Weekend Food: Squash and Onion Quiche, 2 Bean Salad & Apple Cider Pumpkin Upside Down Cake.

I got up super early today and went grocery shopping to get ingredients for today's menu. Saturdays are really the only day I feel motivated to make a lot of food. I would have added a fourth dish of potato salad but I forgot to buy potatoes!

Squash and onion quiche from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. You can't see the squash and onion because they were mixed in with the filling! I took a cue from Isa's book Vegan Brunch buy adding cashews to the filling to make it creamier. After a few hours in the fridge, this will be ready to eat.

My husband was in the mood for bean salad so I whipped this one up based on the technicolor bean salad in Linda McCartney's Kitchen cookbook. I left out the green beans.

And now for the best part. I made this gorgeous cake based off of the recipe I saw at a fabulous blog called Midcentury Menu. Find the recipe here. Instead of making the cake from the cake mix instructions, I just used a can of pumpkin and the cake mix and stirred it all together. Worked great! Only thing is when you plop the batter on top of the apples, you have to be careful to spread it all out with a spatula as the batter is thickish.

This cake is so moist and delicious. The apples are so good with the pumpkin flavor of the cake!

Crunchy Kidney Bean Salad

Got this recipe from my friend's vintage cookbook. I absolutely love foods that are bathed in mayo, don't you?

Crunchy Kidney Bean Salad

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup diced celery
1/3 cup diced sweet pickles (I used sweet relish)
1/2 cup sliced olives (optional)
2 TB snipped scallions
1/4 cup mayo (I used Vegenaise)
3 TB chili sauce (Heinz)
1/2 tsp salt
Mix all ingredients together, chill and serve on lettuce leaves.

Adapted from Good Housekeeping's Book of Salads, 1958, volume 6

Black Eyed Pea Salad

I was thumbing through an Iraqi cookbook from my collection called "Delights from the Garden of Eden" and was inspired to make this salad after reading a description of A Medieval Appetizer of Black-Eyed Peas. It's simply black eyed peas tossed with onion, tomato, garlic, lemon juice and sumac juice. I made mine with onion, tomato, garlic, lemon juice, cilantro, dried dill, ground sumac and olive oil. Was delicious!