Burrito Cake!

Before I tell you about the physical Burrito Cake, let me tell you the full story.

At my birthday party a few months ago my sister saw my Betty Crocker Bake 'N Fill cake pans and decided I would make her a savory cake for her birthday - a burrito cake. Since I have had great success other times using the Bake 'N Fill, but in a sweet way:

Chocolate Bomb:

Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Cake:

We started scheming the design of the burrito cake. Cornbread, beans, rice, avocado, and tofu sour cream "frosting." The end result was different than we planned, but super tasty!

I scrapped the corn bread bottom and went with a tortilla, salsa, and cheese layered bottom, similar to an enchilada.
Next, the beans and rice. I made a mixture of beans and rice with soyrizo for the outside dome. I added some corn starch to help the form. Then I filled the divit in the middle with refried beans and soy cheese.
I didn't have much luck turning it over! Since it was hot, it separated more than I wanted it to. See the pan in the background?
Nothing a little guacamole won't fix, right? I thought of this as the crumb coat, in normal frosting terms. By this point, it really started to settle and push outward. While I was hoping it wouldn't fall off the counter, two little dogs at my feet were.
Then the tofu sour cream. It's hard to frost something that's so bumpy.
Toppings of fake cheese stars and jalapeños.
The garnish make it complete! We have burrito cake!
Time to cut the cake! Doesn't it look like something from super mario brothers?
Inside:

It really wasn't that pretty, but it sure tasted good. And it was better than my husband's "burrito soup."
If this isn't evidence of my ability to take on cooking challenges I don't know what is!

A Mr. Bolsh Dinner

Mr. Bolsh made me a special dinner of beans and toast. Okay, maybe it wasn't so special. He meant to add fake hot dogs but we were out. This is Mr. Bolsh's speciality - Amy's canned baked beans with hot dogs.

It tasted like beans and toast...

Mr. Bolsh got an early Christmas present of a pressure cooker, so look for those meals coming up next.

Summer Time Porch Dinner

Bean and Corn Salad:
Black beans
Corn
Salasa
Salt

Mix together. It doesn't get much easier than that.


BBQ Tempeh and Onions:
Grilled on the panini ad brushes with BBQ sauce.

Fruit Salad with Lime and Salt:
Apples, yellow watermelon and peaches mixed with lime juice and sprinkled with black salt.

The black salt really helped bring out the flavors of the fruit. I love my black sea salt.

This meal was a great outside dinner. I'll have to remind myself of this time of year come January.

Simple Meals

This one wasn't as great as I wanted, but it was good enough to fill me up.
Green Bean Sandwich:
Steamed green beans tossed with a bit of garlic aioli. Placed on bread with a thick slice of tomato.


What to do with a bunch of broken chips?
Baked Tofu:
Tofu crusted with ground tortilla chips, flour and a bit of spices, then baked for 20 minutes.
Served with a side of salad.

Low-fat Potato Dinner

This dish is very filling and is pretty low in calories and fat but high in flavor.

Baked Potato with Salsa:
1/2 cup corn
2/3 cup black beans
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1 Tablespoon Wildwood Aioli or a vegan mayo
Salsa to taste

Mix the ingredients and serve over a warm baked with a side of salsa.

This dish was served with a side of yellow watermelon sprinkled with lime juice.

Summer Salads!

It's been getting hot again - my favorite weather, so I've been making some salads to cool us down.

Chili Lime Salad:
Marinated tofu with lime, garlic and chilis; broiled, then chilled.
Mixed with some cold glass noodles, chopped carrots, ginger and garlic.
Garlic Bean Salad:
Briefly saute a lot of garlic with oil and a sprig of fresh chopped basil; mix with cooked beans and set aside.
Steam garlic scapes.
Mix with some shredded carrots and serve cold.
I sprinkled mine with black sea salt and pepper.

Sesame Noodle Salad:
Julieanne a large handful green beans and 1 carrot.
Saute 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 inch of ginger in some peanut or sesame oil. When the garlic is just about clear, add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.
Mix sauce, glass noodles and veggies. Add more oil if it needs it.
Serve cold.
Chocolate Mint Cookies and Cream Cupcakes!
Disaster struck as I was creaming the earth balance and remaining powdered sugar for the frosting and reached for the other box of powdered sugar and it wasn't there!
To make up for it I had to chop (I can't wait until I get my food processor) lots of cookies to make a nice earth balance and cookie crumb frosting.

White Bean Soup with Tomatoes and Basil

This was inspired by a No Fish Go Fish soup I had a few weeks back. Soups are never really measured properly in my kitchen so here's best my shot:

White Bean Soup with Tomatoes and Basil:
1 1/2 cups white beans - roughly smashed with the potato masher
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups soy/rice milk (more for a creamier taste)
3 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes - drained
1 bunch basil
rosemary
taragon

Saute garlic rosemary and taragon in some olive oil in a large soup pot.
Add broth and bring to a boil then add the beans.
Once boiling again add the drained diced tomatoes.
Keep stiring until it reaches your desired texture.
Turn heat to low, throw in the chopped up basil.
Cover for 5 minutes and serve warm with fresh cracked pepper and salt to taste.

Best served with a side of toasted garlic bread.
This was a wonderfully light tasting soup. It was nice to have tomatoes in a soup without tomatoes being the base.
This would have been better with a potato or two to thicken it up.