a couple of recipes

[spiderdust]

Veronika's Sweet Almond Cake

2 eggs (or egg replacer equivalent), beaten

1 cup sugar* (I used 24 packets of Splenda)

1 tsp. vanilla paste or vanilla extract

1 stick butter or margarine

3-4 cups almond meal or hazelnut meal (I use the Trader Joe's brand nut meals, but you can grind your own in a food processor.)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Melt butter or margarine, cool. Mix together eggs, sugar, vanilla. Add a little bit of the melted butter to the egg mixture to temper it, mix, then slowly add the rest of the melted butter. (If you don't temper the egg mixture, you could end up scrambling the eggs!) Add nut meal; 3 cups for a moister, cakelike batter, 4 cups for a more crumbly shortbread-like mixture. Mix well. Put a thin layer of batter in a well greased baking pan. If you want a shortbread, press mixture into a jelly roll pan. For a cake/softer bar cookie, use a cake pan (9"x13" or smaller). Bake for 10-20 minutes (after 10 minutes, check every 5 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn... you should know it's ready when it starts to smell really good!).

*If you'd rather use a natural sweetener, substitute 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey, 3/4 cup maple syrup, 1 cup brown rice syrup, or 3/4 cup fruit juice concentrate for the sugar.


And a recipe for leftover squash!!

Chilean Squash
(from The Moosewood Cookbook)

4 cups cooked squash or pumpkin, mashed or pureed

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups chopped mixed red & green peppers

2-3 cloves crushed garlic

1 tsp. ground cumin

4 beaten eggs

2 cups corn, fresh or frozen (I can't have corn, so I'll probably substitute some other vegetable)

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1 cup grated cheddar

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

dash of cayenne (or more to taste)

dash of black pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

Saute onions, garlic and spices in olive oil until onions & garlic are translucent. Add peppers and salt. Cover and cook 5-8 minutes.

Add saute to mashed squash, along with corn and beaten eggs. Mix well. Taste to correct seasonings.

Spread into a buttered 2-quart casserole, and top with cheese.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered. Makes 4-6 servings.