Cuban Liberation Day Dinner

In case you didn't know, New Years Day (January 1) is also Cuban Liberation Day (Castro took over in 1959). So last Thursday evening, I hosted a small, Cuban-themed dinner party for a few (non-Communist) friends.

I apologize for the lack of exciting photos, between the cake baking and preparing for dinner I didn't think to take a lot of photos. But I will be giving you the recipes here, which if you follow, should have pretty delicious results.

The dinner menu involved Stuffed Peppers (both green and yellow, as noted above), black bean cakes, fried plantains, and a rum cake (which, I will admit I did not make- Amalea, our newly engaged (!) neighbor brought it back from her recent travels for us).

Black Bean Cakes

1 can black beans

1 can pinto beans

1/2 cup grated carrot

LOTS of spices (cumin, chili, whatever you have, I used a Spanish-style mix)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

Olive oil

1 cup corn meal

1/2 cup soy milk

Oil for frying

Rinse and drain the beans, place in a bowl and mash until smooth with a potato masher. Add the grated carrot and spices, mix well.

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil. Once the onions are soft and cooked, add to the mix.

Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Once the mix is chilled, form into little cakes about an inch or so around, dip in soy milk then into the corn meal and fry.

I want to say the recipe made about 30 or so little cakes. Serve with lots of ketchup (very Cuban).

Stuffed Peppers

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the top off the peppers and clean out the white parts/seeds inside.

2 cups of water

Salt

1 bay leaf

LOTS of spices (again, chili, cumin, etc I used this mix that turned out really well)

1 cup of short grain white rice

2 links of soy chorizo/spicy faux meat

2 cloves garlic minced,

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 big can of diced tomatoes, juice drained and reserved

In a pot, bring the water, salt, bay leaf to a boil. Add the rice and spices and cook for about 15 or so minutes until the water is absorbed. In a separate pan, brown the chorizo with the onions and garlic. Add to the rice mixture along with the can of diced tomatoes. Mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the peppers (which you've arranged in a shallow baking dish). Pour the tomato juice reserved from the can of diced tomatoes into the bottom of the pan to keep the peppers moist.

Bake for about 45 minutes.

I also fried up some ripe plantains that Andy brought, but nothing exciting enough to jot down a recipe for. We also "stretched a bottle of wine" via a recipe from - Glamour magazine - (don't judge!) It involved dumping the bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz we had into a pitcher with some club soda, a chopped up Fuji apple and a blood orange, and a bit of sugar. It was delicious and a great way to get drinks for 5 people.

I'm sure more delicious things will be cooking soon - I will also be trying out a new biker bar/brunch place (I know, right?) this weekend and I am planning to host a Cookie Party (!!!) at the end of the month/beginning of February. So stay tuned, lots of mmmm is forthcoming - it's 2009! : )

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

This One Goes Out to the One I Love

A certain very special someone (although he does not know it ... yet) had a birthday this past week. In fact, he had two birthdays - which means that he got two birthday treats. The first were the Snickers brownies I made him on Christmas. The second was a Chocolate Strawberry Cake I made him on New Years Day. I'm not going to lie - I worked really hard on this cake. And it turned out amazing. He said the cake was beautiful (no word yet if it was incredibly delicious, I suspect it was) and that it made his day.

That's what I was going for.

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

The cake recipe is here. (It had such rave reviews, I figured it would be a safe call to make.)

I made a 9 x 13 rectangle layer and then a 9 x 9 square layer (the layers were thick, it was a lot of cake batter!).

Once the layers had cooled completely, I placed the rectangle layer on a pretty tray, and spread strawberry preserves (holiday gift from my Grandma) over the top of the cake.

Then I placed the square layer on top of the strawberry preserves. I decorated the cake with piped whipped cream and strawberries.

So that seems to be how we're starting the New Year off here- making cakes for unrequited loves. I hope your 2009 has begun in a slightly more reciprocal way. : )

Happy New Year everyone - and Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I was feeling much better yesterday evening, thanks to all the cold medicine I've been taking. While I was waiting for Amanda to get home from work I did a brief clean out of the fridge and discovered a bag of fresh cranberries I had bought but not used over the last few weeks.

