Don’t be put off by the Vegan aspect – this cake is delicious! It’s also totally safe to lick the batter since there are no raw eggs in it. (Not that I worry too much about that…)
If that STILL doesn’t grab you – think of this as the: “I haven’t been to the store in a while but I still want cake!” cake.
Besides love, all you need is:
INGREDIENTS:
2-1/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s but original author recommends Dutch processed)
1-1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c warm coffee
1/2 c plus 1 TBSP vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
small handful of chocolate chips/chunks
Let’s get started! I promise you will like this. Mine came out almost like a brownie.
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 in bundt pan (I don’t have one so I used a loaf pan. I’ll include cooking times for both bundt pans and loaf pans.) and dust with cocoa powder.
2. Whisk dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder & salt) together in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together coffee, oil and vanilla.
I didn’t take a picture of this so let your imagination run wild! Oooooo yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Pay attention to these baking times!
9″ BUNDT PAN: 30-35 mins
LOAF PAN: 35-40 mins
(or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean)
Dust with powdered sugar! I didn’t because one of my kids got the child proof lock off two of my kitchen drawers containing lots and lots of small tupperware dishes and lids as well as assortments of sippy cups and their various attachments. Well, anyway, I was distracted by my own yelling.
Serve with chocolate syrup, a glass of rice milk, or my favorite: a glass of cabernet.
Simple & satisfying vegan chocolate cake for cozy winter days! (What am I talking about? I live in L.A.)
Ingredients
2-1/4 c all purpose flour
½ c cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s but original author recommends Dutch processed)
1-1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c warm coffee
½ c plus 1 TBSP vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
OPTIONAL: small handful of chocolate chips/chunks
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9″ bundt pan or a loaf pan and dust with cocoa powder.
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together wet ingredients (coffee, vegetable oil & vanilla) in a medium bowl.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips (if you have ‘em!)
Pour batter into baking pan. If BUNDT PAN: Bake 30-35 minutes. (or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.) If LOAF PAN: Bake 35-40 minutes. (or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.)
How many Sunday nights have I found myself making promises? To myself.
“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to cut out all sugar.”
“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to do 100 crunches every morning.”
“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to finish _____________.” (Fill-in the blank with one of any countless unfinished projects.)
Screw that! I’m going to make one goal that’s easy to accomplish. I’m going to eat something healthy.
Here’s a simple, yummy recipe for “Meatless Monday.” I think I ate the whole thing myself.
You need:
Too bad, Libby!
INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs (I used egg replacer)
1 c cottage cheese
1/2 c sour cream
1 tsp Dijon style mustard
Salt
1 TBSP olive oil or unsalted butter
8 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 c cooked wild rice (and/or brown rice) Btw: it’s a little embarrassing to reveal what a flake I am but I actually boiled 3 c of dry wild rice. Do you know how much COOKED rice that is? A ton. You are supposed to end up with 3 c of cooked rice. But if you do accidentally make a few vats of rice, just put it in some freezer Zip-locs and chuck it in the freezer for next time!
1/3 c grated Gruyere cheese
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or thyme
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a medium-large baking dish with olive oil or butter. (I used an 8×11 casserole dish.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, mustard, and a scant 1/2 tsp salt.
3. Heat olive oil over high heat in a large skillet with a pinch of salt.
Stir in mushrooms.
After stirring to coat with oil, leave mushrooms sautéing for about 5 minutes.
Continue cooking, stirring every couple of minutes.
4. Add onions to mushrooms & cook for another 4-5 minutes, until onions are translucent.
Add garlic, stir and cook for another minute. Remove pan from heat.
5. Add rice to skillet & stir.
6. Add rice mixture to the cottage cheese mixture and stir until combined.
7. Pour mixture into greased baking dish.
Sprinkle with two-thirds of the grated cheese and cover with aluminum foil.
Sometimes I don’t read the directions closely, so I added my tarragon at this point. I actually had fresh tarragon for the first time in my life, having just planted it in my backyard. Even though this is the wrong order, doesn’t this look delish?
Anyway, bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes, until the casserole is golden brown.
This is seriously so good! Serve with a green salad. I didn’t because I never have time to make more than one component. But I would! If this didn’t turn you on, stay tuned for REALLY easy chocolate cake. Remember my No Knead Bread? This is the No Knead Bread of Chocolate Cakes.
