Vegan Beet Cake with Avocado Frosting

In honour of Melissa's, as well as my dear friend Krysta's birthday, which we celebrated this weekend, I am going to post a healthy birthday cake option. Unfortunately, they live out of town so my family and I had ate it all before they had gotten a chance to try any, oops :).
This recipe is extremely rich and only for devoted chocolate lovers. Besides the higher sugar content, which is typical for any sweet treat, it is relatively healthy alternative to classic chocolate cake and even sneaks in some vitamins and minerals with the beets and avocados. It can even be made gluten free by substituting out the wheat germ for an extra half cup of gluten-free oat flour.

Ingredients:
Batter:
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground coffee
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup of packed beet
3/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Icing:
2 avocados
1/2 cup cocoa powder
~7 tablespoons of maple syrup or more depending on sweetness preference

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees celsius. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the oil to the wet ingredients.
2. Blend a cooked beet in the food processor and add to the wet ingredients. Mix well and then add the dry ingredients to the wet.

3. Line an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper and oil the edges. Add the batter. And enjoy licking the bowl, since it's egg free! The batter was actually so delicious, I think I even liked the batter more than the cake (even though that was still good). I realized after I had stuck the cake in the oven that I had gotten a little out of control licking the bowl....

Cook the cake for 35 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.

4. Make the frosting by using a hand blender to combine all of the ingredients. Add more maple syrup as desired.

5. Once the cake is done, let it cool and then frost the cake. Use toothpicks to keep up saran wrap, and cover the cake. Keep in the fridge overnight or make it in the morning and keep it in the fridge until night and then serve.

-A

Green Lentil Fritters

A few weeks ago I was trying to find something easy to make for dinner without having to run to the store- it was the end of the week and our fridge was looking pretty bleak. I wanted to make something with lentils and I found an easy recipe for green lentil Ethiopian stew (I will share this recipe another day - I was missing a few herbs so I want to try making it again with all the right ingredients). I had some extra cooked lentils left over and decided to make some quick lentil fritters with them! These are really simple to make, taste great and are really versatile. We ate them with the stew, but they would be great as snack, and even better in a pita with veggies and hummus. They are also vegan and gluten free!

What you need: 
1 cup and 1/4 cup cooked green lentils
1/2 onion
2 cloves or garlic
Spices - whichever ones you like - I used salt and pepper, hot chillies and cumin
Olive or coconut oil

Directions: 
Blend up the 1 cup of green lentils, with the onion and garlic in a blender or food processor, combine blended lentils with 1/4 cup unblended lentils, and spices. Heat oil in pan, form fritters and fry them in oil until golden brown on each side.

Enjoy!
-M

The Ethiopian stew we ate ours with!