Pad Thai, Black Beans, Roasted Potatoes, Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Dinner 6/23 by Dan



• Pad Thai

• Black Beans

• Brown Rice

• Roasted Potatoes with Garlic Scapes

• Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Tonight's dinner showcases the cilantro from Dan's garden. The Pad Thai was filled with cabbage, peanuts, cilantro and lots of other yummies. He says he looked to books for inspiration, but ultimately it was his own creation. His black beans were delicious -- cooked until perfectly tender. He was even sweet enough to make a small pan for me that didn't have any cilantro, since I seem to be one of the people whose tastebuds interpret it as soap.

The new potatoes came from the local farmer. They are the first of the season and the dish reminded me how much I love roasted vegetables. I enjoyed how the garlic scapes caramelized and became sweet and crunchy. That's the last of them and now the garlic in Ironweed garden is getting close to harvest time.

Today is Alline's birthday and though not a vegan herself, she fully believes that vegan cupcakes are going to take over the world. I thought I would honor her with some Chocolate Orange cupcakes from Isa's book. For those of you who haven't picked up a copy of "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World" yet, they are orange cupcakes filled with orange pudding, then a thin layer of orange marmalade is spread on and chocolate ganache seals the deal. I used all of the specified ingredients and worked on them for several hours. Unfortunately, I overfilled the cupcake liners a bit too much so the chocolate ganache didn't have anywhere to pool and it ran down the sides. Also, having a high-efficiency fridge means that it took quite a while for them to set up. Still they were super tasty.