The only picture we mananged to get of her smiling. Thanks, Kendal.

Yesterday was Emma’s birthday party and man, was it hot!  Perfect weather, actually, since there was a bit of a breeze.  She seemed to enjoy herself; although, every time I ask her if she had fun, she tells me that it was too tiring.  I agree.  Next year, she seems down for a trip somewhere in lieu of a big party.  The theme was garden/spring/bugs.

I bet you’re all wondering what was on the menu so without further delay, here you go:

Fruit:  pineapple, watermelon, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe and blueberries (and a special thanks to Nana Sally for contributing the best tasting blueberries I’ve had all year– blueberries are one of Emma’s favorite foods).  I used the top half of a pineapple as the centerpiece of the fruit tray.  Then I cut some melon flowers and put them on skewers into the pineapple.  I used green leaf lettuce around the edge for a little something extra.  Turned out cute.

Snack Tray #1:  cherry tomatoes, edamame, spring rolls with Quick Peanut Sauce from Vegan Lunch Box.

Snack Tray #2:  mini pitas, crackers, baby carrots, bell pepper slices, cucumber slices and falafel.

For the kiddos:  PB&J flowers.  Centers are strawberry and grape halves secured with a toothpick.

Cake:

A cupcake tower of strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate mint, lemon and coconut.  The cupcakes were topped with fondant ladybugs, butterflies, caterpillars, and flowers.  On top of the tower was a “cake” with a candle for Emma to blow out.  I didn’t have time to make an actual cake, so I used styrofoam and covered it with homemade chocolate fondant.  The decor at the top is all made from gum paste and fondant.  Extra embellishments– i.e. the ladybug spots, etc.– are all done with a vegan royal icing (sub Ener-G Egg Replacer for egg white).

I know all of this looks like it took a long time to prepare, and it did, but the great thing about it is that a lot of it can be done ahead of time.  The faux “cake” I made about two weeks ahead of time.  The fondant decorations for the cupcakes were done about a month ago, as with the decorations for the faux “cake.”  All of the cupcakes have been leftovers from the various batches I’ve made over the last month, except for the chocolate and vanilla ones.  I cut up and arranged all the fruit the day before.  The falafel was cooked the day before and reheated the day of.  Yes, it was a lot of work, but breaking it up into more manageable parts made it much easier.

My first attempt at a Chocolate Truffle Cake went just okay, but this weekend, I had a chance at a second attempt!  I was very excited.  Matt’s cousin, Amy had a birthday party and, being that she too is vegan, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make her a vegan cake.  We only heard about the party Wednesday night and the party was Saturday, so I didn’t have much time to prepare.  And since I didn’t have much time to prepare, I went with a straight forward chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream then covered the whole thing in ganache.  This time, I used the same dark chocolate for the ganache, but used soy milk instead of soy creamer.  This fixed the problem of my ganache thickening up when it cooled down, but the ganache started cracking the longer the cake sat.  I don’t know what could have caused this, but I can only assume that it was something with the chocolate.  Next time, I will try a different kind of chocolate and hope that fixes this new problem.

This time,  I made a 2-tier cake which probably looks a lot more complicated than it really is.  The bottom cake has 4 dowels (i.e. chopsticks) inserted in the center to provide support to the top tier.  The dowlels should be trimmed about 1/4 inch shorter than the cake so that they don’t poke out.  The top tier is decorated with a strip of fondant and some dots of icing around the top and bottom.  The fondant kept slipping off the cake, so I used toothpicks to hold it in place (excess was trimmed off and the hole covered with icing).  A few daisies finished it off!  (Check out this list of other non-toxic flowers that can be used for cake or food decoration.)

The texture of the cake was perfect– nice and moist.  The icing was also yummy and the perfect consistency.  The ganache, though, tasted fine, but still gave me problems looks-wise.  Again, it must be some additive to the chocolate that makes it act so weird.  Third time’s a charm, I guess.  Nex time will be perfection!

I also made a few snacks for the party– my corn & black bean salsa and a platter of yummy roll-up sandwiches and foccacia pizza.  For the sandwiches, I took a whole wheat lavash, smeared on some Tofutti cream cheese, sprinkled on some olive tepenade, and piled on some lettuce, cucumber, roasted red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and some chopped basil.  Yummy!!!  The foccacia is VeganDad’s recipe with a few minor changes.  Instead of sage, I used 1 TB of Italian seasoning (dried garlic, onion, oregano and basil).  I also rolled the entire batch of dough out onto a large baking sheet and topped it with a little olive oil, a little bit of FYH mozarella, some red onion, chopped red and green bell peppers, sliced black olives, and artichoke hearts.  After it was done baking, I sprinkled it with some chopped fresh basil.

Don’t forget to enter yourself into this month’s giveaway, if you haven’t done so already.  I’ll extend the deadline one more day to 11:59 pm on Monday, February 9th.

