Sunday Happy

It is super chilly and dark out and the smell of jelly donuts is wafting in from open windows (it's coming from the donut factory down the street) and I am thinking about grabbing the wool blanket from the packed away winter stuff and crawling back into bed, just for a little while longer until the coffee is done brewing. (4am wake up this morning and I am feeling like a nap is in order soon, even if it is 6am) This is the stuff of the best fall morning. Now if this could be my all day.#lifegosls

The week was a week, but a good week at that. Started getting squash with the farm share which lead to a discussion between me and the mr about what our absolute #1 food we could live off of forever (him, pizza.Me, super roasted kombucha squash covered in nut butter)  I made a sheet birthday cake that also contained about an entire package of oreo cookies for a newly 15 year old Jackson that is making me feel old. There was a dinner here and a dinner there and just a lot of people and family. We haven't spent much time at home or by ourselves this week so I am definitely ready for a quite day all to my lonesome. My brain is on overload.

We ordered the downstairs flooring!!! Come this Wednesday, the mr and I will be unloading 40 or so bundles of some pretty white "utility grade" oak.  We also found some floor tile for the bathroom for dirt cheap at the resourse store( tiny white squares.. nothing fancy but looks sharp) Flooring is for real you guys. Once we lay this stuff it's over. We are good and yeah. (until 2 hours later when we realize we have a million other things to accomplish) But all is good. We have flooring.

So today is going to be a fun one. The mr, my brother and I are going to attempt to move the 10 million pound radiators from the back yard to the upstairs..... Going to be oh so much fun (no, not it is no) Once we move them, I am going to finish painting them and the mr will install them. Whoa hoo! Plumbers are coming soon to hook up the new boiler so we have to get all this shit ready. WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK!

How about you? Got any fun activities planned for this here fantastic fall weekend? Find something enjoyable, preferably outside, and try to stay away from reading all about the politics. We all need a break from that.

Internet stuff that kept me interested.

- Do yourself a favor and go outside. This Is Your Brain on Nature

- Almost finished this book and about to start this one. 

- I like honey crisps all right, but I am a mac girl for always. (and they are usually one of the cheaper varieties) Why Are Honeycrisps So Much More Expensive Than Other Apples?

-Breadfruit came from testicles and other weird myths. THE WORLD'S BEST FOOD-BASED CREATION MYTHS

-How can trees not have secret lives. A Web Of Trees And Their 'Hidden' Lives

- And this. Today in Terrifying Bird News, Pigeons Know How to Read

-This would be my bliss (with an added coffee bar)  Secluded Library In The Woods

-I got my information from Meryl Strep in The Devil Wears Prada (love the movie) How Trends Trickle Down. The circuitous path of ideas in food and fashion.

-Breaking Taboo, Swedish Scientist Seeks To Edit DNA Of Healthy Human Embryos. I am officially scared.

-I think this might be my next knitting project. Purl Soho Pullover

Some pics from the past week.

Happy weekend!

-C

Upside-down Rhubarb Maple Cornbread Cake

My rhubarb patch has turned into a rhubarb jungle and I couldn't be happier. At the beginning of the spring I moved like 10 of the plants to the new patch location and was wondering if I would even get a small crop this year. Guess my soil is premo cause those plants be ginormous.

And now I am harvesting the stalks from that jungle and I have rhubarb coming out of my ears. (I will be eating rhubarb all summer long) It's not really a problem per say, but there is so much, so it's time to get a little crafty with the tangy sour veggie stalk.(rhubarb sword fight anyone?)  One of the first things I made with some of it was a salad that consisted of roasted and slightly charred zucchini, onions, corn and rhubarb. I made it for the mr thinking that he was going to love it because he loves rhubarb so much. Well he didn't love it because of all the corn. (Such a weird egg that boy) But me,I loved it, like ate it all and then some. Corn and rhubarb are such a good combination and if the mr wasn't being such a weirdo, he should have liked that salad too. But it gave me the inspiration for the cake . A cornbread cake ( he loves cornbread) sweetened just the right amount with maple. Not exactly a rhubarb corn salad, but you get the idea. And this cake is totally multi purpose. Made as dessert and would go extremely well with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream but would work equally as well served with a bowl of baked beans. I mean, can cake for dinner get any better?

The stuff. A bowl with cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, along with a little salt. Also need some maple syrup, soy milk, earth balance and apple cider vinegar.And of course we have a few rhubarb stocks,

Start with melting the earth balance and maple syrup together on the stove and letting it thicken up a bit. While it's thickening, think about the shape of you skillet and haw you want to layer you rhubarb, like the design of it.

