EASY CHEEZY INSTANT POWDER

great for macncheez, popcorn, instant queso, fries, broccoli sauce, cheezy rice, etc

EQUIPMENT:

Sauce or saute pan 

wooden spoon

storage container with lid

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of chic pea flour

1/2 cup of nutritional yeast

1 tsp. of paprika

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp of vegan lactic acid (or more to taste)

(if you do not have lactic acid (sold on Amazon), add a little vinegar to a queso or macncheez sauce while rehydrating)

METHOD:

*  on high heat, salute chic pea flour, while constantly turning over for around 5-7 minutes, watch that you do not burn the flour.  Take the flour off of the stove and, after cooling, taste to make sure the "RAW, BITTER" taste is cooked out.

*  in storage container combine all ingredients and place in frig until use

Tips....

Place on popcorn or fries while they are still hot, after oil or vegan butter for the popcorn.

To rehydrate you should use fat (cheez is fatty).   I like to use vegan mayo or melted vegan butter and a tiny bit of water to make an instant cheez sauce, queso or to pour over vegan burgers or veggies.

schmear

This is not your ordinary, add a little vinegar to silken tofu type schmear.  This schmear is the real thing.  Better than any store bought spread.  So good it should be illegal...well,  you get the picture.

This is a time intensive recipe, unless you have a constant supply of vegan yogurt.  If you make your own yogurt (and you should, its easy) this is a breeze.  I would like to thank Miyoko Schinner from Miyoko's Kitchen http://miyokoskitchen.com/miyoko/ for the original yogurt recipe (her original recipe comes from Artisan Vegan Cheese or a youtube video online).  The idea of "trial and error" in creating this schmear comes from Miyoko's recipes in her AVC cookbook.  Onto the recipe:

This is the original probiotic I use to make yogurt

Schmear can be used for Spreads, Bagels, Italian food, As a "puffy liquid cheese", On baked potatoes, As sour cream and a really excellent Egg Substitute

(Money Saving Tip:  I use Kirkland (Costco) plain soy milk (plus cashews) to make vegan yogurt.  I use less cashews than Miyoko states in yogurt recipe, this is probably due to starch in the Kirkland Soymilk.  Turns out wonderful.) 

Equipment:
Yogurt maker (I use a eurocuisine YM100), glass container with lid that holds 3-4 cups, bottom blade blender (I use Vitamix), silicone spatula

Ingredients:

*  1/4 cup of soy milk soaked cashews, soak an hour or so at room temp (rinse the cashews with water before soaking in the soymilk)

*  1/2 cup of soy milk room temperature, I use kirkland (Costco) and it turns out fine

*  2 TBL of homemade yogurt (Miyoko's) (plain, no additives)

*  canola oil, as needed

*  1 1/2 tsps of salt

Method:

add soy milk soaked cashews, soy milk and salt to blender, blend until incorporated.  

add the yogurt and then add appox 1/4 cup of oil to blender and blend until thick.  

if it doesn't "set-up" like mayonnaise, add another 1/4 cup oil and blend until its really really thick somewhat like mayonnaise.  (you might have to use a little more oil, or a little less to get the "mayo" thickness).

use spatula to get all of the mixture into the glass container.  Place uncovered container in yogurt machine and let culture for around 2-4 hours.  Keep tasting it every 40 minutes or so after the first hour (it can get a little TOO cultured).

put lid on and refrigerate until completely chilled.   Dry the liquid from lid before 1st use.  Mix before using to get air bubbles out and some of that lactic acid in.  Thats it, its wonderful!!!  In my experience, this has kept a few weeks (or longer, although we eat this stuff pretty fast)

vegan holiday links

Cheers to good eats and a peaceful holiday season

Veganize Everything:

http://veganizeeverything.blogspot.com/2013/11/vegan-holiday-re-copied.html

Vegan Dad:
http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-thanksgiving.html

What the hell does a Vegan Eat?
http://veganmenu.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-hell-does-vegan-eat-for.html

Gentle Chef: (this is a purchase from a chef who is full time effort and money developing these recipes, the purchase should be well worth it)
http://thegentlechef.com

PostPunkKitchen:
http://www.theppk.com/category/recipe/holiday-thanksgiving/

sour cream

My favorite vegan sour cream, thinned out with water (no tofu bean taste) and set up with refined coconut oil.

