Vegan Pittsburgh

Yes, Virginia, there is a vegan Pittsburgh. It may appear at first thought to be as mythical as the jolly and bearded man in red, but I have seen with mine own eyes the vegan goodness that Steel Town USA has to offer … and it is delicious.

Pittsburgh is known for many things: rivers, bridges, steel, a green revolution that is currently underway, Pirates, Penguins, and, of course, the greatest football team to grace God’s Green Earth: the Steelers.

Pittsburgh also has quite the culinary reputation:

Large, overstuffed sandwiches a la Primanti Brothers

Stuffed and fried pierogies

Chipped ham sandwiches

Kielbasa

Klondike Bars

Jumbo bologna

Heinz ketchup and pickles (to go on your big sandwiches)

Iron City Beer (to wash down your big sandwiches)

Not exactly a vegan paradise, eh? Unless, of course, you enjoy pickle and ketchup sandwiches. Then I would say that’s totally acceptable because of your pregnancy and would hand you a water instead of an Iron City to wash down your sammie.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I love that city. My mother still lives in the city, as do friends, and it is always a joy to visit. Dan and I just spent 10 days in the ‘Burgh and we ate our way from one end of the city to the other. Previous visits have been hit or miss in terms of eating – I had a few places that I knew of where I could go for good vegan eats but not many. This time, however, Lena had done her research and was an awesome guide to the vegan eats of Pittsburgh. Here are my top recommendations for a vegan-friendly time in the ‘Burgh:

Oh Yeah!

This place is amazing. You choose your base flavor of ice cream (there are vegan and non-vegan flavors) and then you choose from over 100 mix-ins (many of which are vegan) to create your own custom flavor. I got a little overwhelmed by the possibilities and went with one of their suggested combos – mint chocolate chip ice cream with crushed Newman-Os, espresso grinds, and crushed peppermint sticks mixed in – and it was memory-making. You absolutely have to plan a Sunday morning trip here, as well. Sunday is waffle day at Oh Yeah and you can have your choice of waffle (with mix ins) served with your favorite ice cream combo on top. We made it to waffle day both Sundays we were in town. I can enthusiastically recommend the cinnamon waffle Belgian style with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on top. What a way to start your day …

Lena in front of Oh Yeah!

Dozen

This super cute locally owned and operated bakery in Lawrenceville made me smile just for the fact that it is a locally owned and operated bakery in Lawrenceville that serves up both vegan and non-vegan goods to a crowd of regulars. I sampled a hostess-like cupcake and chocolate chip cookie. I am very picky with my vegan baked goods, and these cupcakes passed my litmus though they could benefit from a makeover - they are a touch dry and crumbly. The cookie reminded me of the grocery store bakery big cookies I used to love as a kid (my mom is not a cookies-from-the-oven kind of gal) and for that I found it quite endearing and enjoyable. The coffee here was quite good, as well. The staff is friendly and the gal behind the counter was open to answering my questions about their cupcakes and ingredients. I actually made a vegan cosmo cupcake for Lena and Ryan’s 4th of July barbecue that was inspired entirely by my conversation with the woman at Dozen.

Mad Mex

I love this place. They are vegan happy and friendly and delicious. This time around I fell in love with the Thai Curry Burrito with tofu and the Herb O’Vore’s Tofu Tacos. They even have tofu sour cream to keep you happy.

Barbecue

If it’s summer then you should cook out. I love to visit northern cities because there is no better energy than that of a city that is coming out of winter hibernation to play in the sun. Toss some food on the grill, crack open a cold one (as long as you’re legal and are not driving), and eat outside. Those long days of summer can’t be beat (here in the islands it starts getting dark around 7:00 in the summer).

In non-food related notes ….

If you are in the Pittsburgh area, I highly recommend that you indulge yourself with an organic facial at Bloom Organic Skincare Parlor, another locally owned and operated small business in Lawrenceville. Erinn, the owner and operator, is a walking advertisement for why this is a good idea. When she opens the door to welcome you into the parlor you won’t be able to stop yourself from coveting her glowing skin. I enjoyed the Bloom Custom Facial Treatment - it was an hour of pampering at a reasonably priced $50.

Enjoy the city!

