Cookbook Review: Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner

Well peoples, it is known that vegan cheese is actually tasting fucking awesome these days thanks to Daiya... No more vomit smelling unmelting cheese looking objects need to be used in a vegan kitchen... Shit, if you have been vegan for awhile like myself, you have probably long parted ways with needing cheese in your life (I would leave it out of vegan recipes calling to add vegan cheese cause it would pollute the shit out of a perfectly legit dish)... So anyways, there is this pretty new and amazing DIY vegan cheese cookbook out now called Artisan Vegan Cheese... I enjoy this cookbook and I really think Miyoko has some brilliant ideas on how to form some legit texture (It is like a science experiment!!) but I think another book is due to perfect these genius ideas... I would say all the cheeses I have tried in this book are either ok or pretty good, my favorites have been the Meltables: Muenster in particular I will continue to make and Monterey Jack. I don't think I could convert someone to ditch cheese with this cookbook but it is fun for us vegans to play with :) Daiya Wedges on the other hand are conversion material!

Boursin (Flavored with parsley, nooch, garlic, tarragon, thyme, and marjoram): FUCKING SICK, first try...

My favorite thus far: Meltable Muenster!

Delish on crackers!!! Slices well, great texture :)

Meltable Muenster actually melting on some Yellow Garlic Rice :)

My bff Jessica's fave: Smoke Provolone (I liked the taste and not the texture, would have preferred something firmer), good with crackers but I can only tolerate so much liquid smoke in my life

Incorporated some in some mediocre Mac & Cheeze (I can just blame the whole wheat pasta on this... blech)

Meltable Monterey Jack has a texture that is pretty spot on :) a bit firmer would have been perf (Seemed a lil wet)

Made a veggie sammie with some sliced Monterey Jack (AWESOME)

Made some Quesadillas (EVEN AWESOME-ER)

I also made the Sharp Cheddar and did not enjoy it (Texture) and the Meltable Cheddar which was not right texture wise but tasted fine in quesadillas (Pictured above and in the glass dish below)

Overall great book, amazing ideas, looking forward to her next!

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

Crack is Whack... Ditch the Cow Cheese and Switch to Daiya BITCHES

So before you get all Micro-Vegan on me STFU and focus on the big picture: Plant based vegan cheese is better than dairy cow cheese.

VEGANS: CAN WE ALL STOP AND AGREE ON THIS ONE THING FOR A FUCKING SECOND?

Ok let us begin... Once upon a time Daiya only had these goopy things known as SHREDS, they stuck to your teeth like glue... About a year later these magnificent little blocks called WEDGES came out and vegans everywhere wet themselves in sheer delight... THEY ARE JUST LIKE CHEESE... WE HAVE CONQUERED THE ONE THING that prevents all the weaklings from taking the full plunge into veganism... CHEESE!!!

And now the Vegan Police came marching in: BUT DAIYA WEDGES HAVE PALM OIL OFF WITH THEIR HEADS... Well bitches, Daiya is "trying" to find a replacement because they know vegans are pissed about palm oil... Let's get Macro-Vegan for a sec and think about it: I would rather support people getting off the CRACK COW CHEESE and going plant based instead of knocking everyone for the palm oil thing... Yes it is fucked up but it is plant based and it is vegan as far as I am concerned...

Anyways... I bought all 3 blocks a little bit ago... Mainly, to share some with my vegetarian coworker who really "wants" to go vegan but can't kick the cow cheese... Guess what? She loved Daiya and thinks veganism is possible now because of it... I see that as a victory personally.

Daiya Wedges come in Cheddar, Jack, and Havarti :) WE VEGANS HAVE IT SO DAMN HARD, I KNOW ;)

Cheddar: Mac & Cheese HANDS-DOWN you are a kid again, eat your little vegan heart out!!! I just precook the pasta and when I am ready to eat a serving I heat some Daiya with a little plain plant milk till it starts to melt and add in the pasta... Few minutes tops!!! I even ate WHOLE WHEAT PASTA AND IT WAS GOOD (That is major for me my friends)!

