Hello peeps..
well we just had one mother of a storm...and you know what that means. Time for me to cook my ass off. Anywhoo..this post should have been called "How I ate my way through WholeFoods", but i dont eat meat so it would be impossible to eat my way through, but I'm damm sure going to give it the good ol' college try. Before I get to the banana bread cake, i want to tell you about my dinner the last time i eate at WF. It all started with a tofu tower. I suppose it's their riff on a caprese salad which they veganized by leaving out the mozzerella. The presentation was pretty in that they stacked the tofu with tomatoes and alternating basil leave, however I feel its a culinary criminal act when one has the blank tofu canvas staring up at them and they do nothing with it. i forgot to grab some kind of dressing because it didnt look like it needed any. So out came the salt. Need I say more. the ultimate insult is to reach for the salt. So I moved forward to the chimichurri tofu. looked a little more promising. Tofu swimming in a sea of green herby-ness. (yes i make up words).
And again, needed salt. im beginning to see a pattern with certain dishes. its almost as if they are afraid to salt the food. i mean salt is a natural mineral people. Pick it up people and use it. A little salt and pepper goes a long way. So just when Ive lost all hope of finding any flavor, i move on to the two things that i know are going to be good. Now check this out I'm not talking gourmet here..Im a regular vegetarian chic who wants a good samosa every now and then. I'm not hard to please. The samosas at WF are very spicy...so be prepared to perspire..they are probably one of my favorate things at their hot salad bar in addition to the koftas. which are spicy as well both items are a little on the dry side and definately need a sauce to go with it. But im not put off by eating them without a sauce.
So after my samosa..onto my cake. now i know it seems that ive eaten alot but mind you the beauty of eating at WF is being able to take a small spoon of something ive ner tried before. I hate having to commit to a whole dish of something only to find out it sucks. ...ok now onto the cake..lol..and who doesnt love cake. I usually get this natural chocolate cake that is made with raisins and dates and cocoa and applesauce. Its a little bit healthier than a traditional chocolate cake. but I was feeling a little dangerous this one particular evening and decided to indulge in the chocolate ganache cake. Holy moly. Was I surprized at the layer of ganache on this cake. it was so thick and the cake was so dense. When i took a bite it was almost as if my mouth was trying to move through quicksand lol. If youre one for a light cake with a light frosting pass on this one...but if dense and rich is your bag then go and indulge with an espresso on the side. you most definately need to have a strong coffee with this cake.
Speaking of cake. The subject of this post was about banana cake. which was my project a few days ago as i let 6 bananas over-ripen on my kitchen table. I could not find my banana cake recipe so i took one off the internet (cant remember where i got it, but will definately look and post the info when i get home). Anywhoo..im a fan of any cake that calls for either buttermilk or sour cream. i just find they tend to have a nice texture thats dense but not too dense. This is basically a banana bread recipe in the form of a cake. Im not sure if i like this one better than my other recipe..but I did something different with the frosting this time. I used a buttercream frosting in between the two layers .I attempted to put the frosting on top but I made a real rookie mistake. As soon as I started frosting this cake the frosting started to melt and my heart sank. Disgusting. So i scraped it off as fast as i could. I know better than to frost a warm cake. in fact i always frost the next day just to be safe. So I was totally kicking myself. Things happen for a reason..and my due to hurricane Irene taking down the transportation, my commitment was cancelled. So in the fridge this banana beauty went. The plan is to frost the outside with a cream cheese frosting. Other things to note on this recipe. I used a 9x13 round pan and poured all the batter into it. This recipe called for 3 cups of flour...so you know along with the other ingredients this is one big mother of a cake. It was a slow bake cake at 275degrees. the recipe said it would take an hour in a 9x13 rectangular pan. In the round it toom an hour and 15 minutes. Next time I will definately split the batter between two pans. it was in the oven forever and I had to trim the top off in a few spots because I was afraid it wasnt cooked all the way through. Anyway, my banana beauty is in the freezer awaiting her debut next weekend. Will be taking her out the day before and frosting her.
