The Tempeh Tempest!

We celebrated Labor Day early by having a feast yesterday. DS has to get up sooooooo early in the a.m. for school that celebrating tonight wasn't really an option. So yesterday, as often happens, my BFF, Todd, and I called each other at the exact same time to suggest getting together for dinner. So, dinner and a movie at my house was the plan. Over the years, we have spent many an enjoyable afternoon Doing Something (like going to a pottery festival or the art museum) and then cooking dinner together afterwards. Todd even cheerfully watched every episode of Glee in my DVD set this summer.

Here are Todd & DS at the Sanford Pottery Festival:

I'm pretty sure this was the day we whipped up Dee's fabulous Easy Sour Cream Enchiladas and some borracho beans to go with 'em back at my house post-festival.

Girlichef has one of the most awesome food blogs on the planet (if you haven't been there, check it out ASAP!) . I remember when her blog had a cute subtitle referencing her "fun-size kitchen." Well, my kitchen is so small I'm not sure it even qualifies as "fun-size!" It really kinda drives me nuts. You get out two bowls and an ingredient or two, and the whole place is trashed. Uff-da!!

Due to the difficulty of preparing ANYTHING in what passes for my kitchen, our feast was somewhat minimalist. I made 2 dishes from the Veganomicon: Hot-Sauced Glazed Tempeh, and Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-fry. (I chose these recipes because I had most of the ingredients on-hand already! Hey, it's Labor Day-- I didn't want to be laboring all day at the grocery!) For dessert, we had sorta-vegan crepes. Todd, just returned from a trip to Michigan to visit his fam, brought us back some Vernor's (America's oldest soft drink) to go with. His last 2 bottles in fact: what a pal!

The Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh from the Veganomicon is out of this world! I have to tell you, tempeh is one of those "whole foods" I have just never been able to get behind. Todd (who mostly eats vegetarian) also suffers from Tempeh Terror.

Tempeh is a cultured/fermented soy product. I know it's supposed to be good for you with all those "cultures" in it (that probiotic stuff). To me, it always tasted bitter and of raw beans. Disgusting, really. However, in the skilled hands of the Veganomicon chefs, tempeh is transformed into something so truly delicious I would welcome it at my table just about any time.

I think the secret is the one extra step I had never before heard of when preparing tempeh: you have to par-boil it before cooking. That gets rid of that nasty raw bitter taste, and it improves the texture immensely.

If you have never been that crazy about tempeh, you've gotta try this fabulous recipe! It just might turn your Tempeh Terror into Tempeh Triumph.

Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh from the Veganomicon

1 8 oz. pkg. tempeh (*I used the LightLife 3-Grain variety)
1/2 c. wine (whatever you've got on hand, just nothing sweet, Manischewitz lovers!) (*I used some Merlot)
1/4 c. hot sauce (*I used my fav, Cholula)
2 T olive oil
2 T soy sauce
3 T fresh lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (*I used 4-- you can never have too much garlic!)
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/8 t. cayenne (we know, with hot sauce? Yes.)

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.
Whisk all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl large enough to fit the tempeh slices. (*I find it is easiest to place the marinade ingredients and the tempeh in a large zip-top bag to marinate.)
Cut the tempeh in half, widthwise, then cut each of the resulting squares diagonally to form four large triangles. When the water is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook the tempeh triangles for 10 minutes. This steams the tempeh and removes any bitterness, plus readies the tempeh to absorb the marinade. (*I'm here to tell you. it really does. I boiled mine for 15 minutes just to be sure.)
Use tongs to immediately place the tempeh in the marinade bowl. Let marinate for 1 hour, flipping the tempeh every now and again to cover with the marinade.

Here's my tempeh, marinating:


Grilling Instructions:
Preheat a cast-iron grill pan over medium-high heat. To grease it, brush lightly with olive oil or, if you have a spray bottle of olive oil, that works, too. (Get a spray bottle of olive oil already!)
Grill each side of the tempeh for5 minutes. When the second side is almost done, spoon some of the marinade over the tempeh and let it cook for 30 more seconds. (*I am a believer in frequent basting: we brushed our tempeh with marinade right after we put it in the pan, just before turning, and just before removing from the heat.)

Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side.

Ta-da!! Here is our succulent glazed and grilled tempeh (Todd did the grilling using my cast-iron grill pan):


The Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stirfry from the Veganomicon was a flavorful and delicious sidekick for the tempeh. I admit, I cheated and used canned pineapple tidbits (and juice from same) instead of fresh, but it was still very tasty. I am sure it would have been better with fresh, but it was still pretty awesome.

