Un-Beet-able chocolate cake

Chocolate beetroot cake

Thanks to meveg's post about choc beetroot cupcakes, I found Phillipa O's recipe for chocolate beetroot cake and it is a great one. It is very easy to make and to overeat. Finishing off the leftover raw beetroot reminded me how much nicer fresh beetroot actually is in comparison to the tinned stuff. Is this my first step into raw foodism and "super health"? Hell no!

Roasted eggplant and caramelised onion marinara on Nutmeat

After buying an eggplant and not knowing what to do with it, I turned to my current favourite cook book, Vegan Yum Yum. It supplied me with a kick-arse recipe for the fanciest sauce I have ever made. The challenge was to incorporate it into a protein packed powerhouse of a meal, rather than with the pathetic pasta the book suggested. Rather than using the Fry's chicken-style strips, I opted for a more budget conscious, high protein, choice and went with nutmeat. I fried up a whole can and smothered it with the sauce.

Creamy Polenta with mushrooms

Last week I bought a copy of Colleen Patrick Goudreau's, "The Joy of Vegan Baking", so I decided to make something from her other book, "The Vegan Table".

This is another relatively easy recipe. Basically, make polenta and mix in some soy milk, herbs, margarine, and pepper. Fry up some onions and chuck in the mushrooms and saute until they begin to go limp. Splash in some tamari and set aside. My winesauce (minus the wine) was a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar with margarine melted into it. So easy and delicious. The only problem I had was trying to work fast enough so that the polenta didn't harden up too much by the time the mushrooms and sauce were done. But I can live with that.

Cultured cakes in a cup

Okay, it is more of a mug cake, but I'm a sucker for alliteration.  I stumbled upon a site, instructables.com, whilst looking for tips on making sourdough starter. It's crammed with DIY info on anything you could imagine and has heaps of vegan recipes. I found an interesting recipe for 5-minute chocolate cake which was later veganised in the comments section of the post. It didn't turn out exactly to plan, as I strayed slightly from the recipe, but it was edible nevertheless.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 squares of lindt 85% chocolate chopped up (original vegan version called for 2 tbs cocoa)
• 3 tablespoons soy milk
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons vegan chocolate chips
• dash of cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients together in a mug then add wet ingredients and mix into a cake batter consistency. Microwave for 3-4 minutes.

As you can see, my mug was a bit too big and I could have doubled the quantities. Also probably nuked it for too long and burnt the chocolate a bit.

Now to the eating. This was a little dry in parts but was cakey enough to rise above the standards I've randomly set for 5 minute cakes.  I didn't let it cool long enough so could have burnt my mouth if I didn't have a glass of soymilk on standby. Overall, this is an ideal item for anyone craving empty calories but is unwilling to go to the trouble of baking a proper cake.

Also, for those who were paying attention earlier, I've started growing a sourdough starter using the instructions from here. I'm using whole grain Atta flour that should hopefully have enough bacteria in it to get the job done and lead to loaf after loaf of deliciousness.

I'll update the progress whenever there is a significant change.