In Which I eat crow cake

So my friend Val was eating cake.
Which she made in a cup.
A mug.
In the microwave.

What? Microwave cake in a cup? No way. I was skeptical.

She posted the recipe.

No leavening. 3 minutes.

How could it not be a gluey gooey glop that, at best, doesn't boil over and make a mess?

Val suggested maybe I did not trust her enough.

But ... would you? Microwave cake? Yeah, whatEVAH.

I decided I had to try it.

I could have used a huge mug, but she claimed it would work in a regular mug, so I used my very own personal every morning coffee mug.

Here we are, ready to go:

Ingredients mixed. A big old cup o' batter.

I was not the only one interested in the experiment:

Well, I'll be. It's rising up out of the mug, straight and tall, not pouring over into a goopy mess down the side:

It fell a bit upon removal. I wonder if it needed to cook a little longer?

It did not turn out easily. I used a knife to loosen along the sides. At this point I was still pretty skeptical. Maybe it was the holes where the chocolate chips melted, but it looked kind of goopy and unevenly cooked. I thought my skepticism had been justified.

I cut it lengthwise in half, then each half into thirds, to give everyone a taste test. I ate the clump that remained stuck to the side of the mug.

Much to my surprise, it was pretty good. Even for me, a not-really-a-cake-fan person. In fact, I kind of preferred the less crumbly texture. And melted chocolate chips are good in anything. The kids were the real test.

They proclaimed it a success.

So ... go figure.

I guess Val is trustworthy after all! :)

Here's the recipe:

Val's Mug Cake

1 coffee mug
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbls. cocoa
1 egg
3 tbls. milk
3 tbls. oil
3 tbls. chocolate chips (optional)
small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the choc. chips and vanilla and mix again. (Actually, I mixed the vanilla in with the (rice) milk and oil and egg, all the liquids at once.)

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 min. at 1000 watts (Val does 2:30 in a high wattage oven--don't remember the wattage--1800 maybe?) The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed. (actually, Val uses a large mug, so she has never had this issue - but you see I did and it turned out okay!)

Allow to cool a little and tip out onto a plate if desired.

This can serve 2. Or seven skeptics.

VegGyros - as close to a recipe as you'll get from me ...

Today was the Day Of The Great VegGyro Experiment. That's pronounced "Vej-YEAR-oh", by the way. Which means I took my personal experimentation to the next level and made my family eat it.

And it passed well enough that I figured I could share the 'close enough to a recipe' notes with you, since I will make it again but probably not keep taking pictures every time, LOL.

I started by kimodifying the famous (well, in some circles, maybe not yours) Seitan O' Greatness recipe ... which is a baked, rather than simmered, seitan.

I used the spices Becky had listed for the ground beef gyros instead of those listed for the Seitan O' Greatness, and I squarshed it into a flat roll rather than a round roll, both for the sake of finished shape and hoping it would bake quicker, since I was running out of time at the moment I decided this would, indeed, be tonight's dinner.

My kimodified faux-faux-lamb-spam was made as follows:

Ingredients:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
2 T. nutritional yeast
1 T. oregano
1 T. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp pepper

3/4 cups water
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (um, okay, I admit MINE wasn't vegetarian)
a few shakes hickory smoked liquid stuff

Preheat oven to 325°.

I mixed mine in my food processor with the dough blade it came together in a few minutes nicely.

Form into a log 10-12" long, squarsh flat, wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Bake for 55 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and cool for a few minutes, until you remember you don't have time to dawdle because it's nearly 6 pm. Slice seitan into 'lamb-spam looking' slices ... sautee in a "beefy" broth (using vegetarian 'beef' broth or soy sauce) and a little more of the same spices added to the dry ingredients, above. When it simmers down and starts to brown, add a splash of cooking sherry, if desired, and cook down again, while waiting for the choir-attending-daughter to return home.

I find it easier to serve things separately so the family can pick and choose which items they want. I used Flat-Out Wraps again, with the faux-faux-lamb-spam, sweet onions, sliced tomatoes, and some lettuce, as well as the cucumber sauce.

The Kimodified sauce was:
1 cup plain soy yogurt
~2/3 c. finely diced seeded cucumber (about 1/2 a cucumber)
~1/3 c. finely diced sweet onion
garlic powder, unmeasured :-)
1 T. lemon juice
1 tsp dried dill weed

Then we assembled them and most of us seemed to like it, more or less. The grown ups more, the children less, but really only two of them stumbled over eating their 'try me' portion, so I figure that's pretty good. And in the end they DID eat them. In order to move on to peanut butter sandwiches. But still.

Ta Da! The finished meal.

These are a few of my favorite meals ...

I'm in a pleasant rut for lunch.

I didn't take pictures because I took pictures of similar meals not too long ago. I don't want to bore you.

But that's really my point, I keep eating more or less the same thing.

Which isn't bad! It's actually good. I don't really get tired of it, and it makes it easy knowing what to eat. It doesn't take toooo long to make, either. Early in the week I make a pot of brown rice for me. Have to repeat that I LOVE the Lundberg Farms Wehani rice, and usually make 1/4 c. of it with 3/4 cup of 'regular' brown rice.