Author: Christina Cox (recipe from Heidi Swanson’s “Super Natural Every Day”)
Recipe type: Side
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Tasty rice side dish that also serves well as a main with a leafy green salad!
Ingredients
2 large eggs (or egg replacer)
1 c cottage cheese
½ c sour cream
1 tsp Dijon or whole grain mustard
Sea salt
1 TBSP olive oil or unsalted butter
8 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 c cooked wild rice and/or brown rice (use whichever you have or a little of each!)
⅓ c grated Gruyere cheese
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or thyme
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a medium size baking pan with olive oil or butter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, mustard and scant ½ tsp salt.
Heat oil in large skillet with pinch of salt. Stir in mushrooms. Leave mushrooms to cook for about 5 minutes undisturbed. After about 5 minutes, stir again every few minutes. Add onion to mushrooms, stir and cook until translucent for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Then remove skillet from heat.
Add rice to skillet & stir to combine. Then add rice mixture to cottage cheese mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle ⅔ of the cheese on top, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, bake another 20-30 minutes, until casserole is golden brown, especially around the edges.
Serve with remaining cheese & tarragon or thyme.
Notes
The cook time includes 45-60 minutes to cook wild rice. You can also buy pre-cooked wild or brown rice to save time! If you buy pre-cooked rice, the cook time is about an hour for the baking and 10-12 minutes for sautéing veggies.
We’ve cut back on sugar and desserts this year, saving them only for special occasions, treats & bribes. But once in a while you just want to eat some chocolate chip cookies (‘specially while you’re waiting for the Thin Mints to arrive…) I figure homemade must be healthier than store bought so here we go…
Let me tell you right away: leave a couple sticks of butter out a few hours ahead of time. I just leave them out the night before but you could take them out when you get home from work & then make the cookies after dinner too.
Also, there are a couple of oddball ingredients in here. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!! But if you don’t have ‘em – don’t worry about it!
Here’s what you need:
Some of that stuff is optional so don’t get stressed out looking at it!
INGREDIENTS:
1 c butter, softened
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
2 eggs (I used egg replacer which reduced the cholesterol & no chickens were harmed – except knowing my luck, the truck carrying the boxes of egg replacer ran over a truck of chickens)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp (heaping) instant coffee granules (I accidentally used 2 TBSP and loved the result!)
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP ground flax seeds (OPTIONAL)
3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c (heaping) milk chocolate chips (or use just one kind of choc. chip)
Hopefully you are already excited about the amount of chocolate chips in this recipe. Yayy for chocolate chips!
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a LARGE bowl, stir together butter, brown sugar & white sugar until combined.
Add egg replacer & vanilla, stirring to combine thoroughly.
Best thing about using egg replacer instead of eggs is that you can taste the raw dough without that pesky salmonella worry in the back of your mind!
3. In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.
Don’t ask me why I had instant coffee. I think Tim & Liana picked it up when we were camping last Memorial Day weekend. I’m glad they did!
I love mushrooms!! I haven’t cooked with them for years because *someone* doesn’t “dig on fungus.” But now that *someone* is working late a lot, and *someone’s* parents are in town and unable to eat anything with too much vitamin K in it (thanks, a lot, Blood Thinner!) I decided to cook them again! Why not? After all, he usually strolls in around 11PM claiming to have eaten at work anyway… This dish should be classified as an adult dinner due to the alcohol content. It may have burned off but it sure didn’t taste like it did. Or it sure did taste like it didn’t!
This is pretty easy – I chopped the mushrooms & onions ahead of time during someone’s (not my) nap. Let’s get started! You’ll need:
INGREDIENTS:
24 oz (weight) mushrooms, thickly sliced (I used crimini) (Baby Bellas are recommended but they were $$$ so I got crimini)
4 TBSP olive oil (2 for roasting mushrooms & 2 for sautéing onions)
1 large onion, peeled & sliced
1 c dry white wine
3/4 c whiskey (or another 3/4 c white wine if you don’t have whiskey)
1/2 c vegetable broth (I used bullion)
1 c heavy cream salt & pepper to taste
12 oz pasta, cooked al dente (I actually used the whole 16 oz bag so that I’d have extra “noonles” for the kids.)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle mushrooms with olive oil, sprinkle salt & pepper on top. Roast for about 20-25 minutes. Drain & set aside.
