(Semi) Raw Zucchini Hummus

{ Thursday, July 29, 2010 }
I opened my fridge to look for a snack to enjoy while watching Rookie Blue (don't judge me....I just want to support home-grown talent...) and all I found was a sad little zucchini. Thankfully, in the 10th Anniversary edition of VegNews there was a recipe for raw zucchini hummus that I have been dying to try, because how weird is that? I didn't make it completely raw because I only had regular tahini, but I don't think it would make that much of a difference taste-wise, especially since I cut down the amount of tahini in the recipe by a lot. It called for a 1/2 cup, but tahini is expensive and that would've been my whole jar, so I just used a heaping tablespoon. This is a tasty dip—very light and refreshing, a lovely counterpoint to melodramatic Canadian cop shows.

Raw Zucchini Hummus (makes a little over 1 cup)
Adapted from VegNews

1 zucchini
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
paprika, for garnish

Scrape the skin off the zucchini, remove the ends, and chop into little pieces.

In the bowl of a food processor, place all ingredients except paprika.

Blend, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until humus is quite smooth.

Put hummus in a pretty bowl and garnish with paprika.

Rum Cake

{ Tuesday, July 13, 2010 }
Finally, another chance to use my bundt pan. I was first exposed to rum cake when Becca and I went to Nassau for Spring Break. There wasn't a lot to do during the day besides tan, but there was this little rum cake store selling mad amounts of cake to hapless tourists. And it was so good. They had samples, so we visited multiple times to try the different flavours. This is my attempt at recreating that treat. This recipe uses cake mix and pudding mix, which means it is super simple, but I guess not technically from scratch. Oh well. If you are worried about preservatives (cake isn't healthy either way!) you could use some organic all-natural mixes...but I used Duncan Hines and Jello. And Barcadi.

Rum Cake (serves 8-10)

Adapted from Veganomics

For The Cake:

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 box of vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light rum
1 cup silken or soft tofu
1/2 cup finely-chopped nuts (optional)

For The Glaze:

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and sprinkle nuts in the pan. Place tofu in a food processor and blend while you prepare other ingredients (just leave the processor processing).

In a large bowl, mix cake mix and pudding mix. Add oil, water, and rum and stir until just combined. By now the tofu should be very smooth and liquidy. Add tofu to batter and stir until combined, but don't overmix.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

When the cake is done and out of the oven, prepare the glaze. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the margarine. Add the sugar, water, and rum. Cook, constantly stirring, until mixture reaches a syrupy consistency.

Poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick and pour the glaze over it. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, or until all the glaze is soaked up. Turn onto a pretty platter and enjoy with a Bahama Mama in the bright sunshine.

Crispy Corn Fritters

{ Wednesday, July 7, 2010 }
I made these fritters as a side dish to a meal that was otherwise too healthy, and needed something that was sort of like a vegetable, but not too much. Enter these fritters, which are basically little corn donuts made with both cornmeal and canned corn. They can be eaten by themselves with syrup or powdered sugar on top, but I like them as a savory side, possibly (definitely) with lots of hot sauce.

Crispy Corn Fritters (serves 6-8 )

Adapted from Sylvia's Family Soulfood Cookbook

1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 16-ounce can corn kernels, drained (keep 1/2 cup canning liquid)
canola oil for frying

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, then stir in the milk, canning liquid, and corn kernels.

In a large frying pan, pour in enough oil to cover the pan. Heat oil until it bubbles when you drop in a little batter. Use a teaspoon to drop batter in the oil. When the top side looks dry and the bottom is golden brown, flip and cook until both sides are golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with a little extra salt.