Then when the maple is thickened and you know how you want to layer it, chop up your rhubarb and start placing in into the bottom of the skillet. Any way you do it, just make sure that the bottom is pretty much covered in rhubarb and that its only on stalk deep.

Rhubarb so pretty

Now for the batter. Easy easy. Just whisk together the dry and combine all of the wet into a bowl.

Wet and dried mixed together.

Pour the batter gently onto the rhubarb and smooth the batter out.

And into the oven it goes.

Pulled from the oven when the cornbread is golden brown and a tester stuck into it comes out clean. Let it cool just as it is for about 10 minutes... (give the maple time to cool and set up so it doesn't just get sucked into the cake) then flip in. I flipped mine onto a piece of parchment and a cutting board . You could try to go directly onto a cake stand or plate, but It might get a little messy. I like to play it safe when flipping things and just use a big cutting board. Now get ready to cross your fingers.....

Ta da!. Ain't it a beaut? And don't worry if a little piece or two get stuck in the pan. Either scrape it out and place it back on the cake or consider it a little snack.

There you have it. A cake good to go for all your meal eating needs.

Go rhubarb GO!

-C

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Upside-down Rhubarb Maple Cornbread Cake

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup melted earth balance + 2 tablespoons
• 1/3 cup maple syrup + 2-3 tablespoons
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk (or any plant based milk)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 stalks rhubarb (enough to cover bottom of skillet)

Note. I baked this in a 10 inch cast iron skillet. If you don't have one, a 9 inch circle or square pan will do the trick, you are just going to have to simmer the maple in a pot ans pour in into the pan you are using...and maker sure to grease it!

Preheat oven to 350.

Place the 2 tablespoons of earth balance and the 1/3 cup of maple into a 10 inch skillet and place on medium heat. Stir around until earth balance is melted and the maple starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Now grab rhubarb cut into pieces and layer it any way you see fit, making sure to cover the bottom of the skillet but not layering it in to thick.

In a large bowl mix together the flour corn meal, salt, baking soda and powder. Then In a separate bowl, mix together the apple cider vinegar, soy, melted and cooled earth balance and the remaining maple. Pour wet into dry ans mix until even;y incorporated.

Pour batter gently on top of rhubarb, leveling out if need be, then slide it on into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a tester stuck into the middle come out clean.

Remove cake ans let cool for for about 10 minutes. This is really important,because flipping to soon and all the rhubarb maple will just absorb and soggy up the cake and if you wait to long, all that goodness willl harden up and get stuck. SO 10 minutes.

Now when your ready yo flip, think about size. I used a big cutting board that , but a plate would work to, just make sure it;s slightly bigger then the skillet. Then just do it flip and lift the skillet away. Any pieces that might have gotten stuck can be scraped off and placed back where they belong.

Now your cake is ready and waiting for you to eat. Sweet enough for dessert, not to sweet that you couldn't serve it with dinner. Multi purpose cake.. the best kind!

Carrot Cake with Salted Date Sauce

As a kid, my favorite holiday was Easter. Every year my parents would fill up brightly colored plastic baskets with handfuls of neon colored plastic "grass" and top it with all sorts of candy, coloring books, bubble, and sidewalk chalk. They were beautiful and amazing.  It was like getting a basket of fun and a bunch of sugary candy to keep you going to have all that fun all day long. And the egg hunts. Plastic eggs full of candy hidden all over the house ans yard. We would all have our emptied out baskets running around full of excitement, ready to take out any sibling in our path just to be the one to get the next egg. We were ruthless and I am pretty sure every year someone would end up crying. Now, as an adult, I am not allowed to participate in the egg hunt. (but I still try to make my sibling cry)  Nope, now I get to hide the eggs and sit back and watch the new generation of littles tripping each other and stealing eggs from one another. The carnage!

And also at Easter there is cake. Is there a rule that says you have to make carrot cake for Easter? I think there must be because it is when everyone and their moms busts this cake out. And everyone's carrot cake it the best because they made it the right way, like with raisins or pineapple or walnuts. There are so many things that can be added to this cake that it's a little overwhelming. So I made a carrot cake that was mainly about the carrots. Nothing added, no nuts raisins or coconut (although you could add i if you wanted) and it's made into a pretty bundt cake, which in turn makes mine the best.