Gorgeous, earthy little shrooms…
While they’re roasting, stand back & observe your child or pet.
If you don’t have a child or a pet, lie down on the pristine couch with Bravo TV on and be happy.
2. In a large pot, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add sliced onions & saute for 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
Forgive the ugly lighting as I took it at night (I prepped the veggies during the day!) and do not have my lighting down yet:
Check on kids every once in a while.
Yes! Dinner is almost done!
3. Add wine & whiskey. I used Charles Shaw b/c we have a lot since Patsy’s visiting & Maker’s Mark (which is probably a little too “nice”) since we have loads as it’s G and his dad’s trademark father-son drink.
Ode to Patsy:
Ode to Jack:
Let this concoction bubble for a few minutes. Add the broth and let it reduce for another few minutes. (You can use vegetable or mushroom broth. I was out so I used Vegetarian Chicken Flavored Bullion added to water. It’s LOADED with sodium so I use caution and add much less than its label advises.) You are now up to 2 sets of a few minutes. About 4-5 minutes according to my calculations. Now add cream and reduce heat to low. Add mushroom, salt & pepper. Allow to simmer until it thickens.
Reserve a little of your pasta water in case sauce needs thinning after you’ve added pasta. Add cooked pasta & toss together! Season with salt & pepper to taste. Delicious & not for the Designated Driver.
Author: Christina Cox (slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
Recipe type: Main
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6-8
An easy, earthy, mushroom & pasta dish complete with your (inlaws’) favorite alcoholic beverages!
Ingredients
24 oz (weight) mushrooms, thickly sliced (I used crimini) (Baby Bellas are recommended but they were $$$ so I got crimini)
4 TBSP olive oil
1 large onion, peeled & sliced
1 c dry white wine
¾ c whiskey (or another ¾ c white wine if you don’t have whiskey) I used bourbon.
½ c vegetable broth (I used bullion)
1 c heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste
12 oz pasta, cooked al dente (I actually used the whole 16 oz bag so that I’d have extra “noonles” for the kids.)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375. Spread mushrooms on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast in oven for 20-25 minutes.
Set your pasta water to boil.
In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onions & sauté, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
Pasta water should be boiling. If so, add pasta to it & salt.
Add wine & whiskey (or all wine if you drank all your whiskey!) Let bubble for 1-2 minutes.
Add broth, and allow to bubble for another 2 minutes (to reduce.)
Add cream & turn heat to low. (NOTE: Reserve a cup or two of your pasta water in case your mushroom/sauce needs thinning!) Add your cooked pasta to mushrooms & toss. If sauce needs thinning, add some of the pasta water that you’ve saved.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.
YUM!
2.1.7
Final verdict: the kids picked out & ate only the noodles. Although Maddie likes mushrooms, she likes them alone. She is definitely not French. But why would she be?
Oh, and guess who strolled in early & hungry that night? None other than *someone.* D’OH!
It’s hard to believe January’s almost half over and I haven’t posted my Christmas pictures yet. Actually, that’s not that hard to believe. The only resolution I’ve accomplished was canceling my gym membership. Ciao (for the 4th time), 24 Hour Fitness! You know I can’t stay away for long & will always support you! (Financially, that is.)
Also, I had hoped to have my new blog “theme” up to make the recipes more easily searched etc. but alas, I no longer have any free alone time now that I always have a child with me. Therefore I’ll need to enlist professional help. Stay tuned for my new blog & URL “Real Housewife of Santa Monica” hopefully out in 2012!! Seriously, hopefully up in February.
I love the idea of enchiladas but wanted to make them without that jar of red/brown sauce they’re usually swimming in. Not that I don’t LOVE that sauce & pretty much all sauces but every once in a while I like to make something a little lighter, fresher & more easily visually discerned. What the *@#$% am I talking about?
We were heading out to a friend’s birthday “Under the Sea” birthday party so I made all the components before we left. Our friend, Katarina (remember her from the alphabet wall post?) wowed us with all the details!