New Orleans

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who so kindly commented on my Danish Braid post. My posts have been few and far between recently because I just spent several weeks off the rock on the Mainland - my first trip out of the islands in a year! The first stop was New Orleans for a conference, and then it was on to Pittsburgh to visit family and friends. New Orleans was not a great bastion of vegan eats so I do not have much to post about the food in NoLa, but we had an amazing time there and, instead of food, this is a scenery post. For those of you who are just here for the food, be sure to check back in this weekend when this blog returns to its regular food related news. I’d like to thank Jennifer for her wonderful suggestions and for being a terrific virtual tour guide for our trip to the Big Easy.

What vegans do in New Orleans: stock up at Whole Foods:

Daring Bakers Challenge: Danish Braid

This month’s challenge involved crafting a puff pastry that incorporated a block of butter. This is yet another DB challenge that will be chalked up to the list of things I never, ever would have attempted to make due to the recipe’s most decidedly non-vegan attitude and sneer had it not been for my fellow DBers pushing me into new, uncharted vegan baking territory.   And that is why I love the Daring Bakers.

For this particular recipe I had to make some of my usual adaptations:

Soy milk for cow’s milk

Soy yogurt for eggs

Earth Balance for butter

The original recipe called for an apple filling, but I wanted something more seasonal so I made a chocolate cherry cream cheese filling, which I thought paired well with the mild flavor of orange and cardamom in the dough. I topped the braid with an orange glaze and chopped pistachios.

Even though I knew how easy it was to make this braid, I was still massively impressed with myself when it was complete. The finished product is beautiful and very complicated looking. I served this one to many “ooohs” and “aaaaahhhhhs.”

Mahalo to Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What’s Cookin’? for hosting this month’s challenge.

DANISH BRAID
Makes 1 braid

For the dough (Detrempe)
½ tbsp active dry yeast
¼ cup soy milk
1/6 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup vanilla soy yogurt
1/8 cup orange juice
1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1 stick cold Earth Balance
1/8 cup all-purpose flour

1. Combine yeast and soy milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, soy yogurt, and orange juice and mix well.

2. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. (Add more flour as necessary. I used an additional 1/3 cup flour in this step). When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. While the detrempe is chilling, combine Earth balance and flour in the bowl and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.

4. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and 1⁄4 inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the beurrage evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, 1⁄4-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional Earth Balance will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

6. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Chocolate Cherry Cream Cheese Filling

1 8oz tub Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 cup cherries, pitted and quartered

Use hand mixer to mix together the Tofutti, confectioner’s sugar, and cocoa until smooth. Mix in the vanilla until well blended. Fold in the cherries.

TO ASSEMBLE DANISH BRAID

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 12 x 20-inch rectangle, 1⁄4 inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.

2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 4-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.

3. Spoon the filling down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

4. Brush a bit of melted Earth Balance over the top of the braid.

Proofing and Baking

1. Spray cooking oil (Pam) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch. (I proofed min in my oven set at 90F).

2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Glaze

½ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tbsp Earth Balance, melted
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp soy milk powder

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

To Serve

Brush glaze over braid. Sprinkle with ½ cup chopped pistachios. Slice the braid, reheat in microwave, and serve warm. Or don’t microwave it and serve at room temperature. Either way, it’s delicious.

Thai Tapioca Pudding

The other day, I was involved in the type of incident that makes me think, “Only me….”

Wednesday was Kamehameha Day, a state holiday in Hawaii. I was enjoying my day off, but there was some work to be done, so I stopped by one of our facilities on my way to town to do some errands. As this particular facility is in a state building, I expected the main entrances to be closed and that I would use my key to go directly into our space. Instead, I found the doors to our space open, and remnant carpet piled up outside of it. I peeked in and saw a new carpet almost completely unfurled in the room, only a 3 foot wide strip of concrete remaining exposed. “Hello?” I called in, and I was met by the two men redoing the carpet. I asked them if it was OK for me to go through the space and they said sure, it was not a problem. I cut through the room into one of our offices, where I was surprised to find several other people there, as well, doing some work. We all have a problem staying away, I suppose …

I finished my task in about 15 minutes and I was excited to be back on my way to town. Sunglasses on my face, purse slung over my shoulder, my two phones in one hand, my car keys in the other, I went back out the way I came. This time the men were not in the room, and everything looked the same … yet it took just one foot placed onto the concrete for me to realize that something was very, very different. Imagine the most perfect of pratfalls, the classic slip on the banana peel … suddenly I was looking up at my feet and involuntarily unleashing a noise that was somewhere between a yelp and a shriek. I came down most ungracefully onto my lower back with an astonishingly loud thud.

