of the ganache. Oh, it was sooo sooo good, and I don't even like coffee.
We brought it along (since it made a huge cake) when we went to see my more extended family yesterday. It got devoured. And of course you should have seen the look on their faces when I told them there was tofu in it! I will definitely be making this cake again, but hopefully with the right kind of chocolate, I'll bet the ganache would have made it even better.

I had a wonderful time the past few days hanging out with my parents and brother and sister, this is the best part of the holidays. Since we are all grown up now, our family is cherishing those moments we can spend together as getting everyone in the same place at the same time gets harder and harder.

Sad to say, but I'm back at work today (but I have tomorrow off again). I'm so excited though because John returns home this afternoon!! Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday meals with family and friends. Now it's time to start turning our attention to the New Year... and of course what treats we'll be making to celebrate!

Everybody Loves Cake

Last night we celebrated a friend's birthday with a dinner party and finished up with cake and plenty of wine and good conversation at our place. The friend is thinking more and more about veganism (she is very passionate about her two rescued dogs and helping any that she finds on the streets) so I thought, what better way to help her get a step closer than showing her that vegans can still enjoy traditional foods, such as the birthday cake! I made the Super Moist Chocolate Cake and topped it with Coconut Pecan Frosting, both from vegweb. They came highly recommended from the website so I wasn't nervous about it turning out bad. Now I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've iced a cake, so I'm a novice at best. Even though many said the recipe was enough for a two-layer cake, I didn't seem to have enough for the sides. Oh well .... I took the icing that remained and balled it up on top of the cake as a candle stand. The cake was deliciously moist and chocolatey, and how can you not love icing with pecans, coconut, and a not-so-healthy dose of sugar? I served the cake up with some So Delicious Vanilla soy ice cream. Everyone was impressed, the birthday girl even took some home (thank goodness! otherwise I would have eaten it all).

Prior to the cake, we dined at ones of my favorite non-vegan/vegetarian places in midtown Houston; Tafia. I have been there a handful of times, and the food has always been excellent. Last night I started off with a Champassion cocktail and a bowl of curried squash soup. The cocktail, as always, was excellent. The soup had a nice flavor (corn broth based), but it was mostly broth and not much squash, and I didn't even get a hint of spicy curry. It was quite busy last night, so between our appetizer and main course, there were mini-bread rolls that were unfortunately not vegan. Instead of going with my usual baked tofu and portobello mushroom entree (the mushroom is wonderful, the tofu mediocre) and a side, I decided that since there would be cake later, I would go light and eat two vegetable side dishes instead. I had curried cauliflower and pan-roasted carrots with dukkah. The cauliflower was good, but again, no hint of spicy curry and they were a little stingy on the cauliflower. The carrots were awesome, it was my second time having them there. I will be sad to see them leave the menu (it changes seasonally). Dukkah, in case you didn't know (I had to ask the first time) is an Egyptian spice blend. I found a recipe on the web that calls for sesame seeds, roasted chickpeas, hazelnuts, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, salt, and black peppercorn. I don't know if that's what they used but I'm definitely going to try it out at home. The atmosphere at Tafia is always upbeat and busy, which I enjoy. Plus they also value locally sourced ingredients. The downside to Tafia is that the menu is somewhat limited for vegans as far as entrees go. Although they change out the seasonal meat entrees, the standard tofu and mushrooms is always there. Their alcoholic beverages are also waaaayyyyy overpriced. I appreciate that they serve Texas wine and all, but c'mon, $9 a glass?!? If you're ever in the midtown area though, I do suggest trying it. I've never seen a dead restaurant there, so make reservations!

Earlier this week I used the eggplants and some squash from the farmer's market to make pitas stuffed with eggplant salad from Mediterranean Vegan. We also stuffed some fresh spinach and hummus into the pita. In the background are cherries (expensive but soooo good) and a piece of grilled sweet chili tofu from Whole Foods. A fresh, simple meal that made plenty of good leftovers for lunch.