Chocolate Puppy Cake fit for a 3rd birthday!

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup Kroger brand organic unbleached all purpose flour (it's barley free) or whatever flour you prefer
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tsp baking powder, divided
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce (or pear sauce or....)
1 cup coconut milk (or other milk)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch baking pans.
2. Stir together 1/2 cup applesauce and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, set aside to do its thing.
3. Combine dry ingredients.
4. Add milk, oil, vanilla and beat on med speed for 2 minutes.
5. Add applesauce mixture and boiling water. Stir until well combined. Mixture will be thin!!!!
6. Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees until toothpick in center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely and frost.

Note: for this cake shape I used one heart shaped cake pan and one 9 inch round cake cut in half to make ears.

* Adapted to be allergy-friendly from the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe on the back of the cocoa powder box!

Easy Shortening Cake Frosting

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup spectrum shortening
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients on low speed.
2. Once combined, beat on medium speed for a full 5 minutes.

Frosting can be piped for decorating or just frosting a cake. You can thin it a little with more milk for easier spreading if just frosting.

I added a bit of cocoa powder for the brown ears and food coloring for the tongue for this cake.

Here's my recipe for the cake:
http://yummyinmyfpiestummy.blogspot.com/2012/04/chocolate-puppy-cake-fit-for-3rd.html

Quinoa Stuffed Pepper Bites (or Quinoa Casserole if you skip the peppers!)

Here we go, an easy versatile dinner recipe we adapt for the whole family. I have made it vegetarian for vegetarian family members. For my husband and I, we do the recipe as stated. For Jack, we don't put it in peppers because he hates them. We just put the mix in a pie pan and bake a little (or serve as is). For Samaya's we change up the mix and skip the peppers too. The Samaya mix is: ground beef, quinoa, spinach, squash puree, salt and pepper.

Samaya's Mix

For this recipe I have chosen to use tiny sweet peppers I buy at Costco because they are fun finger food, cheap and work as appetizer or the main course. You can always do them in full size peppers but I throw the prepped peppers in boiling water for a couple of minutes each to soften.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 cup dry quinoa, prepared (makes about 2 cups when cooked)
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese 
(I am sure you could easily swap out the cheeses and use nutritional yeast!)
1 can tomato puree
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bag sweet peppers


Directions:

1. Cook quinoa following package instructions.
2. Brown ground beef.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Combine all ingredients except peppers.
5. Stuff peppers. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until peppers are a little wilty and sweating and mix is bubbling a bit.
6. Enjoy!

Note: if you are preparing as a casserole and skipping the peppers, I would put it in for about 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

The key to this recipe is versatility! Experiment, have fun. Add things, switch it up, get creative and temper it to your tastes! Great for company because it can be prepped ahead and popped into the oven at the last minute!