McCall’s Celebration Cake

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When I graduated from college, my mother asked me what kind of cake I wanted. I asked for this cake, the best one she ever made by far. Last July, right before her 25th birthday, Anna asked me if I had a good chocolate cake recipe. I dug out the old photocopy my mom had made for me, and she and Scott whipped it up together. She took a giant, tipping version of this recipe to work.

We enjoyed this dark chocolate delight on Anna’s birthday again this year, and on every occasion I could think of this month. (Make it once, and you’ll find excuses to make it over and over). Ma sat at the counter with me as I baked. Try this gluten-free, dairy-free version, which I think is just as heavenly as the original. Honest to goodness. (It’s the buckwheat.)

Note: The following recipe is half the size of the original recipe (in case you remember it and were curious).

Recipe margin notes:

Anna: Grandma Salas and I made you a chocolate cake when you turned 26. 

Chocolate Cake

  • 1 cup hot water
  • 2 teaspoons instant coffee (stir into water; cool)
  • 2  1/2 cups dextrose (original: 2 cups table sugar)
  • 8 ounces plain coconut milk yogurt (original: buttermilk)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup canola or olive oil
  • 2 eggs

Blend. Blend into mixed dry ingredients:

  • 1  3/4 cups whole-grain buckwheat flour (original: white flour)
  • 3/4 cup cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1  1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Pour into three baking rounds. For ease of removal, place a circle of parchment paper or lunch bag paper the size of the bottom of the pan in the pan. No need to flour or oil the pan. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. With a knife, cut around the sides of the cake. Reverse onto a cooling rack.

When cool, frost with chocolate glaze:

Chocolate Glaze

  • 1  8 oz. unsweetened chocolate baking bar
  • 1/2 cup (or more) brown rice syrup or non-HFCS corn syrup
  • half the cream from a can of whole-fat coconut milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Stir brown rice syrup or corn syrup into melted chocolate. Start with a half cup; add more as desired. Let cool a bit. Stir in coconut fat.

Pour over chocolate cake. Adorn cake with sliced strawberries.

Original Chocolate Glaze

  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
  • 1/4 cup whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon butter

 

 

English peas, onions, and smoked vegan cheese

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A late-night snack that turned out better than expected:

  • a handful of English peas, pods and all.  These are the really big fat ones that you think would be good for dipping because they look like overgrown snap peas but whose shells are actually quite fibrous…
  • half an onion
  • a small amount of Aged English Smoked Farmhouse vegan cheese, from Miyoko’s Kitchen (www.miyokoskitchen.com).  Maybe a tablespoon or a bit more
  • olive oil, salt and pepper

Rinse and slice the pea pods into half-inch pieces; dice onion into whatever size pieces you like.  Saute both in, oh, a few tablespoons of olive oil for maybe five or more minutes.

Check on the tenderness of the pea pods and a few minutes before it’s where you want, add the chunk of the vegan cheese and cover with a pan lid.  The cheese will (eventually) soften enough to stir it into the rest–it really is mostly just for flavoring and not so much for eating cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Helen was impressed with the flavor, real-cheese eater that she is!

(Note:  plan ahead on this as this smoked cheese–which is actually fermented vegan cheese–can only be ordered online…sad but true.)

Chocolate Cheesecake

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My mother and I did a little experiment today. It’s still in the oven. We’ll see what happens. I’ll let you know when I get it right. Meanwhile, apologies to my sister Delores, who let me have my way with her mind-blowing cheesecake recipe (published in my sister Ann’s If I Only Had the Time family recipe collection).

  • 8 oz ricotta cheese
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup dextrose (or less if you use table sugar)
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1/4 cup plain gelatin, dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water

Pour blended ingredients into two baking rounds and bake for 60 minutes on 350F.

Afterword

I was too lazy to make a crust. I said to Ma, “I should probably put some ground nuts in the bottom of the pans.” She looked at my unconvincing expression, shook her head and looked gently into my eyes. “You don’t have to.” So I didn’t! And you don’t either. It turned out just fine without a crust. But you go for it if you like.

