The Little Things

It's 21 degrees F here this morning and my boys have swimming. My husband graciously offered to take them so I can stay home & make cupcakes for today's birthday celebration. (Low-fat vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, with fresh blueberries!) Rather than pour cold cereal into plastic bowls and be done with it, I felt this morning called for a little extra love. Using quick-cooking oatmeal, I prepared a simple, warm and nourishing breakfast - the love in the details. In a divided dish I provided flax seed, dried cranberries, raisins and freshly diced apples. Agave nectar, cinnamon and nutmeg (or megnut, as my youngest son will sometimes still call it) were placed on the counter so each guy could personalize his dish. The final touch - warming the bowls in the microwave for 60 seconds and then keeping them warm (handy function on my microwave) until everyone was seated.

Lest you picture pure familial bliss, however, I'll tell you the truth:  breakfast was greeted with an under-the-breath groan from one boy and the need to prepare a bagel for the husband who will not eat oatmeal. No matter. Everyone was well fed, the preparation and clean up was minimal and now I can get started on those cupcakes!  Plus, I have a pretty good hunch that both my boys will remember those little touches with fondness.

More Happy Herbivore Recipe Testing Photos!

Breakfast Sausage PattiesStrawberry ShortcakePot Roast

All Recipes are Fat Free & Vegan & are from Lindsay Nixon's upcoming cookbook!

Happy Herbivore Recipe Testing

If you're not familiar with Lindsay Nixon's blog, Happy Herbivore, you are missing out on some terrific fat-free vegan recipes!  I am happy to be testing some recipes for Lindsay for her upcoming cookbook.  Obviously I can't print the recipes here, but check out these photos for a sampling of what Lindsay has in store:


Vegan Bacon Bits!

Vegan Frittata!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins!

All of Lindsay's recipes are made from whole foods that you most likely have in your pantry.  Check out her blog for more recipes and cookbook updates:  http://happyherbivore.com/.

More mouth-watering photos coming soon!

Beet This Salad for Lunch

Beets are one of those foods that seem to get a bad rap. This mystifies those who love them so. In my house, I am the only one who will even eat beets. Lately I’ve taken to keeping a can or two of beets in the fridge. This way they are chilled, ready and waiting anytime I want the cool, mellow flavor of beets to enjoy, all to myself.



This is a hardly a recipe, but good enough to share. It’s one of those times you adjust for personal taste, what you have on hand and how many people you’re preparing for. Thank you to Dragonshoes at Recipe Zaar for providing a vegan ranch dressing recipe that was ready in moments!  (I added a bit of apple cider vinegar to the dressing, but otherwise kept it the same.)


After I photographed the salad, I poured the actual amount of dressing I use onto the salad and topped it with cubes of veggie burger for extra protein. I thought you'd like to see it in it's prettier state, before all that.

I really enjoyed this lunch, even if a big blob of pink-tinted ranch dressing did land on my new keyboard!


Mixed baby greens
Cubed apple
Red onion slices
Whole, small bed beets or slices
Pumpkin seeds
Vegan Ranch Dressing

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Late in the growing season, one of the farmer’s markets we frequent was giving away free vegetable plants. My sons each picked a plant to bring home; my youngest choosing, not surprisingly, jalapeno peppers. The plant produced several peppers and we were just able to pluck them before the weather turned cold. Our peppers were tiny and of various sizes, but roughly the equivalent of 2 medium sized jalapenos in total. I chose to roast the tomatoes to bring out their flavor and make this more of a fall-inspired salsa.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

This is a smoky, flavorful salsa.

4 tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed

5 tomatoes

1 medium onion, quartered

2 heads garlic

2 Jalapeno peppers

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon toasted cumin seeds

½ cup chopped Cilantro

Juice of ½ lime

Spray a medium sized baking pan with canola oil. Toss in tomatillos, tomatoes, onions, garlic and Jalapenos.

Broil for approximately 4 minutes. Keep a close eye on the garlic and Jalapenos as they will blacken more quickly than the larger vegetables. You will need to turn the smaller vegetables after about 2 minutes.

Turn vegetables over and broil for another 4 minutes. Remove the garlic and Jalapenos after two minutes and set aside to cool. After the tomatoes, onions and tomatillos are blackened on both sides, remove them as well and set aside to cool.

Pour juices from the roasting pan into a bowl.

When cooled, dice the garlic and jalapenos.

When cooled, chop the tomatoes and tomatillos. Go ahead and use a serrated knife to chop the tomatoes, it will make the job a lot easier.

I recommend hand chopping as roasting makes the tomatoes very soft and produces a lot of yummy, smoky juices. Using a food processor might make the salsa too runny.

Add the salt, toasted cumin seeds, juice of ½ lime and chopped cilantro.

Stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes 2 cups of salsa

Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake with Chocolate Ganache Icing

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and I needed to whip up a birthday cake using the ingredients I had on hand.  Online I was able to find Mooswood Restaurant's recipe for vegan chocolate cake with a wonderfully simple chocolate ganache icing. 

I made a few minor changes to the icing, adding 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and a couple of splashes of cherry juice.  I also used soy milk instead of water. 

Since I wanted to be able to plate the cake, I sprayed the bottom and sides of my baking pan with canola oil and had no problem getting the cake out of the pan.

This was truly a breeze to put together.  The cake came out moist, full of flavor and beautiful.  I especially liked the chocolate ganache icing.  I have two opinionated sons who wanted the icing "naked", but in the future I would love to add some sliced almonds to the icing before refrigerating the cake. I can also picture a circle of fresh cherries in the center of the cake.  All said, this cake was a big hit!

From the Moosewood Restaurant Recipe Archive:

No one would ever suspect that this dark, elegant, scrumptious cake is both egg-less and dairy-less. It's economical and low-cholesterol, and what's more, it goes into the oven in 6 minutes with no mixing bowl to clean because the batter is mixed directly in the baking pan. You may be surprised to see vinegar in the ingredient list, but it's not a mistake. The combination of vinegar and baking soda helps the cake to rise. When cool, cut and serve the cake directly from the pan using small metal spatula or pie server; it cannot be easily turned out onto a serving plate.


However, if you have time for a 12-minute cake, you can mix the batter in a bowl, line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper, and generously oil the sides of the pan and dust with flour. Then the cake can be removed from the pan with no trouble at all, for a more elegant presentation or for a layer cake.


For the chocolate glaze, use a good-quality chocolate, such as Callebaut or Valrhona. Or try it with your favorite frosting or a dusting of confectioners' sugar or topped with whipped cream, ice cream, or sliced fruit.

Serves 8


Preparation time for cake: 6 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Preparation time for glaze: 15 minutes
Chilling time (if using glaze) 30 minutes

Equipment: 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pan, 2-cup measuring cup, double boiler

Cake Ingredients
1 ½ cups unbleached white flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water or coffee
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cider vinegar


Chocolate Glaze
½ pound semi-sweet chocolate
¾ cup hot water
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375º.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, and sugar directly into the cake pan. In the measuring cup, measure and mix together the oil, cold water or coffee, and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix the batter with a fork or a small whisk. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls in the batter as the baking soda and vinegar react. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes and set aside to cool.
To make the optional glaze, melt the chocolate in a double boiler, microwave oven, or reset the oven to 300º and melt the chocolate in the oven for about 15 minutes in a small ovenproof bowl or heavy skillet. Stir the hot water and vanilla into the melted chocolate until smooth. Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake. Refrigerate the glazed cake for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Reprinted from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts , Copyright © 1997 by Moosewood, Inc. Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. New York, publisher.

Orzo & Sausage Stuffed 8 Ball Zucchini

On a recent trip to Delicious Orchards in beautiful Colts Neck, I came across these adorable 8 Ball Zucchini.  Just from appearance alone, I knew I had to buy a few!

Once home, these little treasures sat in my fridge until I came up with an idea for what kind of stuffing I wanted to make. I had orzo on hand and an already cooked lone vegan sausage that needed a destination.  I fiddled around some and came up with the following recipe.  I have to say, it was pretty tasty!  It even appealed to the most vegetable-phobic person in my household - my husband!

PS.  You can serve them with, or without their cute hats.

Orzo & Sausage Stuffed 8 Ball Zucchini

4, 8 Ball Zucchini
1 cup Orzo pasta, cooked
1 vegan sausage, cooked, sliced lengthwise and chopped
1 tablespoon Olive oil
¼ cup diced onion
¼ cup pepper, any color
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
Fresh pepper and salt to taste
1 tablespoon Earth Balance (optional)


Slice tops off each zucchini and set them aside.
Steam zucchinis until tender, bottoms up.
Once the zucchini is tender, rinse under cold water so you may handle.
Using a grapefruit knife or spoon, carefully scoop out the zucchini.
Coarsely chop the zucchini.
Warm olive oil in iron or non-stick skillet.
Add onion, garlic and pepper and sauté about 3 minutes.
Add chopped zucchini, salt, pepper and thyme.
Cook until zucchini is desired tenderness.
Add cooked sausage and heat through.
In a medium bowl combine all ingredients with the orzo. Toss to combine.
I added a touch (1 tablespoon, OK, more than a touch) of Earth Balance at this point to give everything a bit of a glaze & because I like Earth Balance, but it isn’t necessary.


Fill each zucchini with the orzo mixture.

Depending on the size of your ball zucchinis, this may make more stuffing than you need. The rest can be saved and reheated.


You may want to keep these guys warm in the oven with some tin foil over the lot of them to rewarm the zucchini shell and keep warm until serving time.