Here it is (above) with some roasted butternut squash :)

Jack is also good in Mac & Cheese but Cheddar is best... YES I DIPPED IT IN KETCHUP... As 2 Pac said: "Only God can judge me"... THUG LIFE HERE IN SO CAL

But I mainly love it in Quesadillas!!! I love Quesadilla Sammies with Hickory Tofurky Lunch Meat, Daiya, and some shredded lettuce once it is off the heat!!

 

Look at the gooey deliciousness above! Heaven!

My least fave for Mac & Cheese was the Havarti, it is heavenly though in quesadillas and just with crackers too!!! All these wedges are bomb quesadilla or cracker dipping status...

Moral of the story: Don't Micro-Vegan the shit out of your life, focus on the finish line, the end goal so you don't go insane in this un-vegan current living situation we have to live in... Do your best! And if Daiya wedges fill that void for you for animal cheese I APPLAUD YOU!!! Eventually though, like myself, you will probably just get over the need for cheese and view items like the ones mentioned as a special treat :)

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

TJ's Product Reviews: Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds & Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix

2 products I snatched up recently at Trader Joe's were Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds & Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix (I believe this may be seasonal as I picked it up around Christmas). I am going to subject myself to the wrath of many Daiya loving vegans but I HATE DAIYA SHREDS WITH A PASSION as far as I am concerned they nasty and stick to your teeth, don't melt as pretty as I would like, and basically I want to gag just thinking about them... DAIYA WEDGES on the other hand are another story, I love the shit out of those except for the fact that they use palm oil... well, "sustainable" palm oil they call it. Anyways, I am getting sidetracked, I really enjoyed these TJ's shreds! They were maybe around $3.50 and melted nicely and didn't smell like vomit (Always a plus for vegan cheese). I made a few piles of nachos with them and boy were they good! I think these shreds melt better than Daiya (teeth gunk) shreds anyways.

Next up, yes, I know, I actually baked something holy shit... TJ's Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix which is vegan by default and only becomes toxic poison if you add chicken periods, oops I mean chicken eggs... I of course chose not to poison myself and used Ener-G Egg Replacer for the egg. You could also do the ground flax and water method to substitute the egg (Google: Flax Egg Recipe). Aside from the vegan egg replacement, the only other ingredients specified on the box were vegetable oil (I used canola) and water. This turned out bomb for me! Though, mind you, I think I added like 15 minutes onto the baking time for a knife to come out of the center clean... I don't have an oven thermometer so I am not sure if it is my oven or a problem others might have.

Till tomorrow,

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

The Post-A-Thon... 2011 Week 42 and Korean Potatos Recipe

Hey peeps! As you all know, I batch cook and eat leftovers. It makes being vegan easy on me as I prefer to eat homemade food whenever possible since I know what I am putting in it! I had lots of leftovers to eat all week for lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually a big salad for me everyday or soup and dinner is the meal I like to eat something spectacular. Here are some of the things I consumed this week.

Last weekend I made some bomb nachos using almond pulp from making almond milk and subbing it (I used double the amount) for the cashews in the Melty Cheese recipe (So if you made the whole recipe it would be 1/2 cup alomond pulp). I also added a little white miso to give the nooch sauce a sharp chedddary taste. Very good!

Tofu is such an easy thing to throw together into an easy meal. Two of my current favorite dishes are VW's General Tao's Tofu and SP's Spicy Eggplant with Tofu. I make them almost weekly.

General Tao's Tofu with brown rice fried up with sesame oil, garlic, Braggs, S&P, and kale.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu topped with Sriracha and paired with brown rice fried up with frozen peas and corn, Braggs, and Sriracha.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu paired with Maple Glazed Brussles and brown and white rice fried up with frozen peas, Braggs, Sriracha, and kale.

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers were a centerpiece of many meals this week with fried rice of some sort or Homemade Refried Beans for pairing.

 VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers paired with white rice fried up with peas, kale, Braggs, avocado, salsa and cilantro. This fried rice remix was my favorite of the entire week. Most days I would take leftover fried rice or just plain rice and rejazz or just jazz it up. Rice is so versatile and easy to make into an awesome side dish in minutes. I just cook it in the morning while I am getting ready for work in my rice cooker and then let it cool down during the day and it's ready to fry up when I get home from work... Simple planning peoples!