Todd graciously supplied us with fresh basil and mint from his garden, as well as bringing the potables (iced tea and Vernors). If you have some cooked quinoa already on hand, this would go together very quickly. Cooking the quinoa in pineapple juice is a great touch and adds a lot of flavor. I used red quinoa instead of the usual gold kind, because I prefer the flavor of the Inca Red (and besides, it comes pre-rinsed!).

Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry from the Veganomicon

Quinoa: 1 c. quinoa, well rinsed and drained
1 c. pineapple juice
1 c. cold water
1/4 t. soy sauce
Stir-fry:
4 oz. cashews, raw and unsalted
3 T peanut oil (*I didn't have any, so I just used canola oil)
2 scallions, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced (*I used 4)
1 hot red chile, sliced into very thin rounds
1/2 in. piece ginger, peeled and minced (*I used a 1" piece)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 c. frozen green peas or cooked edamame (*I used a box of frozen peas, thawed)
1/2 c. fresh basil leaves, rolled and sliced into thin shreds (just like slicing collard greens)
2 T fresh mint
10 oz. fresh pineapple, cut into bite-size chunks, about 2 c. (*I used a 14 oz. can of tidbits)
3 T soy sauce
3 T vegetable stock
1 T mirin (*didn't have any, used tawny port instead)
Lime wedges for garnish

Prepare the quinoa first: combine the quinoa, juice, water and soy sauce in a medium-size pot. Cover, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Stir a few times, lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 12-14 minutes, until all the liquid has absorbed and the quinoa appears plumped and slightly translucent. Uncover, fluff, and let cool.
For best results, place the quinoa in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. If you're in a hurry, chill the cooked quinoa for at least an hour. When ready to use, break up any chunks of the cold quinoa with a fork.

(*NOTE: I didn't bother chilling the quinoa, and the finished product turned out fine.)

Prepare the Stirfry:
Use the largest non-stick pan you have (at least 11 in. oin diameter) or a wok. Have all of your ingredients chopped and easily within reach. Place the cashews in the dry pan and heat over low heat, stirring them, until lightly toasted, 4-5 minutes.

Remove the cashews from the pan, raise the heat to medium, and and add the peanut oil, scallions, and garlic. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the sliced chile pepper and ginger. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper and peas. Stir-fry for another 3-4 minutes, until the pepper is softened and the peas are bright green. Add the basil and mint, and stir for another minute before adding the pineapple and quinoa.
In a measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, vegetable stock, and mirin. Pour over the quinoa mixture. Stir to incorporate completely and coat the quinoa. Continue to stir-fry for 10-14 minutes, until the quinoa is very hot (it helps to use two spoons/spatulas to scoop the quinoa around).
Serve with lime wedges and additional soy sauce, to season individual servings to taste.
Serves 4.

Here is the finished stir-fry in the skillet. All the colors and textures are so pretty!


This stuff was fantastic. I was really happy that (besides fresh pineapple), the only things I didn't already have on hand were the scallions, peas, and fresh herbs, the latter which Todd had growing in his garden.

To maximize the flavor and prevent overcooking, I added the basil, mint, and peas just before serving. Ditto the cashews, which were never mentioned again after the roasting instructions, but which I assume were supposed to be added to the finished dish. The crunch of the cashews and the tangy bite of the lime juice really added a nice touch to the finished dish.

Todd's plate:


Dinner conversation:
ME: Well, Todd, now that you have tried Hot-Sauce Glazed Grilled Tempeh, how you feel about tempeh?
TODD:

(You can see my tiny rat-hole of a kitchen behind Todd-- we don't even have enough storage space for the food wraps, so they're all in a heap on top of the fridge)


This meal was satisfying but not too heavy-- all the better to enjoy our crepe-making (and devouring) experience after dinner!

Sorta Dairy-Free Crepes by DomesticMuse
(based on a Sara Moulton recipe)

Makes 8-10 small dessert crepes

1/2 c. + 2 T vanilla almond milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 T melted butter
1 T sugar
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
pinch of salt

1. Combine the batter ingredients in a blender and blitz for about 5 seconds to mix. Then scrape down the sides and blend for 20 seconds. Transfer the batter to a small, deep container.
2. Brush an 8" non-stick skillet with vegetable oil and spray with nonstick spray and heat over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles on contact.
3. Fill a 1/4 c. measure about 2/3 full with batter and pour into the prepared skillet. Swirl the skillet to coat the bottom with a thin layer of batter. Pour any excess batter back into the container.
4. Cook until the center of the crepe is set and the edges are lightly browned. Loosen the edges with a rubber spatula.
5. Turn the crepe over and cook until you see bubbles forming, about 30 seconds.
6. Remove crepe from pan and either cool on a rack or stuff and eat immediately.
7. Re-spray the pan with non-stick spray and repeat until you have made as many crepes as you need, re-spraying before you cook each crepe.