The two men, having heard the ungentle meeting of my body to the concrete, came running into the room and their jaws dropped at the scene before them. I looked up in dismay and asked the question to which I already knew the answer: “What am I covered in?”

“Carpet glue.”

That’s right, folks. In the fifteen minutes that had passed from my entrance into the space, a very thick layer of industrial carpet glue was spread onto the concrete. The men had left it for a few minutes to become tacky, when along I came, unsuspecting and obliviously toting along all of my belongings … that were now covered in glue.

The men, who were very kind, told me to quickly get up and get to the bathroom because the glue is water-soluble. The unfortunate thing about wallowing in a puddle of carpet glue is that the only way to get up out of it is to roll around in it some more so that you can position yourself to stand up without slip-sliding and falling again. Talk about adding insult to injury! As I stood up, big fat gloplets of glue dropped from me to the floor. One of the men helped to lift me out of my shoes, which were now sticking quite stubbornly to the floor, and I hurried into the bathroom, where I discovered that the glue was only kind of water-soluble. I was able to get most of it off of my hands, but it was smeared all over my arms, all over my back from my mid back down to my thighs, it was on the front of my shirt, it was all over my purse, it was on my phones, it was on my keys, it was on the remote locking device for my car, it was on my sunglasses … at least the part of my glasses that I had. I had hit the ground so hard that one of my lenses had popped out!

I quickly realized that I was fighting a losing battle with the glue in the bathroom. I decided to focus my efforts on my hands, so that I could grip the steering wheel of my car without becoming one with it, and my keys so that I would not be sticking a glue key into my ignition. Having accomplished a decent enough job on my hands and keys, I came back outside where the men were waiting for me with my shoes, which they had unstuck from the floor and cleaned for me. After I assured them many times that I was OK, they cut a large scrap of carpet for me to place on my car seat so that I would not get glue all over my car. Of course, when I got home and stepped out of my car, I then had carpet stuck to me, and I wondered if the neighbors were watching (somebody should be, I thought … it really was quite funny).

Into a big bucket of soapy water went my clothes and sunglasses (the men had retrieved my other lens from the scene of the accident) … under the no-nonsense scrubbing of a scrubber sponge went my skin … cotton balls bathed in baby oil removed the remaining gunky glue from my keys and car remote … my phones were dismantled and placed in front of a fan … and I took some ibuprofen and applied to ice to my sure-to-be bruised lower back. One of my phones survived, but the other had to be replaced by Verizon (and with a different model, at that, since they stopped making my old phone … I’m finding the new one a bit difficult to warm up to.)

So … what do you do when your foot takes an unexpected step and your day ends up with you all covered in glue? First, you laugh at the absurdity of it all, and then you make a big batch of tapioca to soothe your bruised and battered self.

In the past month or so I’ve grown quite found of tapioca pudding but I hadn’t yet tried making it for myself. I made two different batches in an attempt to get the consistency right (traditional tapioca calls for eggs to thicken it up). For the first batch I used two tablespoons of Ener-G egg replacer, which made the tapioca quite thick. I actually really liked the consistency of that batch, but I made a second batch with a thinner consistency, which is what is listed below. First I enjoyed my tapioca warm with sliced strawberries … then I enjoyed it again later chilled with mixed berries. Both were delicious … and both helped to make the soreness of my aching back more bearable.

Thai Tapioca

½ cup large tapioca pearls
1 can light coconut milk
1 cup vanilla soy milk + 1 tbsp Ener-G egg replacer
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

1. Bring the coconut milk to a boil, add tapioca pearls, and simmer (keeping some bubbling action) over medium low heat for 10 minutes. Be sure to stir often to prevent the tapioca pearls from sticking to the pot. (The package of tapioca pearls recommended letting them soak for 24 hours in a cup of milk. I wanted my tapioca now so I devised this step to hasten the process.)

