Thursday, July 17, 2008

This and That, and a Piece of Cake

Not a lot of cooking going on since it’s so hot, but I have put together a few refreshing dishes.

First, a Cauliflower Salad – lightly steamed cauliflower flowerets with capers and fresh dill.





Next, a Sunflower Sprout Salad with fresh tomatoes and fava beans.



And a Raw Pasta and Pesto.


All of these were extra yummy and nice for dinner when it’s still 90 degrees out.


One thing I did serve hot was these Giant Runner Beans I found at my market. To convey their hugeness, here they are laying on a dinner plate.



To prepare them, I boiled them (in a soup pot!) for about 8 minutes, then sprinkled them with fresh and dried herbs. I ate 9 of them and was stuffed!


I googled “Giant Runner Beans” to make sure I had identified them properly, and the first picture that popped up was this one:



It’s not a real bean, but I thought it was funny.

I got an email this week from a nice website that promotes healthy diet and lifestyle saying they had included my blog as one of their 100 Blogs to Inspire Healthy Eating. It’s not the Nobel Prize, but it was nice to be recognized for what I try to promote here, and also nice to be included on a list with the fabulous bloggers at FatFree Vegan Kitchen, Urban Vegan, My Sweet Vegan, Day to Day Vegan, Karina’s Kitchen, Tinned Tomatoes, and Diet, Dessert and Dogs (just to name a few!) Check out the list for some new blog inspiration and the rest of the website for good health information.

It was kind of ironic to be recognized as a healthy blogger during my decadent birthday cake post. Oh, well. I promised some pictures of a slice of the Deep Vegan Chocolate Cake so here’s a couple for you. This is a nice shot to show that the cake has a light yet sturdy texture.




Here’s how I served it.




The cake eaters spewed forth OMG’s and Whoa’s as they ate each bite. I’m pretty sure the peanut butter frosting was the clencher.

Have a great weekend!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautifully colorful food! The cake, the cake, the cake... goodness! Happy cheers from me to you on the blog award. You totally deserve it!!!! Yay!

Anonymous said...

All of your fresh summer salads look great! Congrats on the award, you deserve it!!

Little Miss Sunshine said...

CONGRATS on getting listed in the '100 Blogs to Inspire Healthy Eating' thing - You TOTALLY 100% deserve it!!

Wow ... I love the raw pasta and pesto dish that you made ... my love for pesto <33333

And the CAKE ... the CAKE!! You're such a great baker!! I'm NOT AT ALL surprise that everyone enjoyed the cake so much!!

Anonymous said...

I now want chocolate cake so badly!

Anonymous said...

That tomato/sprout salad sounds incredible! And the cake--just amazing.

Congrats on being placed in the "100 top blogs" list (and thanks for letting me know about my blog, too!).

Quick question about runner beans: I've never had any. . .do they taste like extra-large green beans?

Anonymous said...

congratulations

love this Blog

Vegan_Noodle said...

Perfect food for summertime!! I saw runner beans and wasn't sure what to do with them... now I know!

That's awesome (and well deserved) about being listed in the top 100 blogs inspiring healthy eating.

I am officially drooling over your cake photos...

Anonymous said...

Those raw noodles & pesto have me drooling (ok, so does the cake!). I've never had runner beans, either. What are they like (besides being huge!). And congrats for your blog- how exciting!! :)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Your raw pasta dish looks phenomenal - yum!!

Haha, so funny that that was the first image that popped up for the "giant runner bean" search :0D

Oh my, the photograph of that Deep Vegan Chocolate Cake is drool-worthy!! Wowza!!

K Allrich said...

Thanks for the mention- you're very kind! And that slice of chocolate cake? Gorgeous! Have a fabulous summer.

aTxVegn said...

For those of you with questions about Runner Beans, apparently they are also called Romano Beans and Italian Flat Beans. They taste very similar to green beans, but since they are flat, you just get a lot more flavor. A Veggie Venture sings their praises and posts a recipe in this post:
http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2006/08/garlicky-romano-beans.html

- Diann

Anonymous said...

What a distinction!! Congratulations. That is a hilarious picture of the giant runner bean. That cauliflower dish above looks great, isn't dill wonderful on just everything?

Erin said...

Those runner beans are huge! I think I'd be intimidated to try to eat them. All of your light food looks good, even the cake :)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

That picture made me laugh! It reminded me of a trip my family took to The Philippines. There were street vendors selling Jackfruit bigger than me!

MeloMeals said...

Woohoo about your blog listing!

Everything looks so good! I think cauliflower is my new favorite food!

Monika K said...

Happy (belated) birthday to you! The cake looks amazing, but even more, I love the idea of steamed cauliflower with dill and capers (ok, I love anything with dill and capers). Hope your special day was awesome - you deserve it!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Clencher for SURE! No problem after eating such beautiful & healthy salads. That giant bean picture gave me a laugh and isn't too far off from what I saw on your plate!! Congrats on your well-deserved award!! :)

Camille said...

Thanks for helping me find your blog, it looks fabulous and I can't wait to try out your recipes! also, congratulations on your award:)
metta,
camille

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! Your cake looks beautiful. I've been using the peanut butter instead of margarine/shortening for frosting for a couple of months now and everyone that tries it just can't stop oohing and ahing. It's so much better. Like you, I'm not a huge butter cream fan.

Congrats on getting listed. Your food is always so healthy and delicious to boot. Whenever I'm in the mood for a salad I pop over and see what you've got in the archives. I'm bound to find just what I was looking for.

jessy said...

nice "money shot" on the cake - it looks sooooo fantastical & delicious! and your raw pasta and pesto look DIVINE!

CONGRATS on being recognized by the healthy eating blog! that's so awesome! what great news! :D

Unknown said...

That's a great award! As a blogger whose never been recognized for crap, I'm envious. :)

Also, I want to eat all your food.