Another Cake With Alcohol

I'm not an alcoholic, I promise. I don't even drink the stuff, and not just because I'm underage. I like water. And tea. And that's about it. But when I saw this recipe in the very first issue of Vegetarian Times that I ever bought, back in March of 2006, I decided I wanted to try it. I searched through the house, and couldn't find any Guinness, and there was no way I could make a "Guinness Cake" with the random bottles of beer I found in the fridge. So I put it in the back of my mind to try sometime, at a later date. And now, almost exactly five years later, I pulled out the magazine and gave the Guinness Cake a try. And I have a pretty good reason.

When I'm at home, I have dinner with my great-aunt and uncle on Friday nights. My great-aunt is Irish. She likes beer (thought not Guinness). And yesterday was her birthday. The first detail was irrelevant, but the last two reminded me of this cake, and provided me with the excuse I've needed to try it out. I sent a frazzled mother to the grocery store before breakfast (which, here, starts selling alcohol at 8 AM, meaning she had to wait a while) for beer, gathered up the rest of the ingredients, and whipped up this fairly simple cake. I couldn't get my cocoa/beer/butter mixture to be nicely mixed and smooth, but that didn't seem to ruin the final product. Not even my aunt's dislike of Guinness kept her from liking it, because the cake does not taste like Guinness. The beer instead seems to add some moisture and depth to the flavor of this nice and simple chocolate cake.



Also, like usual, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. We usually have yogurt in the house, so it didn't make sense to go out and buy sour cream unnecessarily. The recipe below reflects the changes. And, for some reason, the recipe on the VT site has a different name than the printed one, and mentions Guinness nowhere. Instead it suggests Darcy's Dublin Stout or Samuel Smith Imperial Stout as examples of black stouts to bake the cake with.


Guinness Cake
adapted from Vegetarian Times, March 2006
makes a 9" round cake, serves 8 or so

2/3 cup stout, room temperature (I don't know how to measure beer. It was too frothy at the top, so I ended up using 2/3 cup+ with the froth since I did a bad job pouring)
10 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup strained yogurt or sour cream
powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9" round pan and line with buttered parchment or dusk with cocoa powder.

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring stout and butter to a simmer. Whisk in cocoa until smooth. Cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Beat egg, egg yolk, and yogurt with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth and blended. Add beer-chocolate mixture and beat to combine.

Beat in flour mixture for 15-30 seconds on lowest speed. Fold batter using rubber spatula until completely combined. Don't fold too much. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake about 45-50 minutes, or until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool about 10 minutes on rack. If cake needs loosening from sides of pan, run a small knife around edges. Turn out cake onto rack (if using parchment, peel off) and let cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over top of cake just before serving.

Failure Cookies, With Potential

Sunday night I wanted to try the chocolate chip cookies in the February issue of Vegetarian Times, because they didn't look like normal chocolate chip cookies at all. They actually look pretty ugly, all thin and sort of brownish with the oats. But I thought they could taste good, and I'd never made cookies with oat flour before, I had everthing necessary to try to make them, and I really didn't want to go to bed and face the reality of spring break being over. Not yet.

But as soon as I put all the ingredients on the counter and chopped up the chocolate, it was too late to start. I'd be up far later than I wanted to be, and that would be bad. So I put everything away, and tried again on Monday.

Monday went a little better. I managed to get the batter made, but as soon as I went to open the oven, the door fell off.
And that should have prevented me from messing the cookies up. But it didn't. Impatient me figured the batter felt cooler, and tossed in the chocolate while my dad struggled to fix the oven door (I was helping him, a little...)
Chopped up chocolate + warm cookie dough = chocolate cookie dough.
That wasn't exactly what I was going for. But as soon as the oven door was back in place, and the oven preheated, I baked them off anyway. I thought they were too chocolaty (did I mention the dough was based off of ground walnuts) and masked the tasty cinnamon-hinted dough.

Unsatisfied with the results, though my friends kept assuring me they were tasty, I tried again Tuesday afternoon. I figured I had a foolproof solution to turning it into a chocolate batter: leave out the chocolate.
Well, I will admit that I liked the second batch of cookies better... well, sort of. I liked their potential better. I just didn't bake them long enough, frazzled in the face of an English paper about Billy Budd and rushed them as soon as my mom walked in the house and I realized it was already 6 o'clock. Oops.

