Recipes

Fish Tacos

Ooh, child!

Life is good. Isn’t life grand? Life is great.

Here’s what’s shaking: Gwyneth Paltrow (aka wife of Chris Martin aka mother of Apple and Moses aka friend of Mario Batali aka writer/cook/singer/actress), the one and only, wrote a cookbook.

I didn’t buy it. I have a friend who equal parts loathes and envies Mrs. Paltrow (looking at you, A) and she would probably disown me. Also, it’s expensive and only a few of the recipes caught my eye. Including this one, for fish tacos.

And as you may remember, I’m trying to learn Spanish this summer, so a Mexican-themed night was certainly in order!

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Mushroom Bruschetta

Fresh, light, delectable, summery.

As you probably know, I love bruschetta of all kinds. Although bruschetta is traditionally just toasted bread with fresh garlic rubbed over the top, I much prefer fresh tomatoes mixed with anything on hand (see here and here) and a generous helping of the bright flavours of balsamic vinegar and goat cheese.

The other day, I was in the mood for a decadent lunch that included some of my favourite tastes – fresh, crusty baguette, creamy goat cheese and tangy balsamic vinegar. This is the simplest of meals that could also double as an hors d’oeuvre at a party (just use smaller baguette rounds), paired with some champagne?

It’s incredibly easy, and so tasty!

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Baked Onion Rings

I’ve been on a detox for the last few days, and the irony of this is that I seem to think about food much more than usual. There are benefits to this, of course: I’m much more mindful of what I eat and when I’m hungry. There are also downsides: I tend to eat my alkalizing broth green soup while watching an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. For some reason, I like to watch them make greasy, fried food, even if I don’t really crave it! So when I remembered I’d made the most delicious and crispy onion rings the night before I left Montreal, I knew I had to whip out the pictures to live vicariously – through my past self? And I thought I might as well share them with you too, since this recipe is delicious and easy.

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Vegan Cookies n’ Cream Cake

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It’s birthday season, am I right? I don’t know if it’s just in my personal circle or what, but there seems to be a high-traffic period of birthdays that starts mid-March, and peaks during the first week of April. I could be biased, because my birthday is today (!), but I know more than a dozen people born this week alone – and almost five (and counting) born on my birthday itself!

Whatever the reason (parents getting busy in August, what?), this phenomenon only means one thing: a whole freakin’ lot of cake. A couple weeks ago, I had the great privilege of making Deb’s Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache Glaze. Mouthful, much? Mouthful of awesome. Here’s a couple pictures of that big huge mound of radical perfection:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I outdid myself. I made a vegan Cookies n’ Cream cake.

It seduced me. It drew me in with its crumbled cookie perfection, and took me down with its resulting sugar coma. Mostly, I ended up depressed that I don’t have a cake stand (have you guys seen Bakerella’s latest post!!?!?! Jealous death..) but I somehow managed to be okay with just the cake. Sigh, my life is so hard sometimes.

First of all, since I know y’all are going to be asking: yes, Oreos are vegan! No really, they are. I just went and checked the ever-dwindling package that is residing in my pantry. They just have a lot of coconut oil and vegetable shortening. And FYI people, this is the unhealthy type of vegan food, so don’t be jumping on the bandwagon just because Oreos and french fries qualify, okay?

You wanna know how to make it? Do ya?

 

Cookies n’ Cream Cupcakes

Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

For two 8-inch cakes, we must make a double batch of cupcakes! Want to see how I figured that one out?

..It was hard. It took a lot of Google searches. On a related note: how did anyone survive without the Internet?

For two 8-inch cakes: (I’m so nice, I pre-doubled the recipe for you guys!)

  • 2 cups plain soy milk
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp almond/chocolate/more vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup crushed Oreos (I accidentally omitted them from the cakes!)

For the frosting:

  • 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
  • 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (I used Becel Vegan margarine)
  • 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup plain soy milk
  • 1/2 cup crushed Oreos

Since we’re not using eggs, we need a good binding agent. So the base of the cake is made up of  soy milk and apple cider vinegar: mix them together, and let them curdle for a few minutes. Curdle = awesome word.

Then mix in the sugar, oil and vanilla + other extract and beat the concoction into submission (read: frothy).

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda & powder and salt. Doesn’t it look a bit like a mountain experiencing global warming? All the snow is melting! How sad and dirty!

Okay..I ‘m probably the only one who sees that.

Add dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until there aren’t any more big lumps. Speaking of lumps. So unnecessary. Don’t click that link.

Spray some cooking spray into your pans and divide the batter evenly between them. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes. It actually took me much longer to cook them all the way through, so I’d recommend checking them at 20 minutes, and then every 5-10 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Go to your Cognition lecture. Come back and make dangerously sweet icing. Onward!

Beat together the shortening & margarine until they are fluffy as a cloud. Add the sugar, and beat for a long time, until your arm threatens to fall off. Give up trying to properly combine them, and add the vanilla and soy milk. Then the cookie crumbs that you mashed up using a plastic bag and a lot of cojones. Then beat that until it is fluffy and delicious. AMAZING.

Once you’ve let the cakes cool and the icing is at room temperature, we can begin decorating!

I cut a semi-circle out of a piece of tinfoil and put the cakes on top, so that it would be easy to remove after, and would keep the plate clean and pristine. Aren’t I industrious?

Cool story, bro.

And finally..we get the finished product. Ta-da!!

How beautiful is that? And trust me, it tastes as wonderful as it looks. The icing is richly sinful and the cake is moist. It’s so easy to cut into, not too crumbly, and fluffy as all get out. If you have an Oreo lover in your life (as I certainly do), make this cake for their birthday!

Okay everyone, wishing you all my birthday love, why don’t you have an awesome day today? It is the best day of the year, after all! (Heehee).

All my sugary love,


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