Birthday Foods

Yesterday was my birthday and I ate a lot of fabulous things. Mike made me a spicy omelette in the morning, which was delicious, as usual. Then, we ate my birthday cake which I had made the night before and for dinner we ate Pasta with Arugula and Parmesan from Cooking Light.
The Pasta with Arugula and Parmesan was ok. Definitely not as good as I had hoped, considering how much I love arugula. I did not use enough tomatoes, because I did not have enough. It definitely needs more garlic than the two cloves the recipe calls for. It was tasty, but as Mike said, "No Summer Panzanella." I probably will not make it again, but maybe I will mess around with the ingredients in it.

Pasta with Arugula and Parmesan.
2 1/4 cups chopped plum tomato
1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups hot cooked gemelli or fusilli (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta twists)
3 cups torn trimmed arugula
2 ounces shaved fresh Parmesan cheese

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add pasta and arugula, and toss gently. Place 2 cups pasta mixture in each of 4 bowls, and sprinkle with cheese.

Yield: 4 servings

Frosted Pumpkin Cake
My birthday cake! Yum. This cake is from Cooking Light too. It is extremely delicious. I suggest everyone make it. I am in love. Mike loved it. My roommate loved it. Paul loved it. I am going to make more people eat some today and I bet they will love it. The only change I made was to cut the cake in half and stack it to make a layer cake, with a layer of the frosting in between. It is surprisingly low in fat--about 4 grams per serving! I will definitely make this again and probably make it into cupcakes.

Cake:
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
2 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice
1 (18.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix (such as Betty Crocker)

Frosting:
2/3 cup (6 ounces) tub-style light cream cheese
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.

Coat a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray; dust with flour.

To prepare cake, place the egg substitute, granulated sugar, applesauce, and pumpkin in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed for 1 minute. Add pie spice and cake mix, beating at high speed 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, place the cream cheese and vanilla in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating just until blended. (Do not overbeat.) Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.

Yield: 24 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

So that was my birthday foods. Oh, and I drank a delicious juice from Trader Joe's called Blackberry Crush.