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Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Candied Lemons

November 2, 2012 by Erica

Happy Friday!

I’m so excited to share this cake today. Mostly because it’s just SO pretty. (Apparently candied lemons will do that to just about anything. Even a cake that rose slightly higher on the sides than in the middle!)

But I’m also excited to share it because it tastes good! I am typically a frosting person, but this cake is so flavorful on its own that it really doesn’t need much extra. The tart lemon, aromatic rosemary, and rich olive oil are all noticeable in the finished cake, without being overpowering. This made me so happy – I hate it when unique ingredients seem to bake off and are totally undetectable in the finished cake. The spelt flour adds nutty whole-grain flavor, too. All combined, it is both sweet and savory, and something a little outside the ordinary – in a very good way!

I’m lucky that Nate and I had a few friends to help us polish this off. (Thanks guys!) Otherwise I guarantee I would have gone to bed with a big stomach-ache.

While I didn’t intend to use an existing recipe for this cake, once I started researching, it just sort of happened that way. I guess I’m scared of developing my own recipes when baking, or even modifying existing ones, because you can only do so much taste testing as you go. At some point you have to stick it in the oven and commit to any horrible newbie vegan baking mistake that comes out on the other side. I don’t know. I’ll get there. For now, this is a lovely recipe from The Gluttonous Vegan. It may seem to have a lot of components, but it’s really very simple (mix it up and put it in the oven) and fun to make.

If I tell you to bake this cake this weekend, will you do it?

Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Candied Lemons

Adapted from The Gluttonous Vegan and Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:

For the cake:
3 cups spelt flour (whole wheat pastry flour would also work)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
½ cup olive oil
¾ cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon, freshly squeezed

For the candied lemons:
2 lemons, thinly sliced
½ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar

To top:
Sprig of rosemary

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch cake tin or two smaller tins.

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour through rosemary) in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Pour in the olive oil and almond milk and beat until those are incorporated. Now add the canola oil and mix again. Finally, mix in the lemon juice and zest.

Pour batter into the greased cake in. If you can, mound the batter up in the middle a bit, as the sides may rise more. (I ended up using a spring-form pan because it’s really the only cake-shaped pan I have. If you have a 9 inch cake tin, that should work, or use 2 smaller ones.)

Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The original recipe said to bake 25-30 minutes, but mine took 42. This will vary a lot based on your oven and the tin that you use! I would say test every 5 minutes starting at 30 minutes. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.

While the cake is in the oven, candy the lemons. This part is optional, but I absolutely love the way they look (although they served purely as a garnish; we didn’t really eat them). Bring the water and sugar to boil in a large pan. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add in the lemons. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the lemons are translucent. Remove with tongs and drain on wax paper, then refrigerate until cooled.

Next up, make the glaze. Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time, continuing until you have a pretty runny consistency.

Last but not least, assemble your cake! Once the cake has cooled, place it on your serving platter and drizzle the glaze over. You may not use all the glaze. (In fact, I recommend using only half unless you have a major sweet tooth.) Finally, garnish with candied lemons and a sprig of rosemary!

So pretty. Enjoy!

Autumn Harvest Quinoa

October 31, 2012 by Erica

There’s been a lot of quinoa around here recently… in my defense, it’s in the URL and everything.

When I made this stuffed acorn squash a few weeks ago, I got a little bit obsessed with the quinoa stuffing. I wanted to make it again, without all that filling squash, so that I could eat more of it! The apples and slow-cooked onions in Emily’s original recipe were delicious, but I added a few things to this version (toasted walnuts and roasted sweet potato) and think it’s even more amazing than before. I also used a mix of red and white quinoa when I made this. The red stuff tastes nuttier to me, but the white is about 1/3 of the price, so I like to mix!

I’m not going to lie, there’s a lot going on when you make this, especially if you haven’t toasted the walnuts beforehand. (But I would NOT leave out toasting the nuts – they add a ton of flavor.) If anything, you could leave out the sweet potato, or cook your pot of quinoa the night before, so that you don’t have 2 things in the oven and 3 pots on the stovetop. Clearly I did not plan that far ahead, and my tiny kitchen was a war zone with quinoa in every crevice when I was done.

This would make an awesome Thanksgiving side dish! I loved this recipe and plan on making it again this fall… as soon as I make my way through all the leftovers from the first batch! This recipe makes a really large amount.

P.S. I hesitated to put an entire tablespoon of cinnamon in the dressing, but don’t be afraid – it’s going on a huge amount of quinoa.

Autumn Harvest Quinoa

Adapted from Daily Garnish

Serves 8-10 as a side dish

Ingredients:

For the quinoa:
2 cups dried quinoa, rinsed (I used a combo of red and white)
1 large sweet potato
1 ½ large yellow onions, diced
2 large or 3 small apples, diced but not peeled (I used Gala)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

For the dressing:
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt

Balsamic reduction or balsamic vinegar to finish (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up. Peel and dice the sweet potato into about 3/4-inch chunks. Place on baking sheet, drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt, and toss to coat. Spread in an even layer and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until sweet potato is fork-tender. Set aside.

