Posts filed under 'cookbook'
Pesto, Cherry Tomato and Raw Cashew Cheese Pizza
I was never a fan of “real” pizza aka tomato and cheese. The cheese was always so gross and stringy. Even with the advances in vegan cheeses like Daiya and the new and improved Teese I’m still not much of a fan. I like those brands of vegan cheese but not on my pizza! My favorite all time pizza is a new one for me. It consists of homemade Basil-Miso-Walnut Pesto, some homegrown still warm from the sun cherry tomatoes and a raw cashew cheese.
The process is very simple:
Roll out dough (I like the whole grain one from Whole Foods)
Spread pesto over pizza
Thrown on some halved cherry tomatoes
Pop into the oven…400 450 degrees…whatever you fancy.
When the crust is nice and brown and the tomatoes are nice and bubbly take the pizza out and drop on the raw cashew cheese in random places.
Cut.
Serve!
Its basically the best pizza ever. Peter and my Maa are hooked. Reno will just eat pieces with the tomatoes and cashew cheese taken off…she’s only 3 so what does she know..right? I insist that you all make this pizza. Your taste buds will thank you.
p.s. the cashew cheese is from Ani Phyo’s new book: Raw Food Essentials. I’ll be posting a full review of her new book in a few days!
August 30th, 2010
Raw Chocolate Chip Cheezecake Swirl
It’s been hot as balls here the last 2 weeks. Hot. As. Balls. Chocolate is melting, plants and trees are wilting, people are cranky and cooking is just impossible. One Saturday my sister threw a BBQ with a couple of friends and I decided to make dessert but refused to turn on the oven too do so. Then I remembered a dessert my friend Dianne made for a vegan dessert potluck we attended. It was Ani Phyo’s Chocolate Chip Cheezecake Swirl. I had all the ingredients, it’s raw which means the oven didn’t need to be used so it was decided that this is what I was making.
There are 3 parts to this, not including the raw cacao pieces aka..chips: the crust, which is super simple to make. You are just processing medjool dates and nuts and pressing them into a spring form pan.
the cheezecake layer made of cashews, lemon and a few other things well blended
chocolate sauce, which again is just about 3 recipes blended in a blender.
Now I don’t own a Vitamix. It is my ultimate dream product to own. I had to rely on my weak blender to blend up the cheezecake layer. My poor blender was really suffering through the whole process but it managed to do a semi decent job. It wasn’t as smooth as a Vitamix would have made it but it was passable and no one complained about the slight chunkiness of that part of the cake.
Once it’s all assembled you just pop it into the freezer and take it out about 20 minutes before you are going to serve it. If it’s hot as balls out you can take it out 5-10 minutes before serving because it will start to get really soft and melt a a bit. We had about 9 people at the party who ate this and there was still 1/2 a cake left. Its very rich. You can’t eat a huge piece of this which is great if you need too make a dessert for a large group of people. I really can’t wait to make this again!
July 17th, 2010
Tahini Lemon Rice and Beans
Its cold and rainy here today (and I think for the rest of the week) which has got me craving this recipe for Tahini Lemon Rice and Beans from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook and website. This recipe has quickly made its way into our regular rotation of quick and easy meals since we almost always have the ingredients on hand. If we don’t have all the ingredients then we still make it with simple substitutions or just leave out that ingredient. We’ve made it with and without seitan, subbed red beans for black beans, made it carrot-less and so on.
What initially drew me to this recipe was that it reminded me of something I’d put together for lunch at this one restaurant I worked for. I miss those weird combinations of ingredients that were on hand on the “line” that I would throw together at the horror of the waitstaff thinking I was going to make them eat it for family meal one day. The lunches always included brown rice, veggies, protein and a mixture of sauces. They were alway’s perfect just like this dish pictured here. So please…make this for dinner this week and enjoy it because it’s delicious.
February 23rd, 2010
Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie
When I was a young one I loved putting marshmallows into chocolate chip cookie dough because when they finished baking and were all cooled off there would be these pockets of sweet, chewy, kinda hard like goodness in every bite. It also made for a cool and shiny effect that I liked. Needless to say it’s been A LONG time since I’ve been able to use marshmallows in my baking. I’m happy to say that I’ll never have to wait that long again! I finally spied Dandie’s Marshmallows at one of my two local Whole Foods! Upon sight of them at the store I nearly squeeled like some nut job but kept my cool as not to embarrass Reno.
I finally broke into one of the 3 bags I purchased (total nut job) and knew that the first thing I would make would be my beloved Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used the recipe from the Babycakes cookbook and then just pressed one or two marshmallows on top of the dough. I didn’t want to mix it in since I didn’t know how it would come out and I couldn’t see ruining a whole batch of my favorite choco chip cookie recipe. Next time I will definitely add them to the mix so they can spread out and goo up my cookies like I liked them as a kid.
5 Minute Coconut Fudge
I went to a dessert potluck for my local vegan’s group and wanted to make something easy and something that I’ve never made before so I settled on My Sweet Vegan’s 5 Minute Coconut Fudge. Dessert really can’t get any easier then this. Super simple and also delicious and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t really care for fudge. It went over really well at the party and at home so I have a feeling recipients of my now annual Holiday Dessert Boxes will be seeing this fudge in there.
November 14th, 2009
Sweet Chili Lime Tofu
I’ve never followed a recipe from VeganYumYum before. I’ve just never got around to it. There was one that would always stick in my mind though and I was always saying to myself that I have to make that, it sounds perfect, my favorite tastes, etc..etc.. Well I finally made that recipe and I still can’t get it out of my mind. I can even still imagine what it tasted like on all my little taste buds. I’m talking about this here recipe: Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Wok Steamed Collards and Quinoa. It was so flipping delicious. I made it on a night when Peter goes out to a class and I’ll say he was lucky there was any left when he came home. I kept sneaking past the stove and stealing some of the glazed tofu. I just couldn’t get over the taste of the glaze. I’m wishing I was eating right now. I almost made it for lunch yesterday and for dinner tonight. It is such a taste obsession for me.
October 8th, 2009
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