Category Archives: Recipes

Dec 04 2011
5 Comments
Desserts, Recipes

Raw Cheesecake Experiment #1

Confession: I think I am a failure when it comes to baking. I burn cookies. I don’t keep cakes in the oven long enough. Pastries fall apart. Things that are supposed to be firm are simply goop. So I was pretty excited when I heard about raw cheesecake – not necessarily because it’s vegan, but because it is a no-bake dessert. I first had raw cheesecake when I went to the Chicago Diner while Christie was in town. I was blown away by how creamy and tasty it was and then even more blown away knowing that it was a raw food. I always thought, “hmm, I should try making some raw cheesecake,” but it wasn’t until I started this blog that I had the motivation to do so.

I visited what seems like several web sites to come up with my own raw cheesecake recipe. Here are the ingredients I used for Raw Cheesecake Experiment #1. Make sure you read this entire post as there are certain things I will definitely change about the ingredients/measurements the next time I make this.

For the crust:
1 cup almonds
12 dates, softened

For the filling:
3 cups raw cashews, soaked
2/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup agave nectar
2/3 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup water

Before you do anything, measure out the cashews and soak them in water. I soaked them for one hour. Longer than that is probably much better. Some sites say to do it overnight, others didn’t mention soaking them at all. When I make raw cheesecake #2, I think I will try to soak them for 3-4 hours. Another to-do before you begin is to take your jar of coconut oil and stick it in a bowl of hot water so that it’s melted by the time you need it.

Start by making the crust. Soften the dates first by steaming them for a few minutes, and then remove the seeds if needed. Then, combine the almonds and dates using a food processor. Now, I adore my mini food processor. It has never let me down. Then again, I have never jammed almonds and sticky dates into it. I’m still not sure what the most efficient method is for combining these without wanting to give up, but I eventually ended up with a good result. More confession time: I used almonds because I saw one recipe that used them and I already had them. Next time, I’m going with pecans or walnuts.

The mixture should be tasty and a bit sticky. Get your favorite cheesecake pan (8″ is ideal, the pan I used was too big). Take the crust mixture and press it down into the pan. Try to make it as smooth and uniform in height as possible. I like using the bottom of a measuring cup to help with that sort of thing.

Now, grab the rest of your ingredients and mix them together in a blender, using the water as needed. A lot of the recipes I saw called for a 1:1:1 ratio for the lemon juice, coconut oil, and agave nectar. Next time, I am cutting down on the lemon juice as my cheesecake came out a bit tart for my taste (my brother said it was more like ‘key lime pie’ instead of ‘cheese’cake). You should end up with a thick mixture that you can easily pour and smooth into the pan over your crust. Put the cheesecake in the fridge or freezer to set for at least one hour.

This cheesecake was kid-approved! It tasted great plain, but I also tried it with some chocolate syrup and topped with pomegranate seeds. I imagine it would be great with the cherry topping that Christie made for her ‘cheese’cake.

I wish I had pictures of the other steps in the process, but my hands were really sticky from the dates and I was cursing in the kitchen from how challenging this recipe ended up being, so I wasn’t exactly in the picture-taking mood. At any rate, this was a great learning experience for me, and I’m eager to try again and make it more interesting: add cinnamon, fruit, cocoa to the filling… if you have ramekins, you can easily make individual cheesecakes if you’re having a dinner party or just want to be fancy.

Raw cheesecake is a great dessert. It’s healthy, and no animals had to die in order for me to make it. Plus, it’s soy- and gluten-free in addition to being vegan. If you’re in Chicago and not up for making your own, definitely check it out at The Chicago Diner.

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Dec 03 2011
11 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Who can live without burgers? Not this girl.

Okay, I love sausage and burgers. I just hate that they’re full of stuff that’s not very good for you like cholesterol and lots of fat and that animals have to die to make them. This is a recipe I’m still working on but it’s more than good enough to share. To make my black-eyed pea burgers (taste better than they sound, promise) you’ll need to combine the following in a large bowl.