I discarded the berries that had become squishy and rotten, but I had an overwhelming number left. I didn't feel like cranberry sauce/relish and I wasn't sure what else to do with them. I chatted online with Erica (former roommate/current graduate student/baking goddess) who suggested rolling them in confectioners sugar and drying them. Kevin (co-worker/vegetarian cooking master) was stranded in Indianapolis due to the weather and suggested a vegan pumpkin muffin recipe he had used.

As it turned out I had a leftover can of pumpkin puree in my cabinet, along with some chopped walnuts from Thanksgiving. I figured I could spruce up these muffins a bit and they'd be a nice, relatively healthy (compared to some of the things we've all eaten the last few weeks) treat to share with people post-holiday.

Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Spice Muffins

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 can pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2/3 cup fresh cranberries, halved

This is a sift dry ingredients together in one bowl, mix wet ingredients together in another bowl kind of recipe. Add wet to dry, then mix in the cranberries and walnuts (see photo above).

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 way full (these do puff up, so overfilling them is a bad idea). Amanda had bought these cute blue and yellow silicon muffin wrappers for a dollar (!) at Target and I've been excited to use them. (See below.)

Bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes (may take less in a gas oven, my electric one seems to take a bit longer to bake everything).

They turned out really beautifully, a little moist (I suspect a whole can of pumpkin puree was too much).

Here they are "naked". I snacked on them last night (and I've had one so far this morning). I will be passing some along to Ashley today, I think we're going to explore the Botanical Gardens since the weather is decent.

Here's to feeling better! And happy eating!

-Robin-

Nothing Says the Holidays like the Flu

I love my roommate Amanda. I do not - however - love her germs. I woke up Wednesday morning excited about my four days off (from both jobs) when I noticed that: I couldn't breathe out of my face.

My symptoms increased throughout the course of the day to: sinus headache, sore throat, upset stomach, coughing, sneezing, running nose, and terrible body aches - aka the classic flu. From Amanda to me, with love, right before we went to my dear sweet grandmother's for Christmas eve.

I went down to my grandmother's (with my brother and Amanda) and we were loaded up with food and goodies. Including a new onion chopper (!) and a salad spinner. And Target gift cards - the greatest gift anyone can give me.

So I came home and have spent most the last 48 hours in bed, feeling like death, ingesting large amounts of cold medicine, watching 30 Rock on Netflix, and not wanting to eat.

That's the worst part of this - I'm not hungry! Oatmeal has been my friend, along with some fruit that I've forced down chased by warm tea.

I'm feeling better now, so I'm trying to eat. Luckily I made a Broccoli Chickpea Casserole earlier this week (recipe/photo below) so all I have to do is reheat for some hearty and healthy goodness.

Needless to say, this black plague forced my idea of two grand birthday cakes for the guy I am not-so-secretly in adoration of to a screeching halt. So I improvised. I had a box of brownie mix and a bunch of Snickers fun size bars (which were originally intended for his cake). So he got Snickers brownies for his first birthday treat this week.


I cut the fun sized Snickers up into 6 pieces each and sprinkled them on top of the brownie mix once it was already in the pan.

Pre-baking shot. Post-baking was delicious (apparently) but not terribly visually-appealing as the Snickers sort of melted into pools across the brownies in a strange, but tasty way.

Here is my saving grace of the week (my foresight is superb apparently):

Broccoli Chickpea Casserole

3 cans of chick peas, rinsed/drained

1/2 large onion, sliced

2 large carrots, grated

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

3 tbls olive oil

1 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Mash the chickpeas in a large bowl using a potato masher. Add the onion, carrots, and broccoli and mix well. Then add the bread crumbs and olive oil. Add the vegetable stock and salt. Mix everything together (by hand seems to work the best).

Transfer the mixture into a glass baking dish and press it down firmly.

Cover the mixture with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Still delicious, even after a few days in the fridge.

Here's hoping everyone had a healthy holiday and that the worst of this flu is behind us!

Happy Eating!

-Robin-