Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Did you know poppy seeds symbolize death and sleepiness or that the world's great lemon distributor of lemons is India.  

Poppies and lemons are somewhat of an odd conglomeration but whoever came up with their joining was absolute genius.

We had a lot of friends from various walks of life join us over the holiday.  These lemon poppy seed muffins from The Joy of Vegan Baking were greatly appreciated by friends and family as awoke from their slumbers and wandered into the kitchen.  They paired nicely with a large cup of Stumptown coffee and agave.

Welcoming the new year with Enchiladas

These Enchiladas were stuffed with sauteed portabella mushrooms and garlic.  You can use store bought tortillas or make your own.  The original recipe can be found here.  The olives were omitted and the enchiladas were topped with FYH cheddar before going into the oven.

Portland is my Happy Place

 

 

 

 

 

Gingerbread Carrot Cake

I don't recall making a bundt cake before and I will not forget this bundt cake experience as it was somewhat disastrous along the way.  I have long journey ahead of me in bundt cake making before flirting with the perfection of  bundt cake baking.  

The cake was indeed quite tasty, and not disastrous in this sense.  (Mom said it was the best cake she' ever eaten, though she has probably made the same statement about a number of other cakes I have baked) 

When I took the cake out of the oven, I did not know whether to let it sit or invert it and let it fall out onto a rack.  

Well I inverted it, bad decision, and the whole inside of the cake fell out while the top layer remained in the pan. 

Needless to say, the cake was smaller than expected and missing its cover and bundt shaping.  Either I need to prep the pan better, or be more patient with inversion.  I shall explore this further in future bundt attempts.

The cover, still in the pan, became somewhat of a finger food appetizer.  The insides, still intact and circular were given a new cover: peppermint pieces over sprinkled over buttercream frosting (earthbalance, powdered sugar, soymilk and vanilla)