We stuffed our crepes with Nutella and bananas and/or strawberries. Some whipped cream and powdered sugar on top would have looked pretty, but I didn't think of that!

Here are Todd's finished crepes:


This was a fabulous meal!

Vitameatavegamin??

Vegan food: does the very thought of it make you feel like this?

Or maybe this?



Not to worry. You really must try the Vitameatavegamin ... er, I mean, the Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.


As many of you know, I try to avoid dairy products as much as possible. I've been doing this for about a year now. Is it worth it?? ABSOLUTELY. After suffering for 20 years from sinus disease, I am pain-free and nearly symptom-free. It has been almost 14 months since my last sinus infection! This is a miracle, since I used to get them 4-5 times a year.

My quest for delicious dairy-free food has not been easy. One great place to find dairy-free recipes is the many vegan cookbooks you can find at your friendly neighborhood or online bookstore. Depending on how adventuresome you are feeling, you can definitely find some great, quick, tasty, and inexpensive dairy-free recipes. Of course, being vegan, they also tend to be meat- and egg-free as well. Since DS loves vegetarian food and will happily eat it, that's not an issue for us.

The Veganomicon is responsible for luring me back into the kitchen recently. I really do love this cookbook. It's very accessible, even for non-vegans. The writing style is sassy and fun, a big plus in my book. It's been so nice to feel excited about cooking again! Since I purchased this tome a year ago, we've tried several recipes from it. Some were great, some, not so much. But it is packed with creative and interesting recipes for everything from "Greek Tofu Benedict" to "Green Tea 'Ice Cream' Sammiches." I picked it up the other day looking for a dairy-free recipe for crepes, and DS spied some things he wanted me to try. All of them were fantastic!

Our first contestant was the Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes.

Naturally, if you hate brussels sprouts, kale, or seitan, this is not the dish for you. However, both DS and I adore just about any kind of greens (as long as they are prepared properly, no stewed spinach, please!) and we enjoy brussels sprouts as well. When Brussels are not drearily boiled to death, they can be very yummy, with a sweet and nutty flavor. Although for most people, seitan (sometimes called "wheat meat") is love at first bite, I have been a slow convert. The Veganomicon's recipe for homemade seitan is really what convinced me that seitan can actually be enjoyable (see recipe below). The dish below brings out the best in all the ingredients, creating some very delicious vegan magic!

Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes from the Veganomicon

2 T olive oil
6 shallots
2 c. seitan, sliced on the diagonal into bite-sized pieces
1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, quartered (about 2 c. once sliced)
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used 6)
1/2 t. dried thyme (I used 1 t.)
1/2 t. dried basil (I used 1 t.)
1/4 t. dried tarragon
1/2 t. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 c. vegetable broth (I used Wolfgang Puck's, as it was on sale)
1/2 c. sundried tomatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces (I find it is easiest to snip them with kitchen shears)
1/4 c. red wine (the authors say "any kind will do, really")
4 c. chopped kale (I used 1 bag frozen chopped collards)

Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots and seitan in 2 T of the olive oil for about 7 minutes, until they have both browned. Add the brussels sprouts and saute for 3 more minutes, adding a little extra olive oil if need be. Add the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and saute for another minute. Mix in the sundried tomatoes.

Add the vegetable broth and wine. Once this liquid is boiling, which should be pretty quick if the heat is right, add the chopped kale. Stir the kale until it is wilted. Cover the pan, leaving a little room for steam to escape, and lower the heat. Simmer for 5-7 more minutes. Taste and adjust the salt, and serve immediately.

Serves 4. Prep time: 30 min.


The authors recommend serving this over mashed potatoes, pasta, rice, or polenta. We served it over whole wheat penne. It really was very quick to prepare. Slicing up the seitan was the most time-consuming task. I added extra garlic and spices as noted above, and also substituted frozen chopped greens for the fresh kale. This saved a LOT of time and it was quite tasty as well. I was delighted because I had half a bag full of fresh Brussels sitting in the fridge (they were on sale) and wasn't quite sure what to do with them: this dish was a GREAT way to use them up! The only "luxury" ingredient was the sundried tomatoes, so this dish is also pretty inexpensive to prepare, particularly if you already have some sundried tomatoes in your pantry!

Somehow, all these flavors are magic together-- it does NOT taste like a giant pot of cabbage (which was my own personal fear about making this!). The brussels sprouts were pleasantly nutty and a bit crunchy, the seitan, chewy and savory, and the sundried tomatoes added the perfect bright, sprightly note to a dish intended to be, as the authors state, a "Fork You" to winter.


