(Almost) Vegan 81st Birthday

Today was my grandfather's birthday and I volunteered (or, actually, my mother tapped me) to make lunch and a cake for my grandparents, parents, and brother. It was all vegan, until my mother brought along some feta and grandma busted out the dairy-based margarine for the french bread. Oh well, my meal was vegan.

First came just a mixed green salad with tomatoes and a store bought vinaigrette. (The key with my grandparents is to have the food be familiar, and easy.) The pasta wasn't much more involved. I boiled some whole wheat pasta while I sauteed some garlic and raisins in olive oil. I then added red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, halved grape tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and parsley.



A quick toss of the tomato mix with the drained pasta, a bit more olive oil, and it was done.





Grandpa had three helpings of pasta, so I would call it a success.

And what would a birthday be without cake? This one was a white cake, with a consistency like pound cake. Everyone loved the chocolate frosting. I added the sugar to the liquid though and it got lumpy (I should have done it the other way around) so I took half the batch and microwaved it for 30 seconds until it got warm and smooth, and then added it back to the rest on low to smooth out the whole batch. The result was good.



We left the cake down there. Other than using soy milk, there was nothing my brother could declare freaky about this recipe.



The leftovers are staying at my grandparents so they can invite the neighbors over and share the vegan cake love. I'm a bad girlfriend though, I forgot to bring a piece back for my boyfriend!