A Day in the Life....

My very best friend reminded me... again... it's the little things.  

I've been spending a LOT of time thinking about food lately.  Mostly because I have had absolutely NO desire, inspiration or discipline to make meals.  This is very unusual for me.  Highly unusual.  I love to cook in the Fall.  Love to know I'm feeding my family, doing my part in the harvest.  I love to take care of the apples off our trees.  Not this year.  I've named it Lyme Funk.  Maybe I'll design a headband or something.  

So where is the connection here?  The little things and Lyme Funk?  It's in the desire to provide something fun for a co-worker recently diagnosed with milk allergy.  Not lactose intolerance.  Milk protein allergy.  Different animal altogether.  Not much fun.  So, I googled milk free cake.  about.com had some cool recipes to try.  For whatever reason, I chose to make their angel food cake recipe.  Most - even the boxed ones - are actually milk  free.  I wasn't willing to take any chances and so made one from scratch..  I think it might be my first, possibly my second, ever.  

It turned out good.  Not great.  Not picture-worthy.  But tasty and presentable.  The highlight was her excitement, and gratitude.  Her original comment about her birthday was "let's skip it, I can't eat anything anyway".  

I don't know if the recipe success will re-ignite my cooking fires, but making her day sure made mine.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 1 10" Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

• 12 large egg whites (or about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 t. cream of tartar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• Strawberry Sauce, for serving (recipe below)
• Vanilla Dairy-free Ice Cream, for serving

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl, and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, sift together the confectioners' sugar in a medium-sized bowl until well combined. Set aside.

3. Add the vanilla extract, cream of tartar and salt to the egg whites. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites mixture on slow speed for 2 minutes. Turn up the speed to a medium speed setting and begin gradually adding the sugar, beating continuously until the sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Turn off the mixer, and using a spatula, gradually fold in the flour-confectioners' sugar mixture into the egg whites, about 1/4 cup at a time until all has been incorporated.

4. Gently spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (between the outer wall and the inner wall of the pan) emerges clean. Invert the cake pan onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool for at least 1 hour before removing the cake from the pan.