DS and I found this dish to be exceptionally tasty, and we will most certainly make it again.

DS's plate, before:


And after:


Oops, almost forgot! Here is the Veganomicon's recipe for homemade seitan.

How can you not love a cookbook where the intro to the recipe reads like so:
"This is the Vegan With A Vengeance seitan recipe simplified. After publishing that book, we got a lot of questions, often asking if one could substitute this, leave out that-- sometimes just asking how we got to be so beautiful. While we won't reveal our beauty secrets, we will present you with this bare-bones boiled seitan recipe with clearer directions, simpler ingredients, and just the right amount of seitan for most recipes in this book."

Simple Seitan

1 c. vital wheat gluten
3 T nutritional yeast (NOT Brewer's yeast)
1/2 c. cold vegetable broth
1/4 c. soy sauce (I had run out, so I used Worcestershire sauce)
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane grater

Broth:
8 c. cold water plus 3 vegetable bouillon cubes, or 4 c. broth plus 4 c. water
1/4 c. soy sauce (again, I used Worcestershire)

Mix together the gluten flour and yeast in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together the veggie broth, olive oil, soy sauce and garlic. Pour the wet into the dry and stir with a wooden spoon until most of the moisture has been absorbed and the wet ingredients are partially clumped up with the dry ingredients. Use your hands to knead the mixture for about 3 minutes, until the dough is elastic. Divide with a knife into three equal pieces and then knead those pieces in your hand just to stretch them a bit.

Prepare the broth:
Fill a stockpot with the water, bouillon cubes and soy sauce, and add the wheat gluten pieces. Cover and bring to a boil but watch carefully; you don't want it to boil for very long or the outside of the seitan will be spongy. Try to catch it as soon as it boils and then lower the heat as low as it will go so that it's at a low simmer.
Partially cover the pot so steam can escape and let simmer for an hour, turning the seitan occasionally. Turn off the heat and take the lid off; let sit for 15 minutes.
Remove from the broth and place in a strainer until it is cool enough to handle. It is now ready to be sliced up and used. If you have extra seitan, store in the cooking liquid in a tightly covered container.

As I said, this is the recipe that won me over to seitan. I had no idea you could make it so easily at home. My previous experience was with the expensive pre-packaged seitan from the health food store, which I always found to be salty, squidgy, and icky. This stuff is really easy to make. But PLEASE don't make the same mistake I did when I tried making it the first time: instead of kneading by hand, I used my stand mixer. The resulting product had the approximate texture of an old rubber boot. So, be sure to knead by hand! Also, DS and I actually enjoyed the flavor of the seitan prepared with Worcestershire sauce instead of soy sauce. You might want to give that a try.

!Buen provecho!

Yours in Domestic Bliss,
Karen

DF6: "Cheez"-A-Roni and Gee Whiz "Cheez" Spread

Since I finally had a chance to get to WF, I was finally able to try some of the vegan "cheez" recipes I've been looking at this week. Mrs. Jelly Belly, this is for you! GirliChef, you too! :) The two recipes I prepared are from a book by Jo Stepaniak called The Ultimate UnCheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic Uncheese Dishes

I've already told you I'm not a huge fan of "substitute" or "imitation" foods. A food should taste good enough to be enjoyed for its own sake, not as just a pale imitation of something else. So when I saw the title of the book, this caseophile was extremely skeptical. As I have also said, I don't care HOW nutritious something is, if it doesn't taste good, I'm not eating it. The book is full of recipes with cutesy names like "Gee Whiz" (spread) and "Betta Feta," another thing which frankly, alarmed me. Stepaniak uses the term "uncheese" to refer to all of her homemade dairy-free cheese substitutes.

I have tasted several commercially available vegan "cheez" products and so far have not found one I consider fit for human consumption. However, as Stepaniak points out, when you make your own "uncheeses" you have control over the ingredients and since they do not need to have a long shelf-life, you can create much better-tasting and less expensive vegan "cheez" at home.

There is an extremely useful review on Amazon by Lisa Fowler that gives the real 411 on this book and convinced me it was worth a try. This review also gave me a realistic idea of what to expect from the recipes in the book.

Three ingredients that are frequently used in vegan cooking to impart a cheese-y flavor and/or texture to recipes are nutritional yeast, nut butters, and pureed beans. From my years of vegetarian cooking, I am familiar with nutritional yeast, and I happen to love it. It is the magic ingredient in two of my all-time favorite vegetarian dishes, Chicken-Fried Tofu with "Chicken" Gravy and a delicious Peanut Sauce that I serve over broccoli, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, occasionally tossing in some Thai-flavored baked tofu for good measure. I have not made either of these dishes recently because DC has a thing about tofu. Nutritional yeast adds a wonderful savory, almost chicken-y flavor to foods. It is also reminiscent of parmesan cheese. Tofu, both firm and silken, is another often-used ingredients to mimic cheese.