Maddie dressed herself for the party.
We were the first to arrive so I took some quick snaps before anyone else got there. Don’t you hate the guests who arrive RIGHT ON TIME?
A watery wonderland!
Fishing pole licorice imported from Sweden in person by a helpful brother.
Starfish honeydew!
Floating jellyfish.
Make a fish station.
Starfish PJBs.
Shimmery fishy background.
The CAKE!!!!!!
This cake was not only cuteness overload but also REALLY DELICIOUS!!! (Katarina: if you are reading this – please tell us what kind of cake it was in the comments section below??) I know it had chocolate and a fruit jam layer…YUM!
An adorable party thrown by our friends! Phew – that was a ton of work.
When we got home, we assembled & baked the enchiladas. These are easy, appealing (despite poor photography skills) & tasty.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
3 TBS favorite salsa (OPTIONAL)
2 tsp cumin
2 TBS chili powder
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 ear corn (or 1 c frozen corn) removed from cob
cilantro to taste (I totally forgot to buy cilantro)
ground black pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you want some spice!)
3/4 c Mexican shredded cheese
8 corn tortillas (makes 4 enchiladas)
We were getting ready to go to a friend’s birthday party so I didn’t take pictures of each & every step but I know you get the idea of sautéing the veggies… Here we go:
1. In a medium bowl, mash the drained & rinsed black beans. Add 2 TBS cilantro, half the cumin & half the chili powder.
Add the salsa to the black bean mixture if you have it! Combine.
2. Sautee onions in olive oil for about 4-5 minutes being sure to stir to coat with oil. Add minced garlic for another minute & stir to coat.
3. Add corn, stir & cook for about 2 minutes. Add zucchini & red pepper & stir to coat. Cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes to mixture along with the remaining cumin and chili powder & cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. (Option: I pureed my tomatoes in a blender. This is only recommended for the PICKIEST of eaters. They will never know there are tomatoes in this dish now.) If you blend them, add to the onion/veg mixture at this point!
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I am a huge fan of this stuff now. You all probably use it all the time but I just started using it and it saves on REALLY bad dishes when you’re done cooking. But I digress… place 4 tortillas on the baking sheet. Using half the bean mixture, top each tortilla. Then top that with the tomato/veggie mixture. Finally, sprinkle about half the cheese on top of the tortillas. Now add your 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th tortillas on top (think “lasagna.”) And repeat the process, using the rest of all your ingredients.
First (bottom) layer complete!
You probably noticed 6 stacks in my pix. That’s because I planned to make extras. I started making the first layer and soon noticed I must’ve only had 10 tortillas to begin with. You do the math(s). Anyway, I decided to make two open-faced ones.
Mmmmmm…jalapenos!!! I LOVE THEM!! I can’t help myself.
Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Top with remaining cilantro, lemon wedges & sour cream if desired!
Tasty, healthy, visually impressive layered vegetarian enchiladas. These look terrific on a plate & will WOW your dinner guests.
Ingredients
2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
2 tsp cumin
2 TBS chili powder
2 TBS olive oil
½ onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 ear corn (or 1 c frozen corn) removed from cob
cilantro to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you want some spice!)
¾ c Mexican shredded cheese
8 corn tortillas (makes 4 enchiladas)
lime, cut into wedges for serving
Instructions
Mash drained beans in a medium bowl with half the chili powder, cumin & cilantro.
Sautee onions in olive oil for about 4-5 minutes being sure to stir to coat with oil. Add minced garlic for another minute & stir to coat.
Add corn, stir & cook for about 2 minutes. Add zucchini & red pepper & stir to coat. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes to mixture along with the remaining cumin and chili powder & cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. (Option: I pureed my tomatoes in a blender. This is only recommended for the PICKIEST of eaters. They will never know there are tomatoes in this dish now.) If you blend them, add to the onion/veg mixture at this point!
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 4 tortillas on the baking sheet. Using half the bean mixture, top each tortilla. Then top that with the tomato/veggie mixture. Finally, sprinkle about half the cheese on top of the tortillas. Now add your 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th tortillas on top (think layered “lasagna.”) And repeat the process, using the rest of all your ingredients.
Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until cheese has melted!
Serve with remaining cilantro, sour cream & lime wedges.