But they'll be good. Next time.

A Sweet Potato Salad for a Sweet Weekend

I've already made this salad twice. And I ate 3/4 of it the first time. If that doesn't attest to it's tastiness, then I'm not sure what does. Or, I suppose, you could argue that I ate it out of convenience since it was already made and in the fridge. Which is true, but it wouldn't explain why I made it again for dinner tonight.

It took me three days to make this salad. I bought everything on Wednesday with the intent to make it that night, but it took me until Friday night to make it. It was the first thing I did when I got home, along with a double batch of banana-oatmeal cookies with chocolate-covered espresso beans. Actually, it was the only thing I did at home. After making dinner and eating some, I packaged some up in a container, threw it in a lunchbox with a fork and some cookies, and headed off to pick up my friend to go to a concert. Which would be another highlight of my night. In all of its loud glory (despite my purple earplugs), That Was Something and Go Crash Audio were the highlight of the evening, despite my chronic tardiness causing us to miss half of it.

And along for the joyous occasion on Saturday, my lunch was once again this salad, in between the actual competing at regionals and learning that we placed first. Meaning that the entire math team is going to state for a fourth consecutive year! That's not a bad streak. Though I doubt I have much to do with it.

But that has little to do with the salad. I just think you should give it a try. Even my dad gave it approval. It was much better than last night's not-so-succesful attempt at Saag Paneer. Anyone have a good recipe for that?


Sweet Potato Salad with Apple and Avocado
adapted from Vegetarian Times February 2009 p.67
serves 6 as a side salad, 3-4 as a main course

1 lb sweet potatoes (about 1 big one), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 medium red apple, diced (1 cup)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup lime juice (from about 3 limes)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 avocado, finely diced (mine was a small avocado, so I used the whole one)
4 cups mixed salad greens, baby spinach, or arugula
salt and pepper

Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook about 3 minutes. Add corn and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, or until potatoes are tender. Drain in colander and rinse under cool water.
Meanwhile, toast pumpkin seeds in dry skillet over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes or until seeds begin to pop. Keep and eye on them, they burn easily. Transfer to a plate to cool.
Combine apple, onion, cilantro, lime juice, sweet potatoes, corn, and oil in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in avocado and toasted pumpkin seeds just before serving.
Divide greens among 4 plates and top with sweet potato salad.

Despite stirring in the avocado and pumpkin seeds just before serving, I think that this salad seems to hold up fairly well for about 2 days. It doesn't age well; the seeds just get soggy and the avocado browns a bit, but it doesn't turn absolutely gross and disgusting either.

mushroom mixes are helpful

When I first saw this recipe in VT, it popped out at me. And then the magazine got stuck in the part of my bed between my mattress and the frame. But once I remembered it (Saturday), I flipped to it and ran out and bought the ingredients (along with those for S'more Sandwiches). But something happened and it didn't get made until Monday.

I'd already read through the recipe and figured it would take me about an hour. But I'd missed a somewhat time consuming line. Transfer to bowl, and cool 20 minutes. Whatever. I just let it cool enough so that I could handle it (okay, so I put it in the freezer while I prepped the pea puree, but it isn't like that did anything but warm the freezer up).


Mushroom Ravioli with Green Pea Puree
from Vegetarian Times September 2007
serves 4


For Mushroom Ravioli:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion (1/2 small onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
8 ounces assorted mushrooms, chopped (3 cups)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
24 wonton wrappers

For Puree:
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
3/4 cup vegetable broth
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish

To make the ravioli:
Heat the oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until translucent and starting to brown. Stir in garlic and thyme, and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant. Add mushrooms and increase heat to high. Saute mushrooms 7 minutes more, or until all liquid has evaporated. Transfer to bowl and cool 20 minutes. Or not.*

Place 1 wonton wrapper on work surface. Fill a small bowl with water. Wet finger and brush edges with water. Spoon 1 teaspoon mushroom mixture in center of wrapper and fold into triangle, pressing edges to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and mushroom mixture. To freeze, freeze in individual layers. Once frozen transfer to a freezer bag or container.**

For pea puree and serving:
Blend peas, broth, and cheese in blender until smooth. Transfer to saucepan and warm over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add ravioli and cook 2 minutes or until cooked through. Drain.
Spoon pea puree onto plates and top with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired.

