LEMON CHEESECAKE!!! NO CHEESE!!!

I made this!! I know, you're shocked. I'm still shocked, actually, as it came out scrumptious like!
This is from the Joy of Vegan Baking (please purchase k thanks). I finally found some of that Ener G Egg Replacer- I had to literally dig around but I found the last box hidden on the shelf at Whole Foods. What it is is this powder that is a potato base. You mix it with water and poof!! Egg-like fluffiness!! Very exciting. I hate eggs. Forgetting all the other arguments pro-animal rights (which I do believe in) eggs are just GROSS. I shiver just thinking about it. So finding something that not only replaces eggs, but lasts a ton longer on your shelf at an equivalent of over 50 individuals eggs for about 4 bucks- was truly exciting. People always look at me like "poor you" when I tell them I'm a lactose intolerant vegetarian who can't have all this and that.. but I don't feel that way at all. I love cooking now, and finding new ways of eating the same items is very cool and liberating! No more bad eggs after only using 2, or rotten milk after only consuming a cereal bowl full. I save money so I can buy gas. lol

Okay so for this you will need a spring-form pan which is pretty sweet. I picked one up from Target for 12 bucks I think. Latches are cool.

First you need to get your "eggs" going. Blend with an electric hand mixer 4 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer with 6 tbsp of water. Get it think & creamy. Then beat in the cream cheese for about 30 seconds. Don't over-do it, cheesecakes will crack if there is too much air. Then beat in the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.

24 ounces cream cheese (3 tubs Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp lemon juice (juice from one medium sized lemon)
1 tbsp lemon zest (from about one lemon)
1 pie crust

Pour the batter onto your prepared crust ( I did a simple graham cracker one) and smooth it out. Bake until the center jiggles just a tad, and the sides begin to pull away from the edges. Mine was ready in about 55 minutes. The top was poofy and a little brown, but it flattened out when it cooled. Cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before serving. Top with strawberries!!!

I'm pretty proud of this one, it's really easier than it looks though. It does not have the richness of a real cheesecake, but it's good, and satisfies the urge if real cheesecake is equivalent to the devil stabbing your stomach with hot poker.

BBQ Pomegranate Tofu and Coconut Rice, G style

Who says tofu is bland? Pssh. This recipe combo was fairly simple, but did require items I didn't have in my kitchen, and frankly well, I had never heard of. For instance, pomegranate molasses. Dubbayu Tee Eff??? I ended up ordering some online. Tamari. Again, huh? I'm actually I'm still lost on that one, as Tamari is a brand of soy sauce. But sometimes she calls for soy sauce, and sometimes for Tamari.

So basically the key to this dish is firm, dry tofu cut into edible pieces. I think I finally got this down. You FREEZE it first, then thaw completely. This takes time, so you have to plan when you are going to take it out to thaw. I recommend when you are chillin at home doing tedious tasks, or staring at the void of pretty lights and mindless information in a box. Anyway, once your tofu is good, you slice it and marinate it briefly in peanut oil (2tbsp)and tamari (1 tbsp), then bake for 15 min or each side. While that is baking, prep the sizzzauce.

First you saute the shallots in peanut oil. Add garlic and Chinese five spice. Poke it around for a minute. Add the veggie broth, simmer. Once that is simmering away, dump the rest of the goods in and boil. Then lower heat at simmer (simma down now) for another 15min. When the tofu is done, pour the sauce into the pan with the tofu and bake for another 15.

The sizzzauce:
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 cup shiizzallots
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
2 c veggie broth
dizzash black pepper
1 can tomato paste
2 tbsp creamy peanut butta
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp tamari
1/4 maple syrup
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp liquid smiizoke


Coconut Rice

So this rice goes swimmingly with the tofu. I'm actually pretty dumb though, I tried to get coconut milk from an actual coconut. AHAHAHA. Yeah. So you don't have to do that. You don't even need a coconut to make this. I would like to take this time to also thank my hero Al Gore for "inventing the internet". What would I do without it? I think I'd die. I discovered through the intertubes, that one can make coconut milk simply by blending coconut with hot water in a blender or food processor. It worked like a charm. I put about a cup of shredded coconut with 1 1/2 cup of hot water, and I got the exact amount of milk needed. Oh, you have to strain it to get the milk all milk like, so you'll need a strainer thingy bobber.

