Recipes – Page 6 – a hippie with a minivan

Black Bean Chocolate cake (Gluten Free)

It was Wilhelmina’s 1st birthday a few days ago and we needed a cake!

Because she reacted to Gluten we are keeping her diet Gluten free for now, which means that I needed to keep our usual cake recipes in the binder and find an alternative.

I never would have thought that Black Beans would work so well in a cake! It was chocolatey, it was moist… it was delicious and I would never had guessed there was no flour in it!

so you need…

1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed) (540ml/19 fl oz)
5 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter or extra virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup Demerara (or brown) sugar
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9″ cake pan and dust with cocoa.

Place the beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt into blender or food processor. Process or blend on high until beans are completely liquified.

In a small bowl, Mix together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a larger bowl, beat butter/coconut oil until light and fluffy. Add the remaining two eggs, beating well after each one. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder mixture and water and beat the batter on high for one minute until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done when the top is rounded and firm to the touch.

Instead of making frosting, I waited until the cake was cool and then sprinkled some powdered sugar on top and then made a side of chocolate whipped cream.

Meat and Sweet Potato pie

When I was in BC last year, Annie brought me to an amazing little restaurant in Prince-Rupert. On the menu was a “Cajun Pie” that was absolutely delicious. I asked what was in it and when I got home I took some of the flavours that I loved that were in it and made it my own… I have made it quite a few times now and finally wrote down the proportions to share…

Because the boys are mixed on “spicy” I found a way to have all the flavour without the spice. Of course, if you like it spicy, add some cayenne to the spice mix or right to your plate.

For 2 pies (one feeds our family and the other is lunch or frozen for an easy supper)

3 lbs of ground pork
1 large sweet Potato (peeled and cut into small cubes)
1 red pepper (chopped)
1 large onion (chopped)

For the spice mix:

3 Tbsp minced Garlic
Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp Chili powder
3 tsp oregano
1 tsp white pepper (not black pepper, the flavour of the white pepper is important)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp mixed spice (nutmeg/cinnamon/allspice/ginger/clove)

Crust for 2 pies

Mix all of the ingredients of the spice mix together to form a paste.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large pot, brown the meat and set aside. In the same pot as the meat was browned, add a bit of oil then add onion, sweet potatoes and red peppers and cook until soft. Add a bit of water to deglaze the bottom and then add the spice mix and add the meat back. Mix well so that all of the spices are incorporated and then make sure the seasoning is right by tasting.

Fill two pie dishes with the meat mixture, cover with pie crust and use a fork to pierce the pie all over. You can also put an egg wash over the crusts.

Bake for 45 min until Golden brown.

Oatmeal smoothie…

Smoothies are great, you can add whatever you want to them and the more you add the more of a complete meal it can become. The kids here love smoothies… so it is an easy and fast breakfast to make and it always feels like a treat… Since I got our new blender I have been making them almost every day…

A while back (before my old blender broke) I decided to try oatmeal in our smoothie to make it even more complete. It took a few tries but I finally figured out the perfect way to do it.

First put some dry oats (about a cup) in the blender and make process them until they are a like flour… it is OK if it has a few lumps but you don’t want many.

Put the Oat flour into a saucepan, turn the heat on and then add fresh juice or milk (about 2 cups) You can add whatever juice or milk you have on hand… soy/almond/coconut etc… and cook the oats for a few minutes. I have also used apple cider in this step and it was delicious!

Add the oat mixture back to the blender and add about a cup more of liquid (milk, yogourt, juice etc ) and blend for a few seconds until it is thin and smooth.I also add some vanilla at this point and any other ingredients that I want to blend very well (like the handful of spinach I put in it today and/or banana, fresh strawberries etc)…

Then add a few handfuls of frozen fruit (melons, bananas, berries, grapes etc) and again, blend until smooth. If you want it a bit thicker add some more frozen fruit and it will become nice and thick. More liquid like make it thinner.

Though the Oatmeal is there, you don’t notice it in the finished product but it adds so much to the drink and helps to keep you full for longer.

(I keep on forgetting to take a picture before I actually finish it… it is so yummy)

Uncle Marc’s Roasted Sirloin Tip…

In the past, on New Years day, we would head to my grandmother’s house and have supper there.

Every year my uncle would prepare a Roast Beef. I would sit in the kitchen and talk to him and watch him while the others sat in the living room. When I moved out on my own, I started to make his recipe and I have never looked back. It is not exactly his recipe anymore as it has evolved, and I have made it my own, but it is inspired from his…

This is meant for a Sirloin tip roast or simular. I’ll share my recipe for a rib roast soon…

Take the roast out of the Fridge at least an hour before you want to start roasting it.

In a small bowl combine…

Equal parts of Dijon Mustard and Butter. (about 1/3c of each)
Add a good dose of coarsely ground pepper (about 2 Tbsp)
A Tbsp of Kosher Salt if a bit more according to taste.
a Tbsp of Garlic powder

Then, add flour to the mixture until it becomes a thick paste and set aside.

Heat the oven to 500F

In a shallow pan, place some whole carrots on the bottom creating a rack and place the roast on the carrots.

If the roast has a fat layer, you want the fat side up.

Lather the mixture on top of the roast. (you can wet your hands to make this easier)

Sprinkle a bit more salt and pepper on top for good measure…

Place an oven proof thermometer in the roast for optimal results. It takes so much of the guess work out of the equation and the roast ends up perfect each time!

Place in the hot oven, let bake for 10 min at 500 and then put the temp down to 350. Bake until the roast is at the desired temp, not forgetting the temp will rise while sitting.(for a med-rare roast I take it out at 135F)

Let sit for 15-20 min before serving.

Serve with Mashed Potatoes and gravy (my favourite Red wine/Rosemary gravy recipe to come soon) for a perfect winter meal…

White cake (or Butter cookie cake)

I usually make our favourite Black Magic cake for birthdays. Everyone likes it and it has just become a tradition. When I asked Khéna what he wanted for his birthday this year he said he wanted vanilla cake with chocolate icing… well, that threw me for a loop..

I have never made a white cake.. I decided to try adapting my favourite to a vanilla cake and it failed..

So I kept on looking and found this recipe…

Of course, I can’t follow a recipe to the letter… so this is my version….

2¼ cups cake flour (I never have this and usually just use normal flour but this time I used Joy the Baker’s substitute for cake flour)
1 cup coconut milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two pans (grease and the flour)… I use 2 square 8X8 pans…

2. Mix coconut milk, egg whites, and vanilla in a small bowl.

3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl or mixer bowl. Add butter and beat at slow speed (use use forks)until mixture resembles moist crumbs. (like when making pie dough)

4. Add all but ½ cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

5. Divide batter evenly between the two pans and bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.

Let cool on wire racks and let cool completely before icing.

I don’t know if it was the slight scent of coconut or the butter or the vanilla but this cake smelled and tasted like butter cookies which is why I feel the need to call it Butter Cookie cake… It was perfect!

I used the chocolate buttercream that I have here... or of course you could go all vanilla and use the vanilla buttercream here…