Vegan Sauerkraut Balls. To die for.

It's been a while. So many things afoot in NFP land, it's hard to keep track. Here's the short list:

Launched a new business - Nourish - vegan/locally focused/healthy food delivery service
Gotten some AWESOME catering gigs, man oh MAN
Learning ridiculous things, like Excel, and how to actually be organized

Life is good. I hope it is for you too.

So, I know I've waxed lovingly on Harmony Valley's burger mix before - how it's the best slider base you'll ever use, how it performs beautifully on a grill, etc etc - but for my next trick, I'd like to point you in the direction of their sausage stuff. Man, is it tasty, and it means you can make this:

That's right kids, those are Sauerkraut Balls. Classic 50's party food. And they're totes vegan. I dare you to make these next time Beer and Nibbles night rolls around and have leftovers.

Sauerkraut Balls
makes 12 large or 16 small balls

1 cup Harmony Valley Breakfast Sausage dry mix
2 tbl olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 tbl toasted sesame oil
1/2 medium onion, very thinly sliced
1 14oz can sauerkraut, squeezed of some of its liquid
1 tbl whole-grain mustard
8oz vegan cream cheese, chilled
2 cups breadcrumbs
1.5 cups flour
Egg replacer equivalent for 4 eggs
4 cups Canola or refined Coconut oil, for frying
Yellow mustard, to serve

Prep your sausage by mixing the water and 2 tbl olive oil with the dry mix. Let stand 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a medium saute pan and add the onion. Cook 8-10 minutes, until the onion starts to caramelize. Add sauerkraut and mustard, and stir. Cook for 6-8 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove to a heat-proof bowl.

In the same pan, add the crumbled sausage mix and cook until just firm, about 4 minutes, turning often. Add to the sauerkraut mix, stir once, and put the bowl in the freezer to chill.

Set up three stations for dredging: a small bowl of egg replacer, a plate with half the flour on it, and another plate with half the breadcrumbs.

Remove sausage mix from the freezer and fold in the cream cheese. Grab a small handful of sausage/cheese mix and dredge it in the flour, rolling it until it becomes a well shaped ball. Dip in the egg replacer, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. Set aside on a clean plate while rolling the remaining mix.

Heat oil to 375f and add sausage balls in batches, 3-4 at a time. Turn them often with a fork while frying to retain their shape. Drain well on paper towels.

Serve, with mustard for dipping. ZOMG so good. Enjoy!

On Pizza Cravings

Oh pizza. PIZZA. You're such a temptress, pizza.

I've been through them all - the crazy chemical miracles that are on the market to help those of us aspiring to be vegan to calm our cravings. But there's the aftertastes - the freaky textures - the plastic-coated tongue - nothing does it for me. The only thing that takes a little of the edge off? Cashew cheese.

I know I've harped on the stuff before, many a time, but you guys should know - my love doth not lessen. CC hits all the importants - crisps under the broiler, has the all important indulgent, fatty flavor and texture, and it's extremely customizable. Making a tex-mex pie? Stick half a jalapeno, a handful of cilantro, and use lime juice rather than lemon for tang whislt pureeing the nuts.

The above pie? Buffalo mushroom with carrots, celery, roasted tomato, topped with jalapeno/parsley puree. HOT POTATO and extremely delish. Details below.

Buffalo Mushroom Pizza

serves 2

For pie:
1 batch pizza dough (gluten-free crusts work wonderfully here my dears - here's one to try)
6 ounces sliced Crimini mushrooms tossed with 4 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot sauce
4 small Roma tomatoes, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled, diced
2 medium ribs celery, chopped
1 cup freshly made Cashew Cheese, extra-garlicy

For puree:
3 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
2 scallions, minced
1 small jalapeno, stemmed, unseeded (I like the spicy.)
1/2 tsp sea salt
Just enough water to process

Gotta make that delish cheese first. Here's how:

Soak 2/3 cup raw cashews in hot water, just enough to cover, for 20 minutes. Drain half the water off and toss them into the blender, along with the juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cloves garlic (minced) and pulse until the cashews start to break down. You'll most likely need to get a scraper out to help the puree process along. Chunky texture is good - but not too chunky. If your cheese ends up a little wet - transfer to a small baking sheet and bake in a 350f oven for 10-15, scraping often, until it dries out a bit.

