Vegan Mac n "Cheese"

My long time vegan friend Bryan used to make this for my friends and I back in the day when I was 100% vegan. There are many different ways to make vegan mac n cheese with nutritional yeast instead of cheese. This is the first recipe I came across and it turned out QUITE well! Make sure to consider the optional ingredients. I added Veganaise to make it more creamy. It's far more healthy to make the vegan alternative of dairy-heavy recipes.

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2010/01/vegan-mac-n-cheese-two-dairy-free.html

Vegan Potato Soup

I found this recipe and it was delicious. I doubled the ingredients, cooked the onions, put half in the blender and the other half in the soup just chopped. I also added some white rice to make the soup even more interesting.

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/02/quick-and-easy-potato-soup.html

crazy surprise cake

i accidentally deleted the text for this post while trying to edit it. so, here goes again.

on principle, i love any dessert recipe with words like "crazy" "surprise" or "mystery" in them. this recipe is a hybrid of two such recipe. one is a great depression era recipe that is vegan by way of thrift, before vegan was a concept in the west. the other is a zany recipe probably from the 1940's, when housewives were making mayonnaise cakes and such. the resulting recipe is vegan and contains beets.

contrary to what you might be thinking, this cake is delicious!! i am starting to prefer it to my regular chocolate cake (mostly because it is equally as good, but i can pretend it is 'healthy', but also because it doesn't use up precious eggs and butter).

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil (soy or canola)
2 Tbs white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 can of beets, pureed, plus enough water to make 2 cups (usually about 1/4 c)

prepare your pans and preheat your oven to 350 f.
this makes a 9 x 11 glass pan, 2 8" rounds, 1 tall 9" round or a good size batch of cupcakes.
1. mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. make 3 'wells' in the dry ingredients. into each well add one of the following: oil, vinegar, vanilla
3. pour the beets over the top and mix with a spoon (or a mixer on low) until just blended.
4. pour into your prepared pans and bake until a skewer or knife comes out clean, about 22-26 minutes depending on pan size, or 18-20 minutes for cupcakes

this makes an excellent lava-type cake if slightly under baked, and no half-cooked eggs to be paranoid about.

if you're lucky enough to have homegrown beets, or you want to use fresh beets because indeed they are inherently more nutritious than the canned variety, just peel a couple of good sized ones, cube or slice them and cook until tender. then puree with some (maybe 3/4 c) of the cooking liquid to make 2 c.

i recommend a ganache for this cake, especially dark chocolate

1 c chocolate chips (dark, semi-sweet, milk, reese's, butterscotch or white)
AND
for white chocolate, reese's, butterscotch chips 1/2 c heavy cream or 1/3 c + 1 T (scant 1/3 c) coconut milk --OR-- for regular chocolate: 2/3 c heavy cream OR 1/2 c + 1 T (that's a scant 2/3 c) coconut milk

1. mix the chips with the liquid in a small saucepan and heat over low, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.
2. cool to the proper consistency for however you're going to apply it. i like to wait about 1/2 hour and pour while it is pretty thick for nice drips. or, you can wait until it cools almost completely and spread or pipe it on. in the photo at the top, i cooled it until spreadable and applied it to the sides of the cake to hide the layers, then put it back on the stove for a minute to heat it back to pouring consistency for the drippy effect.

a neat little aside for this ganache: if you substitute 2 T of the liquid called for above for 1 T liqueur of your choice (grand marnier is VERY good here), prepare as stated, then refrigerate until very thick but not completely set, you can roll it into balls and coat with sprinkles/powdered sugar/cocoa powder etc to make delicious truffles.

Coconut Pudding

This recipe has its origins in another seemingly un-related concoction found in the 1953 edition of "The Joy of Cooking". The recipe is called "Rothe Gruetze or Fruit Juice Thickened with Farina or Cornstarch". Although the original recipe contains only five ingredients (fruit juice, sugar, salt, farina, and cream) and my recipe also contains five ingredients, I managed to completely change all but one. I prefer to imagine myself as "creative" instead of as one who flouts authority. Whatever.
The other interesting thing to note is that this recipe (aside from being easy, delightful, and refreshing) is vegan and gluten-free.

Coconut Cream Pudding

1 1/2 cups coconut juice (approx. one 12 oz can)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (again, a can)
3/4 cup white sugar
3 T cornstarch
3 T tapioca starch (or 6 T of either starch)

1. mix the two cans of liquid in a medium saucepan.
2. reserve 1/2 cup of this liquid in a small bowl: whisk the starches in.
3. set the saucepan over medium heat and add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. continue to heat it until steamy but not bubbling. add the reserved starchy coconut milk and stir constantly until thick.
4. remove from heat and put in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap (directly on pudding surface, to prevent a skin from forming) and cool to room temp, then refridgerate until cold and enjoy!

a note about canned coconut products: if you like coconut (and you must, if you're bothering with this), you may be aware that not all coconut is created equal. for instance, i have a personal vendetta against coco lopez for no real reason. i advise a trip to your local asian market, middle eastern market, or indian market (not sure there's one near you? there is. it's probably hiding.). mexican markets usually carry some or all of the products i use...turns out most of the world uses coconut products on a regular basis...anyway, there exist probably hundreds of brands of coconuty deliciousness. the three main products i look for are: 1) coconut juice, which comes in regular 12 oz cans as well as tall steel drink cans, soda cans, juice boxes and pretty much any other imaginable packaging. if you end up with a variety that says "with pulp", its ok, just strain it out. 2) coconut milk. this comes mostly in 12 oz cans, but also sometimes in cute little 4 oz cans. it is what most people are familiar with, which is a sweet heavy-cream consistency coconut product. listen, forget about "lite" coconut milk. 3) coconut cream. this is manna, and can be hard to find. it comes in big tetrapak containers, 12 oz cans and 4 oz cans. when you open the can, you'll find its about 3/4 of the way full of pasty white coconut goodness about the consistency of tomato paste. the bottom 1/4 is full of coconut juice, which i do not like to stir in but pour off and use elsewhere. a fourth amazing but relatively un-neccesary product is coconut cream powder. i want to find a reason to need it, but as of yet its still in the pantry, unopened.

now, say for argument's sake that you don't like coconut. no problem! just substitute something liquid you do like for the coconut juice and milk. say, raspberry juice with a squeeze of lemon...or maybe dark chocolate almond milk... you'll have to adjust the sugar to taste, but otherwise the recipe ought to be fine.

p.s. if you are un-concerned about the vegan-ness of this pudding, a tablespoon of butter stirred in right after removing from the heat is pretty awesome. heck, you can use margarine (ack!) if you are makin' it vegan.

p.p.s. a complimentary topping that goes along with the whole vegan, gluten-free thing is vegan style "whipped cream"...intriguing, right? i always wondered what was in that precious $6.69 canister at the co-op. the answer is: 50 cents worth of tofu, 25 cents worth of coconut cream, 15 cents of vanilla and a nickel's worth of sugar. here it is, and don't be scared cause even though it sounds weird, it isn't. at least, it doesn't taste weird.

vegan "whipped cream"

1 box extra firm silken tofu (don't try using another tofu)
1/3 cup coconut milk (if you happen to find a cute little mini can of coconut cream, which is a thicker coconut milk, use that)
3 to 5 Tbs powdered sugar, to taste
1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla, to taste.

this absolutely has to be done in a food processor or it will be grainy and disgusting.
put everything in a food processor and puree until smooth. let sit a minute then use. delicious!

*i found a use for the coconut powder...it thickens this cream up nicely, although makes it much coconuttier. just fyi.