party leftovers bento

Ryan certainly gets a good deal when AJ has a birthday...
Ryan's lunch: grapes & cantaloupe; chocolate cake; steamed broccoli; leftover pizza with spinach, mushrooms & black olives.

And here are a few more pictures of AJ's birthday yesterday evening...












Presents, and a big
chocolate cake with
vanilla frosting and
sprinkles.

Maia really enjoyed
her cake. She's been
trying to use a fork
a lot recently. Here
she is using the same
exact fork that I have
a photo of myself
using to eat my cake
with when I turned 2.

But lucky Maia gets
chocolate thanks to
her big brother!

I must say chocolate
cake is my favourite
too. Some Trader's
Joe's cherry chocolate
chip soy ice cream
went nicely with this.

Here's my hunk o' cake...

And yes I did have
cake & pizza for
breakfast this
morning!

finally, zucchini brownies

Erm, Happy New Year! Been a bit busy doing a whole lot of nothing. I have no excuses for my lack of blogging or disastrous housekeeping. So without further ado...

I actually lost the original recipe that I linked to long ago for zucchini brownies, and by lost I don't mean I couldn't find it, but that the person hosting it changed her blog to family-only with a password, so it is no longer accessible to the public.
So given that I changed things slightly, lengthened the baking time by quite a bit, and omitted the frosting completely, I feel that I can post my version of the recipe as I remember it...

Zucchini Brownies

1 1/2 cups vegan sugar
1/2 cup organic canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 small-medium zucchini, shredded
spray olive oil

In a large bowl, measure sugar, add oil & vanilla, and mix well.
Add flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Mix until combined. It will appear very dry.
Grate zucchini (I use a food processor attachment that does the job in about 20 seconds, but you can also hand-grate). Add zucchini to bowl and mix well.

Two zucchini should yield about 2-3 cups shredded. I have found that the cooking time varies by how much zucchini you add.
Spray large rectangular baking dish with olive oil. Add brownie mixture, pressing/patting it down evenly & firmly with a fork or spatula. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes if you used 2 cups of zucchini (2 small zucchini), 45 minutes for 2 1/2 cups, 50 minutes for 3 cups.
Allow to cool somewhat before cutting. You can always nuke them for a few seconds later if you want warm brownies.
Great with a glass of almond milk, or topped with ice cream! We brought some along on a cookie platter to our New Year's Eve gathering with family--the brownies disappeared fastest as usual! I'll be making them again tomorrow for a letterboxing potluck.