This is an adaptation of something my mom fixed for me the last time we visited. I made a few simple changes to take it from a side dish to a main course. The end result: AWESOME!

When my mom made it, she sauteed some onions, garlic and zucchini together with some marinara sauce. She then put the filling into the middle of a sheet of puff pastry and baked it. (The puff pastry was made with shortening, btw, not butter so it was safe for Emma and I to eat.) When it baked up, the sides puffed up around the filling, thus the “zucchini pie” was born.

Matt is not a fan of anything fatty or buttery tasting. To reinvent this dish and to significantly lighten it up, I used sheets of filo dough. While I was constructing everything, I had the idea of folding sheets of puff pastry into small squares and making a sort of individual lasagna with the filling sandwiched in between. It worked out very well. Matt even commented that it looked like something we might be served at Millennium (a posh veg*n restaurant in SF).

Babs’ Zucchini Pie

(makes 2 pies with lots of leftover filling)

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 large zucchini, diced

1/4 fresh basil, roughly chopped

1 cup marinara sauce (or more depending on how saucy you like it)

1/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

S&P to taste

4 sheets filo dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large skillet, saute the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. After about 5 minutes, add the zucchini and saute for about another minute. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for the filo and remove from heat.

To construct the filo shell, take one sheet of filo dough and brush half of it with olive oil (go easy on the oil). Fold in half lengthwise. Repeat this process until you wind up with a very small rectangle or square (depends on what shape your filo was to begin with). Do this with all 4 sheets of filo.

To assemble, place one of your filo rectangles on the baking sheet. Top generously with filling. Press the second filo rectangle onto the top. Brush the top with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle on a few walnut pieces. Repeat for the second pie. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.

Special adaptation for the kiddos:

(Emma loved hers– she even commented “Mmmmm…. good!”)

Remove about 1/4 cup of the cooked onions and garlic (after sauteeing, but before adding anything else). Put into a food processor with a handful of the diced zucchini, a handful of beans and enough marinara sauce to thin it out. Puree until smooth.

I made her pie into a turnover so that all sides would be sealed together to prevent the filling from oozing out as she was eating it. To do this, take one sheet of filo and fold it as described above, but don’t fold it so small. After folding it two or three times, spread a layer of the filling inside, brush the edges with olive oil and seal them together. Bake as directed above.

My sole purpose for going to the Asian market today was to pick up some spring roll wraps. They were not easy to find (probably because the whole store was overwhelming), but I finally did spot them and picked up a few packs. Now, I saw several products in there that were called “spring roll wraps,” but none of them were what I was after. I think many Asian cultures have “spring rolls” and the wraps that I wanted were a Vietnamese style, I learned. Anyway, they come in sheets and you just have to soak them in warm water for a few minutes to loosen them up. Everything that goes in should be pre-cooked (if need be) or raw (my preference). Ours were stuffed with cabbage, lightly blanched green beans, bean sprouts, tofu, carrots, cabbage, mint and cilantro. The dipping sauce is an Asian style peanut sauce from Vegan Lunchbox. It’s basically a combination of peanut butter, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, and hot sauce thinned out with a bit of water. Really tasty! These rolls were delicious and we will totally be having these again soon.

Emma’s second birthday party was this past Saturday. To celebrate, we had a very tasty vegan feast of Spinach, Walnut and White Bean Phyllo Bites adapted from ED&BV, my corn and black bean salsa, a tray of watermelon and honeydew, and a veggie platter with hummus and pita.

I used the filling recipe from ED&BV for the phyllo bites. The only change is that I made small phyllo cups to put the filling in as opposed to making rolls. To make your own phyllo cups, you can read this previous post to learn how. These are really, really tasty, but started to get a little dried out towards the end of the party.

I pretty much followed my recipe for the corn and black bean salsa exactly, but I added red peppers for something a little different. This turned out a little more beany than usual, but I think I liked it better that way. Here is the recipe that I followed exactly and it made a huge batch. You will probably want to scale it back a bit. Aside from the cake, it was the biggest food hit at the party:

Corn and Black Bean Salsa

6 cups frozen corn kernals

3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2 green bell peppers, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

3 jalapeño peppers, minced

2 medium red onions, diced

3 tomatoes, lightly seeded and diced

juice of about 7 limes

1/2 cup jarred salsa

1 cup chopped cilantro

S&P to taste

Put all of the veggies (except the tomatoes) on a tray, drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and stick under the broiler until they start to char. You may have to do this in a couple of batches depending on how much you are making and the size of your tray. In a large bowl, put the beans, tomatoes and broiled veggies and stir to combine. Add the lime juice, S&P, salsa and cilantro. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed. Don’t be afraid of the jalapeño peppers– the salsa turned out extremely mild and I think I will add more next time for a little kick.

The veggie platter was super simple. I took some baby carrots, sliced cucumber, and celery and served that with some pita and 3 kinds of hummus (store bought). The hummus went quickly and I wish I would have bought at least 3 tubs of each kind.