This here cake was destined for tomorrows Easter table. I made it with no nut produces cause the nephew has the deadly nut allergy. But when I went and made the date sauce, I kinda let that slip and used almond milk. Oops. So now I have a whole big carrot cake sitting on the counter with it's destiny shattered. So sad, but I think its will survive cause the mris really into it and has already eaten a few pieces. I figure that because it's a carrot cake, he can eat a few more. It's almost like eating a vegetable....almost. And now I need to make a new cake to bring over or I might just stop at the store and buy some oreos on my way over tomorrow. The littles will like that.

The stuff. A bowl containing flour, salt, baking powder ans baking soda.  Also need a few really big carrots, a bit of brown sugar, and ground up cinnamon and ginger. Coconut oil, soy milk, an orange (for it's zest) and a little apple cider vinegar are going into this cake too.

Start by chopping up 2 of the biggest carrots and tossing the into a pot with about an inch of water. Stick the pot on the stove and cook until the carrots are nice and tender. Then blend those tender carrots up.

I had a hard time not eating all of the carrot puree, so maybe if you want, cook up a few extra carrots ans have yourself a pre-carrot cake carrot snack.

And while the carrot puree is still warm, add in the coconut oil and the sugar. Mix it until the oil is melted ans it's one cohesive mixture.

And take that last carrot ans grate it up into the flour. Also add in the spices and the zest of the orange.

Note. I used a small holed grater so that the carrot shreds would be small and add texture to the cake but not make it too chunky. But use a normal grater..it's all about your carrots chunk prefernce here.

Now dump the wet carrot mixture into the dry and start to mix

Adding in the soy and the vinegar to complete the batter.

And scooped that batter into a oiled bundt pan and get it into the (preheated) oven to bake.

After about an hour, the cake is ready, golden brown and smelling like any good carrot cake should. Remove from the oven and turn the cake out from the cake pan and stick on on a rack to cool. This cake is waiting for me to decide what, or if I want to frost, drizzle, or sauce it up..... I think it wants as little something.

Ok, I figured it out. Date sauce.

The stuff. Fresh medjool dates, almond milk and sea salt.

Date (pits removed) into the food processor along with the milk and a good pinch of sea salt.  Blend until it turns into a nice smooth, fluffy sauce.

Take that sauce and spread it all over the cake. As much or as little as you want (you might have left over date sauce but its ok, you can just eat. It will last for about a week in the fridge and goes great with just about anything) Once fully sauced, sprinkle the cake with flaked sea salt.

Sliced, plated, and ready. It's carrot cake time.

Have a great weekend, eat all your candy at once!

-C

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Carrot Cake with Salted Date Sauce

Makes a bundt cake (but could be made into a 9x13 sheet cake)

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 coconut cup oilany oil works)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 large carrots (makes about 2 cups carrot puree and 1/2 cup of raw grated carrot)
• 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger

Salted Date Caramel

• 1 cup medjool dates (pitted)
• 1 cup almond milk (or any milk you want to use)
• sea salt

Start by chopping up 2 of the biggest carrots and placing them into a pot with water about an inch of water. Stick on stove and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until the carrots are fork tender. When done, puree them with any means nessasary (hand blender, regular blender, food processor) Add the coconut oil and sugar to the warm carrot puree and mix until oil is melted.

Preheat oven to 350

In a large separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and the spices. Grate the smallest carrot in with the dry.

Take the wet carrot mixture and dump into the dry and mix, adding in the soy milk and the vinegar as you mix. Once everything is completely incorporated, pour mixture into a well oiled bundt pan and stick the cake into the preheated oven

While the cake is baking, make the date sauce. Just take the dates, remove pits if they have any and place in a food processor with a good pinch of sea salt and the almond milk. Pulse a few times, scrap down the sides, and keep blended, stopping to scrap sides if needed, until a nice thick smooth sauce is formed. If you want a thinner sauce, just add more milk til you get your desired consistency.

Now check cake. Once it's golden brown and a tester comes out clean (between 50 minutes to an hour) remove from oven. Let cool for a few minutes in pan the then turn it over onto a wire rack to finish cooling off. Once the cake is cool, dump the date sauce all over it then sprinkle with another good few pinches of the sea salt.

And now eat it. This is a cake that needs no fork, but you can go ahead and use one if you must.

