Very Easy Apple Sauce Cake

My husband's birthday is on Thursday, but we're expecting a crazy week, so we had a little surprise celebration today. I had just over an hour until he would be home, in which time I hoped to clean the whole house, start dinner, and bake a cake. All with four kids at home. Thankfully, I had the perfect cake recipe for the occasion! It's a recipe I posted previously, Leah's Easy Applesauce Cake, but with a few changes of my own (in bold).
      

   Ingredients

• 2 cups (260 grams) whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) demerara sugar
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 tsp cinnamon (I used freshly grated)
• pinch of fresh nutmeg
• 2 tsp aluminum-free Baking Powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (237 ml) olive oil
• 1 cup (237 ml) natural, unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 - 3/4 bag of chocolate chips (save some to put on top in the last 15 minutes of baking)

Mix all ingredients very well. Bake at 180C / 350F for about 45 minutes.

Shakshouka

I never understood what the big deal was with shakshouka - a tradition middle eastern dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. It seems like a staple on every breakfast buffet, from the watery sauce to the over-cooked eggs.

Then my friend Tzippy took me to Shvil Izzim restaurant. We shared (among other things) the best shakshuka I've ever had. Sweet bell peppers in a flavorful sauce with fresh tomatoes and not too much spice. And the eggs! Not the baked-to-death eggs I'd experienced in my previous shakshouka history. Delicate, gently poached, with rich, runny yolks!  And, of course, fresh bread to soak up all that rich tomato-y goodness. (See my post on Shvil Izzim and my photo restaurant review on Facebook.)

When I saw heaping piles of brightly colored, inexpensive peppers on sale, I immediately had an itch to recreate this traditional dish.  Shakshuka is the perfect nonrecipe meal. You make it how you like it. I didn't use a recipe and I didn't have an Israeli (or Algerian or Tunisian) grandma to teach me how to make it. But whatever I did, it was yummy AND EASY!

Kitchen Disasters: Sweet Peppers and Toast

I was looking forward to telling you about my perfect shakshuka. Eggs sunny side up, simmered or baked in a tomato based sauce, usually a little spicy, usually with sweet peppers.

It all started when I saw some beautiful, long, red peppers at the supermarket last week. I was nervous to touch them, so I picked them up with plastic. The sign said "Sweet peppers." I sniffed. Didn't smell anything sharp, so I bought a few. I also saw some beautiful orange bell peppers. So I decided to buy what I needed to make shakshuka. I grabbed another bag and used it to pick up what looked sort of like a banana pepper.

Vegan "Eggplant Parmesan" Baked, Not Fried

Thanks to the kind man at a local photo shop, my Sony DSC-S750 is temporarily back in commission. But now I have camera envy from all my recent camera shopping! I'm so glad I can show the delicious, simple, and perfectly rewarm-able dish.

You will need:
2 eggplants
a lot of salt (preferably the flaky kosher variety)
tomato sauce (that's another post)
nutritional yeast
bread crumbs (or your favorite healthier/gluten-free alternative)
cherry tomatoes (optional)