Add quinoa along with 2.5 cups of water to a small pot. Simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender. Drain any remaining water if necessary.

Add a bit of olive oil to a large pan and saute the onions on medium heat until a bit browned, about 10-15 minutes. At this point, add the diced apples and continue sauteing until they are softened. Add the cranberries, walnuts, cooked quinoa and sweet potato chunks and stir gently.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour over the quinoa mixture and stir to combine. Saute about 2 more minutes, until everything is heated through.

Serve along with balsamic reduction or balsamic vinegar to top. The balsamic isn’t necessary, but it adds a sweetness that I like.

Enjoy, and have a happy Halloween!

White Bean and Kale Stuffed Peppers

October 26, 2012 by Erica

I think it’s finally fall.

The boots and sweaters are out, and we got our first snowfall yesterday. That means I plan on turning on my oven as often as I possibly can – starting with Wednesday’s cookies and continuing with these quinoa-stuffed peppers.

Maybe stuffed peppers are a little bit 80s, and I’m OK with that. They bring me back to my parents’ kitchen, where stuffed peppers made a regular appearance in my mom’s dinner rotation. That qualifies these as comfort food for me. Also, like any mixed-together dish, they totally make the best leftovers.

Can we talk about leftovers for a sec? As a kid, I hated them. I vowed I would never eat leftovers in my adult life, kind of like some kids said they’d stay up all night when they were grown up. (Even as a kid I don’t think I ever made that claim – I’ve always loved to sleep!) In any case, I’ve done a total 180 on the leftovers thing. Get this: You only cook once… and you get to eat more than once. Best thing ever! Plus, there’s something about a stuffed pepper in a tupperware container that is just so cute. Taking my good-looking leftovers out of the fridge at work the next day, I really feel like an adult, kind of like when I make my own stock or cook dried beans from scratch instead of using canned.

Speaking of beans and stock, both make an appearance in this recipe. The beans I did make from scratch, but they didn’t turn out very pretty. Deb from the amazing Smitten Kitchen mentioned in a post from a few years ago that she makes beans in a slow-cooker, which means no pre-soaking required. That sounds delightful to me, and I think I’ll try it next time. As for the vegetable stock, I have to admit I bought it from Whole Foods. I recently tried making my own veggie stock, but found that it didn’t turn out very well. I think I’m just used to making chicken stock, because my veggie stock seemed to be missing a little something. Duh… chicken. Anyway, I’m due for another try sometime soon, but in the meantime I’m sticking to the soup aisle.

If you’re smart, you’ll wait to make these until bell peppers go on sale at your supermarket. If you’re impatient like me and enjoy parting with your whole paycheck every time you buy produce, you’ll make these as soon as you have a craving and end up spending approximately $12 on bell peppers. Oops.

This is my first pass at these stuffed peppers, so let me tell what I would do differently next time: I would add some lemon zest, maybe a bit more rosemary, and more tomato paste for flavor. I would also add more kale (maybe double it?) because it cooked down quite a bit. If you try out those changes, leave a comment to let me know how it goes!

White Bean and Kale Stuffed Peppers

makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
1 1/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth

6 red bell peppers

Olive oil for pan
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 cups packed shredded kale
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 3/4 cup cannellini beans (or 1 15 oz can, drained and rinsed)
Juice of 1 lemon
Sprinkle of crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the membranes. Place the peppers in a baking dish and bake for 15 minutes to soften. Chop up the tops of the peppers to add in later.

Rinse quinoa and add to a small pot with the vegetable broth. (You should use the amount of liquid that usually works for you when cooking quinoa – I usually see recipes call for 1 1/2 cups, but less works better for me.) Cook for about 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender and no liquid remains.

Add a small amount of olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onions, garlic, and carrots and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rosemary. Stir in the kale and chopped bell peppers. Saute until softened, 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add the quinoa, tomato paste, beans and lemon juice (and zest if using) and stir to combine. Season to taste with crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.

Spoon the quinoa mixture into the peppers and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve hot!

Whole Foods Trail Mix Cookies

October 24, 2012 by Erica

Whole Foods has been known to inspire food addictions in me. Sprouted wheat “seeduction” bread, Justin’s almond butter, red quinoa… it is a magical wonderland, and I could wander around for hours. Unfortunately, my wallet can only support about 10 minutes…

My most recent obsession is their “mighty omega-3 trail mix,” which was the inspiration for these cookies. Dark chocolate, almonds, walnuts, cranberries, blueberries. What’s not to love? Probably just the fact that I can eat about a pound of it in one sitting, and keep opening the bag back up once I put it away. Actually, let’s not discuss that right now, because I’m too full of cookies to even think about it.