2. Whisk the soy milk and egg replacer together. Whisk it into the coconut milk mixture, along with the sugar and salt, and be sure that everything is well combined. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Serve warm or refrigerate to serve chilled.

Beans with Fresh Herbs

As I sat this afternoon scheming up what to make for dinner, I suddenly remembered the can of canelli beans I had sitting in my pantry. I also had several plump red tomatoes from a friend’s garden sitting on my counter and an abundance of fresh green herbs happily basking in the sun in my own garden.

In my mind, white beans + tomatoes + fresh herbs = delicious.

But wait …

White beans + tomatoes + fresh herbs + caramelized onions = my simple and delicious dinner for tonight.

As I happily set about caramelizing onions and picking my herbs out of my garden, I was excitedly looking forward to dressing up my canelli beans with such fresh ingredients. Imagine my dismay when I opened my pantry and realized that my canelli beans were merely a figment of my imagination. (The question remains: where in the world did I see those beans???) My choices were black beans or garbanzo beans. I went with the garbanzo beans as they fit more into my picture of what this dish was supposed to look like on my plate.

As I sat down to my plate of caramelized onions, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and garbanzo beans, I was resentfully eying the grabanzos and rueing that they were not canelli beans. They weren’t even butter beans.  All it took, however, was one bite for me to quickly make amends with my beloved garbanzos and tell them that I will never doubt them again …

Beans with Fresh Herbs

1 tbsp olive oil
½ large onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15.5 oz can garbanzo beans
2 tomatoes, diced
1 ½ tbsp chopped fresh herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, and rosemary)
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion, lower heat to medium low, and sauté the onions for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions turn a nice caramel brown color.
2. Add the garlic, sauté for 30 seconds, add garbanzos, and turn heat up to medium. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes; cook for an additional five minutes. Stir in fresh herbs, cooks for 2-3 more minutes, season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with sprigs of fresh herbs.

Coconut Rum Cake

Often times, people seemed surprised when they find out that I enjoy cooking and food magazines. As the majority of cooking magazines do not cater to a vegan audience, this surprise is well merited. In the true spirit of the DIY lifestyle, I enjoy a good challenge and most of the recipes in these magazines are just that: a tantalizingly delicious-seeming challenge. I like to tear out all of the recipes that intrigue me, file them away in my recipe binders, and have them at my fingertips for those days when I want to flip through them and satisfy my impulse to get experimental with dinner (which is most days, really …)

Last week we were fortunate to have our friends Kate and Chris honeymooning on Maui. When we had them over to the cottage for dinner one night, I wanted to serve something tropical and island style. After flipping through my desserts binder of torn-out recipes, I instantly decided upon a coconut rum cake that was featured in a 2007 issue of Gourmet Magazine (perhaps the most not-vegan friendly food magazine of them all …). It took a bit of tweaking, but this cake turned out beautifully. It was also deceptively easy to make, which only adds to the love.

For the coconut cream, I stuck a can of full fat coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight and skimmed the cream that rose to top out of the can. You can also just stick the can in the fridge in the morning if you are planning on making this later in the day.

Coconut Rum Cake
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine September 2007

Cake
1 ¼ cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup vanilla soy yogurt
3 tbsp canola oil
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ stick Earth Balance, melted and cooled
½ cup coconut cream

Icing
3 tbsp Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
5 tbsp coconut cream
1 tbsp dark rum
1/8 tsp vanilla
½ cup confectioners sugar

Coconut flakes

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil and flour a 9” round cake pan.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soy yogurt, oil, and sugar. Gradually whisk in the flour mixture until just combined. Pour into the cake pan and tap pan on counter to expel air bubbles.

3. Bake cake until golden brown and the cake starts to pull away from the side of the pan, about 45-50 minutes. Cool in pan in the oven for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto a rack and cool for 10 minutes more. Generously brush the top and side of the warm cake with the coconut cream, allowing it to soak in completely before brushing on more. Cool cake completely.

4. To make the icing, beat together the Tofutti, coconut cream, rum, and vanilla until smooth, and then beat in the confectioners sugar. The icing should be smooth and a little runny. Smooth the icing over the cake, allowing it to drip over the side. Top with coconut flakes.

