Suzi's Birthday

Suzi!

Suzi's birthday is close to mine. That makes us both in the same star sign. Which means absolutely nothing. Although, we do both like Atlas Shrugged. Coincidence? I think not!

Suzi and Mezz came over (Geoff is now a permanent fixture around here since I can't do much for myself) and I made dinner. Mezz requested a paella I had previously cooked on another of my dinner nights and I also wanted to use the mushrooms in the fridge that were looking a little on the dead side so I found a very simple and quick recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms that was delicious.

Stuffed Mushrooms

from Vegan
2 large flat field mushrooms

2 tbs olive oil + extra for oiling

2 spring onions, chopped

1/2 red capsicum, deseeded & chopped

1 small zucchini, chopped

4 olives, pitted and chopped

2 tbs rolled oats

1 tbs chopped basil

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs lime juice

s&p

Preheat oven to 180C. Wipe mushrooms clean with damp paper towel. Don't wash them! Remove stalks and chop them up and put with other chopped vegies. Put the mushrooms aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry together the stalks, spring onions, zucchini, olives, capsicum and oats until the oats are golden. Then stir in basil, soy sauce and lime juice.

Oil the mushroom caps with a brush and the extra oil and place them on a baking sheet. Spoon oat mixture into caps and season with s&p. Bake for 15-20 minutes until caps start to soften.

Great with salad for lunch or another side for dinner. Would be great for a special Sunday brunch.

As much as I like the paella it's an awfully complicated recipe for such a simple dish and is also a little on the expensive side to make so I'm not going to share the recipe but you can find it in this great book. What I am going to share is the recipe for the delicious Chocolate Orange Cake that I made for dessert.

Chocolate Orange Cake

from Lynda Stoner's Now Vegan!

11/2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup soy milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbs vinegar

zest 1 orange

Preheat oven to 190C. Combine dry ingredients. In another bowl mix together all liquids excl. vinegar. Add this to dry ingredients. Mix until smooth then add vinegar. Instantly put into 20x20cm square cake tin (stops gas from vinegar and soda escaping). Bake for 25-30 minutes.

I'm sure you could serve this with a glazing or icing but the cake itself has such a delicate flavour that it's delicious by itself. I served it with a scoop of soy icecream while the cake was still warm and it was very yummy!