Sadly, watermelon season hasn’t hit yet. I won’t tell you how much the watermelon cost, but I will warn you all to save your money until it warms up a bit more. Our watermelon was a little disappointing– good, but not as sweet as the ones you can find in the middle of summer. The honeydew, on the other hand, was outta sight! I should have bought 2 honeydew instead of the watermelon.  Oh well!

And lastly, a vegan chocolate birthday cake. I’d love to take credit for this, but I ended up ordering it from Whole Foods. I don’t particularly care for Whole Foods, but I didn’t know where else to go for a vegan cake that would be big enough to serve 30 people. Aside from my wedding cake, this was the most expensive cake I have ever bought in my life. Next year, I think we’ll just have vegan cupcakes now that I have Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (thanks, Amy! I can’t wait to try out some recipes). The birthday cake was very good and everyone enjoyed it, but I don’t know that I would ever spend that kind of money again. Since I was making all the rest of the food, there was no way that I could have made a cake too.  And I definitely couldn’t have made one that gorgeous!

Emma had the best time with her friends at her party. Thank you so much to everyone who came and for all of the fun gifts!

After being in a rut the last few weeks, my culinary creativity has finally come home. I’ve missed you, buddy.

Last night’s meal was semi-inspired by last week’s episode of Top Chef. One of the top recipes was a squash soup and I remember thinking how good that sounded, and how long it’s been since I’ve made it. So, here it is, my recipe for Butternut Squash and Apple Soup.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium apple, peeled and chopped

juice of 1/2 a lemon (maybe 1 TB or so)

1 TB honey * (see note below)

1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

pinch cayenne

1 small-ish butternut squash (maybe 2-3 pounds)

4 cups veg stock

In a large stock pot over medium heat, saute the onion, garlic and carrots in about a TB of olive oil. After about 5 minutes, add the apple and cook another 5 minutes. Add the honey, lemon juice, nutmeg and butternut squash and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the stock. When you add the stock, cover the pot and let the soup simmer for about an hour, or until all of the veggies are tender. When cooked, puree the soup using an immersion blender, food processor or blender. Once blended, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if needed. I garnished our soup bowls with a small handful of roasted pumpkin seeds. This was so good that I had to stop myself from licking the bowl clean. We will definitely be having this again soon!

* Note: I know that some vegans don’t consider honey to be vegan and I have no particular fondness for it. The reason I use it here is because I have some that I bought probably a year ago that I need to use up. Feel free to substitute any other natural sweetener– pure maple syrup would be a good option.

To go with our soup and to use up some phyllo dough and caramelized onions in my fridge, I decided to make some Caramelized Onion, Apple and Walnut Tartlets. To make these, I piled up 3 layers of phyllo dough (brushing each layer with olive oil to “glue” them together) and cut them into quarters lengthwise. At the top of each phyllo strip, I placed a small dollop of leftover cashew cheese, a bit of caramelized onions, some spicy apples, and some crushed roasted walnuts. Fold into triangles by folding the phyllo in the exact same way that a flag is folded. Seal the edge with a dab of olive oil, and brush the entire triangle with more olive oil. I sprinkled the tops with a cinnamon-sugar mixture and some more crushed walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the triangles are golden brown. These were outta sight! I was really trying to duplicate a gorgonzola, walnut, caramelized onion concoction and I think I came pretty close with these.

A while back, we had the Walnut, White Bean & Spinach Phyllo Rolls from ED&BV. They were SO good that I thought it would be a great snack to make for Emma’s birthday party, which will be totally vegan. Since the phyllo roll is better suited for a sit-down meal, I thought it would be fun to make the same filling, but use the phyllo appetizer shells instead. That was, until, I was at the store and saw that a box of 15 shells costs over $3! We have about 35 people coming to the party and each person will probably eat a whole tray once they taste how good they are, so we would be spending a small fortune on those pre-made phyllo shells.

It’s not very often that I get an idea that I impress myself with, so I had to share. I took one sheet of phyllo, brushed on a little olive oil, and topped it with another sheet of phyllo. I repeated this process until I had 3 phyllo sheets all piled up and ready to go. I used a cup as a stencil on the phyllo and traced around it with a paring knife. Each stack of phyllo sheets made 6 circles, which I then stuffed into a mini-muffin tin. Bake in a 350 degree oven just until the phyllo is starting to turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool. I don’t want to spend the morning of the party making these shells so, as an experiment, I put a few back in the freezer after they had cooled. A few days later, I removed them from the freezer, put them back in the mini-muffin tin and back into a 350 degree oven until they were golden.

I was afraid that baking and refreezing them would make them soggy, but they turned out perfectly crisp! I will probably be making these all weekend in preparation for the party next weekend, but at least we won’t be dumping a whole lotta money on the pre-made ones.