In the end, Ma and I had a chocolate cheesecake in the oven and a batch of chocolate ice cream in the electric ice cream maker (see Glorious Chocolate Ice Cream). I asked her if she had any comments for Oil and Salt. She shook her head with a bewildered smile and said haltingly, “I think it’s…great.”

These days, in my mother’s post-stroke state of mind, she imparts to me a simpler outlook. She helps me care less about needless details and more about simple joys. Thank you, Ma.

Pina Colada Jello Cloud Smoothie

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Eat Jello for breakfast! Dissolved gelatin makes this protein shake taste dessert. It is lightly sweet with a fluffy, smooth mouthfeel.

  • 1 raw egg (free range, not conventional)
  • 2 T coconut oil or coconut cream
  • 2 T heavy whipping cream
  • 2 rounded tablespoons (T) whey powder
  • 1 T dextrose (or slightly less table sugar)
  • 1 T gelatin dissolved in 2 T cold water
  • 2 T boiling water
  • 1 cup frozen pineapple chunks

Pour boiling water over gelatin-cold-water mix; stir. Combine all ingredients in a small blender. Enjoy immediately. Due to the acid in the pineapple, letting it sit will eventually turn the smoothie to liquid.

Lemon Gelatin

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Last week, my mother-in-law Julia told me that her niece Julie read that eating gelatin is good for your bones, hair and skin. She came over the next day and gave me a container of plain gelatin powder. I feel stronger just looking at. Here is a convenient way to eat gelatin:

Cook up a bowl of lemon gelatin, set it on your counter and dip into it throughout the day. Add it to tea, broth or smoothies, or sweeten it for a Jello dessert. Do not microwave it. Apparently microwaving alters the molecular bonds of the amino acid proline in an undesirable way.* I suggest you not cook gelatin plain because it will stink up your house. Hence, the lemon. And who doesn’t love lemon Jello?

  • 1 cup cold water
  • 2 tablespoons plain gelatin
  • juice of 1 small lemon or 1/2 of a medium-large lemon

Let mixture sit for a minute to dissolve. Stir. Boil for 1 minute. Pour into a small bowl and leave it on the counter all day. Take a scoop of it out throughout the day, drop it in boiling water, and stir. You can add dextrose for a sweet lemon drink, or add the gelatin syrup to just about anything.

Go easy on gelatin intake at first, because your gut needs time to get used to it. Too fast makes you gassy, and who wants that? I started with 1/2 tablespoon a day, and that felt perfect. I am presently eating one per day, and I plan to increase my daily intake to three tablespoons per day. (I have read 3-6 tablespoons is fine, but don’t take my word for it — do the research.) Below is a link to an excellent article on the health benefits of gelatin.

*http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/why-broth-is-beautiful-essential-roles-for-proline-glycine-and-gelatin/

Glorious Chocolate Ice Cream

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This extra-creamy ice cream has the texture of frozen mousse. I’m saving the current batch in my freezer for you, beloved friends and family, but I can only hold out so long! Come by for a visit, and I’ll serve you up a bowl.

  • 1/2 cup dextrose (or 1/3 cup table sugar)
  • 7 oz (1/2 can) coconut milk, stirred (160 g)
  • 2 squares unsweetened chocolate (28g)
  • 3 *egg yolks, blended
  • 160 g whipping cream (or more coconut milk)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 egg whites, beaten
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup

Caramelize dextrose on stove, but just barely. Unlike sucrose, glucose caramelizes quickly and can easily turn bitter. When liquid just turns from clear to light brown, add coconut milk and chocolate. (For a less dicey process, either just heat the dextrose till it melts or caramelize table sugar instead.)

Spoon hot mixture one large spoonful at a time into a medium-sized bowl containing egg yolks, stirring each time.

Stir in whipping cream, beaten egg whites, corn syrup and vanilla. Place mixture in fridge to chill.

Place chilled mixture in ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture for a time, then beat it, then freeze it, then beat it, and so on until it reaches the right consistency.

*I only use raw eggs from pasture-raised hens, never from conventionally raised hens. If you are serving this ice cream to people with vulnerable immune systems, cook the chocolate egg yolk mixture for five minutes (and cool before proceeding to next step), and leave out the egg whites and corn syrup altogether.