2 cups/15.5 oz tin of black-eyed peas (field peas also work), drained and set the liquid aside
2 tbsp tapioca, potato, or arrowroot starch
2 tbsp flour (I use oat but whatever kind you like)
2 tbsp rolled oats or quinoa
2 tbsp flax meal (optional)
1/4 very finely chopped mushrooms
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1.5 tbsp Italian seasoning (if you don’t like your sausages spicy, I recommend herbes de Provence instead)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp coriander seeds
garlic salt to taste
hot sauce to taste
oil for frying

Once everything is in the bowl except for the garlic salt and hot sauce, start mooshing. This might be a great job for any children in the house, it’s fun and can be done with your hands. Add the liquid from the canned peas until the mixture is doughy and somewhat dry but not crumbly. You shouldn’t have to add very much.

When it starts to look uniform (as above ) take a taste. Don’t worry, there’s no risk of E. coli or Salmonella, it’s not meat! Start adding hot sauce and garlic salt and continue mooshing until it tastes right to you. When you like the flavor and texture, pick up a good handful of the mixture and form it into a patty shape. This recipe should make 3 generous patties for a regular sized bun. They won’t shrink much during cooking because there’s no lard to dribble off into the pan leaving you with an emaciated burger.

I prefer to bake mine at 350F/175C for 25 minutes or until crispy outside and still mooshy inside but you can pan fry them in olive oil to the same effect if you’re feeling decadent. I like that these are fat and cholesterol free but mostly because my Dad and sister have high cholesterol and I’m sure they’re not alone.

I toasted my buns and melted my cheese for the last 2-3 minutes of the bake. This cheese is Daiya. They sell 5 lb. blocks and shreds. Yeah, I admit it. I have a 5 lb. block of non-dairy cheese in my fridge. I’m not ashamed of my 5 lb. block of non-dairy cheese. Daiya is the best cheese substitute I’ve found for cooking. It’s great in quesadillas, on ‘burgers’, for mac and cheese, pretty much anything you can think of… okay, that’s my Daiya plug. There are other non-dairy cheese that I like but that’s another blog post.

Did I mention that you can refrigerate these burgers for 2-3 days until your ready to cook them up or freeze them for up to 3 weeks? Yeah. You can. Also, the buns came from the Zen Cat Bakery (http://zencatbakery.com/) a gluten-free and vegan bakery. They are also awesome and make gluten-free vegan brownies that can defeat my PMS with a single bite!

This didn’t last long. If you try it, would you let me know how it goes? Here’s to your healthy burger!!!

this is Christie, signing off.. to eat another guilt free burger.

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Dec 01 2011
3 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Penne with Portobello Mushrooms, Artichokes, & Spinach

I enjoy cooking, but I don’t do it very often. My parents always make plenty of food for the entire family. Therefore, I tend to eat a lot of Filipino food, which I LOVE, but Filipino food can be hard to vegetarianize, let alone veganize. Clealy, I need to start cooking to minimize cheating on my vegan diet. I can only eat so much tofu, so I decided to cook some pasta for dinner. I had portobello mushroom caps and a can of artichokes, so I thought about those two ingredients for a bit, and then went online searching for “penne portobello artichoke recipes.”

I don’t often impress myself when it comes to cooking, but I will happily brag that I knocked this out of the park! First, I need to give credit where credit is due, and tell you that I found the original recipe on Tastebook by way of Google.

Ingredients:
8 oz of your favorite penne pasta: I used whole wheat
1 can artichokes in water, drained
2 portobello mushroom caps
handful of walnuts
a bunch of spinach
“balsamic vinegar”: I didn’t have balsamic vinegar so I mixed together 1 tbsp red wine vinegar and 1 tsp sugar and used about half of the mixture
olive oil
minced garlic: I ended up using about 4 cloves
red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta and drain. Clean and de-rib the mushroom caps and chop (I went to YouTube for a tutorial on cleaning and de-ribbing the mushrooms.) Saute the mushrooms and garlic in olive oil. Add the artichokes, spinach, and walnuts and stir gently until the spinach is wilted. Add the balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Gently mix everything. Add the pasta and stir until it’s heated through. Put some on a plate or in a bowl and pig out.