Delicata Upside down Cake

I have so so so many winter squash. It's getting kind of out of hand. The mr is even making me a couple of wall shelves specifically for the squash so we can get our table back (it is currently covered in squash and tomatoes). I hoard them and I can't exactly tell you why. I think there is a part of me that is afraid that sometime durning the winter I am going to ran out of squash and am going to be forced to eat, I don't know, other food. And there also the part of me that knows that I will eat it all and why the hell not hoard them.. they are so pretty and lovely and…..well because I can! When I sit here and think about it,  there is no real logical reason for me to have so many, especially sense I will be doing a winter farm share and we get squash at each pick up all winter long. 

Hum….Things to think about..Oh well. I'll just call it a little werido quork of mine… squash hoarder, which is much better then a trash hoarder or a "stupid shit I found on the side of the road"  hoarder (that would be the mr.. but I don't judge).

So yeah,  I might need a squash intervention, or I can just make everyone around me happy by baking them sweet ass squash treats. I have shared and I always like to share my squash loot (see, another resin to have so many) but I found that most of the people in my life do not have the same kind of hunger for savory cooked squash.(weirdos) But you know what they do like? Cake Everyone will eat cake.

And for this cake I used delicata. It is really sweet,(I think all on its own it taste like a sweet dessert) so tasty, and easy to cook, The perfect squash for a cake. Add in the warm fall spices and you got yourself a winner. And bonus.. if you have heard that there is a canned pumpkin shortage this year and are are worried about you pumpkin fix. Stop. You don't need canned pumpkin. Just make your own puree and make it with all the squashes, especially delicata. 

Now go bake a cake.. I will probably make another one this weekend while I start on eating/baking with the sweet dumplings and buttercups that are piled on the fridge (seriously.. I have squash EVERYWHERE!)

The stuff. In the big white bowl there is white whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then we have some brown sugar, oil, water with some vinegar and a already baked delicata squash. Also going to need another uncooked squash, earth balance and a little more brown sugar for the upside down part.

First off, grab yourself 10-12 inch skillet, preferably one that you have not just cooked garlic in. 

Slice up the uncooked delicata into 1/2 inch slices and remove the seeds (to roast later)

Stick the earth balance and the lesser amount of brown sugar into the skillet and place it on low heat, just to melt the butter and sugar down to form a sauce.

Now layer the squash rounds in the sauce. Fill in the skillet as much as you can. ( any left over can be for  cooked for lunch)

The already baked delicata squash (minus the seed and skin.. save the seeds to roast, skin you eat right away) goes into a bowl with the brown sugar and oil. Mix it all together until combined. 

Note.. My squash was still warm when I mixed it with the sugar and oil. which really helped the sugar resolve and for the mixture to be smooth. If you squash is cold, warm it up a bit..

Whisk together all the dry and dump in the squash mixture and mix.

And slowly pour in the water/ vinegar mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Now slowly pour batter over the delicata in the skillet.

And into the oven it goes!

After 45-50 minutes, the cake should be browned and beautiful and a tester should come out clean when stuck in the middle. Remove the cake and place on cooling rack for about 8-10 minutes to cool. Don't get to excited and do it to soon or else the caramelization on the bottom will still be too liquid and completely soak into cake. Giving it a few minutes will let it cool enough to set up and stick to the top….so just wait!

And for the best and scary part…flip the skillet onto a plate or cutting board and be amazed. oh, but right before you do, run a spatula or knife around the edge to make sure the cake is loose.

It really should have no problem coming out of the skillet, but if any of the squash sticks (one piece of mine did) just scrap it out and place it back on the cake… no one will notice)

Now time for a slice… or maybe two!

And for reals, go get yourself lots of squash, even if it's just to make cakes with!

Have a fantastic weekend!

-C

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Delicata Upside-down Cake 

Makes a 12 inch skillet cake (can be made in a can pan)

For the cake

• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat pastry flour (can use white pastry, wheat pastry, or all purpose)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup warm delicata squash puree*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup mild flavored oil (canola or veggie)
• 1 cup water 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vineagr
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

For the upside down part

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons earth balance]
• 1 small uncooked delicata squash 

*Note.. To make delicata puree, simply stick the whole squash into the oven and roast until fork tender. Remove and let cool enough to handle. Cut in half, scoop to the seeds and scoop the flesh into a bowl….thats it. Oh, save seeds to roast and eat the skin as a snack (skin is my favorite part and the seeds are almost better then pumpkin!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Grab yourself a 10-12 inch clean cast iron skillet (maybe don't cook garlic in it before you make this cake). Stick the earth balance and the brown sugar in it and place on low heat until the butter and sugar melt together and form a sauce. Remove pan from heat. Take the raw delicata squash and slice it into 1/2 inch rounds. Remove the seeds(save for roasting) and place the rounds into the bottom of the skillet, fitting in as many as you can, without overlapping. Set aside and make cake batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and the cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, combine the cooked warm squashwith the oil and the brown sugar. (if you squash puree is cold, warm it up. It mixes better warm) Mix until completely combined. Dump wet into dry and whack together then slowly pour in water/ vinegar mixture and whack until everything is full incorporated. 

