Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Banana Cupcakes, Creamy Spinach Lasagna, and Kale Salad

I've really been into making cupcakes this winter.  My latest was a batch of banana cupcakes with maple rum frosting from VCTOTW.
The banana cake is a really good base recipe and it gave me lots of ideas for future cupcake creations.  The frosting wasn't as maple-y as I would have liked, so I'll make adjustments next time, but still... yum. 

After so much sweetness I had to make something savory.  I'd been dreaming up a creamy lasagna experiment that I decided to give a try.  The inspiration for this one was the spinach "ricotta" filling. 
This was a combo of silken tofu, miso, nutritional yeast, and spinach.  It turned out smooth and creamy, just the way I imagined it.
 The filling was marinara, fire roasted tomatoes, mushroom, Yves meatless ground, red wine, and fresh herbs.
 I layered the creamy spinach ricotta and mushroom marinara filling between lasagna noodles, then topped with Daiya vegan cheese
And, of course, I'm still working on eating more greens.  So, along with my every-day salads I made up some massaged kale salad.  This one featured my favorite, Italian kale (aka dinosaur kale, Tuscan kale, or Lacinato kale) with avocado, tahini, lemon juice, green onion, and a drizzle of white truffle oil. 

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start :)