Meanwhile, roast your tomatoes and mushrooms: toss the sliced Romas with a little olive oil, lay out on a baking sheet, and throw them in a 400f oven for 20 minutes or so. Just enough to char them a tiny bit, and dry them out. Same with the mushrooms - you want them to release a little liquid and absorb your hot sauce. Remove veggies and turn the heat to 450f.

Roll or throw your pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round. Brush it with olive oil.

Spread a good heaping tablespoon of cheese over the dough, spreading with a spoon or your fingers. This is the glue layer - it'll help keep your toppings on your pizza. Lay the tomatoes over the pie, attempting not to overlap. Then scatter carrots and celery. Then mushrooms. Now, with your fingers, grab half-handfuls of cashew cheese and gently "throw" it at your pizza, covering the pie as evenly as possible. I love this technique as it allows the cheese to make peaks that brown very nicely as the pie bakes.

Toss that sucker in your preheated oven and bake 10-12, until crust is golden brown and the cashew cheese is starting to toast.

While the pie is baking, rinse your blender out and make the jalapeno puree - add all ingredients to your blender and whirr until combined, adding just enough water to make things go smoothly.

Remove pizza from oven. Transfer puree to a squirt bottle. Drizzle pizza with puree, slice, and serve.

Enjoy, my dears!

Sweet Potato Avocado Rolls with Maple Tamari Reduction

Yeeeeeeeehaw, let's go ahead and just put the sesame seeds away. It's ok. I've got something different for you to try.

Bit of a disclosure: this roll was supposed to be pumpkin and avocado, but by time I got to chopping and roasting the huge pumpkin I'd had lying around for a while, and discovering its sinewy reluctance to be delicious at all, well, the cute little sweet tater hanging in my produce basket was looking mighty fine. And so it got roasted. And cut into cubey strips. And wrapped in nori with a good friend (avocado) and coconut rice.

And rolled in toasted, salted pumpkin seeds. So good.

Earthy, nutty little suckers. A lovely coating - even when lying next to fellow rolls, being squished and leaned on, no one got stuck to each other. Uber easy to cut, even with my (gasp) non-recently sharpened knife.  Higher protein, these seeds, perhaps? Who knows, but for taste alone, I'd do it again. Maybe with some tempeh bacon next time, oh yeah.

And let's not forget - a small saucepan, half maple syrup, half tamari, healthy dash of smoked habanero poweder, simmered down to the consistency of balsamic reduction, drizzled over top with a fork. This isn't salty sushi. This is Prelude to Pumpkin Pie sushi.

Sweet Potato Avocado Sushi with Pepitas and Maple-Tamari Reduction
makes 6 rolls

Let's do this.

2 cups sushi rice, washed until water runs clean
1 can coconut milk + half a cup of water

1 medium sweet potato, roasted, sliced to 1/2 inch strips
1 avocado, sliced to strips
6 sheets nori
2 cups roasted, salted pumpkin seeds, crushed

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup tamari soy sauce
1/2 tsp smoked habanero powder

sushi mat
sharp knife

Easy peasy.

Prep your rice as you would normal sushi rice, but leave out the rice vinegar. Cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, combine your tamari, maple syrup, and habanero powder in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat 12-14 minutes, until reduced by half. Set aside.

Have your fillings at hand. Set up a separate plate for rolling your sushi in the crushed pumpkin seeds (ie, a spare cutting board). Be near a sink, for rinsing your knife in between cuts.

Cover your mat in plastic wrap, folding it around itself at the edges.

Press 2/3 cup sushi rice onto the plastic, about covering the area of one of your nori sheets. Press a sheet of nori in place over your square of rice. Place 3-4 potato strips and 5-6 slices of avocado at roll bottom, then bring the bottom edge up and using the mat, roll your sushi tightly, following through at the end, so that the riced nori sticks to itself.

Dust your spare cutting board with 1/2 cup pepitas and roll your sushi in the delish powder. Set roll aside.

Complete the rest of your rolls. If you have leftover rice/nori, try your hand at ....

Starting with a sharp knife that has been run under the faucet, slice your sushi into 8-10 pieces. Plate as you go, and drizzle your lovely rolls with tamari-maple reduction, when done.

Taking those babies to a party? Skewer each piece with a toothpick. Enjoy!

So you say chocolate is your favorite?

Are you sure? Super sure? 100% on that?

