Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I ended up making different changes than I expected to this chocolate buttercream frosting recipe for Simran's birthday cupcakes.  I had expected to replace some of the butter with shortening, but instead I just reduced the amount of sugar because I kept tasting while I mixed and discovered it was really good before I'd finished adding all the sugar, and I didn't want to oversweeten. I also doubled the recipe because the original batch only covered eight cupcakes.  Warning:  Perhaps because of the reduced sugar, this buttercream melts really quickly.  Make room in your fridge for whatever you're frosting before you start or that cake will get very messy.

Ingredients

12 tablespoons butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup cocoa
2/3 cup whole milk
1 tbs vanilla

Directions

 

1. Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.
 

2. Add sugar and cocoa, mixing well.
 

3. Stir in milk in portions, stirring each time.
 

4. Add vanilla.
 

5. Spread on cooled cakes.

 

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  Here are the leftovers I have to use up:  broccoli florets, a sweet potato, a yellow and a green bell pepper, extra firm cubed tofu, a yellow squash.  Here is what I'm making:

Thai Green Curry with Brown Rice
I already have all the ingredients for this because Sameer and I had planned to make it a couple days ago while his parents were here.

Black Bean Oatmeal Burgers on Whole Wheat Buns and Kale with Walnut Sauce
These are tasty little burgers, Simran eats them, and we haven't had them in awhile.  She's recently taken a liking to the kale in walnut sauce too.

Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wraps with Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
Sameer and I really like this and it includes a couple different components Simran can eat.  I also have a bag of frozen organic broccoli in the freezer this will use up.

Black Bean Nacho Pizza and Kale with Walnut Sauce
We all like this pizza (including Simran, who always gets her own tiny slice and has liked every variety of pizza she has ever tried) and we already have most of the ingredients for it. 

Arugula/Tomato/Green Onion Sandwich and Vegetable Barley Soup
This sandwich recipe is new to me, from Caldwell Esselstyn's book.  It should use some of the tomato and green onion we'll already have on hand for other recipes this week, as well as some of the Ezekiel 4:9 brand sprouted grain flax bread in the freezer that I haven't bothered trying yet.  The sandwich also includes no-tahini hummus, which Simran always likes.  The soup is one I've been making for years.

Penne alla Vodka
I haven't really made this dish since Simran started eating solids, but since we now let her have dairy occasionally, Sameer suggested we finally make it again.  We already have the veg Italian sausage, vodka sauce, penne rigate, and a yellow squash.  It will use up whatever broccoli is left over after making Thai green curry and stirfry.

Arugula, Tomato, and Green Onion Sandwich

This recipe comes from Caldwell Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

Ingredients
arugula
tomato
green onions
no-tahini hummus
whole-grain bread

Directions

1. Toast 2 pieces of whole-grain bread, and spread each piece with lots of no-tahini hummus.


2. On bottom slice, top hummus with green onions cut in small pieces, or thinly sliced red or sweet onion.

3. Cover onion with sliced tomatoes. Add arugula or any other lettuce of your choice.

4. Add top slice of toasted bread and press down, so that it all holds together.

[Edited 4/25/13:  This sandwich was surprisingly not bad.  I would eat it again by choice.  We even used fancy organic flax bread by Ezekiel 4:9 brand.  This was Simran's first sandwich.  I gave it to her to feed herself, and she happily deconstructed it and ate the pieces, including eating straight arugula.]

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

This is a recipe of my own concoction, based originally on the broccoli soup recipe from Caldwell Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.  I added blended white beans and nutritional yeast flakes to add flavor and creaminess.

Ingredients
2 large onions, chopped (2 cups)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
16 oz. broccoli (preferably frozen and already washed and chopped -- I just dump a whole bag into the pot and save lots of time)
3 tbs nutritional yeast flakes
16 oz. can of white beans (look for Great Northern or Cannellini beans), drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tbs Bragg Liquid Aminos
pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Bring onions, garlic, broccoli, and vegetable stock to a boil in a soup pot. Lower heat, add beans and nutritional yeast, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until broccoli is tender and bright green. 

2. Process in batches in a blender until mixture is smooth and brilliantly green, or use an immersion blender right in the soup pot.

3. Season with Bragg liquid aminos and pepper.

Simran's Birthday

Simran's Bday Snacks

Simran's first birthday is coming up, so we're hosting a small party this weekend.  We don't expect a lot of people to come, but it's shortly after lunchtime since any other hour coincides with naps, so here is what I'm making:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (Sameer and I both find straight buttercream a bit dense and just too buttery on cake, so I'm cutting it with some shortening and only using the recipe in the link as a base.)
Pink French Macarons with Real Strawberry Buttercream (I've already made the cookies and the strawberry puree.)
For beverages, we've got water and soda, but I wanted to make something special too, so there will be
Old-Fashioned Lemonade over ice.  I've already made simple syrup since that seems to work better than mixing sugar and cold water.
For snacks I'm cutting up various mild cheeses, I bought like six boxes of different kinds of crackers, and I'm assembling platters of cut fruit and crudites with homemade ranch dressing (or possibly dill dip instead).

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

 

I found this original recipe on AllRecipes, but I've been using it for awhile and made some changes of my own, including doubling the recipe because I don't see the point in doing this much work when I don't have any leftover pancakes at the end to freeze for later (they freeze and reheat really well in the microwave).  They're really buttery and sweet, so they don't really need syrup.  I sometimes top them with syrup or fruit, but I also like these pancakes plain with a glass of milk.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
cooking spray

Directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and melted butter into buttermilk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.  (I recommend only using cooking spray for the first pancake.  If you have a non-stick skillet, you won't need to recoat it.  I also recommend using no more than medium heat and lowering it to medium-low as the skillet gets hotter.  If the heat is too high, your pancakes will brown too fast and the insides won't have a chance to cook through.)

Meal Planning

I'm posting my menu late this week.  I had everything written on my grocery list, as per usual, and now I can't find it, so I think I threw it away.  I'm trying to remember everything now so that I can pull up my meal plans for the rest of the week.  Here is what I made / am making:

Tofu Scramble and Swiss Chard with Walnut Sauce and Buttermilk Pancakes
I'm making tofu scramble once a week now.  It's easy, Simran likes it, and it makes leftovers for the next day's lunch.  I also had leftover buttermilk from Sameer baking an orange pound cake, so I made a triple batch of pancakes. 

Tortilla Pie and Red Cabbage Slaw
This will use up some of the corn tortillas in my fridge, as well as some of the shredded cabbage leftover from last week.

Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wraps and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I'm not sure if I'll end up actually making this or not.  It'll probably be this dish or the tortilla pie rather than both in the same week.  It depends on how plentiful the leftover shredded cabbage really is.  It's one of our favorites here at our house though, for all three of us.

NY Style Pizza and Kale with Walnut Sauce
Sameer wanted New York-style pizza, so I'm trying it again this week, probably on Friday.  I'm doing it entirely according to the recipe this time rather than allowing any of my own shortcuts since the crust was way too thick last time. 

Spaghetti with Marinara and Kale with Walnut Sauce
I'll probably do this one over the weekend because it's fast and easy.

Whipped Maple Sweet Potatoes and Chard with Walnut Sauce and vegetarian fish from the prepared frozen foods section
Sameer suggested whipped sweet potatoes, so I'm taking this opportunity to use up some more of the vegetarian fake meats in my freezer.  There won't be much left after this.  Finally.