birthday!

Have I mentioned a gazillion times that time is flying by at irrational speeds? Have I also mentioned my theory that time is, indeed, speeding up and I am not, conversely getting so old that I believe the impossible over the logical, that I am not just getting older and therefore more aware of the lapsing time? Do you feel as though you have warped into philosophical cooking? My bad.

For her 15th (15!th) birthday, my daughter, for the first time since leaving Maryland many years ago, not only celebrated her birthday with friends, but she had 10 girlfriends to "sleep" over and make sure no one actually slept. What a relief for a worried mother! Yes, hairs were colored purple, faces were made into fantasy creatures, Dad was kept up all night, My Little Pony episodes watched (why?) and no girl was immune to sleep deprivation. Including me.

Again, I share way too much. Food... food blog...

We had Two important food components for this special day... Dinner and Cake.

Dinner was Chicago Deep Dish Pizza from our go-to-if-you-need-reliable-and-delicious-food, Tami Noyes' Chicago Deep Dish Pizza from American Vegan Kitchen. The ten girls SCARFED three deep dish pies. Yes. Kid you not! These pies were HUGE - I loooooovvvveee pizza and I have one slice of this and I may want another one, but physically it is not possible for me to eat another one, however, these wonderful, beautiful, caring young ladies managed to put three of these pies somewhere :)  Love you, Tami!! 

Cake was, by request, a Rainbow Cake. My daughter is an advocate for not only animal welfare, being a conscious vegan, but is deeply involved with LGBT civil rights, hence the special request for the cake.

 A rainbow cake to me does not only represent the different colors, but should also represent different flavors. At first I was concerned that ROYGBIV would offer too many flavors and therefore muddle the flavor of the cake itself. Then  I realized that not only am I serving this cake to teens, but homeschooled teens, who are used to 'weird' things, such as a 6-flavored cake representing a variety of loves, freedoms and feelings.

 I was good. 

I wound up making Red (strawberry), Orange (orange), Yellow (lemon), Green (mint), Blue (butterscotch), Purple (chocolate) layers with a cream cheese/vanilla icing and explaining to them that each one was  a different flavor. They could mix and match or eat each layer separately. It was a hit. My daughter not only has great taste in cake but exquisite taste in friends. 

Happy Birthday Sweetheart.

caramelized onion pasta

Caramelized Onion Pasta sounds pretty basic, but don't let the notion of its simplicity prevent you from trying it. This is another dish that is easy to put together, but the caramelized onions pack a flavorful wallop.

It is true that you need to babysit the onions a bit, especially toward the end of the cooking time, but mostly it is a hands-off dish, where the most time is spent waiting...waiting for the water to boil, the pasta to cook, the onions to sweat and the onions to caramelize. After that it is a simple matter of tossing the two together and chowing down. Give it an hour to cook properly, but your waiting can be spent being engaged in more important activities, such as blog-surfing.

You might be tempted to add something to the dish, but resist if you can. Some cracked pepper is okay, but don't muddle the flavor of it with too many other ingredients. 

Cost Breakdown

pasta: $3

onions: $2

Total to make 5 servings:

$5.00

Caramelized Onion Pasta Recipe