A couple of days ago was my cuz's birthday, and while she's a devout fan of all things choco (and waaay across the country for me, which proved disastrous for my intestines, wait for it) I decided to make her a cake.

You know how I'm obsessed with taking foods that are normally presented in a portable manner and cakifying them. Well maybe not quite obsessed yet but I'm getting close. This one was killer - iced with hot sauce and hummus, delicious and messy.

And since I'm ALL ABOUT a day old, been in the fridge for a bit falafel, all squishy, mushy, flavors blended, you know this thang was right up my alley.

Ok so maybe it's not for everyone - as Erk reminded me. Meaning, I had enough falafel cake for a party of 10 to get through all by myself.

I ate falafel for 2 out of three meals daily for 3 days. It was not a wise choice. My belly's still a little pissed. Was it the copious amounts of salt? Legume overload? Just...density fail? Who knows, dear readers - but I advise against creating this monster unless you have brave pals around to help you consume it.

Those hot pink bits? Pickled turnips. Get yee some from yee local middle-eastern grocer - they're amazing.

Sushi Napolean, for kicks

I'm not an accomplished sushi roller - avocado squishes out on me, the middles of my rolls have gaps and so, whoops, there goes the cuke. I'll get better at it, methinks. But I wanted to try something different.

This stratified sushi works with most anything - roasted veggies, greens, whole cloves of roasted garlic, cream cheese, fresh stuffs like cukes, blanched asparagus, avocado. Remember to keep your toughest veggies at the bottom, however, so the slicing of the rest of the layers doesn't flatten your avocado/soft fillings.

Kind of birthday-cakey. Awesome.

EDIT - my lovely pal Nick let me in on a little secret this morning - this is technically Oshizushi, and they even have equipment you can buy to make slicing your "cake" less gut-wrenching. So if anyone out there's wondering what to get me for my birthday....

It's asparagus season over in these here parts, so I went with your standard ACA + C - Asparagus, Cucumber, Avocado and Carrot. Feel free to change stuffs up, however.

Sushi Napolean

1.5 cups sushi rice, washed
2.5 cups water

1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar

4 sheets nori

15-20 think asparagus spears
1/3 cuke
1 whole avocado
Shredded carrots, small handful

Dipping ideas:

Avocado/Wasabi Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Sriracha/Nayo Sauce
Sesame Seeds
etcetcetc

Let's do this.

Cook your sushi rice for 20 minutes on medium low until all the water is absorbed (or use your awesome rice cooker, either way). Let steam 5 minutes, remove to bowl, and stick that sucker in the freezer for 15 while you assemble your fillings.

Slice your cukes thin, 1/8 inch or so, salt lightly, and set aside.

Scoop your avocado and slice thin, about the same as the cukes, salt lightly, and set aside.

Set some water to boil and blanch your asparagus for 3-4 minutes, until bright green and a little softened. Chill in icewater. Remove woody ends and set aside.

Take your rice out and toss with your vinegar and sugar. I rarely heat my vinegar and dissolve my sugar in it first - I'm so scandalous. If you'd prefer, feel free.

Lay out a sheet of nori and press about 2/3 cup rice into the nori, leaving a 2 cm border around the rice. Press your thinly sliced cuke into the rice (or whatever thick, hard veggie you're using).

This works best if you have two sushi rolling mats, but if not, grab a plate, lay out another sheet of nori, and repeat the rice spreading step above. Turn over and press the riced nori onto the cukes, aligning the nori.

Gently press another 2/3 cup rice onto the 2nd layer of nori. You'll feel things squish around a bit underneath - just be gentle and don't worry too much about making it perfectly even. Lay your asparagus out in a flat layer. Press your carrots in and around them. On your other mat or plate, rice another sheet of nori with another 2/3 cup rice, then turn it over and press it onto the asparagus and carrot layer.

Another 2/3 cup of rice, gently pressed onto the nori, then add your avocado in an even layer. Once more, rice the last sheet of nori with 2/3 cup rice on the other rolling mat, turn it over, and lay it over the avocado layer.

Cover with a sheet of wax paper and a wide, heavy plate. Press the sushi for 10-15 minutes, using extra weight, if ya need:

(That, my friends, is a gallon-sized bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce. No, I'm not joking.)

Here comes the tricky part.

Sharpen your chef's knife. Trust me - this sucker is tough to slice.

Remove the weights and plate, careful - you might need to be gentle when removing the wax paper.