Pour cake batter over the stuff in the skillet and place into the oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes , until a nice golden brown and tester in middle comes out clean. Remove and place on a cooling rack or ontop of the oven to cool for 8-10 minutes. Once  cooled, take a plate, cooling rack, or cutting board that is a least a little bigger therm the skillet, place it ontop pif the killet, and flip. The cake should drop right out…. if anything sticks in the skillet, trust scrap it off and stick it back on the cake.

Now the cake is ready to eat.. so grab a knife, cut a slice and do it.

Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Cake

It's official, all of the littles started school yesterday……HOORAY! (I say hooray cause school is cool and the start of school means it's going to be fall so soon!. Also I like hanging out with the littles more when they are in school. There is more to talk about and any time away from school is cool time so they like to do more stuff and not just be summer bums)

One of the littles had his very first ever day of school. So me, being the bestest most awesomest aunt ever, made that little a celebration, hooray for school, banana ice cream cake.

This little  has been bugging me for a while now to make him an ice cream cake. It all started a few months ago when I gave him a bowl of banana ice cream and told him that when he sleeps over he can have ice cream for breakfast  That blew his little mind. We then proceeded to have a converastawtion about healthy food and what was ok to eat for breakfast. (He is very interested in being healthy) I then told him that whenever he sleeps over I would make a banana ice cream cake for breakfast cause bananas are healthy. But every time he is over, I never seems to have enough bananas.

Well I had the bananas and there is no better excuse then the first day of kindergarten to make a cake.. A very delicious peanut butter banana ice cream cake!  And no, it wasn't for breakfast, but the left overs can be! (there were no left overs here)

The stuff… Crispy rice cereal, peanut butter (I have some chiunky stuff  at the moment, but any nut butter is good) and 4 frozen  chopped up bananas.

Rice ceareal goes into a food processor with the peanut butter. Pulse until everything is all combined and starts to come togerter.

And ump the mixture into a spring for pan. If you do not have a spring form pan, a pie plate will work just as well.

Such a nice looking crust if I do say so myself. Now stick it in the freezer while you make your ice cream.

Frozen bananas go into the processor, get blended for a few mounters, and come out as ice cream…. freaking magic!

Now dump the magic ice cream into the crust.

And smooth it all nice like..and into the freezer it goes until its frozen.

After a few hours, you take it out of the freezer, remove from the pan (or leave it in the pan)

And gather your toppings. A handful of the rice cereal, some melted peanut butter, and a little melted nutella. (use whatever you want.. fruit would be great, some nuts, graham crackers, sprinkles. You get the idea)

 Now, Wait for it….

Go crazy! Toppings all over!

And serve up, and watch out.. I almost got my hand eaten for kids going for seconds..

Have a fantastic day and happy back to school. to littles and parents alike!

-C

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Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Cake

Makes a 6 inch cake 

For the cake

• 4-5 frozen bananas
• 2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
• 4 tablespoon peanut butter 

To garnish (use any, all or none of what you would like… and maybe not the super sugary ones if a breakfast cake)

• melted peanut butter
• melted chocolate
• Nutella
• handful of rice cereal
• fresh fruit
• jam
• coconut flakes
• sprinkles
• anything else you would like!

Place cereal and peanut butter into a food processor and pulse until crumbly and combined and starts to come away from bowl.

Dump mixture into a 6 in spring form pan (or if you not have one, a pie plate works too) and press it down evenly on the bottom. Stick into freezer

Take bananas out of freezer and place into food processor. Blend until smooth. If needed, you can drizzle a tiny amount of water into it if you think it needs a little help to blend. 

Once smooth, take crust from freezer and dump the nanaer ice cream on top and carefully smooth it out. Stick back into freezer (a pier of plastic over to prevent ice crystals )for at least 2 hours, or until the ice cream has completely frozen.

When it's time to serve, remove cake from spring form (or leave it in the pie plate).and drizzle the top with melted peanut butter, melted, chocolate and another handful of crispy cereal. Or leave it bare. Or add sprinkles… the toppings are all unto you!

Eat like a camp, for breakfast or dessert.. Or eat some for dessert and then some for breakfast.