Indian Summer

Hi, Y'all!

Since September first, it's meteorologically fall but according to the calendar, fall starts three weeks later. My heart still yearns for sunshine and icecream and swimwear, therefore I cling to the term Indian Summer and am so, so glad that I still can enjoy my lunchbreak sitting in the sun in our backyard.

Nevertheless I had carrots and sweet potatoes in my pantry which had to be used up - both veggies which don't necessarily yell summer in your face. Carrot salad isn't hubby's favorite and two sweet potatoes don't get you anywhere. But as it was the weekend I had to bake a cake. On Sat/Sun we usually don't have lunch, thus it's nice to have something for your sweet tooth in between breakfast and dinner. Therefore, I tried a carrot cake. Veggies in a cake? Sounds way too healthy, you might think. And although it may be a way to sneak some veg into your kids, it tastes delicious and not at all sensible or healthy :-) There is a Swiss version called Rueblitorte - it's more or less similar, but I guess, the Swiss recipe calls for grounded hazelnuts which are optional in my recipe. I opted against them because they are poisonous for dogs, and you know how it goes... Accidents happen and I don't know why, but somehow there is always that small piece of cake which slips from the table and falls right into a greedy mouth of a four-legged friend... I don't want to take a risk, and therefore we also don't use Xylitol in our house - it's simply too dangerous. Of course we could debate whether it makes sense to give human food to dogs, but let's be honest. Else is 12 years old (average life span of an English bulldog is 8 - 10 years, btw), and if she begs for a little treat looking so stinking cute, we can't resist. And in case someone is already dialing pet rescue hotline - our dogs get perfectly fine dog food and are neither too large nor too thin :-)

But I am distracting, therefore let's have a look into the super bowl: Looks like baby food but is actually a mixture of flour, sugar, rapeseed oil, baking powder, finely grated carrots and a pinch of cinnamon.

After the usual stay in the hot oven it looks like this: 

But in my opinion, it's in dire need of a frosting. Therefore I quickly mixed some confectioner's sugar with a bit of lime juice and put it onto the cake after cooling. 

And yes, this variation is vegan, and I made a close up to show, how fluffy this dough can be - even without eggs: 

Side note: I had to hide half of it, otherwise there wouldn't have been any left for Sunday... 

You might wonder what happened to the aformentioned sweet potatoes. Alas, they turned into corn chowder! Some of you might know the American clam chowder or it's sassy French sister bouillabaisse. Well, corn chowder is also a soup but with corn instead of clams or fish (you don't say...)  

Basically you have to fry diced sweet potatoes in olive oil, then add some vegetable or chicken broth, some corn and green beans and let that simmer until soft. I was out of beans and replaced them by broccoli - was awesome. Additionally, the recipe called for smoked paprika which I still haven't purchased. After my desastrous attempt to make vegetarian sausage spread it fell off my shopping list. Anyway, I winged it with the usual suspects (s+p, turmeric, onion, garlic and curry powder - delicious!). In theory you strain the whole dish and add some (plant based) milk to make it very creamy. But hubby hates soups, and therefore, I had to get creative. I pureed only a small part of it and used as little liquid as possible to leave it chunky. Topped it off with some diced and fried chicken - and he was okay with it :-)  

Enjoy the last days of Indian Summer, you guys!!!