Beet Carrot Cake with Tofu Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi everyone and Happy New Year! I wanted to make a dessert for our New Years Eve celebration. And here it is. It is Beet Carrot Cake from Susan's site, Fatfreevegan.com. I made it in a pan my mom gave me. The recipe called for a non-stick cake pan, uh I don't own one. It was like magic I opened my cupboard to see what I might use and there was a funny looking pan my mom gave me. It has a design in the bottom of it. It looks like a flower with 12 petals. Anyway it is non-stick so I gave it a try. Awesome! It worked great. I had about 4oz of tofutti cream cheese, the new one with no transfats, so I made a half batch of Tofu Cream Cheese' Frosting using a recipe from the Vegan Chef. You can't even
tell it isn't real cream cheese frosting. I adapted it to what I had on hand. Her recipe calls for vanilla and almond extract. My version only has vanilla extract.



I also tried to make it look fun by using the Christmas Cake pedistal my mom gave me. Thanks mom! I am having so much fun and my dear honey is so supportive. Thank you, yogi!


As you can see I couldn't wait until tonight to try it. My sweetheart took a bite and had that look in his eyes, hmmm what is that taste? I finally confessed and told him I had snuck a beet into his Carrot Cake. With a little added frosting he figured it would be ok. After that we we put it away to make sure we had dessert for New Years Eve. The plate in the picture belonged to my Grandma Hill. I was just given them a couple of weeks ago by my mom. Thank you Grandma and Mom. This piece is for you Grandma! I will close for now and wish everyone a wonderful HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lentil Sloppy Joes - comfort food!

I can't believe the new year is just around the corner. I am excited to see what new recipes I can try from all you vegan bloggers and what I can invent. Tonight was comfort food night. We had a variation of Sloppy Lentils from the Fatfreevegan.com. We had them on Alvarado sprouted wheat hamburger buns (which are awesome and only 2 points on weight watchers), french fries, organic corn, sliced tomatoes, and organic applesauce with a sprinkle of cinnamon. I know there is no green on our plates, but, the lentils were green before I cooked them. Yum, what can I say. I feel happy and full. It is amazing how good eating vegan makes you feel. I am a happy camper!

Lentil Sloppy Joes (inspiration from Sloppy Lentils on the fatfeevegan.com web site)

1 1/2 cups of rinsed lentils ( I used green/brown)

3 cups of water

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 1/2 cup diced tomatoes

1 onion

1 small or half a large bell pepper

1/4 cup ketchup

2 T. soy sauce

1/2 T. yellow mustard

1 T. mild chili powder

1 1/2 T. brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Bring water, broth, and tomatoes to a boil. (I used an immersion blender to chop the tomatoes up ever finer. Add lentils and let cook about 30 minutes.

While they are cooking saute' the onion and bell pepper in some vegetable broth or you can use a tiny bit of olive oil. Cook them until soft. Once soft add them to the lentils.

While they are simmering mix together the last five ingredients. Mix well until they are combined. Pour over the lentil mixture and stil until blended well. Cook until the lentils are done to your liking. I prefer mine to have just an ever so light bite to them. I then use an immersion blender, ( my new Christmas present from my sweet husband), to blend the mixture together. Don't over blend it our you will have soup. I blend only part so that I still have the texture of the lentils every now an then.

Enjoy!

Christmas dinner

Look at our yummy Christmas veggies before they were cooked. I just love our brussels sprouts. They aren't just good to eat they are just plain fun to look at. I know many of you out there don't like them, but roasted with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper makes them devine. They are even good the next day and the next. I think they get better the longer they sit. The cauliflower and broccoli were fixed in the norm, steamed, but oh so good and good for us!



Here is a picture of our Christmas dinner. We had some of my favorite homemade 7 grain bread, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, yams, which I steamed and then made a sauce of orange juice, maple syrup, Earth Balance, some agave poured over and baked at 350 for about 30 min. We also had green bean casserole (our daughters favorite), roasted brussels sprouts, whole cranberry sauce, macaroni salad from the book, *The Vegan Planet", and the most wonderful vegan roast I have ever eaten. It is called a "Celebration Roast". It is made from wheat with a stuffing that is made from butternut squash, wild rice, apples, and various spices. http://www.celebrationroast.com/

My 7 grain bread recipe is one I veganized from my breadman bread maker book:

1 1/2 cup warm water
2 T. canola oil
1 T. Agave necter
1 tsp. sea salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup spelt flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup kamut
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup gluten flour
2 tsp. active dry yeast

Put everthing into your bread maker in the order listed. Cook on whole wheat setting.

I hope you all enjoy!

Vegan Pumpkin Raisin Loaf

My first vegan pumpkin bread! it is the most awesome recipe. You can find it on page 169 of Dreena's book, "The Everyday Vegan" I got the book as an early Christmas present. I adapted the recipe with what I had on hand. I used organic sweet potato puree instead of pumpkin and currants instead of raisins. I also added a couple tablespoons of chopped walnuts. It is wonderful bread! I made two small loaves instead of one large. Here is another photo of it. You can see the yummy currents and walnuts in it. We used a bit of Earth Balance too! I have taken it to work two days in a row and ate it without the Earth Balance and it is so moist and delicious!