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers topped with some chipotle mayo type drizzle, Roasted Rosemary+Sage+MapleSyrup+S&P Carrots, and Homemade Refired Beans.

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers topped with vegan sour cream, Homemade Refried Beans topped with cabbage, cilantro, and hot sauce

Korean Potatoes

Korean Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds baby potatoes (Red, White, or PURPLE), halved

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

1/2 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1 T cornstarch mixed with 2 T water

Sauce:

1 T sesame oil

10 cracks black pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup garlic, minced

1/2 cup Braggs or Soy Sauce

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Place potatoes in a large pot and spread evenly

Whisk sauce ingredients and add to the potatoes.

Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn the heat to a simmer. 

Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes and mix then top with sliced yellow onions, cover and cook for another   15 minutes and mix again. The potatoes should be done by now, if not cook them covered for a bit longer. 

Add the cornstarch + water slurry and the green onions and mix until the sauce thickens.  

Korean Potatoes with brown rice fried with Braggs, Sriracha, frozen peas and corn, and plain cashews.

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

An unplanned Mexican themed week 1/3-1/9/11

I started off the week with some bomb homemade potato salad... So yummy!

This week I ate a lot, and I mean a lot of bean burritos, tacos, enchiladas, nachos, etc.

I make a big batch of refried beans every week: Soak 2 cups of dry pintos overnight in water, rinse, boil them for 2 to 2.5 hours on medium heat with a quartered and peeled onion, 4 bay leafs, and s & p, drain and remove bay leafs, whirl the beans in a food processor with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pickled jalapenos and some added salt to taste... perfection every time!

Bean and brown rice enchiladas topped with salsa, guac, olives, and Tofutti sour cream

I also had some leftover Viva Vegan Red Seitan that got thrown into this weeks Mexican mix in tacos, enchiladas and even piled on nachos:

Tacos made with Viva Vegan Red Seitan sauteed with onions, topped with Tofutti Sour Cream, guac, refried beans, and cilantro

I also made the tacos into enchiladas by just rolling these puppies up and covering them in salsa

I also pan fried the seitan and put it top of some nachos... These nachos weren't that great since I didn't have any plain soymilk to make Melty Cheese, I just used the cheese recipe from VW's Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas, it was alright

I decided to try a homemade tofu marinade I found on VW... called Tasty Tofu! A Zesty Herb Marinade... I added only half the oil and thought it turned out pretty good, though not even close to as good as my Teriyaki Tofu

It was pretty tasty heated up and placed in a sandwich though :)

Today I snacked on some sushi rice (calrose rice + rice vinegar + sugar + salt) and some roasted seaweed slices :)

I also made my insanely loved Vegan Taco Soup... I'm selling a few bowls to coworkers next week for some cash for salad... Score! Love this stuff and ate a bowl topped with Tofutti Sour Cream... Heavenly! I always sub about 1/2-1 cup TVP for the vegan beef crumbles... Just add it in along with the canned veggies.

Vegan MOFO: A Spin on VegWeb's Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

I've made VegWeb's Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas about 3 or 4 times now and they always turn out fantastic! This time around I switched up the recipe a bit to use up some of the my leftovers.

Here's what I did:

- I added 1/2 cup of TVP to the mixture and a tablespoon of taco seasoning
- Subbed a can of hominy for 1 of the cans of beans
- Subbed some sliced mini bell peppers instead of using 1 of the onions
- Threw in a chopped tomato
- Added probably double the amount of olives
- Added half a can of corn
- Used a smallish can of green enchilada sauce for 1 casserole full and red taco sauce for the other
- I used corn tortillas this time instead of flour

It turned out pretty darn tasty but I had so much filing I wiped out an entire package of corn tortillas! Looks like leftovers for the next week for me. I'm going to try to do my best with Vegan Mofo, I won't always have new foodie pics but I will post just to say, "Hey look what I ate today!"

