Bookmarked Vegetable Cakes, Desserts and Sweet Recipes

There used to be nights when I would lie awake at night thinking about what to create with my home-grown organic vegetables, For those of you who have been following me since the inception of this blog, will know that I was putting vegetables into everything - Rhubarb and beetroot in curries, courgette and parsnip in cookies, avocado and pumpkin in mousse, spinach and kale in smoothies, beetroot in cakes,waffles and pastry crust, carrot in muesli, flapjacks and jams and jellies, butternut squash in ice-cream, and much more, now I lie awake with real life distractions. I also seem to have lost my mojo, before the inspiration would just come naturally ...life was much kinder then. I know it will return in time.

I was looking over some of my bookmarked recipes from years back.  It occured to me that raw food and vegan blogs have been a fantastic source of inspiration for many mainstream foodies whether or not we like to admit it.  Many raw and vegan food bloggers cook outside of the boundaries incorporating ingredients that mimic meat and dairy products flavours, textures and tastes.  Raw and Vegan cooks have introduced mainstream cooks and chefs to new techniques and ways of cooking with ingredients that they would never had considered.  Avocado Chocolate Mousse for a start - need I say more, and Kale and Spinach in Smoothies that have now evolved now to ice-creams and yogurts. Many of these recipes have been around for years, but are only just being discovered here in the U.K. 

Here are a handful of bookmarked recipes made with vegetables from around blogospere that I hope to make in time.  I have provided links to the original source.  I do hope the bloggers I've linked to don't mind me sharing the images with you. 

Beetroot Ice-cream by White on Rice Couple.

Here are Lagusta's amazing vegan Beetroot Truffles. She has also made other flavours, such as Chipotle, Wasabi, Curry and Miso! 

Beetroot and Coconut Terrine featured on Va Va Voom.  I know this one is savoury, but I am planning on sweetening it up a little when I make it at home. 

Red Chocolate Hot Chocolate by Yuppie Chef!  I was thinking of making this one with beetroot and making Red Beetroot Hot Chocolate!

I also have Beetroot Meringues bookmarked from Canal Cook, as well as vegan ones by Eddie Shepherd; and also Carrot Meringues bookmarked from Love the Garden Competition in 2011.

Here are some sweet recipes made with cauliflower.  For a start Chocolate Cauliflower Shake from The Green Forks which can easily be frozen and turned into a lollipop; and even a Cauliflower Rice Pudding from Maria Mind Body Health. 

Hulk Smoothie aka Green Smoothie from Carissa at Attached At the Nip.  Carissa introduced me to Green Smoothies in 2009.  She has so many variations with mangoes, apples, all with appealing names such as Green Goddess, and Simply Green Juice. 

This amazing vegan Kale Cake with Sweet Potato Filling from Lancaster Fresh Farm CSA website shared in 2011 by a CSA shareholder, Laura Forer.  I so want to make this with my homegrown kale.

Sweet Pea Cupcakes with Soured Cream Frosting from Vanilla Garlic as above (2009) and also Garden Peas and Ricotta Cupcakes  (no image) bookmarked from Cupcake Project (2011).

Another one from the Cupcake Project, this time its Cucumber Cupcakes.  So gorgeous. 

The Baker of Brighton also has Cucumber Cupcakes this time topped with Elderflower Cream.  But if you want to make one big cake, then check out this Cucumber Cake recipe bookmarked from Honest Cooking.  It shows that cucumbers can be substituted for courgettes. 

There is a sweet Turkish cake called Ispanakli Kek made with Spinach.  I had it when I was in Turkey but have never got round to making it at home.  I've had this Sweet Spinach Cake bookmarked by Binnurs Turkish Cookbook.  A similar Spinach Cake and Spinach Cupcake recipe appears in Mom Whats for Dinner !  I was also intrigued by Binnurs Mushroom Cookies.  

Spinach Ice-cream from Chocolate Covered Katie.  I was also recently reminded of this Mint Chocolate Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate Chips also made with spinach by Circardian Wellnesss via Jessica Seinfields book Double Delicious, you can find the original recipe here.

Peruvian Sweet Corn Cake from Peru Delights.  Follow this link for  22 Peruvian Recipes that vegans and vegetarians should try. 

Mexican Sweet Corn Cakes from Marcie at Flavour The Moments.

 Home-made Sweet Potato Latte by Grace Su featured on MichellePhan.com.  Sweet Potato Latte is a Korean cafe speciality that will soon be made in my kitchen come Autumn.  The recipe can be easily adapted, and has also been made with Japanese Purple Sweet Potato. 

Spiced Sweet Potato Doughnuts by Leanne Bakes.

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Squares from Seasonal Veg Head via Everyday Food.

Or maybe something a little more cooling with these Pumpkin Lollies or Popsicles depending on where you are in the world, bookmarked from a Healthy Jalapeno. 

And these don't even include those from my well thumbed raw food, vegetarian and vegan cookbooks such as this one from which I have already baked Celery Cookies.

Chilli Cucumbers and Chimichangas

Many of the towns and cities in parts of the U.S of A have their own Canteena Mexicana. The way Indian and Chinese food is popular in the UK, I guess in the USA it is the same with Mexican food. In Scotland, there have been a couple of attempts to open a Mexican restaurant, but have been disappointing and extremely expensive, for ingredients that were relatively cheap such as the tortillas and rice.
I know in London, the first British MasterChef winner 2005 Thomasina Miers has successfully opened Wahaca (correct spelling Oaxaca - it has been changed to make it easier to pronounce) aims to offer authentic Mexican food to Londoners. I really like her approach to food, there is no pretense or nonsense. I am so envious of those of you who can easily access the Oaxaca restaurant or even a decent Mexican eatery where you are. If I lived near one I would have worked my way through every veggie friendly dish there was.

There is one excellent Mexican-American shop in Glasgow, the West of Scotland, Lupe Pintos which I frequent now and again for specialist ingredients, but otherwise spice heads like me, have to make our own Mexican dishes, inauthentic as they are, they serve our fiery appetites well. So here is one of the most popular ones: Chimichangas.

One of the great things about Chimichangas is that once you’ve assembled the main components, you can put them in the fridge and forget about them till it’s time for cooking. Oh yeah, chimichangas are traditionally deep fried, but these are oven baked.

Make the refried beans and the red hot sauce
Make the chive sour cream sauce, which is real simple: 1 pint of sour cream, a small handful of chives, thinly sliced and optional 100g cooked sweetcorn. Simply stir all the ingredients and season. Then chill until ready to use.
Make your own favourite guacamole recipe.

I wanted a vegetable accompaniment, and with cucumbers being in season and at their best right now, I thought why not some chilli cucumbers. I grew up eating spiced cucumbers and spiced tomatoes this way, so this combination was quite acceptable to me, but was a new one for D. He did enjoy it, saying it was both spicy and refreshing!
Chilli cucumbers

1 large cucumber, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon of salt

1 generous teaspoon of chilli powder

Method

Simply mix the the salt and chilli powder together and scatter evenly over the sliced cucumbers.

To assemble the chimichangas You will need
4 large Tortillas
225g Mozzarella cheese, grated
Optional Lime wedges to garnish

Refried beans

Method
Take a tortilla and fill with refried beans. Fold over. Place on a well oiled tray. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Cook in the oven Gas mark 5 for 30 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Serve on plates along with sauces and accompaniments as desired.