Wet your knife. Leave your water running a little tiny bit and grab a piece of paper towel.

Trim the edges of your napolean so that the border of plain nori you left on each sheet is gone, and the edges are clean.

Run water over your knife and clean the sushi remnants off with the paper towel.

Slice the napolean 4 times the wide way, drawing the knife through the cake and pushing gently down with eat cut. Wet and clean your knife after every cut. Make sure you feel your bamboo mat at the bottom at the end of each cut. Tough stuff, I know, getting through that last layer of nori can be tricky!

Slice 3 times the shorter way. Toothpick the pieces before moving them - you don't want to leave anything behind.

Really good as is, or dipped in sauce, soy, teriyaki, wasabi, et all. The sharper your knife, the smaller the squares can be - but don't go any bigger than I've described or there's no way you're fitting that sucker in your mouth.

I really dug on the geometry of this little dish. All lines, color, cross sections.

Enjoy!

Tamales, Cont'd

I was an undercover tamale cart last weekend - hauling a huge, gleaming pot full of cornhusk-wrapped masa + delicious fillings all over town.

Well, to two parties. But I'm trying to sound important.

So we've done soy chorizo - we've done mole seitan - and this time, there were three: Mole Tofu + Bean (vegan+gluten free, hooraaay!), Jalapeno Popper and Kimchi-Cheddar. Once you've got the masa situation handled, it's easy to do multiple fillings - especially simple ones, like kimchi/cheddar and pepper/cheese. Mole, as I'm sure you know, takes a whole lot longer.

A small, shameful hiatus was taken from my summertime veganism in the name of the Holy Combo. And Hail Mary, was that sucker good. But my favorito tamalito, to be sure, was the Jalapeno Popper.

I know it doesn't look like much but TRUST A SISTA that thing was killer. The peppers infused the masa with spicy aromatics - I used a combo of pickled jalapenos and charred poblanos, all fiery and delicious - and the cheese, while steaming halfway out of a few of the tamales and making the pot a bit messy, saturated the masa with tartly salty awesomeness.

I'll be trying this vegan-style with cashew cheese in the near future. I think they could be the bad-assest, healthiest tamales ever known to man. Remains to be seen.

Jalapeno Popper Tamales

makes 20-25 tamales

for the filling:

12 ozs sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 poblano peppers
4-6 pickled jalapenos, seeded and stemmed
2/3 brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp salt
minced cilantro and scallion, 1 tablespoon each

for the masa:

3 cups masa harina
3 cups vegetable or faux-chicken stock, lukewarm
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned corn kernels (or frozen + charred, a la Trader Joe's frozen)
1 head garlic, roasted
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, whipped

30 corn husks, plus 5 torn apart to tie

A steamer or fake-steamer set up like this

Onwards! Into the Abyss!

Char your poblanos over a gas flame or under the broiler until their skin blackens. Toss into a paper bag to steam.

Shred your cheddar into another bowl. Chop your jalapenos and herbs and add - then add minced poblanos and cream cheese. The heat from the roasted peppers will thin your cream cheese a bit - mix everything well and taste for salt, add if needed. Stick in the fridge to chill while you prepare the masa.

Mix your masa, salt, baking powder in a large bowl. In a food processor, pulse your broth, corn and roasted garlic until nice and pulverized - add to the masa and mix well.

Whip your shortening in a small bowl and fold into the masa.

Soak your corn husks in warm water for about ten minutes. Choose 5 of the wimpiest ones to tear into strips for tying.

My steamer set up is kinda strange, but this is how I do it - I place a small quiche pan, face down, in the bottom of a large pot and boil 3 cups of water, which I pour into the pot, reaching almost to the top of the quiche pan, which I then sit a large strainer on top of to hold the tamales. The water cools a bit as I make the tamales, but it prevents mess later, as you'd have to try and pour hot water around the huge pile of tamales waiting to be steamed in your pot.

Take about a half cup of masa and press it into a husk, going for a rectangle shape, at the top of the husk, center. With a spoon, lay about 1.5 tablespoons of filling in the center of the masa. Pick the husk up and peel one side of the masa away from the husk, letting it curl around the filling, then wrap the husk in a cylinder and fold the bottom up, forming a package open at top.

Tie in the middle with a torn piece of masa. Sit in your strainer/steamer, open end up.