*This would be a good time to make the pea puree. Unless you are freezing them for later, in which case, well, make the pea puree later. It really only takes 5 minutes of paying attention, and 5 minutes of ignoring.

** My wonton wrappers were not squares and that was annoying me when it came time to fold them over. So I cut a stack of them so they were more squares. It made the folding easier. I also used around 30 wonton wrappers, but a package has around 48, so it shouldn't be a problem.

The Overnight Salad

The weather took a turn and now sitting outside is pleasant, almost springlike. As was my lunch. I realize it is almost July and I should be getting red for meals of red, white, and blue. Luscious raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, macerated atop a slice of angel food cake with a heaping dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Sorry, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. As well as not considering the limited possibility of that scenario occuring (my father's birthday cake) since I've been branching out and making him different things (last year it was a freeform plum tart). I won't say what I have planned for this year (though it will require some new pans) for fear he may actually read this.

But back to the weather. I'm sitting outside right now, so I can say with certainty, that in my backyard, the weather is enjoyable. And perfect. Bright but not sunny, cool but not cold, warm but not hot with an indifferent breeze. Not a stale breeze like those last week, but a slighly cool, almost indifferent one.

So it really does feel like spring is in the air. And the salad I ate at lunchtime, felt like late spring too, with green beans and a light acidic dressing. Though I'm ashamed to say, I ate it inside while reading the movie review for Ratatouille. I made the salad Wednesday night after dinner so that we could have it on Thursday before whatever we were going to have for dinner. I forgot that my parents would be gone, so there were just three of us and a nice large mixed-bean salad. I didn't realize how acidic it was going to be, but I liked it still, after I got over the slight shock. Part of it depended on if the bean had been actually sitting in the dressing, or was drier from the top since the salad marinated overnight. It was super simple to make and reminded me a bit of LMGs Just Grab It salads (at a Sunflower Market near you... if there is one).

Mixed Bean Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
serves 8
from Vegetarian Times May/June 2007 p36 by Patsy Jamieson

2 cups frozen shelled edamame beans (10-ounce package, but I can never find that size)
12 oz green beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise (3 cups)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 medium shallots, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 15-oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed


Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add edamame and return to a boil. Add green beans and cook for about 6 minutes or until edamame is tender and green beans are crisp tender. Drain and rinse with with cool water.

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, shallots, poppy seeds, mustard, and honey. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in edamame, green beans, and kidney beans. Refrigerate overnight or up to two days, though beans will start to discolor after a day.

So... This is how I study

Bananas. I know, they aren't exactly a fruit I should be proud of loving - for environmental and political reasons. While supposedly they're cleaning up their act, banana growers don't exactly have the best reputation. They harm biodiversity, use pesticides that kill the rain forest and those who work around them...
Not to mention UFCo, and their bananas, led to the CIA intervening in a decent government and replacing it with none other than an oppressive one. Those problems still aren't resolved...

However, those little potassium powerhouses are perfect for baked goods... and I'll admit, I put them in almost everything. Not to mention they go great in cereal when they're almost ripe, and as they get riper, oatmeal, and then overripe- puree or mash them and toss them into just about anything where they can hide or dominate.

I even keep some in the freezer from times when I've bought them but had other fruits around to eat. I'm not going to throw out bananas that have so much left in them.

While banana bread is no longer at its peak of popularity, I can totally see why it was. Though I'm much more of a muffin girl, the first scratch-made muffins I made were banana-nut. Though I usually make banana-wheat with chocolate chips because its fun to have a treat every once in a while with chocolate in the muffins.

Banana-Wheat Muffins
makes 10-12 muffins
Adapted from Vegetarian Times, March 2006
I think they are tastier using hand chopped bittersweet chocolate instead of the mini-chocolate chips because it has a smoother texture. If I don't have enough bananas once they're all mashed, I also sometimes top it off with applesauce (you lose some flavor though).

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking power
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (2 to 4 ripe bananas)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat bran
3 Tablespoons oil, such as walnut oil
1 large egg white
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup (50 g) miniature chocolate chips
a handful or two of walnuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease 12 muffin tin cups.

Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Combine bananas, buttermilk, sugar, wheat bran, oil, egg white and vanilla in a medium bowl; stir until blended.
Add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir just until moist. Add chocolate chips and stir until distributed.
Divide batter among prepared cups (I use a #12 scoop). Top with walnuts, if desired. Bake 13-17 minutes, or until golden brown and spring back when touched in center. Remove from pan and cool.

