all the greatest things are simple

Texas Sheet Cake

This may not look like much. Sure, it lacks swirls of frosting, layers upon layers of delicate cake, and sparkling garnishes. And though I'm sentimental about it, as it was another of my grandmother's tried and true recipes--the requisite Fourth of July Barbeque dessert, it really is the perfect down-home, fork-free cake. This is what you eat sitting in the grass, your fingers smeared with chocolate, and the sun burning your nose. Chocolate cake, plain and simple. Take it to a picnic, barbeque, or horde the entire 18 x 13 inch cake for your own grubby little hands. Oh, and lest I forget to mention, pictured with the cake is a scoop of unbelievably amazing vegan cookie dough ice cream.


Texas Sheet Cake
serves a whole buncha people

1/2 cup soy margarine (Earth Balance)
1 cup water
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups unrefined sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pkg silken tofu (Mori Nu), blended well
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour

Lightly grease a 18" x 13" jelly roll pan. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, combine margarine, water, and cocoa powder. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Let cool slightly and carefully pour into a large bowl (that won't melt. Don't use plastic.) In a small bowl, whisk oil, sugar, blended tofu and salt together. Whisk into cocoa/water mixture until well combined. Using a whisk or fork, stir baking soda into flour and then fold this into the wet ingredients until just combined. Pour out into greased pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake in center of oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Prepare icing while cake cools on rack.

Texas Icing

1/2 cup soy margarine (Earth Balance)
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons soy milk
1/2 lb powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Heat margarine, cocoa powder, and soy milk in heavy saucepan over medium. Whisk until melted; remove from heat. Stir in sugar, one cup at a time until combined. Stir in 1/2 cup walnuts. Pour over warm cake and spread carefully with a spatula. Sprinkle on the remaining nuts.

(For the sake of posterity, I will mention that the original recipe uses sour cream and scads of butter. I've also made this cake using vegan versions and exact measurements of "sour cream", margarine, and egg replacer. I've found that using tofu in lieu of sour cream and eggs works wonderfully, as well as replacing a bit of the butter with oil, so that the use of processed goods is toned down just a touch.)

slave to the kitchen

Potato Samosas with
Three Seed Braised Cauliflower and Wild Rice

I did not make any of these recipes up. The samosas are from Vegan With a Vengeance, as is the cauliflower, sort of. I decided not to add tomatoes to it and referred to the recipe a bit while making it up as I went. I also made a tamarind chutney to go with the samosas. All in all, nothing terribly creative on my part. However, I felt the need to post a picture because this meal somehow took me three effing hours to make. So, you know. Just a little something to show for my troubles.

plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches

Carrots, cauliflower, green bell pepper, sweet onions, Gala apples, red potatoes, salad greens, snow peas, celery, yellow peaches, Abate Fetel pears, purple garlic, and mango. Nearly the end of May and we're coming into true CSA season. Go find one near you.

It's also the season for Farmer's Markets. Seattle has several and on Sunday we went to the Broadway Market. It was a drizzly morning (thankfully, only a rainy punctuation in a long row of sunny days) so we didn't spend too much time there. I was pleased to find that the market was clearly focused on food and not overpriced hippy artistry (all well and good in its own place, but not necessarily something I want to navigate while I'm gazing at local foods.) We bought a jar of spicy pickles from an older couple giving out samples of their jams, jellies, and pickled treats. And we couldn't pass up some beautiful heirloom tomatoes from a farm in Ellensburg.

The signal that summer produce is about to come pouring in. Pictured is a Black Krim, Green Zebra, and...I don't remember which particular yellow tomato this is. We have some starts growing for Brandywine, Costoluto, Persimmon, and Black Krim varietals in the back yard. But that's a drop in the ocean of heirlooms. If you can find heirloom tomatoes, eat them as simply as possible to taste the delicate flavors. We cut them up and tossed them fresh with pasta and tempeh sausage. Eaten on the porch with a glass of wine in the cooling evening and reading a book for dessert is just about the nicest meal I can think of.

do not forsake me, oh my darling

I always mean well. I acquire fruit intending to eat it fresh and then it sits and sits and sits. I bring the fruit to the brink of collapse and then stick it in the fridge to prolong the inevitable. The inevitable can be one of two things. The eviler of the two being that the fruit becomes so overripe and bruised that it is discarded as useless. The finer and thankfully more likely of the two is that the fruit that nearly met its peril, is baked into something sweet and good. Example: four Bartlett pears on the verge of death. Solution:

Upside-Down Pear Tart

4 large pears
1/4 cup soy margarine (Earth Balance)
1/2 cup unrefined sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pastry crust:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 1/4 cup soy margarine
scant 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
3-4 tablespoons cold water

Assemble pastry crust: whisk flour and salt together. Add margarine and shortening in large chunks. Cut in fats with a pastry cutter, a large fork, or your fingers until a consistent crumb forms. Sprinkle in a couple tablespoons of cold water at a time and toss with a fork until dough is just moistened and holds together, but is not wet. Do not overwork the dough, or it may become tough. Turn out on floured surface and knead just a few times to bring it together. Form a ball and set aside.