Repeat until your masa is adios. Tuck remaining soaked husks around the tamales, saving three to drape over the top of the pile, edges tucked in. This'll help retain steam.

Cover your pot with a lid and a towel, turn heat to high, and as soon as you hear boiling activity, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for an hour.

Probably one of the best beer-accompaniers EVAR, fresh, warm tamales.

The tofu mole ones were a hit as well, so don't let their lack of cheese scare ya. Just make a half batch of this sauce, toss with a can of kidney beans and some pan-fried tofu, and use the masa recipe above - but increase your filling to 2 tablespoons per, to account for tofu and bean content.

Ah, summer.

Just because you can, definitely means that you should.

Here in crown town, and in other 'tropolisis that tend to show up on obesity stat-maps as uncommonly overweight, we have these things. And they are called Fried Pickles.

They are on my top-5 things that made me move to Charlotte list. No, I'm not kidding. Good god, are they good, in a sick-to-your-stomach kind of way - similar to the sinking, queasy feeling you'd get when eating the entire can of cake frosting with a spoon as a kid.  Or, you know, last week.

I had a mature batch of kimchi. I had some cake flour. Batch of vegan ranch. And the desire for tempura. And so, this monstrosity happened:

Greasy, salty, stinky. AWESOME.

Batter was simple - flour, water, dash of oil, some korean pepper paste and salt. Dash baking soda. Vamanos.

But wait, what's this?

Is that the afore-mentioned pickley tempura wrapped in rice and nori, with avocado and daiya, topped by sesame nayo? Is it? WHY YES, YES IT IS.

Before you guys all tell me I'm not the first, well, hey, I know that. But it's 100% vegan. And ain't nowhere in this city to get it that way, 'cept my kitchen.

Tempura Kimchi Kim Bap with Avocado, Daiya, and Sesame Nayo
makes 3-4 rolls

For the tempura kimchi:

1 handful squeezed kimchi

1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp egg replacer
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 cup korean red pepper, ground

Vegetable oil for frying

for the sushi:

1.5 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
Dash vinegar + 1 tsp sugar
3-4 sheets nori
1 avocado, sliced thin
Small handful daiya cheeze shreds

4 tablespoons nayonaise
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Black sesame seeds, for topping

Break out that sushi mat, ladies and gents, and lesdothis.

Combine your sushi rice and water in a saucepan or rice cooker, bring to a boil, cover, and cook 20 minutes - until the water is absorbed. Remove rice to a large bowl and stick the stuff in the freezer to cool quickly.

Toss your red pepper and flour together. Spread on a plate.

Mix the batter ingredients together and whisk till smooth.

Heat your vegetable oil in a fryer or wok till hot hot hot, and make your tempura - roll each piece of kimchi seperately in the flour/red pepper mix, then dip in the batter, then gently lay in the oil bath. Do only 3 at a time - they cook quickly. Scoop out and lay on paper towels to drain. Repeat until your kimchi is all gone.

Mix your sugar and vinegar together and add to the rice. It's ok if it's still a little warm - just not hot.

Chop your kimchi into 1/2 inch wide pieces (if they don't need chopping, more power to ya - mine did!) and set them out on a plate with your other fillings (avocado, daiya).

Lay out your sushi mat and place a piece of nori rough side up. Grab about a cup of rice from your bowl and press it into the sushi, until it forms a rectangle that stretches to both sides horizontally but leaves a little space at both top and bottom. Press 1/4 of the avocado, then kimchi, then daiya into the rice, and roll away. An awesome how-to video can be found here. Repeat until fillings and rice are gone.

Mix your nayo and sesame oil in a small bowl and thin with just a teeeny bit of water. Slice your sushi with a wet knife, plate, and drizzle sesame nayo over the roll. Top with black sesame seeds, if you'd like.

Mine got a little coneheady BUT that didn't mean they weren't superdelish. A little indulgent, fat wise - tempura + avocado + nayo. But hey, that's what the gym's for *cough*.

Cheers!

Whaddaya mean, you want vinaigrette?

With my move to Charlotte a couple years back came a few new things.

A certain twangy affectation, usually when I'm drinking around the natives
A heretofore unknown, fiery passion for gardening
8 pounds, which I attribute totally to Ranch Dressing.

Fried zucchini? Comes with ranch. Fries? Ranch. Burger? Ranch on there. Ya, everywhere's got bottles of mustard and ketchup out, but they're just for show - EVERYONE dips EVERYTHING in the "house sauce".