Tofu sour cream is somewhat sweet, very sour and a tad bit salty, non-vegans will not know the difference

Equipment:
High speed single bottom blade blender ( I use vitamix)
Glass sealed container for storage
Measuring cup
Silicone spatula for removing sour cream from blender

Ingredients:
*  8 oz. of extra firm tofu (refrigerated tofu in water, not silken)
*  1/2 cup water
*  1/2 tsp salt
*  2-3 tsps of liquid sweetener or powdered sugar ( I use agave nectar)
*  1/2 tsp, maybe more, of citric acid (very important to have food grade citric acid instead of using lemon juice. If you were to use the amount of lemon juice needed for the sour affect, the cream will taste like lemonade).  You can find citric acid online on Amazon or health food stores.
*  1 tsp of cider vinegar
*  1/2 cup or 4 oz. of melted refined coconut oil, this means that the heated coconut oil will measure 1/2 cup.

Method:
Combine all ingredients in blender until smooth.  
IMPORTANT...taste, taste for sour and sweetness.  
When working with citric acid it is important to add very little at a time, once you go over, you can't go back, so add the first 1/2 tsp, then add a pinch or two and if it is still not sour enough keep adding pinches, blend then taste and you will reach the final level of "sour".  
The same thing goes for sweetness levels.

Makes incredible ranch dressing and is great on baked potatoes, nachos, stroganoffs and for all sour cream uses.

rooibos spicy chai latte

Disclaimer: "can become a daily addiction"-ha ha.   Making your own spicy rooibos latte is the best daily comfort drink in the world (for me and many I've introduced to the mixture).   I will show you how to do the mix and you can add more or less of a certain favorite or not so favorite spice.

Equipment:
*  Tea infuser or cheese cloth:  an extra fine, fine infuser is best so that the herbs do not come through into the chai
*  Cutting board
*  French knife or cleaver
*  bench scrapper tool
*  plastic bag for crushing peppercorns 
*  stainless steel or glass sealable container for storage

Ingredients:

@   1 and 1/4 cup of organic rooibos (found in health food stores or on the web.  Rooibos does not contain caffeine and has very very low tannins compared to tea leaves, save your tannins for the spices)
@   1/4 cup of cardamom pods or seeds
@   3 sticks of ceylon cinnamon
@   2 whole nutmeg nuts
@   1/2 vanilla stick or whole if you love vanilla
@   1/8 cup + 1 TBL (or more if you like hot/spicy) white peppercorns
@  2 small slices of fresh ginger, cut the skin off while slicing
@  sweetener of choice
@  vegan milk of choice

The final mixture,  a scent and drink from utopia

Mixture Method:
&  Add your rooibos to container, set aside
&  Add cardamom to cutting board and, carefully, cut with knife until each seed or pod is crushed up, use bench scrapper to bunch together the seeds if the knife sends them scattering.  Add to rooibos container
&  Take your cinnamon sticks and cut up and disassemble with knife, using bench scrapper to bunch together.  Add to rooibos container
&  Slice your nutmeg nuts up with french knife horizontally and vertically until very grated.  Use bench scrapper to add to rooibos container
&  Slice up and disassemble your vanilla stick, add to rooibos container with bench scrapper
&  Place your peppercorns in plastic bag and push air out and seal bag.  Place the bag full of peppercorns on the cutting board and take the bottom thick part of the french knife and, with a fist, punch the knife down on the bag and break up the peppercorns.  You can flip the bag over, and repeat until you have course pepper.  Place in rooibos container

MIX MIX MIX, then seal your container and store in pantry

Chai Latte Method:
*   Place around 3 tsps of rooibos mixture and a couple small slices of fresh ginger into infuser
*   Heat around 1/2 of the cup of water to tea boil or microwave simmer (you are making concentrate)
*   Place the filled infuser into 1/2 cup of water and let sit for around 15-20 minutes
*   Once the mixture has steeped into the water you can disgard the spent mixture by composting or garbage heap 
*   Add enough vegan milk to fill up the rest of the cup and add sweetener to taste, I usually add around 3 tsp of sugar, mix.
*  If you like your chai cold, add ice.  If you like your chai hot, heat up mixture and serve

slow cooker seitan method

The slow cooker is my favorite method of cooking seitan.  I can go about my day and check on the slow cooker  from time to time, uses less energy and costs less on the energy bills.  Those of us who want to get away from aluminum foil wrapping can use soaked and rehydrated corn husks in the slow cooker to line the bottom and tops of placing these vegan meatballs.  You will need to wet the bottom of the cooker with water to keep moisture in or else the husks might burn.  Do not let the seitan touch the sides of the slow cooker, as they could also burn.

If you look real close, you can see the vegan meatballs under the first layer of husks.

It ended up taking around  2 1/2 - 3 hours on high for these seitan meatballs to cook thoroughly.  I had around 12 large meatballs, so 2 layers of corn husks.  I sprayed a tiny bit of water on the top layer of husks to keep moisture in.  Afterwards, I made a big pot of tomato sauce and placed all of the meatballs in the sauce and let simmer away.