 

 

Gluten-Freedom Chocolate Cupcakes

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Rich, dark and glazed. Couldn’t get much better. Hard to believe they’re gluten-free!

Cupcakes

1. Mix well:

  • 100 g unsweetened baking chocolate bar, melted
  • 3/4 of a 14 oz can coconut milk, stirred
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons *vanilla
  • 1 cup dextrose (or ~7/8 cup table sugar)

*I prefer the flavor of Mexican, Jamaican or Dominican Republic vanillas

2. Combine, then mix into wet ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup nutmeal
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons teff flour (or buckwheat flour)
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Nutmeal

Grind equal parts (all together) till fine:

  • flax seeds
  • raw pumpkin seeds
  • buckwheat kernels

Or use any of these: lentils, almonds, walnuts, cashews.

3. Bake at 350F in a stone muffin pan for 20-25 minutes. Cool. Apply glaze or frosting,  or both!

Chocolate Glaze

  • 50 g unsweetened chocolate bar
  • 50 g virgin coconut oil, *coconut cream, or butter
  • 50 g dextrose (or corn syrup)

Melt chocolate on low. Stir in coconut oil and dextrose until dextrose dissolves. Remove from heat.

*Skimmed from the top of a can of coconut milk, full fat.

Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from “Mocha Butter Cream” in the The Creative Cooking Encyclopedia

  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cup dextrose (or powdered sugar)
  • 1 tablespoon cold espresso
  • 1 square unsweetened chocolate bar, melted and cooled

Cream butter and cream cheese with electric mixer. Add espresso and chocolate; beat until smooth. Add dextrose until desired consistency and sweetness have been reached.

 

 

 

White Bean Butternut Christmas Soup

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Adapted from http://fabtasticeats.com/2014/11/17/pancetta-winter-vegetable-soup/

Katie and I made this for her last sit-down family meal before she left to go back to Boulder, Utah with her cute and rambunctious Billy (her blue heeler puppy)

  • 2 or so tablespoons of high-oleic sunflower oil–enough for sauteing and taste
  • 1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped (larger pieces are nice)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 4 cups cubed butternut squash
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3.5 cups veggie broth (we used 2 of the veggie bouillon cubes)
  • 2 cans (28 ounces) fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 2 cups fresh, sliced baby kale
  • 3+ cups “rice beans” (small white beans)

We had already cooked the rice beans (from Zurson Idaho Heirloom Beans) to just-ready-to-eat, but I suppose you could use canned white beans.

Just saute the onions in the oil for maybe 4 minutes, add the garlic and saute a minute more, then throw in everything but the kale and beans and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the squash is tender.

Add beans and kale and stir and let sit for a few and serve.

Tamale Pie

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If you know my sister Katherine, you know I have an enthusiastic ghost writer here. If you don’t know her, you’re missing out.

My beloved sister Katherine and her husband, Tom, were visiting from Tucson. She was war-torn over fixing dinner one night because she hates to cook, and I mean hates to cook. She knew she had to do it, though, and was bemoaning her fate to me. I pulled out a freshly prepared tamale pie, gave it to her, and told her how to properly bake it–fry it even, for a sure hit, which it was. She served it with left-over salad from the night before. No one was the wiser. Katherine has thanked me several times over since, and seems to be whining for more pre-made heavenly dinners that she can readily heat and serve.

Katherine notes that she hates to plan meals. She hates to shop for meals. She hates to shop for groceries of any kind. She hates to prepare, cook, chop. She hates a lot of things, I’ve noticed. She likes to eat, but she isn’t as crazy about it as she notices other people seem to be. Except for this pie. Try it for yourself. If it appeases and pleases my sister Katherine, well, I must be doing something right.

Recipe to follow. Stay tuned. In the meantime, you can find all the ingredients here at Oil and Salt. Look up “Tamales,” and assemble the ingredients into a pie. Use Scotty’s Masa for the crust, top and bottom. Bake for 45-60 at 350F.

Oh, Katherine says the stoneware pan I used was key to the crispy masa crust. She said she learned how to turn on the oven, too.

 

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