Pineapple Poppy Seed Ice Cream

When I was in college, I worked at the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization, and one of my responsibilities was to give tours of historical homes. One of the homes had dining room furniture upholstered with fabric covered in pineapples. The first time I saw it I was surprised to see something so tropical in the middle of Ohio, but I quickly learned that the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality. During colonial times the use of the pineapple in guestrooms, parlors, and dining rooms became widespread and served as a sign of warmth and welcome to guests. It only takes one day in Hawai’i - one mai tai, one slice of pineapple - to understand why the pineapple symbolizes “welcome”. Its uniquely sweet yet tart taste, it intoxicatingly tropical aroma, and its beautiful presentation all say aloha.

Without fail, we always buy a pineapple to welcome visitors. We then find some way to incorporate the fruit into a dinner or dessert. Many times, visitors like to buy their own pineapples, as well. Last week our friends Stina and James were visiting. Pineapples were bought. Pineapples, however, were not consumed. I now have two pineapples to use.

Pineapples do not get any sweeter after they are plucked from the plant. There is no advantage to letting a pineapple sit on your counter. My two pineapples need to be eaten ASAP.

When choosing a pineapple, you want to choose one that is plump, firm, and has no soft spots. A good pineapple will smell sweet. Skin color is not necessarily a good indicator of ripeness. (For a tutorial on how to cut a pineapple, please continue reading after the recipe.)

I decided to make a fruity ice cream with one of my pineapples and I settled on pineapple poppy seed. The sweetness of the pineapple lends itself well to ice cream, it pairs well with the vanilla, and the poppy seeds add a nice and satisfying texture to the treat. I pureed the pineapple before using it in the recipe so that it would create a silky smooth texture. The flavor of this ice cream is incredible. It’s like aloha in a bowl.

Pineapple Poppy Seed Ice Cream

1 box firm silken tofu (I use Mori Nu brand)
1 cup pureed pineapple
½ cup vanilla soymilk
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Combine all ingredients except for the poppy seeds in a food processor or blender until completely smooth. Stir in poppy seeds. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to your manufacturer’s directions.

I recommend letting the finished ice cream sit in the freezer for about an hour or two before serving. This helps it so set up a bit more firmly, Otherwise, the ice cream has the consistency of extreme soft serve (which isn’t a bad thing, per se – it’s still delicious!)

How to Cut a Pineapple

Daring Bakers Challenge: L’Opera Cake

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was a L’Opera Cake, which features a cake made with 6 egg whites and 6 whole eggs. *Sigh* Daring Bakers, what are you trying to do to me? Make me throw my vegan lovin’ hands up in frustration and cry “Woe is me!”?

Ha! Not this gal. I happily accept your egg-laden challenge.

This is why I love these DB challenges. They push me to be a creative problem solver in the kitchen. I had never even heard of a L’Opera Cake before this month. This recipe looks very involved but I found it to be quite easy to complete. Here are the elements of a L’Opera Cake:

Joconde: The base of an Opéra Cake is a thin sponge cake that is made using nut meal, traditionally almond meal (finely ground blanched almonds).

Syrup: The joconde is flavoured with a sugar syrup that can be flavored to suit your tastes.

Buttercream: The first two layers of the joconde are covered in a rich buttercream.

Ganache/Mousse (optional): In some recipes, the final layer of the joconde is covered in a ganache or mousse. While not hard to make, this makes the recipe quite involved.

Glaze: The final step to an Opéra Cake is the glaze that gives the cake a very finished and elegant appearance.

I made some adaptations (of course) to both the recipe and the assembly. For my cake I decided to go with an almond, coconut, and berries flavor combination.  Here’s my play-by-play:

Saturday night: I made the jaconde by replacing the many eggs with a combination of soy yogurt, Ener-G “eggs”, and canola oil. I knew that I would not achieve a sponge cake with this recipe but I believed that I would accomplish a delicious almond cake, which was exactly what I ended up with. Also, instead of two cakes I made just one. I also made my syrup ( I chose coconut flavoring) and white chocolate (I used Bittersweet’s recipe to make my own).