I make all of my seitan in the slow cooker nowadays and wanted to share this easy method.

vegan holiday feast

Here are some links to recipes on this blog and ideas for a vegan feast....Have a peaceful, love filled, giving vegan thanksgiving and holiday season

Of course I have to have a tofu/seitan roast  (btw, if you make a frozen tofurkey roast, use the slow cooker with lots of veggies, it turns out much better than their method of oven roasting)

Next up is your vegan stuffing/dressing.

What is thanksgiving without a decadent potato dish.  This is my "heavy cream" scalloped potatoes.

and...my partners all time favorite, broccoli thanksgiving casserole!

For a beautiful, healthy, colorful side, choose the veggie medley casserole

Or, a crunchy topped texture, along with a flavorful veggie mix choose the vegan confetti bake.

tangzhong vegan rolls

I have experimented with tangzhong (japanese roux) in roll making for quite awhile now, and have finally hit the jackpot.  My older veganizations of tangzhong bread were too heavy, using soy milk or vegan milk.  I have taken my vegan parker house roll recipe, added tangzhong and the result is a roll that is moist, fluffy and stays fresh much longer (days)and does not have a dry taste when it hits your mouth.

You can see how fluffy and amazing this looks

This will make a sticky, heavy dough that seems counter-intuitive to light bread

Equipment:

small saucepan

small silicone whisk

big bowl for dough rising

plastic bag for covering rising bowl

some clean towels

bench scraper

big spoon

rolling pin

3-4 inch, or 7-8 centimeter round cup or biscuit cutter

8-9” round pie pan for placing the rolls
baking rack for cooling 

Tangzhong:

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 cup water

Ingredients: rolls

2 1/2 tsps or 1 package of active dry yeast (not the self rising type or the pizza dough, or the bread machine type)

2 - 3 cups of all purpose, unbleached flour

1 tsp egg replacer (I use Enter-G egg replacer)

2 tsps salt

2  TBL sugar

3 TBL tangzhong

2 TBL melted vegan butter

oil spray

as needed, warm water

Use this dough to make cinnamon rolls and doughnuts!

Method…

Tangzhong:  place the tangzhong flour and water in saucepan, medium heat, and use whisk to incorporate until mixture becomes thick and pudding-like and smooth, while constantly whisking to keep lumps out.  Turn off and remove from heat when mixture reaches this consistency.  cover with plastic wrap.  set aside.  refrigerate left over cover wrapped tangzhong.

Workspace and prepping:  Have a very clean, dry, somewhat open, large workspace (like a kitchen island, or a large counter).  Have a clean towel on hand, your bench scraper and tangzhong by your side and around 2 cups flour mixed with the dry yeast, egg replacer, salt and sugar in a big mixing bowl, set aside and ready to go.  Have around 1 cup flour at the edge of your workspace, on the table top, ready to be dusted and used.

Step 1:  Add the warm (not hot) 3 TBL tangzhong to the flour mixture, then add the melted vegan butter, then start adding warm water from the tap (NOT HOT), mixing with your spoon until the mixture starts forming a dough ball.  This should just be coming together, not batter like but dough like.

Step 2:  Dust your hands and work area with the flour you have setting aside, and remove the formed mixture from the bowl, fold it over a couple times, while dusting with flour until you feel you can knead it a little without it sticking to everything (although this dough will be heavier and sticker than non-tangzhong dough).  Start kneading the dough, flipping over and pressing your palm into it, while constantly incorporating more dustings of flour for around 5-10 minutes until very much combined (yes, it will still be stickier than non-tangzhong dough).  

Step 3:  Let the dough ball sit uncovered,  then wash your big mixing bowl with hot, warm water.  Dry the bowl and put a little spray oil in the botom of the bowl.  Transfer the dough into the warm bowl, then cover with the plastic bag and set in a somewhat dark place for around 1 hour or double in volume.  Since this is a heavy dough, it must be in a warm environment to rise efficiently (warm (not hot) oven, warm bowl).  This is the first rising.  Clean up the workspace with the bench scraper and leave the flour pile to use for the 2nd rising.

Step 4:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, at least 1/2 hour before this step

Step 5:  Second rising:  take the dough out of the bowl and press down on it and start kneading again, while incorporating flour, until it is getting kind of hard to knead, approx. 5-10 minutes?  Dust with flour and rollout with rolling pin until around 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) depth.  Cut into as many rounds as you can get with the bisquit cutter or cup, then fold each round in half and pinch somewhat together and place in oiled pie pan (they will rise and stick to each other and become pull apart rolls).  ALTERNATELY, make vegan burger or hotdog rolls by shaping into the desired shape.  Cover with plastic bag, again, and let rise for another 1/2 hour - 45 minutes or until doubled again.  Since this dough is heavy, it must be in a very warm environment to rise (warm (not hot) oven turned off)

Ahhh, you have never had a hotdog roll quite like these, promise.  This is a field roast vegan frankfurter and if you have never had one, you must…they are absolutely delicious

Step 6:  Place in oven, and bake until nice and light brown (watch that you do not burn) , approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place on baking rack until completely cool,  spray with oil for that nice gloss and serve.

