Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Our BBQ a few weeks ago was a blast, and i've had the idea for a pineapple upside down cake with buttercream frosting rolling around in my head. What a great vegan treat to top the non-vegan meats (my friends are omnis). I won't tease anymore, so the recipe follows below!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1 1/4 cups flour (i used 1 cup white and 1/4 whole wheat)
1/2 cup vegan sugar (i used turbinado)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 bottle of maraschino cherries or 6-8 real cherries (pitted)
1 20 oz can pineapple slices in unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup pineapple juice reserved from can of slices
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 spring-form pan or angel food cake pan
non-stick spray (or whatever you use)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and set aside.
3) In separate bowl, mix pineapple juice, applesauce, and vinegar.
4) Take pan and spray with non-stick spray all the way up the sides too.
5) Lay pineapple rounds in a design on the bottom of the pan (this will be the top, so make it look pretty! Cut pineapple slices into chunks and arrange around whole slices for extra pineapple-ocity.
6) Take cherries and arrange in pineapple holes and evenly through the top so every slice gets some.
7) Sprinkle pineapple and cherries evenly with brown sugar.
8) Quickly mix the wet ingredients with the dry. Batter will foam up nicely.
9) Pour into pan immediately and bake for about 30-35 minutes or till center is firm.

And yes, my cake is in a frying pan, i forgot that i hadn't a platter large enough to serve it. Ghetto vegan AWAY!

Recipes

Appies
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Bfast
Entray
Sheppie Pie
Crispy Sweet & Sour Seitan (Vegan Yum Yum)
Pazta
'More Than Just Pasta' Salad
Noodle Casserole
Soupies
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Zuppa Toscana
Breadish
Thick and Hearty Cornbread
Dessertings
Pineapple Upside Down cake
Rice Puddin'
Misk
The Seitan O Greatness (The Post Punk Kitchen)
Creamcheese Frosting
MmmMmm Gravy

FAQ

Can i know more about you?
Uh, sure? I was born and raised in Hawaii, and came to California for college in 2001. I grad in 2005 and decided to stay here for a while. I live in Pasadena, LA, CA, with my wonderful boyfriend and crazy kitty. I love to cook, and sing opera loudly while doing it. I became a veggie when i started working for Greenpeace in 2005. I became vegan early in 2007 and it's been wonderful! I have a BA in British Literature from Occidental College, work at a yoga studio, am a freelance editor and writer, and sing professionally with the Angeles Chorale. And my pin # is ****.

Why are you vegan?
Ahh the ULTIMATE question... I'll keep it short, but i must preface it by saying that I do not belive it is wrong to eat animals, i believe it's OK to eat animals. BUT, and that's a BIG BUT, i am not ok with the way animals are treated in the meat industry. Phisiologically humans are designed to eat meat, AND plants, but i don't agree with the quantity of meat and the quality of conditions the animals are forced to live in order to provide it. Until we can learn to treat all animals ethically, including the ones we choose to eat, i will NOT eat them ot use their products!

How can i get on your links list?
Recipies are the key, i want my site to have something you see and can make immediately. If you have a vegan blog/site with recipies, just email me and after reviewing the recipies (i.e. if they look good) i'll add you to the list! If you have a veggie blog that can be adapted to vegan (most can using simple ingredients, egg replacers and such) then email, i'll take a look and add you!

Sheppie Pie

Everyone has their own recipe for sheppie pie. I love to make this in a ceramic dish and toss it in the toaster oven at 350 degrees for an hour, and not heat up that whole damn oven.
Untopped:

Ready for cooking:

Shepherd's Pie

3 lg russet potatoes
1/2-3/4 cup soymilk
2 tbsp Earth Balance
1 pkg Good Grounds (or other soy grounds)
1 onion chopped
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1 cup frozen corn (loosely packed)
1 cup frozen peas (loosely packed)
1 cup gravy (Recipe located HERE)
Salt and Pepper
Shallow ceramic/glass baking dish
Foil (yeah, i know...)

1) Boil potatoes till tender, drain, mash with the soymilk, Earth Balance, and a dash of salt and pepper.
2) Prepare gravy. (recipe to follow soon!)
3) Sweat the onions (or carmelize if you have the time) in a large skillet)
4) Crumble good grounds over onions and stir to combine, turn heat to low/medium low.
5) Add frozen corn and peas, heat through.
6) Pour gravy into the skillet, stir, make sure there's gravy throughout ground and veggies.
7) When heated, pour ground mixture into shallow ceramic/glass baking dish.
8) Spread mashed potatoes on top, making sure they're even and everything is covered.
9) Cover with foil and bake in toaster oven at 450 for 1 hr or regular oven at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Tips
If you're feeling special, sprinkle some shredded "cheese" on top for the last 10 mins of baking...

