Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I am made this cake for a dinner party for this evening. I got the recipe from vegweb. I only made a couple of modifications. Check back later for peer review from the dinner party...

Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pineapple juice/water (see below)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 20 oz can pineapple rings in unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Pour juice off can of pineapple into 1 cup measuring cup--it should be about 3/4 cup juice. Add water to make 1 cup. In a separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar and juice. Sprinkle with brown sugar.into the bottom of a 12 inch spring form pan and arrange Pineapple rings over the sugar. Quickly mix wet ingredients into dry, stirring quickly to combine ingredients well and get out the big lumps. Pour into pan on top of the pineapple/brown sugar mix. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Baking time will depend on pan size...mine took 30 minutes in my crappy oven in a 12 inch spring form pan. Let cool and loosen sides of cake from pan. Remove side ring and place serving plate on top. Flip cake over onto serving plate and remove pan bottom.

Red Beans 'n Rice

As a girl born in the south (and family still there) I sometimes must make a dish close to my roots. Tonight, I made red beans 'n rice for a few reasons, 1.) I needed to use up our veg sausage, 2.) My hubby put red beans on the pot and asked what we should make with them, and 3.) I love comfort food, especially trying to veganize them. This was really good, but it was missing something. If anyone is super familiar with Cajun food, please tell me what I was missing with this recipe. It *almost* was the red beans 'n rice I remember from my childhood, but not quite.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dry red beans, cooked
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-5 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, diced
  
• 2 bay leaves
• dashes of Tabasco
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• Some salt and pepper
  
• 1/2 package Gimme Lean vegan sausage
• 2 cups white or brown rice, cooked

Directions: Cook beans as directed and simmer on low. Saute the onion and garlic, then bell pepper and celery, and add to beans. Add spices, simmer uncovered, adding water if needed to cover beans. Fry veg sausage in olive oil (fry in crumbles) and add to beans. Let everything simmer for a while (30 mins- 3 hours, the longer the better). Serve on top of white or brown rice.

Give it a try and tell me what I am missing. It really is good as is- not bad at all.. my hubby and his friend who was over for dinner really liked it. I'm the picky one when it comes to cajun food.

Roasted Fig Pilaf

Here is a new recipe I created this evening. My husband's mother has a fig tree in her yard, so I wanted to create something yummy that we would be able to use her fresh organic figs. Get ready for a treat.. this pilaf is truly inspired by the Goddesses! It is so delicate and sweet, and it's almost like eating candy for dinner, almost. My husband was praising me for this, and told me I should submit this to a vegan recipe contest. I just might do that. I have a few months to decide if this is "The One" to enter.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. Organic Rice Blend (I used a mixture of brown, heirloom red, calmati and wild rice)
• 2 1/2 c. water
  
• 10-15 fresh figs, diced
  
• 1/4 c. diced onion
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/4 c. pine nuts
  
• Olive Oil
  

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Dice figs and brush with olive oil. Roast in oven on cookie sheet for 25 mins. Meanwhile, in a large pot add water, rice and a teaspoon olive oil, heat on high until it boils, then simmer covered on low until tender. In a small pan add olive oil, onion, and garlic and saute until onions are tender and translucent. When rice and figs are done, mix it all together with parsley, sage and pine nuts.

I hope you like this as much as me. It is a great side dish, but I ate it as a main dish with fresh green beans from my friend's garden.

Rustic Stew

I had a class tonight, so we just whipped up this soup for dinner tonight because we had everything on-hand and I wanted something to eat with my homemade bread. This is Rustic Tomato & Lentil Stew from How it All Vegan. It was so good. I didn't pre-cook the lentils like it said and I just added more water and cooked for longer. It was perfectly paired with the homemade bread, and it indeed tasted very rustic.

Adventures in Bread Baking!

Today, I went over to my friend Cindy's house to bake bread together. Neither of us have baked bread before, so we both felt like it would be easier to do it together, since it is pretty intimidating to bake bread alone (at least to us!). Plus our baby boys are close to the same age, and it is fun watching them interact with one another. I didn't get the recipe for the bread before I left, but check out her blog for more details.

Cindy is another vegan mom that lives in the SLC (Salt Lake City) area. Surprisingly there are quite a lot of us vegan mamas here, which is somewhat unexpected to an outsider. But SLC is pretty veg-friendly. Anyway, here are pics from today's bread baking adventure:

This is Cindy kneading the bread

Here is our bread in the oven

Right out of the oven

Check back in a few days for more Adventures from Cindy's Kitchen. I think we are baking cinnamon rolls next!

Blueberry Scones

The biscuits from earlier were so simple, I decided to try a desert tonight. Here is a Blueberry Scone that had the most delicate sweetness and warmed perfection. It simply danced on my tongue! It wasn't too sweet, too rich, or too bland.. they are perfect. It only takes about 5-10 mins to make, plus cooking time.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 c. non-refined sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/4 c. soymilk
• 1/4 margarine
• 1 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• plus about 1 tsp sugar for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F. Mix dry ingredients together, then add wet ingredients. Gently fold in blueberries (You will get messy! Use clean hands and have fun!) Scoop onto a lightly oiled pan, sprinkle sugar on top, and bake for 15 mins, or until tops have browned slightly.

Here is what they looked like going into the oven:


And here is what they look like when they come out:


Top with margarine, and enjoy. mmm... I want another!

Biscuits & Rosemary Sausage Gravy

This tasted just like the real thing! WOW! Incredible! It was just a light dinner because I had a class tonight at college, and we had company over- my omni brother in law. He raved about them and that he doesn't even like biscuits and gravy, but it was so good he went back for seconds. I meant to cook up veggies on the side, but I didn't really have time, but we had more than enough for the 3 of us plus seconds. Next time I will make it with veggies on the side, and you better believe there will be a next time!

Biscuits Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 c. flour
• 3 tsp non-aluminum baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 c. non-hydrogenated margarine
  
• 1 cup sour soymilk (soymilk + 1 tsp. vinegar)

Directions: Preheat oven to 450 F. Combine dry ingredients with a whisk. Add sour soymilk and margarine and combine, but do not over mix. Lightly oil cookie sheet with olive oil or margarine and spoon biscuits dough onto pan. Bake for about 10-15 mins, or until tops have browned slightly.


Rosemary Sausage Gravy Recipe:

• 1 c. water
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
  
• 2 tsp vegetarian bullion (or 2 cubes)
• 1 c. plain soymilk
  
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 Tbs rosemary
• 1 tsp garlic powder
  
• 1/2 package vegan sausage (I like Light Life's Gimme Lean Brand)

Directions: In a med. saucepan combine water, olive oil and bullion until dissolved. Before turning on the heat, whisk in flour until well combined. Turn heat on to Med-High and add soymilk, salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic. Stir constantly until it starts to boil and thicken, turn heat to low. Meanwhile, cook the vegan sausage in an oiled pan, breaking up pieces into small grounds. Cook until browned and slightly crispy, then add into the gravy. Serve over biscuits.