During the summer, Erk and I tend to go semi-vegan, and this summer'll be no different. So what's a girl with a ranch-obsessed SO to do? Whip some tofu and lemon juice together, maybe some pickle juice, mince some herbs and garlic, and proclaim the results Vegan Ranch, that's what.

(And if you think this is good, wait till you see Vegan Blue Cheese - that'll be next week, and there's a killer secret ingredient to be revealed)

Vegan Ranch Dressin'

1 tub medium-firm tofu
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons chive oil
3 tablespoons dill pickle juice
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 tsp mustard, spicy
1.5 tablespoons each - minced parsley, chives and dill, fresh
20-30 twists of your pepper grinder (yup, I like mine punchy)

In a blender, blend the first 4 ingredients until super-smooth (you can add a little more oil if you need to, and remember to scrape down the sides as you go). Scrape the white sauce into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.

Taste for salt and add a little more if you need, but usually the pickle juice + mustard is enough for moi. Resist the temptation to add nutritional yeast - this is just tangy enough as it is.

Keeps for a week or two in the fridgedero. Killer with dippables - carrots, cukes, etc - or thinned with a tiny bit of water and poured over your favorite delicious salad.

Oh ya.

Fawaffles

The age old question - How to Grill Falafel - has been answered.

I sound kind of stuck up saying it like that, I know. Forgive. I am excited.

Cookout season is upon us and you guys know I like to stick everything ever on ze grill. Luckily, a pal and my's craving for falafel coincided with her monthly weekend grillfest and I had to get creative - and fawaffles were born.

Now, that doesn't mean you HAVE to grill them - they're super-awesome straight out of the waffle press, drizzle with tahini + hotsauce, pickles a-sprinkled - but if you want a little char on 'em, form the patties, wafflize them, and throw them over some hot coals. I do love a char on my falafel and that's the perfect way to accomplish it.

Plus, no frying! Healthy! Yay!

Fawaffles
makes 9-10 burgers

2 cups falafel mix (OR get industrious and go at this from scratch)
2 eggs or 2 eggs worth of egg replacer
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
Super finely minced red onion - I used about 1/2 of 1
2 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic
Dash cumin
1 tablespoon minced sundried tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Canola spray for the press

Tahini sauce, hot sauce, minced pickles and turnips for serving

Vegan Note - if using egg replacer, make your batter a little dryer - try 1 1/4 cup water, let the batter sit, and check consistency.


General Note - You want a slightly thinner batter than if you were frying the falafel - not crumbly, pretty mushy and wet. If using a mix, remember to let the batter sit for 10-20 minutes after combining everything to allow for rehydration.


Beat your eggs (or mix egg replacer) with water and oil in a separate bowl. Mix all other ingredients in a large bowl, add water, and stir thoroughly. Let sit 10 minutes and stir again - again, you're looking for mushy, not crumbly.


Heat up your iron and spray liberally with canola. Put a ball the size of a large lemon in the middle of your grill and close. Let the waffle cook for about 5 minutes, until it browns just a teeny bit. Remove to a plate to cool. Using a smaller amount of batter makes for a circular patty - if you'd prefer square, use a tad more batter.


Finish off your batter.


We made these ahead of time and once they were grilled, stuck them in (grilled, of course) pita with all the fixings. Lordy lordy, this might be my new party trick this summer -they were LOVELY.

For the sake of preserving Falafel as an awesome vegan protein source, I'm planning on reworking the eggless recipe over the next couple of weeks (not a huge Ener-G fan over here, sad to say). Stay tuned, my vegan darlings!

The many uses of Cashew Cheese

You guys know I've been playing around with ground cashew cheese. You could also call it fermented cashew butter. Or cultured nut puree. Starting with this recipe, and being inspired by HHL's techniques and experiments, I've added lemon, tons of roasted garlic, a little agave, and a bit more nutritional yeast. No nutmeg for moi, as well.

And since I can't handle Daiya (just tooooo weird and processed tasting, don't hate me!) I've been looking around for cheese alternatives (that don't make me want to hurl) as a way to eat less big-business dairy. And so far, this fermented cashew cheese is at the top of my list.

What do I do with things at the top of my list? Put them on pizza.

Cashew cheese is traditionally a raw foodist trick, so I feel a teeny, tiny bit of guilt sticking it in a 500 degree oven. Ah well.

