Mexican Chocolate Cake

(Picture above is courtesy of this post on Serious Eats - their recipe is very similar to this one.)

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo! A delicious, vegan, Mexican chocolate cake. Enjoy! This recipe is really from Mom, but I re-found it a few days ago and thought I'd post it...

CAKE:

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

¼ t. cayenne pepper

¼ t. salt

1 cup cold water

¼ c. canola oil

1 T. balsamic (or other) vinegar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat cake pan with cooking spray.
2. In bowl combine all ingredients, and stir until smooth.
3. Pour into pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cook in pan for 10 minutes.

ICING:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

½ c. cocoa

6 T water

1. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa and water.
2. Pour glaze over cake.
3. If desired, dip small strawberries into glaze and place strawberries on to of cake.
4. Set aside for about 30 minutes.

Tortilla Soup

This is a delicious recipe from my Texan friend, Laura Gilbert.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups of chicken broth
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp lemon pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1 lime
2 cans tomatoes with green chilies
Monterey jack cheese, grated
Tortilla chips
1 avocado

Cut raw chicken into bite-size pieces and cook on the stove. Set chicken aside, leaving grease in pan. Chop celery, carrots, onion, and garlic and saute in left-over chicken grease (mmm) and olive oil. Bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add chili powder, lemon pepper, cumin, lime juice, and tomatoes. Add chicken and veggies. Simmer all for 20 minutes.

To serve: Crush tortilla chips in bottom of bowl. Add soup and top with avocado slices and grated cheese.