sweet miscellany

No better way to follow up the cakes in the last post than with a salad, right?! It’s all about balance over here on the blog. Gotta have a little green to go with the sweets. To be honest, I went back and forth about whether or not I wanted to share a salad with you since the word itself tends to make people yawn, but then I said screw it and decided to share it anyways. So, salad for everyone!

My tendency lately has been to steer away from raw salads since my body is in winter mode and craving warm foods. But, I still love my greens (and salads!) so I’ve been lightly steaming them to make them more nourishing and digestible. This salad was one of those recipes that just popped into my head one day. I immediately recorded it in a little notebook where I keep other musings and blog ideas and decided to bring it to life today. I think it came about because I was thinking about how delicious the contrast would be between a bed of herby steamed greens and fresh, juicy slices of citrus fruit. The rest of the recipe came together as I stood in the kitchen making it. Sunflower seeds were added for a bit of crunch, goji berries for their lovely hue and delicious sweet-tartness. To elevate the steamed kale a bit of fruity olive oil and apple cider vinegar were added. And voila! A salad is born.

Citrus is happily abundant down here in Texas right now and I can’t help but smile when I see the sunny-hued orbs hanging in trees around town. It takes all I have not to pull over and jump out of my car to pick as many as possible before someone yells at me. I actually picked the grapefruit I used in the salad from my sister’s neighbor’s tree! That’s as local as it gets for me without planting a darn tree in my backyard. So, in honor of the abundance of sunny citrus, I give you the Winter Sunshine Salad. Make it, eat it, then smile and sit back to bask in the rays of the winter sun 🙂

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Spiced Parsnip Mini Bundts with Citrus & Hazelnut (vegan/gf recipe) | seasonal plant-based recipes via The Sweet Miscellany Blog

Finely grated parsnip and orange zest are baked into mini bundt cakes spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Coconut cream and toasted hazelnuts are the finishing touches, lending a delicious, nutty flavor. These mini bundts are gluten free and vegan and perfect for a special occasion like a birthday!

So it’s my birthday today and following the tradition I set when I first started this little ole blog, I’m sharing my birthday treat with you on my actual birthday! I’m not someone who lies about their age or avoids questions about it so I’ll go ahead and let you know that today is my 30th birthday. Yep. The big 3-0. More than anything I’m having a hard time fathoming that I’ve been on the earth for that long. In some ways it still feels like I just attended high school. In other ways that shit seems like it was 40 years ago.

I was actually dreading today and the stigma behind turning this age because I let myself get drawn into a pity party a couple of weeks ago. There were tears, snot, and plenty of ugly contorted faces as this dumb little voice told me how lame it was that I had no real career at the moment (among many other things it told me I should also have by this age). Time passed and as I got closer to today, I told that stupid little voice to eff off. Instead of thinking of what I haven’t yet accomplished, I decided to look back on all that I was able to do before turning 30. And if you care for a little sharing moment, here’s an abbreviated bullet list:

I graduated from college with distinction honors in anthropology
I worked as an archaeologist for more than 6 years
I traveled to Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) in addition to Tahiti, Hawai’i, Singapore, France, England, Scotland, Wales, & numerous states in the US
I became a published author 3 times over (thanks Chickpea!)
I started and ran my own small business (soon to be up and running again!)
I started a year long health coaching program
I started yoga teacher training

I share this list not to boast or brag, but to remind myself that dreams don’t stay dreams for long when I set my mind to something. And, I share it to remind you that the same is true for you, too! Don’t ever get stuck thinking you’re not good enough, smart enough, or strong enough to do something. I’ve been there and nothing good ever comes of it. We are each capable of such amazing things. Every single one of us 🙂

And now for cake! Finely grated parsnip and orange zest are baked into mini bundt cakes spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Coconut cream and toasted hazelnuts are the finishing touches, lending a delicious, nutty flavor. These mini bundts are gluten free and vegan and perfect for a special occasion like a birthday! 😉

Spiced Parsnip Mini Bundts with Citrus & Hazelnut

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

for the mini bundts:

60g brown rice flour
25g oat flour
35g arrowroot flour
1/4 tsp xanthan gum or psyllium husks
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
25g (about 2 packed tbsp) finely grated parsnip
120g plant milk (I used some homemade brazil nut milk)
60g unsweetened applesauce
60g melted coconut oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
contents of 3/4 of a vanilla bean
75g raw cane sugar
zest of 1 small orange

for the coconut cream & garnish:

1 cup of chilled coconut cream
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
contents of 1/4 of a vanilla bean
tiny pinch of fine sea salt
1/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease a mini bundt pan (or regular muffin/cupcake pan) with coconut oil and set it aside.

In one bowl combine the flours, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk to combine. Add the grated parsnip and mix it in until it is evenly distributed throughout the dry mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine the milk, applesauce, oil, vinegar, contents of the vanilla bean, sugar, and orange zest. Whisk until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk until a somewhat thick batter comes together. It should resemble the consistency of pancake batter.

Fill the mini bundts about 2/3 of the way with the cake batter, then tap the pan on the counter several times to release any air bubbles. Bake the cakes for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. The cakes are done when the edges are golden and the tops spring back when touched.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the coconut cream, add the chilled coconut cream, maple syrup, the contents of the rest of your vanilla bean, and the sea salt to a bowl. Beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until the cream is fluffy.

To assemble, put a good dollop of coconut cream on a mini bundt, then garnish with toasted hazelnuts. Enjoy!

Makes approximately 8 mini bundts.

Notes

To make it easy on myself, I toasted the hazelnuts in the oven along with the mini bundts. Just make sure to watch them so they don’t burn!
You’ll notice I say to use 3/4 of a vanilla bean in the cakes and 1/4 in the coconut cream. This is because I only wanted to use 1 bean total.
For the coconut cream, park a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge for at least 6 hours, then remove the thick coconut cream (leaving the coconut water behind).

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 18-20 minutes
Category: dessert