Dinner Pudding for Two

Before embarking on my weekend of terror (okay, not terror for me, more like terror for those who are unfortunate enough to be around me) I wanted to make dinner for mom and me. In part because I have not made dinner in a long time, and because I enjoy trying out recipes from magazines. Otherwise I feel like I've spent $5 to look at pictures when I could do that for free (or I guess the monthly fee for the connection) online. I suppose the glossy pages and articles about gadgets and restaurants and markets (like the article about La Boqueria in Bon Appetit the day after we returned home) are the real reason.
But I digress.

Valentine's Day is traditionally a couple meal, so I figured finding a plan from Valentine's Day, with the weather about right for that occasion, would give me a recipe that would require little altering.
I was wrong, but at least the grocery list was simple (8 ounce container of this, 5 ounce bag of that). The recipe was for a Spinach-Mushroom Strata, but I made it so shallow I felt like it should be dressing. Or possibly pudding. Because pudding sounds tastier. Or more like dessert. (Though I did find a definition of pudding that this dish would fit: any of various soft thick unsweetened baked dishes).



But maybe I should get on with the food. Like I was saying, despite choosing a recipe for two people so I could follow it to a "T", I still ended up changing it. Due to liquor laws and the lack of sherry in the liquor cabinet, I decided to do without (I couldn't have paid someone at the store to buy it for me, but that would make the dish unsavory.) The recipe also called for grated Swiss cheese and I'm not a fan of Swiss cheese, so I had to do something about that as well. Also, since I'm lazy, I had to do away with the French bread with the crusts removed and went for a softer bread instead. And it turned out delicious, unlike the broccoli rabe recipe that I followed much more closely (though I did accidentally end up boiling, not blanching, the greens; I think I just like citrus with broccoli rabe).

Spinach-Mushroom Dinner Pudding
Serves 2
adapted from Spinach-Mushroom Strata in Feb. 2007 issue of VT (p.42)

1 Tablespoon olive oil (and/or spray to grease dish)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (or sliced mushrooms, but I had time to slice them and save 50 cents)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme
1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
5 oz. spinach
2 1/2 cups cubed whole-wheat bread (from a baguette or loaf with soft crust)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 large egg
2 1/2 ounces mild gouda cheese (grated or cubed), such as Roomkaas Aniekaas

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 2 qt. shallow baking dish. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over high heat. Sauté mushrooms for 5 minutes or until browned. Add garlic and thyme, and cook one minute. Stir in vinegar and cook until liquid evaporates. Season with pepper (and possibly a bit of salt) and tranfer to a bowl.

Place pan over high heat (same pan would be nice). Add spinach and a tablespoon of water or broth (but not from the 1/2 cup) and cook a minute, or until spinach wilts. Season with salt and pepper (only pepper if you used broth). Squeeze out liquid.

Toss spinach and bread with mushrooms.
Whisk broth and egg together in a small bowl. Pour over bread mixture, add cheese, and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed by the bread.

Spoon into prepared baking dish and press down lightly. Bake 30 minutes or until browned and bubbling. Let stand 5-10 minutes to set, and then serve.

Baked Tofu Farfalle

Mom planned well, but not all plans work out.
We thought that we'd still have to be eating kosher, and to be safe, that means vegetarian meals (or fish, which would be overkill.) It ended up being mom and me, but she still made the recipe that she'd picked out from a year-old issue of Vegetarian Times, with just a few substitutions. She used Italian seasoned baked tofu and plain breadcrumbs, because she couldn't find smoked tofu, and we already had plain breadcrumbs in the cabinet from when I made Baked Mac&Cheese.
I liked the dish. But Mom and I are the only ones who have eaten it. The italian-flavored tofu did add a punch of salt to those bites, but I still thought that it tasted good, warm or cold.

Just a Bite of Mocha

I've been eyeing this recipe for about a year now, and I finally bought the "pantry-staple" ingredients that I was missing in order to make them (almond extract and rice wine vinegar). The recipe didn't have nuts in the batter, and made big muffins, but I think these would be overwhelming as a large muffin since they're so strong. Mom and Dad like them, but then again, they do like coffee.