For each lunch I chop up ~1/4 a head of Napa cabbage or bok choy (also known as pak choi), or occasionally even 'regular' cabbage, or mix and match. I often slice up some onion to go with it. Adding other veggies like sliced carrots, broccoli, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, pea pods, etc. would be fine, but I usually don't. Or mushrooms (shudders to herself)

Stir "fry" / steam in a nonstick pan until greens are as wilty and other veggies are as cooked as desired. (If you're using veggies that cook longer, start them first and add any bok choy or napa cabbage later)

For the sauce I make my own version of a local restaurant's "Veggie Delight" sauce, which by their own vague explanation is "a white sauce with some spices" Hah ha! They're so helpful. White sauce meaning a *Chinese* white sauce, not the butter-and-flour-and-milk kind. Here's a rough sauce guide. I don't measure.

~1/2 cup water
1 tsp "chicken" flavored bouillon (I use a lower sodium one ... use your favorite kind, enough to make 1 cup of broth, but only in 1/2 cup water, unless your bouillon is too salty for that)
2 T. cooking sherry (optional)
1/2 T. cornstarch, more or less
garlic to taste
ginger if desired
pepper if desired (I like cayenne, but black pepper or white pepper work, too)
a drop or two of sesame oil

stir sauce ingredients together to mix cornstarch in well. When veggies are *nearly* done, pour over veggies and continue to stir while sauce boils and thickens. Note that adding the sauce seems to wilt the greens even more, so if you're just doing greens you can add the sauce pretty quick at the start. Serve over rice.

Anyway. It's a pretty quick and easy no-thinking sort of meal, for me, and it keeps me eating healthy lunches.

Playing with Food - Veggie Gyro Prototype

My friend Becky recently helped make food for their local Greek Festival and talked a lot about Greek food, making me dream of Gyros. Of course, not eating meat throws a monkey wrench in those plans, and not eating dairy rules out the sauce.

But I'm nothing if not impulsive, and I decided I'd make myself some "beef" seitan and sort of kind of follow the recipe she gave us for a ground beef gryo. I used the seasonings you'd add to the ground beef to simmer the seitan. I also made the seitan not just with water but with a little soy sauce, per some other instructions I surfed up.

I made the Tzatziki (cucumber-yogurt) sauce with plain soy yogurt, and (more or less) followed her directions for the sauce.

Okay, okay, I admit, I had to kimodify the whole thing. After all, Gyros are not a plant-based meal. :)

I only made a little bit, in case it was awful. Soy Yogurt and I have a rocky history.

Here's my results, my prototype meal:

I have to admit I was somewhat surprised at how good it was. It wasn't phenomenal - wheat Flatouts are good, but aren't quite the same as fresh, warm authentic (made with oil) greek pitas -- uh, assuming I've ever had them. We had gyros once that we suspect were fresh and authentic. But in mid-Michigan, I can't assume most of the ones we have been served in restaurants are. But still, we like them. Can't blame us if we don't know better, right? And my tomatoes were a bit past their prime and not all that flavorful. And the "mock-mock-lamb-spam" seitan was a bit too salty, I'll have to use a lower sodium "beef" broth and maybe omit the soy sauce. And, lastly, the sauce I made was a bit sweeter than I would've liked, which might have been my loosey goosey sprinkle of unmeasured sugar or perhaps the plain soy yogurt itself. BUT! That being said, overall it was pretty good and I made short work of my little veggie meal.

So next time I'll make a little bigger batch of less salty mock-mock-lamb-spam, with fresh tomatoes and onions. Maybe I'll even make my own pitas. And if we like those, I'll post you a recipe.

Whoo, that's a spicy lunch

I'm trying to be a better blogger again.

While I was walking (walking, walking, walking) this morning I thought of something I wanted to post, and then I forgot what it was. But that reminds me, remember that 1 million steps in 2 months challenge? I made it. I don't think I already told you that, did I? And then I signed up for another, which should take me up to the "baby window" ... it's a lot of stepping, about 18000 a day, a little more on weekdays to make up for my little less on Sundays.

Anyway.

there's my lunch today.

Sichuan Seitan with bok choy and water chesnuts.

It's a kimodification of This Recipe for Sichuan Tofu With Garlic Sauce at Fat Free Vegan.

'Cause I'm not fond of tofu, and I'd made some "chicken" seitan the other day, all by myself, and was kinda pleased with the texture it added to my unfried stir-fry.

I eyeballed the spicy ingredients, since I didn't have the called-for chili-garlic paste anyway, I just squirted some Sriracha sauce in, and added some garlic. Whoo, it's spicy. But in a good way. It's also tart, from the vinegars. It calls for two types, but I didn't have any black rice vinegar, although I must say now I'm intrigued and will look for it or at least read up about it. But I might use less vinegar next time.

Oh, and I'm eating it over a brown rice mix containing my favorite brown rice evah - Wehani rice. I think I've already told you how much I love love love the stuff.

How about you, what's on your plate today?

Who Watches The Watchers?

In my home today:

Windows going in ... little boys watching ... (sorry Kerri, no suit today)

Zucchini bread and muffins, thanks to my friend Sarah's gift of a giant zucchini

And ~most exciting of all~ Sputnik found a cicada just molted from it's shell -- click the images to see the bigger size at Flickr:

Summer Tastes Good

Lunch today:

The salad is leftover from yet another picnic last night. I took the picture when it was fresh and pretty. It's not quite as fresh-and-pretty looking now, but it's still good salad.

Yum.