Nutritional yeast is intended for use as a food, and should not be confused with the bitter and uber-disgusting Brewers' Yeast, a by-product of the brewski industry that is intended for use as a supplement (i.e, like a vitamin pill). Brewers' Yeast is supposed to be very good for you, but I have tried it and all I can say is: Be afraid. Be very afraid. And run the other way, fast.

Nutritional yeast comes in powder or flakes. Get the flakes-- they are better for cooking. I actually have never seen the powder, but you'll have to reduce the amounts in every recipe if you use the powder.

Here's my container of nutritional yeast, sometimes referred to as "nooch."


Lisa Fowler's review imparts this very useful information about the recipes in Stepaniak's book:
"Recipes that are made up only of plain flour, nutritional yeast, and seasonings generally do not taste like cheese; they taste more like savory gravy. On a similar note, bean-based recipes are going to taste more like hummus than like cheese. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're prepared for it, of course." Thank you, Lisa! While we may end up enjoying such recipes for what they are, we will not expect them to ring our cheese chimes.

Armed with Lisa's review, recommendations, tips and tricks, I decided my debut vegan cheese dish would be the "Cheez"-A-Roni. According to Lisa, "It's very rich and creamy, guaranteed to subdue any macaroni and cheese craving." Well, ok then! Checking over the recipe, I discovered it was first necessary to make an uncheese product for use in the dish: the Gee Whiz "cheez" spread. Well, Lisa had raved about that one, so I felt safe proceeding.

But just to be on the safe side, I picked up some salmon filets (0ne of DC's big favorites) to serve alongside the Roni in case it was disgusting. I mean, after a person has been deprived of cheese for several years, who knows? an old sneaker might taste like cheese to them, so a review can only take you so far.

A Note About Allergies:
A nice thing about the book is that it includes info about what common allergens (like gluten and nuts) the recipes contain or don't contain in a handy little box on the lower left corner of each recipe page. You must read the ingredient list carefully, however. For example, with the recipe below, if you choose to use the tahini, then it's nut-free, but if you use the cashew butter, it contains nuts, but no tahini. Likewise for gluten-- you have to make it gluten free by using gluten-free flours, pastas, and other substitutes. Nutritional yeast does not contain gluten. Here is what she says about gluten in the introduction: "Recipes that do not contain gluten or include gluten-free options will be marked gluten free in the box. Ingredients that commonly contain gluten (such as vanilla extract) will not be marked as such. You will need to use an appropriate gluten-free brand for these types of ingredients."
Likewise for soy, tree nuts, and corn. Yeast-free recipes will be marked as such, but may contain fermented ingredients such as vinegar or miso. These ingredients are noted beneath the allergen-free box.

Stepaniak also includes nutritional data for each recipe.

First, I'll share the recipes. Then I'll give you my review (and I am a pretty harsh critic of "health food")

AND the results of the acid test:

Did DC (health-food hater par excellence) think the Cheez-A-Roni tasted like cheese?

Gee Whiz Spread (Stepaniak's recipe)

Makes 2 c.
Free of: gluten, soy, nuts, corn Contains: sesame tahini

Before eating, be sure to refrigerate several hours. It may not be very palatable straight out of the food processor, so don't even taste it until it's had a chance to chill.

Ingredients:
2 c. drained cooked or 1 15-16 oz. can white beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. roasted red peppers (seeded and peeled)
6-8 T nutritional yeast flakes
*juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
2-3 T cashew butter or sesame tahini
1/2 t. prepared yellow mustard (the ball-park stuff)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. onion powder

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until completely smooth and evenly colored (this may take several minutes). Stop processor and scrape down sides of bowl as necessary during processing. Chill thoroughly before serving. Keeps 5-7 days refrigerated.

Aged cheddar variation: add 1-2 t. light or chickpea miso (Lisa Fowler recommends this one).

Nutritional data per 1/4 c:
127 cal.
6 g protein
6 g fat
14 g carb
38 mg calcium
283 mg sodium

Cheez-A-Roni
Makes 8 c.
Free of : Gluten (if using gluten-free pasta), Soy, nut, corn Contains: sesame tahini

1 recipe Gee Whiz spread
2 T. olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 t. crushed garlic
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2-3 T. nutritional yeast flakes
Salt to taste
1/4-1/8 t. pepper
Large pinch cayenne (optional)
12 oz. (3 c.) dry macaroni or other tube pasta, such as penne

Prepare Gee Whiz spread as directed and set aside. Heat oil in very large saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add onion and saute until tender, deep brown, and caramelized (adjust heat as necessary so onion doesn't burn)'

Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Add undrained tomatoes and stir. Then stir in the prepared Gee-Whiz spread, nutritional yeast flakes, salt, pepper, and cayenne and mix well. Simmer gently, stirring often, for about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well. Stir hot pasta into simmering sauce and combine gently but thoroughly.