Look at those tiny, awesome brown peaks of crispy goodness.

But what else could you do with a pound of stinky, tangy, ricotta-like cashew cheese?

Hmm.

HMMMM.



Oooh, I know. Quiche!

My girl Elle's weekly cleanse potluck really brings out the vegan, gluten-free baker in me, apparently. And let me say, Darlings - these were pretty killer. Did a Roasted Tomato/Cashew Cheese combo and a Caramelized Onion, Roasted Mushroom and Spinach combo. The cheesy pie was tangy, sharp, lovely, while the Spinach was much milder (still nom).

Vegan quiche can be tricky. You don't want to use a ton of egg replacer - add too much and the stuff tastes horrible, like someone mistakenly dumped half a tin of baking powder in the mix by accident, very metallic, odd. Plain tofu can be boring, soggy, not quite as textural as you want. Too much cornstarch as a thickener gives a dusty texture to the filling. What's a girl to do?

Use a little tahini and cornstarch mixed together, that's what! Masked by all the herby, flavorful additions to the tofu filling, you can't taste 'em, and you end up with a sliceable quichie pie (as long as you let it cool first, that is. Ah, mad vegan science).

I've got to warn you all - this recipe was pretty seat-of-the-pantsy. Meaning, amounts could be off by a little bit. Ah, disclaimers. Let's proceed.

Edit: I've made these three times in the past two weeks, and think I've got it down pretty pat. Adding a vegan/GF pastry recipe, as well!

Vegan, Gluten Free Quiche (basic recipe - filling suggestions below)

1 10 inch GF, vegan crust (recipe below)
either: 1 12 oz box firm tofu + 1/2 small juice-box of silken tofu OR 1 box medium firm tofu + 1/2 box soft tofu (the former will give you a chunkier, more scrambled-egg-like quiche - the latter, a softer, more custard-like quiche)
1.5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tsp turmeric
4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt, 1.5 tsp (or more to taste)
Tons of freshly ground white pepper
1 tsp miso
Dry mustard, pinch

to thicken:
1 tablespoon tahini, mixed with 3 tablespoons soymilk or water
1 tbsp cornstarch

for crust:
1 cup GF all purpose flour mix
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xantham gum
3 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening
2 tablespoons EarthBalance or other vegan margarine
1 tsp salt
Garlic + onion powder, dash each
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon cold soymilk or water (or a little more)

Drain your tofu in a colander over the sink for 10 minutes.

Make your crust - Mix your dry ingredients together, then chunk the "butter" and shortening into the flour. Use a pastry cutter to cut the shortening and butter into tiny breadcrumb sized pieces. Add liquid a tablespoon at a time until the dough balls up easily and is moist enough to incorporate all the flour without being slimy. Cover and chill while you prep the rest of your tofu.

In a large bowl, combine tofu and flavoring agents, using your paws to squish and smash until scrambled-egg consistency is reached. Preheat your oven to 325f.

Whisk last 3 ingredients together thoroughly in a separate bowl, add to tofu mixture, mix very well.

Add your filling of choice, but remember - the less liquid, the better. This recipe depends completely on keeping liquid content to a minimum, so roast your veggies first - and if using spinach, blanch and squeeze.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the center puffs a tiny bit and the pastry is golden. Yup, I said an hour and 15. You're almost just dehydrating the pie - low, long heat is the way to go. A crust will form atop the tofu, giving your pie structure.

Pretty deeeelish and almost eggy enough to fool your picky eaters. I've tried tons of combos, filling-wise -
Smokey Tempeh, Roasted Tomato, Spinach, Mushrooms
Spinach, Dill, Mint, Parsley
Fresh Tomato + Cashew Mozz, Basil
Roasted Tomato, Cashew Cheese, Chives
Mushroom and Shallot
Tempeh Sausage, Parsley, Mushroom and Spinach

And on and on. It's all been lovely.

Look closely at the below pic - you can see dollops of delish cashew cheese:

The way I add the cheese to the tofu is by using a small spoon to make 10-12 divits all over the pie, then spoon about a tsp of cheese into each divit. Uses about 3/4 of a cup of cashew cheese per quiche. Then I smooth the top of the quiche gently, blending the cheese into the tofu just a tiny bit.

Luxe and vegan. Serve with salad. And hot sauce.

Cheers!