Yeah, so I don’t know that these cookies are really the solution to my problem of stuffing my face with trail mix on a regular basis. They are, however, super delicious, vegan, and a great excuse to eat more dark chocolate and dried cranberries.

Let’s get this straight, though – they are not a healthy cookie. They have sugar and vegan butter in them. Guys, this is one of my first attempts at vegan baking. Let’s not try to make it super healthy baking or anything, OK? I’ve got to evolve slowly.

As a base for this cookie, I used my all-time favorite cookie recipe – Joanne Chang’s Chunky Lolas. Here in Utah they somehow became my signature cookie (not like I was trying to make friends or anything), and Nate asks for them pretty much weekly, even when I’m in the middle or baking something else. (Don’t worry, I made them for his birthday a few weeks ago.) I have plans to veganize those soon, and maybe even healthy them up a little bit! But in the meantime, although that recipe didn’t provide the healthiest base, I decided to use it for a cookie I knew would turn out delicious – and it didn’t fail me.

These are like a yummy chocolate chip cookie with some extra chewiness and crunchiness mixed in. You can definitely switch up the mix-ins to match your favorite trail mix.

I should mention something about timing: These cookies are somewhat frustrating in that you must mix the batter and then let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before baking. Don’t skip this step, though – you don’t want to go through all the effort and then get flat, crispy cookies! That would just be sad, so plan ahead and they’ll come out perfectly.

Last but not least, I realized that of 3 recipes I’ve now posted on this blog, all 3 are sweet! I swear I really do cook dinner, too. And to prove it, there is a savory recipe coming up later this week!

Whole Foods Trail Mix Cookies

Adapted from Joanne Chang’s fabulous Flour cookbook

Makes about 18-20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks Earth Balance, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 Tbsp ground flax seed

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

8-10 oz dark chocolate chunks or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup walnut halves
1 1/4 cups dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried blueberries (if you can’t find these, simply omit or sub with cranberries or other dried fruit)

Directions:

First, toast the nuts. Preheat oven to 350 and spread almonds out on a baking sheet. Toast for 2 minutes, then add the walnuts and toast for another 5-8 minutes. This will vary a lot by oven, so keep a close eye on them. Once the nuts are a few shades darker, remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, and chop them.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and both types of sugar with a hand mixer. (You can also use a KitchenAid mixer for this step if you have one.) Beat together until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the vanilla, almond milk and flax seeds and beat until just combined.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour through salt). Add in all of the mix-ins (chocolate through blueberries) and stir until thoroughly combined.

Dump the dry mixture into the large bowl with the wet mixture. Stir until the dough is evenly mixed. At this point, sampling is mandatory. Anyone else in the vicinity would probably appreciate a sample, too. But leaving some dough to bake later is also mandatory, so don’t get carried away! Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to a few days.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper. Remove cookie dough from fridge and scoop out in 1/4 cup balls. Flatten each ball slightly with the palm of your hand. These cookies hold together nicely and won’t spread too much, but keep a few inches between them just in case. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cookies are a light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool the entire sheet on a cooling rack for a few minutes. Finally, remove cookies from the sheet and place directly on the rack to finish cooling.

I love eating these cookies while still warm, although they will keep for several days in a sealed container.

Enjoy!

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Banana and Carrot

October 18, 2012 by Erica

Muffins! If you didn’t know already, I’m telling you: You need a fall muffin recipe, and this is it.

This definitely falls into the category of “write this recipe down so I don’t forget it myself” blog posts. I wasn’t really setting out to create something new when I baked these muffins this weekend, but they were so good that I just have to share!

I had planned on making pumpkin pancakes for Saturday morning… but woke up feeling decidedly anti-pancake. Nate suggested muffins – sounded much more delicious – so I scanned my breakfast Pinterest board for muffin recipes. I wanted pumpkin (did I get carried away when I bought several huge cans at Smith’s the other day? hmmm) but I couldn’t really find anything that I had the ingredients for and looked tasty. So I mashed up these summery muffins from Eat, Live, Run with what I had in my fridge, and the result was delicious! These are kind of like banana bread meets carrot cake meets pumpkin muffin. And bonus – they’re vegan and you would NEVER know it. I didn’t use any walnuts here, but will probably add a half cup next time!

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Banana and Carrot

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run, who adapted it from The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook

makes 9-10 muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup spelt flour

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp clove

2 ripe to overripe bananas

1/3 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)

2 medium-sized carrots, grated

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices).

In another bowl, mash the bananas (with a fork is fine). Add the pumpkin, maple syrup and oil and stir until combined.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir to combine. Gently mix in the grated carrots.

Grease muffin tins and fill 90% of the way full with batter. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and serve.

Enjoy!

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