VegWeb's Creamy Sundried Tomato Dip and Some Leftovers

 I had an extra tub of Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese and a bit of sundried tomatoes in oil that needed to be used up so I decided to make VegWeb's Creamy Sundried Tomato Dip. I am pretty broke and didn't have the chives or even green onions on hand so I subbed 3 tablespoons minced yellow onion and also added 2 extra cloves of garlic. I used about a half a cup of sundried tomatoes (Mine came julienned and I wasn't sure how much to use so I just finished the bottle). The dip came out fantastic and tasted heavenly dipped with wheat thins!

Leftovers for last nights dinner were awesome courtesy of Viva Vegan. I had leftover Drunken Beans with Seitan Chorizo and Latin Baked Tofu, heaven on Earth my friends.

Vegweb's "They Won't Know It's Vegan Lasagna"

Vegweb's "They Won't Know It's Vegan Lasagna" is fantastic! This was my first time ever making a lasagna (Pathetic I know) and my first time making tofu ricotta, so many firsts tonight!

Changes and suggestions:

- I used an entire package of Tofurkey Italian Sausages (4 links) instead of the "Ground meat" substitute because it was what I had on hand. I sliced the "Sausages" into thin rounds and browned them a bit in some oil beforehand.
- For veggies I used carrots, broccoli florets, button mushrooms, and 1 bunch of fresh spinach (Stems removed). I cut all these veggies into smallish pieces (Except the spinach) and cooked them until tender. The spinach I didn't cook, I just layered it on fresh.
- I only needed like 2 cups of pasta sauce as well... Nowhere close to 2 jars! I did need the 3 cans of tomato sauce though.
- I didn't add the fake cheeze on top because fake cheeze is typically pretty gross.
- I thought the tofu ricotta in this recipe was fantastic without the vegan cream cheese added, once I added the vegan cream cheese the mixture became hard to spread so I just had it in 1 layer, it was still totally tasty though!

Vegweb's Super Yummy Cheesy Pot Pie

I made this Super Yummy Cheesy Pot Pie for dinner tonight and thought it was pretty yummy. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars this time around but next time I'm sure it will be even better!

***Update: I thought this pot pie was much better the second day as leftovers!***

I used the veggies listed in the recipe but doubled the broccoli, added half a chopped white onion, and used Melty Cheese for the vegan cheese sauce. I also made my own pie shell using the empanada dough recipe for "Richer Wheat Dough" out of Viva Vegan!

 Things I did wrong:

- I should have nuked the potatoes for longer than the other veggies because they weren't cooked all the way when my pot pie was done.
- Next time I will use only half the empanada dough recipe and roll it much thinner, my crust was too thick.
- I should have used the whole recipe of Melty Cheese. I saved some (Like 1/2 cup) to feed my addiction to Vegan Nachos.... Oops
- Also make sure to have a pan under whatever you're baking the pot pie in, mine started bubbling over and got all over my oven.
- I should have added more spices to jazz the filling up. I did add salt and pepper even though the recipe didn't call for it but the pot pie was still a bit bland.

Delicious Bagel Spread & More Vegan Nachos!

Today I was busy making a batch of both Red and White Seitan and Empanadas from my Viva Vegan! cookbook so that I would have leftovers to use up this coming week. I really love this cookbook, so sorry that I can't seem to shut up about it.

So today I kept the meals I actually ate pretty easy.

For breakfast I had a bagel, smothered in vegan cream cheese (Tofutti Brand) and topped with a mixture of half a mashed banana and some strawberry jam... Yum!

For lunch I had some more Vegan Nachos, topped with some unusual extras like pan fried Red Seitan and Pickled Red Onions, both from Viva Vegan!

Dinner was a few of the Empanadas I made today, served up with a delicious green sauce  from Viva Vegan! called "So good, so green dipping sauce (Green aji sauce)." This sauce is awesome with the Empanadas and also makes for a good salad dressing. The sauce is a mix ingredients such as lime, cilantro, green onions, romaine lettuce and vegan mayo. I added probably double the amount of vegan mayo called for though cause I love my sauces and dressings creamy.