Instant Espresso!

While growing up in India, coffee shops like Starbucks and Pete's were unheard of. There were a few old old-timey Oxford-style coffeehouses which were frequented by men and women of my parents generation.  Espresso-style coffees were served in restaurants but the Barista-operated coffee shops are a relatively new concept in India. Growing up, we would make this home-made version whenever we felt a yearning for an espresso-based latte. It looked amazingly pretty each time and tasted just as good.  Now that I live in the US, and have access to Starbucks :) I rarely make this mix ... except when we're reminiscing about our childhood, or when we're sitting at home on a cold snow-stormy winter day, like today!!!

Prep Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

1. 4 tbsp Instant coffee
2. 1-2 tbsp Raw Sugar, to taste
3. 2-4 tbsp water
4. Non-Dairy Milk

Directions:

Add coffee, raw sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water (enough to soak the coffee and make a slurry) to a small plastic cup and using a hand-held blender, whip the mix into a thick foam. If you don't have access to a electric hand-held blender, you can also use elbow grease and mix it with a spoon until the coffee and sugar are well blended together and make a deep brown whipped cream-like mix. If it appears too thick, add a tablespoon or two of water. This mix, because it has no dairy, will stay in the refrigerator for up to 7-10 days. 

In a sauce pan, or in the microwave, heat non-dairy milk (I used Vanilla flavored soy milk). Pour steaming hot milk into a cup, add a heaping teaspoon of the mix to the cup (when well whipped, it will immediately float to the top, because of the air mixed into it).

Stir and Serve :)

Egg-less Chocolate Cake

An old friend of mine, Nitika Jassal (of the Kale recipe fame!) sent me another recipe a few days ago and I'd been thinking of trying it but didn't get around to it until today. I decided to eat a light dinner, Spinach salad with almonds, strawberries and a corn salsa instead of dressing, so that I could actually enjoy some dessert without guilt. The recipe I used was a modification of King Arthur Flour's Original Cake-Pan Cake. 

King Arthur Flour's Original Cake-Pan Cake

Prep Time: 45 minutes.

Salad before Dessert

Ingredients: 

1. 1 1/2 cups Whole-Wheat Flour
2. 1 cup Brown sugar
3. 1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
4. 1/2 tsp salt
5. 1 tsp baking soda 
6. 1 tsp vanilla extract
7. 1 tbsp lime juice
8. 1/3 cup Canola oil
9. 1 cup dark coffee 

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. Measure all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl*. Measure all wet ingredients in another bowl, or large measuring cup. Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk or fork until there are no large lumps of brown sugar or cocoa or flour visible. Once the dry ingredients are well mixed, pour in the liquid and mix well with a rubber spatula until smooth and pour into a well greased (bottom & sides) cake pan. I used a non-stick, dark baking pan and I only needed to bake the cake for about 20-22 minutes before a pin dipped in the center came out clean. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before cutting slices. Decorate with either powdered sugar, or drizzle with some Hershey''s Chocolate Syrup and serve with strawberries, or any other berries you have on hand, and a glass of non-dairy milk. Yum!! 

Nik's Reaction: He was super excited about helping mommy make a cake. He was up on a chair right next to the mixer (I used a stand mixer today, but soon realized that it was quite unnecessary, hence the recipe above calls only for a mixing bowl and a rubber spatula). By the time the cake was out of the oven and ready to eat, he had eaten a good dinner and had 2 bites before he could not eat another morsel. :)

My Assessment: For an egg-less cake, this came out phenomenal. Rich and gooey, but also light and not overly sweet. This is the kind of cake you can eat everyday. Even Tony had a couple of bites of it and actually liked it, even though he swears he will not eat my non-dairy, non-meat creations ;-)

* The original recipe calls this is a one bowl cake as well. The website linked above suggests mixing the wet and dry ingredients in the cake-pan itself. I thought that would be kind of messy and would recommend using a mixing bowl for sure.