Noodle Casserole

I make this with Tuno brand mock tuna and it's so tasty, but you can also leave it out (esp if you're scared of it) and it's still quite nice. We had an unusually cold day and this dish was perfect for it. With toasted breadcrumbs on top, it's time to crank up the ac in LA and pretend it's January.

Noodle Casserole
1 can Tuno (you can omit if you want)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4-1/2 cup sliced pitted black olives
Rotini or penne pasta, enough for 2 large or 4 small servings
2 cups soymilk
2-3 tbsp Earth Balance or margarine
1-2 tbsp flour
1 cup shredded vegan cheese OR 1/2 cup nutritional yeast + 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
breadcrumbs or crushed croutons
salt and pepper

1) Boil pasta.
2) Heat milk and butter in saucepan, gently bubble for 10 minutes to reduce liquid.
3) Slowly add cheese (or yeast) till melted.
4) Wisk and sprinkle in flour to desired thickness, add a dash of salt and pepper.
5) Combine drained pasta with cheese mixture.
6) Stir in drained tuno, peas, and olives.
7) Dump everything into a casserole dish and cover with breadcrumbs.
8) Bake at 350 till warm and bubbly (about 20-30 minutes).

Notes:
DON'T BURN THE MILK! If you do, wash it out and start over.
Sprinkle the flour as you wisk, don't dump it in at once, you'll end up with a huge lump of blesh. (that's a technical term)
Cook the flour after you wisk it to get rid of the powdery taste. Just a few minutes of stirring over the heat will do it.
I toss the casserole dish in the toaster oven when i don't feel like heating up the big oven and go for a bike ride. 20 min on 350, and it's perfect.

Thick & Hearty Cornbread

Saturdays are reserved for Omni Evan and i to spend time with each other. This means of course, that we sleep late, roll out of bed around 11 and feel too lazy to cook up a storm. So i pulled out our cast iron pan (unused from the days of bacon) and whipped up this thick and hearty cornbread recipe. It sticks the ribs, isn't exceptionally sweet, and satisfies the tummy all day long.

The Dry
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (yellow or even blue!)
2-3 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
good pinch of salt

The Wet
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp water
1-1 1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 4 oz container of unsweeted applesauce

also:
1 Tbsp Earth Balance
1/3 cup frozen or canned corn kernels

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2) Put Earth Balance in skillet, pan, or whatever you'll be baking in
3) Place skillet in oven to heat
4) Mix The Dry
5) Separately mix The Wet
6) Combine the two, stirring till moist and combined (batter will be thick)
7) Fold in the corn kernels and mix evenly
8) Carefully take skillet out of oven, use pastry brush or paper towel to spread melted EB up the sides
9) Pour in batter, cook for 17-20 minutes

CAUTION: SKILLET WILL BE EXTREMELY HOT!!!

I love serving this warm with some Earth Balance on top. It could work well as a dessert too, warmed up with some "ice cream" on top or with maple syrup. I packed some up for our hike later that day and it kep exceptionally well. Be sure to cut it like a pie so everyone gets a piece of the crust!

Tested Recipe: Crispy Sweet and Sour Seitan

When i saw this on Vegan Yum Yum, i knew that the Seitan O' Greatness would be perfect. I decided to go with the garlic sauce, as i am a garlic fiend! Here is the original recipe. (I apologize for the poor pic quality, my camera is very retarded.)
Starting the sauce, ooh look at all that lovely garlic! I added some red pepper flakes for kick and a dash of onion and garlic power for some more flavor. Cause you know, you can never have too much flavor.

Frying up the seitan in the peanut oil, it's so fragrant. The oil is the only part i don't like of the recipe. I'll try frying with some water next time, cause i had to drain them on a lot of paper towels.

The finished sauce, thick and glossy. I subbed arrowroot powder for cornstarch as i have a pound of it. The garlic released some great oils as it heated, and i added another dash of red pepper.

With some carrots and broccoli added right in, topping of sesame seeds.

This was really good, the perfect blend of spicy and sweet. I realize now that i used sushi vinegar instead of seasoned rice vinegar but it still came out great. I had to drain the seitan a lot to get the oil off, and i forgot that my vinegar had msg in it (i got it in chinatown, what should i expect!?), but this will be in my regular rotation for sure.