I knew I wanted soup with barley and/or wheatberries and something like a spice cake for dessert.
I lurve this time of the year! The changing leaf colors, the brisk chill in the mornings and night, the layering on of clothing. Yes, 'tis the perfect weather for hearty soups, spicy cakes, and french-pressed coffee!
This is what I ended up cooking yesterday:
Mushroom Barley Soup and Pumpkin Spice Cake. With only a few simple modifications, they both turned out fabulous!
With the Mushroom Barley Soup, I used 15 mushrooms instead of the 10 the recipe calls for. I think I used well over a cup of the pearl barley, too. Oh, and I added an extra potato, 8 oz of vegetable broth, a few dashes of vegan worcestershire sauce, and used an entire head of cabbage. I forgot to add the turmeric but no big deal. Mark made some pan-toast and served along with the soup.
With the Pumpkin Spice Cake, we didn't have enough pumpkin purée nor maple syrup so I supplemented 1/3 of a banana with the pumpkin. For the maple syrup, I used 1/2 cup maple syrup + 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1/2 cup Sugar in the Raw to equal the 1-1/2 cups the recipe called for. Other than those two improvisations, I realized I had forgotten to add the apple cider vinegar to the batter after I'd put the cake in oven. There were several good hints on the VegWeb page regarding this recipe. I followed the one about the extra leavening by adding up to 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder. Maybe that helped save the cake without the apple cider vinegar? One more comment: I preheated the oven but I still had to bake the cake for an additional 10-15 minutes. I checked every five minutes til the toothpick came out clean. When it was done and had cooled off a bit, I served a slice to my hubby, after dusting it with a light coat of powdered sugar and he loved it.
The pics:
Wholesome veggies, prepped and ready for the soup
The finished product, served with Mark's pan-toast
Pumpkin Spice Cake with a dusting of confectioner's sugar
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