Vegan Quickie

I gotta do it - I gotta brag.

I feel like the better you are at cooking, the more you really get to know process, flavor, and nutrition, the harder it is to make something that you think is really over-the-top badass. I mean, I remember, waaaay back, stealing my first few recipes off of Epicurious, successfully making them, and giving myself biiig props. I got all excited. I bought a copyright '63 printing of MtAoFC and felt cool. It's been a long and rad journey since then, and I've become much much much more of a snob.

So when I tried a different idea on cashew cheese a couple days back for a gluten-free, vegan potluck - a cleanse group run by a pal - I wasn't all that excited, I'd done this before, kind of a sad, me too me too recipe (but decent in stuffed shells) thinks I. Well, let me tell you. I put too much lemon in this time. Added a ton of roasted garlic and doubled the nutritional yeast. Forgot it was sitting on the back of the stove, so it fermented a full 18 hours. Baked it to dry it out a bit at the end and GOOD GOD was this cheese sick, stinky, tart, salty, round in flavor, all the things I'd always wanted cashew cheese to be, but had never witnessed.

Put it on a couple of pizzas. And they were really, really good. And I'm not just saying that.

Gives me hope that one day, one dayyyy, I'll be able to transition away from my biggest addiction (sans smoking, that is...): cheese.

Once I figure out exactly what I finally did right this time, I'll share. 'Till then, pizza porn for you. Oh and happy Friday!

I like to party.

And I love bringing food to parties.

It started out when I did a lot of hanging with a particularly non-soy-friendly crowd in NYC - I knew there'd be bacon in everything people brought to whatever potluck/shindig was getting crammed into someone's incredibly tiny apt, so I'd play it like I was going to anyway - you know, I just had this vegan lasagna in the fridge and it needed to get eaten.

Over time, I've developed preferences for party-friendly food. It can't look confusing - ingredients should be evident. Small is good - one hand probably has a drink in it. Slimy, gooey textures scare people off (I learned this after making a crock pot full of Swedish Meatballs for a cocktail party that people would stare at suspectfully as they walked by, like some meatball amoeba was about to pour forth and consume them). Basically, it stands to reason that if you can get everything you want people to taste in a single bite (maybe two), that's the best way to go.

That's not to say I'm above standing at the wedding buffet, scooping pounds of spinach/artichoke dip onto a plate waaaay to small to hold the steaming mass, but if I'm the one at the wheel, things usually get tiny and complicated. Anyway.

Hello, burrito sushi.

Fiesta time, mi mujeres y hombres. You might think nori + salsa = weird, and you'd be right. But goodweird.

This is a pretty straightforward recipe - just make a batch of sushi rice but treat it like this recipe for yellow oats - some faux-chicken (or real, if you're so inclined) stock, saffron, garlic, a dash of turmeric for color.

Then, for the filling -

Queso Fresco (vegan darlings - try some Daiya OR crumble a teeny bit of firm tofu, toss with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder)
Refried Black Beans
Salsa (mine's simple - handful cilantro, one large tomato diced fine, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/3 medium red onion diced fine as well, half a lime's juice, 1 fresh jalapeno, again, fine dice, salt and pepper to taste)
Sour cream (again, darlings - I love this recipe for Soy Sour Cream, give it a whirl or just leave it out!)
Shredded Lettuce
Avocado

- being as conservative as possible. I used about 3/4 - 1 tablespoon of each filling, and still ended up with jumbo rolls.

As long as you don't add any oil or fat to the rice, it'll maintain its stickiness enough so that you don't have to add vinegar/sugar.

Just a piece of advice - if you're making these for 5-6 hours in the future (and especially if they're sitting overnight) double wrap these rolls with nori.

Burrito Sushi Rice

makes enough for 6 rolls

2 cups short grained white rice ("sushi" rice) washed
3 1/2 cups water mixed with 2 cubes faux-chicken boillion
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon safflower
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Boil the broth and seasonings and add rice, stir, and cover. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Let sit 10, uncover and stir, and cool (either on the stove, or if you're anxious to get burrito-sushi makin, in the freezer).

I totally made a batch a couple weeks ago (because I had a ton of fajita making leftovers and wanted to do something weird with them, you know how it is) with standard sushi rice and they were decent. Flavoring the rice really makes this shine, however.

Slice, drizzle with hot sauce, skewer with festive toothpicks, and serve.