Store in tight plastic bags overnight when completely cool or freeze.

raw spring slaw

Its been a long time since my last post.  Decided to post this method of eating raw veggies because the size and slices of the veggies with the homemade sauces are easy, fast, cheap, healthy and delicious.  I have incorporated the raw vegan nut cheese "sauce" into some of the dressings, and will follow soon with the recipes.  I will cover the easy method of making the slaw if you have the right equipment (mandoline).

This slaw is drizzled with raw cheddary mexican sauce

Equipment:
Large ceramic or glass bowl for storage
Tongs (chef hands) to toss and move slices around
Bench Scrapper to get all the slices off of countertop or cutting board
Mandoline (The picture shows the good grips mandoline, which I love,especially for around $40, as of 2013)


cutting board
french knife or cleaver
time to clean up after your prep

Ingredients:
"Any edible raw veggies you desire"
I used...fresh and washed, patted dry

• Carrots
• Red Cabbage
• Zucchini
• Red Onion
• Cilantro
• Spinach (sliced and added before eating)

Method...
*  Clean countertop and work area
*  Have your veggies washed, peeled if necessary, and ready to shred
*  Use the mandoline to make very small long slices of the of the veggies.  Mix all veggies together with tongs (except leafy greens or water heavy veggies like tomatoes, wait until ready to eat to mix those in with slaw). 
*  Store the slaw in ceramic or glass bowl with wrap on top in frig.  Will keep for a few to 4, 5 days.

 This will happen very fast, 1 zucchini takes around 5 seconds to shred.  
*  The biggest part of this is cleaning up the kitchen after all the prep.  Use vinegar and baking soda to clean the garbage disposal if you used that for peels and scraps.  If not, remember to take the compost out (ants can smell a good salad:--))

patience and meltable mozzarella

Here is my first homemade meltable mozzarella on a slice of pizza.   Recipe from "Artisan Vegan Cheese" by Miyoko Schinner.  I bought the cookbook a few months ago, but it takes time and patience to gather some of the cultures and to make soy milk yogurt.  The meltable cheese is worth the waiting and spreads and melts as promised---tastes great too, cheaper and better than store purchased!!  More reviews on this book to come.

I have notes and post it tabs all over this book---its been fun!!

vegan thanksgiving dinner

Here are some links to recipes on this blog and ideas for a vegan feast....Have a peaceful, giving vegan thanksgiving

Of course I have to have a tofu/seitan roast  (btw, if you make a frozen tofurkey roast, use the slow cooker with lots of veggies, it turns out much better than their method of oven roasting)

Next up is your vegan stuffing/dressing.

What is thanksgiving without a decadent potato dish.  This is my "heavy cream" scalloped potatoes.

and...my partners all time favorite, broccoli thanksgiving casserole!

For a beautiful, healthy, colorful side, choose the veggie medley casserole

Or, a crunchy topped texture, along with a flavorful veggie mix choose the vegan confetti bake.

vegan confetti bake

A great Thanksgiving side dish.  Easy, nutritious and delicious this casserole forms a crispy top and melded interior and takes on all the veggie flavors.

Equipment:
casserole dish
oven
big mixing bowl
big spoon
tongs
mandoline or french knife and cutting board

Ingredients...
•    1 medium sweet potato, medium size julienne slice
•    1 large russet potato, medium size julienne slice
•    1/2 medium onion, small julienne slice
•    2 large carrots, small julienne slice
•    1 medium yellow squash, large julienne slice
•    1 medium zucchini, large julienne slice
•    10 oz. daiya cheese shreds (any type)
•    2 TBL olive oil
•    2 TBL nutritional yeast
•    1 tsp rubbed sage
•    2 tsp thyme
•    salt, to taste
•    pepper, to taste

Method...
preheat oven to 375 degrees, wash hands

( I have tried to push this low-cost mandoline to vegans for a couple months now, and yes, its still worth it.  Its the oxo v-blade mandoline, around $40 (as of this post 2012), and a wonderful tool for the price and for all the great bakes.)
1.  Combine all sliced veggies in big bowl, add daiya, spices and nutritional yeast and mix thoroughly with hands (the daiya will hold this together and the moisture from the squash and onion will add a sauce-like texture in the middle) taste for salt and pepper before placing in baking dish
2.  Press down into casserole dish firm
3.  Place dish in oven and bake at 375 until you hear the casserole start to bubble (approx 1/2 hour, 45 minutes)
4.  Turn broiler on and broil to a nice crisp brown top