Peel, core and quarter pears. Melt margarine over medium heat in a well-seasoned 9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet (I can't vouch for this recipe using non-cast iron: do so at your own risk...) When margarine is fully melted, stir in suger. Arrange pears cut-side up, wide ends pointing outward, in skillet and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook for 10-20 minutes until sugar cooks into a deep caramel. Remove from heat and cool pears completely.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out pastry dough on a floured surface to a 10 inch round. Place over pears and tuck edges inside of pan. Bake until pastry browns lightly, about 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on rack for 5 minutes. Place large rimmed platter over skillet and invert carefully, using pot holders to hold platter and skillet tightly together. Serve warm with vanilla soy ice cream!

the freedom dip

Herbed Focaccia Bread

I've been hankering for a French Dip sandwich for a few days now. And not just any old. I've been dreaming about a certain 12 dollar sandwich found at a certain fancy lil restaurant. But at the moment, spending twelve dollars on a sandwich would be a poor decision on my part. So I had to make do with something a little more homemade.

I banged out a couple rounds of focaccia today and used the seitan that I baked last night. This is me jumping on the baked seitan blogwagon. It's everywhere. And well it should be. Boil your seitan no more.

Seitan Portobello French Dip with Carmelized Onions

French Dip Sandwiches
serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon maple syrup
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 portobello caps, thinly sliced
2 cups seitan, thinly sliced
2 cups water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon soy margarine (Earth Balance)
salt & pepper to taste
crusty bread for 4 sandwiches

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large, heavy skillet (preferably cast iron.) Saute for about ten minutes until onions begin to turn translucent and golden. Drizzle the maple syrup in and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and portobello slices, combine well. Add water and soy sauce and bring to a slow simmer. Add margarine and salt and pepper to taste. Add seitan and cover skillet for 5-10 minutes until seitan is thoroughly heated.

Toast bread, if desired. Using tongs, heap seitan onto a piece of bread. Smother with mushroom and carmelized onion and top with a second piece of bread. Serve with a small bowl of the cooking broth for dipping.

"is that what I ask for? the Big salad?"

Tempeh Taco Salad

Tempeh Taco Crumbles, a variation on Isa's Tempeh Sausage Crumbles, would be great in a tortilla of course. But we sorta forgot tortillas for this meal. Which was okay, because these made a damn good taco salad. Along with the Tempeh Taco Crumbles, we ate big happy bowls of red leaf lettuce, tomato, avocado, red onion, kidney beans, salsa, chives, and radishes. Topped off with ranch dressing and some purty purple chive blossoms just because they're blooming in the back yard. And tortilla chips to stand in for the long lost flatbread.

Tempeh Taco Crumbles

1 pkg tempeh
water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
1 teaspoon sage, dried
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt & pepper

Crumble tempeh into a heavy bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron) and add water just enough to cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes and drain any remaining water. Add the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring, for another three minutes. Some tempeh crumbles better than others--if your tempeh still looks like individual beans, you can use a potato masher or a fork to give it a more crumbly texture. Cook until just beginning to brown. Serve warm.

from asparagus to zucchini

Though I haven't posted one in a while, we've still been getting our beloved CSA boxes of organic produce. This week we were treated to zucchini, Bartlett pears, snap peas, spinach, yellow onions, red radishes, green leaf lettuce, broccoli, garlic, Russet potatoes, avocadoes, baby bunch beets, asparagus, and a tasty little mango (that met it's demise before I took this picture.)

The sun is shining brighter (or at all, this being Seattle) and you can hear lawnmowers in the afternoon all around the neighborhood. We've planted a few things in our little urban garden and there's a P-Patch on the other side of the fence that is full of things like chard, berry bushes, and dill. And the surest sign I've seen that summer is on it's way was a sighting of the season's first ice cream truck, complete with photos of popsicles pasted on it's rickety sides. Frozen treats are all well and good, but I'll be happier when I can pluck tomatoes from my backyard.

cupcakes for a cause

Mocha Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream

These cupcakes were donated to a benefit auction for The Northwest Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian, and Gay Survivors of Abuse. The lucky winner took a dozen of these puppies home with a promise of a summer's worth of cupcakes: one dozen each in the months of June, July, and August. I was pleased to hear that they brought in a whopping $120 for the NW Network. The recipes are, of course, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Indeed, they will.

(See the cupcakes I made for June, July and August.)

chippendippery

White Bean Dip with Sun-dried Tomato and Roasted Garlic
Baked Tortilla Chips & Nicoise Olives

Ah, bean dip. It can be dressed up or down. Consumed while wearing sweatpants on the couch and watching bad television or eaten on little crackers on a little plate at a fancy cocktail party. This particular bean dip falls somewhere in the middle, say, at a picnic with a gingham tablecloth and a thermos of lemonade.

White Bean Dip with Sundried Tomato & Roasted Garlic
makes about 5 cups

4 cups cooked white beans (or 2 cans drained & rinsed)
2 heads of garlic
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, dry or oil packed
1/4 cup olive oil (plus extra for roasting garlic)
large handful Italian parsley
juice of 1 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Roast the garlic. (Directions, if need be.) Squeeze the cloves from the skin and set aside.

If using dry tomatoes, place them in a small bowl. Pour boiling water and a drizzle of olive oil over them and let sit 10 minutes. Drain and roughly chop.

Using a large food processor (or a hand-cranked food mill), process all of the ingredients until well combined and no large bits remain. Cover and chill overnight or for several hours.

Baked Tortilla Chips
serves 2-4

(3) 12" flour tortillas
4 tablespoons olive oil
nutritional yeast
salt & pepper
garlic powder
chili powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the tortillas into triangles (or rectangles) and lay in a single layer on a large baking sheet (you'll need to repeat the process for the full batch or use two baking sheets.) Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with remaining ingredients. Bake in oven about ten minutes until the chips are just beginning to color. Turn with a spatula and bake another 5-10 minutes until they reach desired baked-ness (dark and crispy or light and chewy!) Eat 'em up and store any leftovers in an air-tight container.