Some notes: I added a bit of olive oil to the mix two or three times from start to finish, and threw in more garlic after adding the pasta to the sauce. The red pepper flakes actually infused their spicyness into the veggies while cooking, so every bite had a kick. I absolutely LOVED it, but you may want to consider adding at the very end or simply putting it on the table to add as you eat the dish.

I’m really happy because, not only was the end result delicious, I had a LOT of fun cooking this. I had a really good rhythm in the kitchen with this one. Yay!

xoxo and happy cooking… melissa

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Nov 25 2011
5 Comments
Cooking, Recipes

Dairy-Free Thanksgiving

WARNING! Photo of meat below. Poor turkey.

THIS IS NOT VEGAN!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I had already decided that I was going to eat meat for the holiday. I’m really glad because the only vegan dish served for lunch at my Aunt’s house was Brussels sprouts. Of course, I would have planned ahead and made or brought something vegan for myself and everyone else to eat, but I’m not quite ready to have the “I’m trying to go vegan” talk with the extended family just yet.

Lunch consisted of a small piece of teriyaki chicken, four lumpia shanghai (those suckers are gonna be tough to give up), a piece of roast pork, Brussels sprouts, and white rice. Dessert was a no as all the options contained dairy: buko pandan, pumpkin pie, and sweet potato cake. I felt sorry for myself for a minute, but then thought about all the calories I wasn’t having and immediately felt better.

Brussels sprouts

Mom made the Brussels sprouts using a recipe that she saw on The Chew. They were freaking delicious. Check out the recipe – it’s straightforward and yields great results. She also prepared the turkey using a recipe that she saw on The Chew. For my contribution, I made quinoa potato cakes using a recipe I found on Vogue Vegetarian. People, check out this blog! The Vogue Vegetarian has some amazing recipes. I veganized the recipe by using instant potato flakes and about a 1/4 cup of water instead of an egg. They turned out pretty tasty, along with the roasted red pepper sauce.

I like quinoa and really appreciate how nutritious it is, but I’ve had a hard time really enjoying it. I think it’s because I’m so used to the texture and size of jasmine rice. Packing the quinoa in a crispy cake like this is a genius idea. I can see putting the entire mixture in a dish and making it a quinoa casserole. I can’t wait to try this again with different ingredients. I’m already thinking of adding corn and tiny raisins to it. I think the cumin was a turnoff for some. I’m thinking that they would probably taste OK without the cumin or by replacing the cumin with something else. At any rate – it’s vegan, soy-free, and the quinoa cooked perfectly in a rice cooker. Yay!

For dessert, I was able to enjoy a slice of pecan pie. I was a bit annoyed that it wasn’t totally vegan (egg in the crust), but was super happy that it was dairy-free. In fact, I got through the entire day without having any dairy and I don’t feel like I missed anything at all.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate lots of veggies!

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Nov 21 2011
1 Comment
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes, Thoughts

Tofu and Mushrooms in Green Curry

For dinner last night, I was in the mood for something with a kick, so I decided to cook some tofu with Trader Joe’s Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce.

I minced 2 large garlic cloves, threw it in a pan with some canola oil (I would have used sesame oil if I had some), and then browned firm tofu cubes. I added some mushrooms and salt, and let it sautee for a bit. When the mushrooms were about halfway where I wanted them to be, I added about a half cup of the curry sauce and coated the tofu and mushrooms. Then, I added about a cup of frozen peas, covered the pan, and let it all simmer. I served it to myself with some white jasmine rice.

I give this dish a B. The sauce does have a kick but is otherwise pretty bland; I had to add more salt as I was eating. The mushrooms took over the dish. I’m thinking that it may work out better if I sautee them a bit in garlic first, drain any liquid, and then add the tofu and more garlic. Fresh chili peppers would have done wonders for the dish, too, as well as some fresh ginger.

The challenge going forward will be to find non-Asian ways to cook tofu. I’m Asian myself, so I can do Asian everyday, but I know tofu is versatile and I’d love to cook it in pesto or something.

Another note on tofu: my sister has a soy allergy and so she avoids tofu, soy bean sprouts, soy milk, and even edamame. So I’d love to find non-tofu and non-meat protein sources so that we can enjoy vegan and vegetarian meals together.

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