Eggs and Cake

My last post was a vegan chocolate cake...I mentioned that I really didn't know why one need to put eggs in a cake. The vegan cake had no eggs and it held together perfectly. So, I thought I would give it another go with this butter pecan cake. As you can see it didn't really work out so well. No sooner than I frosted it a large chunk just fell right off. But, I will say this...it was the lightest cake I've ever made.
-Shelly

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Yeah that's right...I posted bacon and now I'm posting vegan!

Vegan recipes are great....they are perfect for me as I'm not so good about keeping eggs on hand, or milk for that matter. Alright truth be told milk and I don't get along, we don't have a very em "nice" relationship. I'm waiting for cheese to betray me as well, but so far we're still "OK".

This is really easy, the cake sticks together wonderfully, and in all honesty I think it taste just like those box cakes...and lets face it as much as we wish our homemade cakes were as light and tasty as box cakes, they just aren't. Except this one.

Note: Frosting....out of a can
Kumquat...just for looks (I'm shallow that way)

Recipe

Also, I'm starting to think that using eggs in baked goods is sort of an old wives tale. I always thought it was the eggs that held it all together, but apparently not. I'm not sure why this cake works so well.

I'm not Alton Brown you know!

-Shelly

Snooping

One of my favorite things about reading other peoples blogs is when I get the chance to snoop. Sure it's great to see what people are cooking, but I'm always curious what their home looks like. Is it polished and perfect, are there shoes and newspapers everywhere, are there 6,000 animals running around. Do they have a couch that dates back to 1972, is their space as sophisticated and sheek as the seemingly sophisticated and sheek meals they prepare? So, I thought maybe since blogging is a way of letting the world in on what your doing and sharing a piece of yourself with whomever comes along (reader/stalker) I would let you snoop around my living room/dining room in my "attic" apartment. I live in a historic house on the third floor in a little downtown district. As you can see I have an ancient TV that has been around since I was in High School and have a penchant for bouquets of pink flowers. This weeks happen to be carnations. And just as a side note and little tip, when buying bouquets of flowers ( which one should do regularly) try and buy ones that are all the same color...I find they look much better than bouquets with a mix of crazy yellow, purples, greens and reds. Just my opinion...but I'm right ;)

-Shelly

Mountain Medley vs Cheese and Bacon

Sometimes it sucks trying to watch what you eat. I was not blessed with one of those super fast motabolizisaazzms. I try to only eat this sort of greasy breakfast food goodness on Sundays. The rest of the week it's Mountain Medley Kashi with rice milk...or maybe if I'm really feeling crazy a piece of toast. I use to be one of those breakfast skippers and then I read that fat people usually skip breakfast...well that settled it...if skinny people eat breakfast I'm doin it! No need to twist my arm! Plus my sister, Mizz Robin, has often harped on the goodness of breakfast and no matter what it is...it's better than nothing.

So in honor of what I really wanted this morning instead of the granola I ate, here is a recipe for simple baking powder biscuits. Now in full disclose I would recommend making these for something such as sausage gravy as I find the biscuits a bit heavy....to heavy this little sandwich you see above....I ended up tossing half the biscuit and hitting it with a fork. SO...if you happen to know of a lighter biscuit please send the recipe my way at myvintagekitchen@gmail.com and I will post it and give it a go!

-Shelly

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup Crisco
milk
butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut in crisco with pastry cutter or fork. Add enough milk to make dough, do not mix too much. Place dough on flour surface and pat out to about 1/2 inch thick, try not to work it too much the less handled the more tender the biscuit. Cut biscuits with a floured cutter or glass. Place on cookie sheet

Top each biscuit with just a little bit of butter
Bake for about 10 minutes or until they start to brown on the edges.

Stinky Funky Fish from a can....is good.

I found a great blog called Janet is Hungry....unfortunately Janet appears to not be blogging much these days, but that's OK...it gives me time to catch up on all her amazing looking food! I tried this little number out....here is the recipe. It's a Salmon & Cream Cheese Crepe and it is wonderful! This was my first crack at a crepes and turns out they are not so hard...and it also seems I've forgotten how heavenly they taste....even without the cream cheese and salmon...but I'm not saying I was eating them as I was making them...and I'm not saying I ate so many that my stomach hurt, and I'm not saying that I secretly wanted to keep them all to myself and and eat this entire cream cheese fishy delight.

Oh and one more note...if you have not ever dealt with salmon from a can...it may seriously be the most disgusting thing I have ever done....it does not smell good, it does not look good, and I still can't believe I ate it...but it was awesome...you know, once it was "doctored up".

-Shelly