So you make this like regular rice, but with a few extras. Start with 2 cups of washed Jasmine rice. Bring to a boil with 1 can coconut milk (or about 1-1/2 cup of your own darn milk as detailed above), 1 cup water, a dash of salt, and a stick of cinnamon. Reduce to low heat and simma for 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Mine was already slightly burning after 15 minutes, so check it every few minutes and give it a stir. When it's done, add some lime zest from one lime and stir with a fork. Set aside and get the topping going:

Toast up some fresh coconut flakes in a little skillet. I used the stuff in the ready-made bag because I failed at the real thing- whichever you prefer or have the time for.

This combo was really good, I will definitely make it again. It does take some time and prep, but it makes enough for seconds, and is great to give to your meat eating friends. They'll turn.. oh yes. *insert evil eye here*

Fronch Toast & Tempeh Bacon

This was a 50% success. The Fronch toast was super awesome!!! One thing that truly would be depressing about being a vegan to the core would be the lack of delicious breakfast foods. Almost every dish contains eggs, milk, or butter. The author of Vegan with a Vengeance admits that breakfast sucks for her when she goes out with her friends because the only thing she can eat is oatmeal. Boo!

So the trick to the egg-like taste of the toast is chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour. Who knew? It was fun searching for it in the store. I hired my husband to help with the search and after a few minutes I heard him say, "I only see garbanzo bean flour". Tee hee.

So all you do is mix the following in a bowl:

1 cup rice milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup chickpea flour

Then dunk your bread in the mix, then in to the pan to fry over medium high heat. Use stale bread or baguette slices. I opted for the baguette, since stale bread is slightly creepy to me. :P
Cook each side for two minutes. Eat with some syrup for yummy goodness.

The tempeh bacon was, um, icky. I think I did several things wrong, so I'm going to try again then post about a second attempt. It was all good though, I think we demolished the fronch toast regardless.

Brownies!

As you can tell, I've bit of a sweet tooth recently. Brownies.. yum! This was my first try using flax seeds and applesauce in lieu of eggs and other gross animal parts. It came out marvelous, and super chocolately- perfect for bouncing out of a depression. Besides, you can always tell yourself that flaxseeds are so good for you, so you can't get depressed about eating something 100% bad for you. These are only 75% bad for you. :P

This recipe comes from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Have you bought it yet? Go go hurry... I'll wait.

Okay, so here's the goods:

1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp water
2 tsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 salt
1 cup nondairy semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Prep your flaxseeds first. I got a little bag from Henry's bulk sections for super cheap, then blended them in my food processor attachment that came with my mega blender. They are hard little suckers to grind, so you might need to use a coffee grinder. Pour them in a spice jar and keep in the freezer- they are highly perishable. Put the 2 tsp flaxseed and 2 tbsp water in the blender, then blend em up. It will be foamy. Woo foam!

So you basically prep the dry and wet separately: wet- sugar, applesauce, water, flaxseed mixture, vanilla.

Dry: flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, nuts.

Mix your wet and your dry! Slap in your brownie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Serve with So Delicious vanilla and chocolate syrup.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Pans: a good bit
Taste: heck yes.

Almost totally vegan chocolate chip!

This was interesting, for sure. I first attempted this recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance a week ago, but I used vegan margarine spread instead of the regular non dairy margarine. Everything was going fantabulous until I got to the part where you add the flour, making a nice soft dough. I ended up with basically a crumbly mound. I went over the recipe in my head several times, and concluded I must have messed up with the margarine. Tired, I made an easy chocolate cake instead. Sorry, we ate that so fast I didn't get a good pic to blog with. Anyway, so I tried again the other day with real margarine. Again everything was going swell-like, until the part where I added the flour. AGAIN, I ended up with a crumbly-crumb castle. There is nothing in the book that mentions, "oh yeah, and by the way the dough's consistency is in no way similar to that of regular eggy cookies." I was stumped. I followed the recipe perfectly!