Tip: As this dish cools, or if there are leftovers stored in the fridge, the pasta will absorb most of the moisture from the sauce. If you want to make the mixture more saucy, add a little tomato juice, plain nondairy milk, water, sherry, or 1-2 chopped fresh tomatoes when you reheat it.

Nutritional data, per serving:
334 cal.
16 g. protein
7 g. fat
55 g carb
99 mg calcium
311 mg sodium

DC's Plate:

Up close and personal:

I feel triumphant! DC ate every bit of his broccoli and said it tasted so good with the sauce on it, he would even eat it as a snack!

DomesticMuse's Reviews

Gee-Whiz Spread
This was a snap to prepare! I just made the regular recipe, not the aged cheddar variation. I chose to use the cashew butter rather than the tahini, as Lisa Fowler's review said you can't go wrong with the combo of cashew + roasted red pepper. I also significantly reduced the amount of fresh lemon juice contained in the original recipe. **The amount given in the recipe above is what I used. Stepaniak calls for 3 T. of lemon juice, but Lisa's review said in her opinion, ALL the recipes contain way too much lemon, which can lead to taste failure. Also, since the flavors need time to blend in the fridge before eating, I prepared this several hours before I planned to make the Roni recipe. With some fear and trepidation, I tasted a tiny amount of the spread before adding it to the Roni, and I must say, it was pretty darn tasty. It would be delicious on crackers or pita bread or as a dip. Wonderful!

Below are my ratings in several categories for "cheesy-ness" and taste.

1 star: Bad. 2 stars: Good. 3 Stars: Fantastic!

Color: 3 stars. It was certainly very orange and cheddary-colored from the red peppers. Attractive.
Texture: 3 stars. It was smooth, creamy, and appealing, like a dairy spread would be.
Cheese Flavor: 3 stars: while there definitely was a bit of a hummus flavor from the beans, the overall impression was cheesy.
Taste: 3 stars: Just plain delicious!! It was incredibly rich-tasting, and savory. I would certainly eat it by itself, with great enjoyment.
Overall: 3 stars: Fantastic! A winner! I would bring this dish to a party with crackers and crudites.
DC-O-Meter: He didn't get to taste the spread by itself.

Cheez-A-Roni:
This would have been a very quick dish to prepare if it had not taken 25 minutes to caramelize the onions as instructed. It ended up taking close to 50 minutes to prepare. I used fusilli for the pasta, as it was on sale at WF for $1.29 per box. (Woo-Hoo!) I want to try this recipe without caramelizing the onions to see if that really adds enough flavor to the finished dish to justify the extra time and attention needed to caramelize.

I did not tell DC the pasta was dairy-free until after he had eaten it. We both thought it was terrific!! I served it with roasted salmon filets with Num-Num sauce and steamed broccoli with lemonaise sauce. It was a great combination of flavors!

The Cheez-A-Roni was fabulous, absolutely delicious. It was rich and creamy like real mac and cheese, but without the heaviness. I was pleasantly surprised by this.

Did it taste like Mac and Cheese? Yes and no. It was certainly evocative of "the real thing" in both taste and texture, but it has its own wonderful flavor, too. If I were craving Mac and Cheese, this would certainly do the trick. I loved it, since I nearly always serve my Mac and Cheese with with heated canned tomatoes on top of it, and that's very much what this dish tasted like.

I would not hesitate to serve this to company. It's certainly substantial enough to serve as a main course. For us, it (and real mac and cheese) works better as a side dish with a big hit of animal protein, both because of my blood sugar issues and DC's disdain of vegetarian cuisine. (He feels deprived without "meat" of some kind.) I also want to comment on the nutritional data for this dish. It's obviously much healthier than "the real thing," being lower in fat and rich with fiber and nutrients from the beans. However, Stepaniak just says the data is "per serving," without saying what a "serving" is. I assume the recipe is intended to yield 8 servings, since it makes 8 cups, making a serving 1 cup. But that is just my assumption.
Bottom line: Fabulous! A total success. I am loving every bit of the leftovers.