On that frosty note honeybees and honey bears...i must get going
Until next time!
well we just had one mother of a storm...and you know what that means. Time for me to cook my ass off. Anywhoo..this post should have been called "How I ate my way through WholeFoods", but i dont eat meat so it would be impossible to eat my way through, but I'm damm sure going to give it the good ol' college try. Before I get to the banana bread cake, i want to tell you about my dinner the last time i eate at WF. It all started with a tofu tower. I suppose it's their riff on a caprese salad which they veganized by leaving out the mozzerella. The presentation was pretty in that they stacked the tofu with tomatoes and alternating basil leave, however I feel its a culinary criminal act when one has the blank tofu canvas staring up at them and they do nothing with it. i forgot to grab some kind of dressing because it didnt look like it needed any. So out came the salt. Need I say more. the ultimate insult is to reach for the salt. So I moved forward to the chimichurri tofu. looked a little more promising. Tofu swimming in a sea of green herby-ness. (yes i make up words).
And again, needed salt. im beginning to see a pattern with certain dishes. its almost as if they are afraid to salt the food. i mean salt is a natural mineral people. Pick it up people and use it. A little salt and pepper goes a long way. So just when Ive lost all hope of finding any flavor, i move on to the two things that i know are going to be good. Now check this out I'm not talking gourmet here..Im a regular vegetarian chic who wants a good samosa every now and then. I'm not hard to please. The samosas at WF are very spicy...so be prepared to perspire..they are probably one of my favorate things at their hot salad bar in addition to the koftas. which are spicy as well both items are a little on the dry side and definately need a sauce to go with it. But im not put off by eating them without a sauce.
So after my samosa..onto my cake. now i know it seems that ive eaten alot but mind you the beauty of eating at WF is being able to take a small spoon of something ive ner tried before. I hate having to commit to a whole dish of something only to find out it sucks. ...ok now onto the cake..lol..and who doesnt love cake. I usually get this natural chocolate cake that is made with raisins and dates and cocoa and applesauce. Its a little bit healthier than a traditional chocolate cake. but I was feeling a little dangerous this one particular evening and decided to indulge in the chocolate ganache cake. Holy moly. Was I surprized at the layer of ganache on this cake. it was so thick and the cake was so dense. When i took a bite it was almost as if my mouth was trying to move through quicksand lol. If youre one for a light cake with a light frosting pass on this one...but if dense and rich is your bag then go and indulge with an espresso on the side. you most definately need to have a strong coffee with this cake.
Speaking of cake. The subject of this post was about banana cake. which was my project a few days ago as i let 6 bananas over-ripen on my kitchen table. I could not find my banana cake recipe so i took one off the internet (cant remember where i got it, but will definately look and post the info when i get home). Anywhoo..im a fan of any cake that calls for either buttermilk or sour cream. i just find they tend to have a nice texture thats dense but not too dense. This is basically a banana bread recipe in the form of a cake. Im not sure if i like this one better than my other recipe..but I did something different with the frosting this time. I used a buttercream frosting in between the two layers .I attempted to put the frosting on top but I made a real rookie mistake. As soon as I started frosting this cake the frosting started to melt and my heart sank. Disgusting. So i scraped it off as fast as i could. I know better than to frost a warm cake. in fact i always frost the next day just to be safe. So I was totally kicking myself. Things happen for a reason..and my due to hurricane Irene taking down the transportation, my commitment was cancelled. So in the fridge this banana beauty went. The plan is to frost the outside with a cream cheese frosting. Other things to note on this recipe. I used a 9x13 round pan and poured all the batter into it. This recipe called for 3 cups of flour...so you know along with the other ingredients this is one big mother of a cake. It was a slow bake cake at 275degrees. the recipe said it would take an hour in a 9x13 rectangular pan. In the round it toom an hour and 15 minutes. Next time I will definately split the batter between two pans. it was in the oven forever and I had to trim the top off in a few spots because I was afraid it wasnt cooked all the way through. Anyway, my banana beauty is in the freezer awaiting her debut next weekend. Will be taking her out the day before and frosting her.
On that frosty note honeybees and honey bears...i must get going
Until next time!
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