Sunday early afternoon: I made my buttercream and I made my ganache/mousse. I used all of my white chocolate for this step and did note reserve any for a glaze, so out went the glaze from my recipe. Not a problem! I sliced up some berries to add to my layers. I assembled my cake and decided to leave it a bit rustic looking with rough edges (rather than smoothing them out for a more refined look) because I was planning on serving it as dessert at our Memorial Day Barbecue (the red, white, and blue look of the cake made it quite appropriate for the occasion).

The cake set up in the fridge for a few hours, and it was then served to great fanfare. The cake disappeared in a jiffy and some declared it a brand new favorite. I will definitely be making this DB recipe again. Big mahalos to Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice, Lis from La Mia Cucina, Shea from Whiskful, and Fran from Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie for creating this challenge.

A Taste of Light: Opéra Cake
This recipe is based on Opéra Cake recipes in Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

Jaconde

1 cup soy yogurt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups ground almonds (You can buy almond meal in bulk food stores or health food stores, or do as I did - make it at home by grinding almonds in the food processor with a tablespoon or two of the flour that you will use in the cake. The reason you need the flour is to prevent the almonds from turning oily or pasty in the processor. You will need about 2 cups of blanched almonds to create enough almond meal for this cake.)

2 cups icing sugar, sifted
3 Ener-G “eggs”
2 tbsp canola oil
1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp Earth Balance, melted and cooled (plus a little extra for greasing the pan)

1. Preheat the oven to 425◦F.

2. Line one 12 1⁄2 x 15 1⁄2- inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper and brush with melted Earth Balance.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the soy yogurt and sugar together until smooth. Set aside.

4. In a second bowl beat the almonds, icing sugar, Ener-G “eggs”, and canola oil on medium speed for about 3 minutes.

5. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to overmix here!!!).

6. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the soy yogurt mixture into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted EB. Pour the batter into the pan and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of the pan.

7. Bake the cake until it is lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes depending on your oven.

8. Put the pan on a heatproof counter or trivet and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover it with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pan over, and unmold.

9. Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cake. Let the cake cool to room temperature.

Syrup

1⁄2 cup water
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp coconut cream

1. Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

2. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Buttercream
Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

¼ cup nonhydrogenated shortening
¼ cup Earth Balance
3 cups powdered sugar
¾ tsp vanilla
¾ tsp almond extract
3 tbsp vanilla soymilk

Beat the shortening and EB together until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes. Ad the extracts and soy milk and beat for another 5-7 minutes, until fluffy.

White Chocolate Ganache/Mousse

7 ounces white chocolate
1 cup plus 3 tbsp coconut cream (put a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight and use the cream that rises to the top)
1 tbsp Malibu coconut rum

1. Melt the white chocolate and the 3 tbsp of coconut cream in a small saucepan.

2. Stir to ensure that it’s smooth and that the chocolate is melted. Add the rum to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool completely.

3. In the a mixing bowl, whip the remaining 1 cup of coconut cream.

4.Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate to form a mousse/ganache.

5.If you’re not going to use it right away, refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

Assembling the Opéra Cake

(Note: The finished cake should be served slightly chilled. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 day).

1. Cut the cake into four equal squares. Line a serving plate with asquare of parchment or wax paper.

2. Place one square of cake on the parchment or wax paper and moisten it gently with the flavored syrup.

3. Spread about one third of the buttercream over this layer. Top with cut strawberries.

4. Top with a second square of cake. Moisten this square with the flavoured syrup.

5. Spread another third of the buttercream on the cake

and then top with blueberries. Place a third square of joconde on top of the blueberries. Wet the joconde with syrup, top with the remaining buttercream, place cut strawberries on top, and then place the final square of cake on top of the strawberries. Wet this cake with syrup and then refrigerate until very firm (at least half an hour).

6. Prepare the ganache/mousse (if you haven’t already) and then spread it on the top of the last layer of the joconde. Refrigerate for at least two to three hours to give the ganache/mousse the opportunity to firm up.