I decided at that point, well, maybe this is just the way that these are supposed to be. So I experimented. The first round I just plopped on the baking sheet and kind of smooshed together to form a circular structure. It looked really messy. So with the second round I pressed the dough into a spoon to make little spoon shaped cookies. That looked better at least, but my spoons are a funny shape. So then I got out the big guns- a serving spoon with shell shape to it. That seemed to work well, and those are the ones you see on top there, in the picture.

After all that work, the good thing is that they taste pretty darn good. They are a bit crispy, so I am going to experiment with some recipes to see if I can find a way to make them chewier (I was always a fan of the gooey cookie). Oh, and the reason they are not completely vegan would be the Ghirardelli chocolate chips I threw in there. Yummers.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt *if you use salted margarine, don't add the salt!*
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

oven- 350 degrees

taste 7 (my non veggie friends "say" they really liked 'em
prep time 15 min
cook time 10-12 min per batch

Sweet Potato Fries

So, I purchased two new books- this recipe comes from Vegan with Vengeance and it truly kicks ass. I love fries. If you set a plate of fries in front of me, I will eat them all- ALL I SAY! I love salt, and I love the comfy taste of warm, squishy potatoes. But I never succeeded in making good homemade fries. So I decided I'd try these so I would have something to eat with my veggie burgers. Here's the recipe:

2 pounds sweet potato (I just used one honking one- it was HUGE!)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat to 475 degrees. Slice up the sweet potato into fry-like sticks, about 1/4 inch thick. In a bowl mix the oil, cumin, coriander and pepper. Toss the potato sticks in the bowl to coat with the mixture, then place in one layer in a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes for each side.

I'm very excited that these came out perfect, the first time! They taste great, and are reminiscent of thanksgiving yams. They even taste good with ketchup, but you really don't need it.

Taste rating: 9
Prep time: 10 minutes (depending how sharp your knife is- those potatoes are hard suckers!)
Cook time: 20 mins
Dishes: one pan, one bowl. Woo!

PS- pay no attention to my lopsided bun!
PSS- my new favorite patties is the vegan patties from Boca.

Staple ingredient for non-cow eaters and sensitive bellies

So you may have noticed my absent for the past few weeks. What happened? Well, a few things: work- which you all know about, has slowly chipped away at my soul and energy, for one. Also, I have been using the recipes I have discovered over and over again- because they are so easy, and so good.  Therefore I will take this time to link some fabulous little ingredients that have become staples in my house, and are just gosh darn fun.

1:  Better than cream cheese by Tofutti It's true! This stuff is purely awesome.  I buy it two tubs at a time now because my husband slathers it on his bagels like peanut butter.  I recommend bagels with tomato slices topping the Tofutti.  

2: Sour Supreme by Tofutti

This is the same concept, but for sour cream. I tried it for the first time the other day on tacos, and it was very much like the real thing. I have never been a fan of sour cream, basically because of the fat content and the reaction my tummy has with it, but this stuff is great!  

3.  Speaking of tacos, no taco would be complete without Morning Star Farms' crumbles.  What I have been doing is cooking the "meat" in a frying pan with a bit of oil, then adding water with some taco seasonings.  Once the water has evaporated, you have delicious tasting crumbles.  I layer the shell with crumbles, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, avocado and lemon juice. I am turning into quite the fan of the lemon. Good stuff.

4. And lastly, my favorite. Soy ice cream by Turtle Mountain.  Just wow.  The fudge and coffee flavor was so good I ate half the pint in one sitting (it had been a while since I could eat ice cream) and the vanilla is perfect for smoothies.  If it's been a while since you have had soy ice cream, give it another chance, as it is very good now.