Color: 3 stars. very appealing, a rich reddish-orange sauce. Much redder than real mac and cheese. Very pretty on the plate.
Texture: 3 stars. The sauce was rich, thick, and creamy without being heavy or greasy. No complaints.
Cheese Flavor: 3 stars: Definitely cheesy.
Taste: 3 stars: Heavenly!! Fabulous! All the flavor of real mac and cheese plus an extra hit of savory wonderfulness. I would not serve this just as a "substitute" for mac and cheese, but as a delicious dish in its own right.
Overall: 3 stars: Fabulous! I would not hesitate to serve this to company, vegetarian or not.
DC-O-Meter: Two thumbs up! Definitely tasted like cheese. He loved it.

So, our first foray into vegan cheese dishes was a total slam-dunk! Mrs. Jelly Belly, you must try this! We thought it was dee-licious. Maybe you could even fool Mr. Jelly Belly into thinking it was a pasta and dairy cheese dish. (I don't know though, he might object to the tomatoes.)

DF 1: Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here we are, Day 1 of the Challenge!

Normally, if I want to buy a book, I just order it from Amazon. It's usually cheaper than at my local bookstore, and since I'm a Prime member, I get free 2-day shipping. However, since I needed some info on non-dairy baking and cooking immediately, I made a quick trip to B & N. Actually, not that quick, since I had a whole list of books I wanted to look at and I browsed them all carefully before making my selections. While browsing, it became quite evident that

Cheese. Is. Going. To. Be. A. Problem.

I can already see that's going to be the biggest challenge of going dairy-free. Just to clarify, when I say "dairy-free" I mean no milk products, cow or otherwise, like milk, cream, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and yogurt. After today's experiment, I'm thinking I may still use butter, at least in some recipes.

I grabbed a few vegan cookbooks to browse through and realized that they will be helpful mainly in the baking area. As far as creating dairy-free versions of other dishes, I may be on my own here. This is because not only do I have to watch it with the dairy, I also have to take it easy on simple carbs that have a high glycemic index value, like rice and potatoes. So a macaroni and "cheez" dish consisting of pasta, rice milk, nutritional yeast flakes, water, potato starch, and veggies is gonna send me zooming to the moon sugar-wise only to crash and burn severely in about 40 minutes. I was so excited to find a recipe for creamy tomato soup (my favorite!) only to realize I could never eat it because the creaminess was created by the addition of more than a lb. of potatoes to the soup, a sure recipe for a crash and burn.

Whereas dairy milk and cheese in a standard mac and cheese recipe bring some protein, calcium, and most importantly, FAT, to the party. For my body, fat is a good thing, because it slows everything down and keeps the carbs from slamming into my bloodstream like a rocket. The protein helps balance things out too.

From experiences in the past with low-fat diets (remember Susan Powter and Stop the Insanity?) I am only too aware of a dreary underworld of pseudofoods, created solely to taste like something else. E.g., fat-free salad dressing. Non-dairy cheese also falls into this category. Sometimes, a "pseudofood" tastes good and provides a good nutritional value. Soysage, for instance. I love it-- prefer it, even, to real sausage because it isn't greasy. It's loaded with soy protein and "good" fat.

But I just have to wonder about the benefit of some of the other pseudofoods that are out there.

To make the delicious cupcakes below, I used two products new to me, coconut milk yogurt and vegan cream cheese. The recipe calls for soy yogurt, but at the store, vanilla and plain soy yogurt was only available in a huge vat, which I didn't want to invest in. One reason being the dr. told me to avoid highly processed soy products. The coconut milk yogurt was available in vanilla in a single serving size, so I decided to try it for the recipe.



Compared to regular yogurt, coconut milk yogurt is a bit watery and "thin," but it tasted fine. It did NOT taste like yogurt, but it did taste sweet and vanilla-y. It also worked fine in the recipe. It even has 6 active and live cultures, according to the label.

But check out the ingredients: water, coconut milk, vanilla, evaporated cane juice, pectin, chicory root extract, dextrose, natural flavors algin (kelp extract), magnesium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, rice starch, locust bean gum, agar, culture, carrageenan, guar gum, dipotassium phosphate, vitamin B 12. The primary ingredients are water, coconut milk, and sugar. Plus emulsifiers.

Checking the nutrition label, I see a carton has 150 cals., with 50 of them coming from fat (so 33% fat). There are 22 grams of carbs, 19 grams of sugar and 2 grams of fiber. I gram of protein. It provides no vitamin A or vitamin C, but does provide 25% of the daily value for calcium and magnesium, as well as 30% of your B12 and 8% of your iron.

Let's compare that to my usual yogurt, Fage 2% Greek yogurt. It also has 150 cals per serving, with 40 cals from fat (26% fat). There are 9 grams of carbs and sugars, but of course, this is plain and not vanilla so it should be lower. No fiber, but 20 grams of protein. No iron, no vitamin C, 2% DV for Vitamin A, and 25% calcium. (Magnesium and B 12 aren't listed.)