7. Serve the cake slightly chilled

Yellow Pizza Sauce

I believe that, at least once, everyone should try his or her hand at gardening. Personally, I used to be wary of keeping plants. I was your typical houseplant killer. I would somehow procure cute little green houseplants and would inevitably, without fail, forget to water them. I would then eventually end up tossing their shriveled, dry little carcasses out with the trash and then employ the pots for other uses, such as pencil holders or an odd-and-ends catchall. Recently I again tried my hand at houseplant maintenance in my office at work. That experiment ended when a coworker informed me that the droopy plants in dire need of attention in my office did little to inspire confidence in my abilities to care for others (namely people), thus, those plants found their way out of my office into my compost bin. I’ve accepted that I do not have a great enough appreciation for houseplants to be able to enter into a long-term relationship with one. The occasional bouquet is enough inside greenery to keep me happy. Gardening, however, is a whole different matter.

I started my love affair with gardening last spring when a friend of mine built a raised garden in my front yard for me. Now, one year later, my gardening endeavors have expanded into larger plots that run the length of the south and west facing sides of our cottage. You do not need large plots of land for gardening. Heck, you don’t even need a yard. One can easily start a windowsill garden in window or a container garden on a small balcony or patio. Gardening is accessible to all.

I love gardening because it is my belief that gardening is an exercise in consciousness, an act of sustainability … it promotes stewardship, a love for what is natural, and it inspires us to be less wasteful. By nurturing food from seed to plate, we develop a close, personal relationship with what we eat. We can then appreciate food in its simplest of forms for its unique and wonderful flavors, which inspires us to eat food in as close to its natural state as possible rather than eating food that has been manufactured in a lab and is full of chemicals, preservatives, corn syrup, and ingredients that we cannot pronounce. We are also reluctant to throw away any part of what we have nurtured and sown, which promotes us to be more aware of our resources and to utilize all of what we have rather than mindlessly allowing food to rot and end up in the trash. Additionally, gardening increases our awareness of natural processes and systems. We are then more likely to compost trash to create rich soil for our garden, thus completing the cycle from earth to seed to fruit to plate back to the earth. I believe that gardens help to make our world a better place by improving our lives through healthy eating and more positive environmental practices, which, in turns, help us to make this planet a better place for others.

Currently, I’ve got a number of things growing in my garden: oregano, cilantro, basil, parsley, mint, black beauty eggplants, Japanese eggplants, ancho peppers, habanero peppers, flavorburst peppers, zucchini, watermelon, and yellow cherry pear tomatoes. The tomato plant, far and away, has been the most productiveve member of my garden. We’ve had a seemingly endless supply of deliciously sweet tomatoes for the past few months, which has inspired great creativity in how to make use of all of those tomatoes. Our most recent tomato concoction was yellow pizza sauce. I love home made pizzas with freshly made dough, and we topped these particular pies with the sauce, sliced peppers, sliced mushrooms, and slices of Field Roast Grain Meat Co. sausages.

Yellow Tomato Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
5-6 cups yellow cherry pear tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
Basil leaves, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, whole and skins intact. Cover the pot and sauté over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Uncover, and use a potato masher to smash the tomatoes. (I like to leave some whole). Add the garlic, basil (to your taste), and salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and enjoy!

Carob Strawberry Ice Cream

It’s been a busy month. Forgive me?

Now that it is mid-May and spring is beginning to work its wondrous magic in most places, I do not have to feel guilty about sharing a recipe for a warm weather treat like ice cream. I love ice cream and I highly recommend that everyone, if you do not already have one, keep an eye out for ice cream makers going on sale. I love my Cuisinart ice cream maker. It is so quick and easy to use, the possibilities are endless, and there is something so satisfying and lip smacking good about eating freshly made ice cream that is free of preservatives and scary ingredients such as corn syrup.

This particular ice cream combines the flavors of carob and fresh strawberries. Cocoa powder would work just as well in this recipe, I just happen to really love the flavor of carob. Enjoy!

Carob Strawberry Ice Cream

1 block firm silken tofu (I used Mori Nu brand)
1 ½ cup vanilla soymilk
¼ cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup carob powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sliced strawberries

In a food processor, process the tofu until smooth. Add the soymilk, Tofutti, brown rice syrup, carob, and vanilla to the tofu and process until well blended. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to your manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is ready, gently fold in the sliced strawberries.