I've had the urge to bake this past week, and am hoping to make banana muffins, lime bars, and experiment with wheat berry cookies (though maybe I should hold off on the wheat berry cookies since I've never done anything with wheat berries, or experimented with cookies really for that matter. I used to with banana muffins, but I wasn't organized and lost my notes.)

Mocha-Almond Mini Muffins
adapted from Mocha-Nut Muffins in Vegetarian Times March 2006
makes 24

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
6 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup brewed strong coffee, lukewarm (I made 2 1/2 cups of coffee with 6 scoops of grounds to use)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped almonds, divided

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Coat 24 mini muffin pan cups with cooking spray.

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl (flours through salt); whisk to mix together.
Whisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl (coffee through extract).
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined (can still be lumpy). Do not overmix. Stir in chocolate chips and 1/2 of almonds.

Divide batter among prepared cups using a cookie scoop (about 1- 1 1/2 tablespoons). Top with remaining almonds.
Bake 9-11 minutes or until they spring back when touched or a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs.
Remove from pans and cool on wire rack. (Enjoy them or once completely cooled, freeze for later use.)

Apple-Oat Muffins

These would have to be my favorite muffins. They're moist, chewy from the oats, occasional caverns of brown sugar, and soft apple. I usually try to keep some in the freezer since I tend to make muffins in the afternoons. They're yummy alone, or if you like toppings, with some peanut butter.
I find it easier to use 8 oz. containers of plain yogurt than to measure it out after I spilled a full 32 oz. container all over me once, but yesterday I couldn't find an 8 oz container of plain yogurt at Whole Foods.

Apple-Oat Muffins
adapted from Vegetarian Times March '06
makes 10
2 1/2 cups finely diced apples (about 2 or 3 medium apples, my favorites to use are granny smith, though they seem fine with any apple)
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup rolled (old-fashioned) oats
2/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/4 teaspoons wheat germ (optional)

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat the 10 cups of a standard-size muffin tin with cooking spray. Fill remaining two halfway with water.
Place apples on paper towels to drain, pat dry.
Combine flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in medium bowl. Whisk together. If small lumps of sugar remain, that's fine. It makes it even better.
In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla extract, and egg until smooth.
Make a well in center of flour mixture, stir in milk mixture just until moist. Mix in apple.
Using a #10 scoop, scoop mixture into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with wheat germ. Bake 15-20 minutes or until muffins spring back lightly when touched. Remove from pan to cool.

August 28: Portobello Pizzas

Based off a recipe found in the Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook for Portobello Pizza. Since it was for dinner nearly two and a half months ago, I'm not quite sure of what exactly went into it, except I know it did not have soysage, and that it had diced peppers in it. It was good, but I remember there was something about it that bothered me, but only me. I just can't remember what it was.

Fruity Morning Muffins

These are based on a recipe from the September 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times. I just added more fruit-and still ended up with only 10 muffins!

Fruity Morning Muffins
Makes 10
2 cups mixed dried fruit, plumped in boiling water (raisins, apricots, figs) chopped and drained
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup turbinado sugar, divided
orange zest from one orange
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line or grease 12-muffin tin for 10 muffins (though you may get more.)
2. Combine flours, 2/3 cup sugar, orange zest, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
3. Whisk eggs and yogurt in a searate small bowl. Stir egg mixture into fruit just until moist. Fold in fruit.
4. Using a size 10 scoop, fill muffin tins with batter. Sprinkle tops with remaining sugar.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until tops spring back when touched. Let cool.
6. Enjoy warm!
(to reheat, place in 350 degree oven for 3-5 minutes, or until warm)

May 24: Pesto "Pasta"

Mills came over right when I was starting dinner. She helped by making the squash into ribbons. I think she did the harder job. I just made the sauce.
I found the meal quite satisfying and tasty, while different at the same time. It was another recipe I've been meaning to try for a while. And with 15g of carbs per serving, I don't think it messed too badly with Dad's diet either.

Pesto "Pasta
Serves 4
adapted from Vegetarian Times May/June 2006

1 large zucchini

3 medium-size yellow squash

1/2 cup pine nuts

5 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 cup cilantro

1/2 cup basil

salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1. Shave zucchini and yellow squash into ribbons using a vegetable peeler.
2. Puree pine nuts and next four ingredients (through lemon juice) in food processor into smooth. Add tomatoes and pulse until blended.
3. Toss squash with pesto. Top with parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.