Cooking & baking, Oh how I have missed you

I am finally back to cooking and baking! You have no idea how happy that makes me! I love being in the kitchen and experimenting with new things to see what works together. I would have to say the hardest part is finding something that all of us can eat. Currently, I am living with my husbands old friend from college along with my husband and brother. We all

have...special diets, I guess you could say. First off, I have a confession. If you guys want to scream at me, I understand. Since coming to Nebraska, I have eaten cheese twice. I know, I know...It's impossible here to go out to a restaurant and find anything vegan

. So, just to put that out there, I have eaten cheese twice. Though I still am cooking vegan for myself at home. I still have my daiya cheese in the fridge in case I get a craving. Also, I would like to say, and I have no idea if this was a coincidence or not, but after I ate cheese the second time I got sick. Who knows. So that being said, back to what I was saying. We all have special diets. I am a veg, my husband is diabetic, my brother is very picky, an

d chad cannot eat salt. So as you can see, I am working with quite the list.

This was my smoothie yesterday, and for some reason it tasted kind of like fruity pebbles.

Fruity Pebbles

1 cup blueberries

1 cup fresh organic spinach

1 organic mango, chopped

1 package chocolate Vega protein powder

1 tsp spirulina

2 Tbsp chia seeds

enough coconut milk to incorporate

tiny bit agave

I had to share this because I wanted to show Ali. You inspired me! The last few days in Hawaii I was eating collard wraps! This one had mock egg salad in it :)

For dinner I made some creamy lemon pasta. Below is what I used to make it.

Lemon Pasta

Organic white rotini pasta (cooked)

1 broccoli stock (chopped and cooked)

While that is cooking, start your sause in a separate pan. Saute together:

2 Tbsp organic olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Then add:

2 cups coconut milk (I used this, but you can use plain, unsweetened soy or hemp as well)

Two lemons (zest them and juice them)

Salt (I used a little but add to your liking)

1-2 tsp pepper

Bring this all to a boil and then let it simmer and thicken. If using coconu

t milk it does not thicken up a whole lot. Now mix together pasta, broccoli, and cream mixture. I also added:

8 baby sweet roma tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 cup spinach

1/2 cup parmesan cheese (or the vegan parm)

So yummy!

Now on to dessert! For dessert I made some upside-down plum cake.

Upside-Down Plum Cake

10 fresh date plums, cut in half and pitted

Spray the bottom of a pie dish and line your pan with these plums. Put the middle of the plum face down.

In a pan, bring to boil

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

Let this boil for a little bit. It will get bubbly after a while, and then soon turn a light shade of brown. Once it is brown, that is what you want. Pour this over your plums. It will harden into a candy like form very fast. In a separate bowl, cream together

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup Earth Balance

Add:

2 egg replacers

Beat in:

1 tsp fresh lemon zest

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup Tofutti Sour Supreme (or plain soy yogurt unsweetened would work)

1 cup and 2 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Do not overbeat once the flour is added. Pour this mixture over your plums and put it in the oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Once it is out of the oven, do not flip it for at least 15 minutes. Once flipped, dust with a little powdered sugar and vala!

Have a great day!