And here are the ingredients for the Fage yogurt: milk, cream, and active cultures. That's it.

Clearly, the Fage is a cleaner and more natural food, and has the advantage of providing a significant amount of protein in addition to the calcium. I'm not saying the coconut milk yogurt is bad. If I had soy and milk allergies, the coconut milk yogurt would be a godsend! I'm just saying because something is "non-dairy" that doesn't automatically make it nutritious. In fact, the health benefits to me in the Fage yogurt might mean it's a food I would not eliminate, but would try to eat less of.

The vegan cream cheese is gluten free, has no trans or hydrogenated fats, no cholesterol, no preservatives, no dairy, and no sugar. It seems to consist primarily of palm fruit oil and soybean oil, with some chicory root extract, agave syrup, lemon juice and rice starch thrown in. Like regular cream cheese, it's mostly fat, with 90 calories per serving, 70 of them from fat. But obviously, this is a much healthier food than regular cream cheese.


Which brings me to the other issue with "pseudofoods." Taste.

I understand that something that is NOT dairy cannot be made to taste exactly like its dairy counterpart. However, for me, it has to taste reasonably similar, and it also has to taste good. The texture can be totally off, but if it tastes good, it works for me. WF carries a vegan chocolate mousse. Does it taste like real chocolate mousse? No, but it has a similar texture and certainly does ring my chocolate chimes, and is delicious besides. Someimes I even deliberately buy IT when I'm in the mood for something chocolate.

But the vegan cream cheese?? Not so much. While I wouldn't call the taste unpleasant, it unfortunately tastes an awful lot like mayonnaise. DC tasted it and agreed: mayonnaise. Which means I'd have a hard time eating it spread on a bagel. I'd be wondering where the rest of my sandwich went. The prospect of putting it in the cupcake frosting alarmed me, but since this is the first time I've tried these cupcakes, I wanted to follow the recipe as given. And surprisingly, it turned out ok.

If this tells you anything, DS, who hates cream cheese and cream cheese frosting with a vengeance, had 2 cupcakes and licked his fingers. Actually, we all did. They really were quite tasty!

Here is the recipe, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World:

(Vegan) Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

12 standard cupcakes

Ingredients:
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
2/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. soy yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 t. vanilla
1 c. finely grated carrots
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1/4 c. raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers, and spray top of tin with nonstick spray.
2. Cream together the sugar, oil, and vanilla.

3. Sift together the dry ingredients and combine well. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
4. Fold in the carrots and walnuts.

5. Fill the tins 2/3 full, and bake for 26-28 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn cupcakes out onto a rack to cool completely.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 c. non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1/4 c. vegan cream cheese, softened
2 c. confectioner's sugar
1 t. vanilla

Cream the margarine, cream cheese, and vanilla together. Add 1 c. of the powdered sugar and beat well. Add the remaining sugar in 1/4 c. increments, until you are satisfied with the texture.

Pipe the frosting on the completely cooled cupcakes.

The authors suggest rolling the edges of the frosted cupcakes in 1/3 c. chopped walnuts, but I didn't bother.

MY REVIEW:
The cupcakes were delicious. However, the recipe could use a little tweaking. I barely got 10 cupcakes out of the batter. I think I will increase the flour next time to 1 c. I'm also going to be sure to pack the carrots down when measuring. Also, I doubled the amounts on the cinnamon and ginger, and they came out tasting great. I think they would be bland as written.

I'm a little puzzled about the ratio of baking soda to baking powder, since the soda is the more powerful leavener of the two, usually use less of it-- the amounts almost look reversed! However, the one problem with the cupcakes was that they didn't rise much at all. And then they sank as they cooled. Next time I'm going to experiment with adding an egg. Which will make them non-vegan, but fine for me!

Oh yes, and the other thing-- 26 to 28 minutes baking time?? Yikes! Mine were done at 20. Proceed with caution.

The frosting: I mentioned I had reservations about using the vegan cream cheese, since it tastes like mayonnaise. Which might be ok inside the cake, but not on top of it! However, I was pleasantly surprised that the combination of ingredients created a tasty frosting.

Now, the frosting WAS tasty, but the flavor was definitely kind of strange. Not unpleasant, just weird. Obviously, it wasn't weird enough to keep us from eating seconds! I don't know how to describe it, it just had an "off" flavor. I think I might try using butter next time instead of the margarine to see if that improves the taste. (Again, I know that will make them non-vegan.)

Bottom line: we loved 'em, weird frosting and all!