Vegan MoFo Day 7: I can haz cheeeez

Your mission should you choose to accept:

Make a Vegan Cheez that is better than any you've ever tried. OK that's easy - I've only tried one and that was a Chedda Cheez variation of the Colby Cheez recipe from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook that I saw here. BUT should you accept this mission the Cheez MUST: a. Taste like cheese b. Melt like cheese OK I think I've got the first one covered. Whilst Mr. Treehugger was chowing down on some of my Besto Pesto he turned to me and said "Damn that really tastes cheesy - you sure it's Vegan?" And you know what - he was right. It does taste cheesy, very cheesy. So my Vegan Cheez simply must include a whole load of Besto Pesto. Check! Now the second requirement's a bit more tricky. I'm sure Vegan Cheez professionals have tested and tested ways to make a melty vegan Cheez, and from reviews and chatting to PPK'ers it seems that the perfect melting Cheez is somewhat harder to achieve. Well I do love a good challenge so I donned my apron, grabbed my spatula and set about the kitchen on a Cheez making extravaganza. The Result:

TaDa!

The melting test

The Verdict Whilst it looked like a Mozzarella type Cheese it had a Cheddary type taste and it did melt - it melted beautifully and tasted good on toast. But there is room for improvement so I will stick with it before I divulge the recipe.

Vegan MoFo: Day 5 - Cherry Tomato Tarts with Pesto Cream

I feel quite sad about this MoFo entry. Why? Because it uses the last of my Cherry Tomatoes and Basil. *sniff* But the sadness didn't last long. Oh no....about as long as it took to cook up these babies and scoff 'em down. Cherry Tomato Tarts with Pesto Cream serves 4 Ingredients 2 Tblsp Olive Oil 1 Onion finely chopped 375g Cherry Tomatoes 2 Cloves garlic, chopped 3 Sundried Tomatoes, chopped 1 sheet Puff Pastry (depending how big the sheets are - you need about 375g of pastry) I recipe Besto Pesto Salt and Pepper

Method Heat the Olive Oil in a frying pan and saute the Onions for 5 mins until soft. Halve about a third of the Cherry Tomatoes. Take the frying pan off the heat and add the Garlic, Sun Dried Tomatoes and then stir in all of the Cherry Tomatoes until lightly coated in the sauce. Lay out the pastry sheet and cut out 4 5 inch rounds (a small plate is ideal if you don't have a fancy tool). Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cold water and transfer the pastry circles onto it. Make a shallow cut 1cm from the edge of each round to form a rim. Brush the rims with a little Olive Oil and pile the Tomato mixture into the centres of the tarts making sure it stays within the rims. Bake in a pre-heated oven, 220 degrees (425 Fahrenheit) for about 15 mins until the pastry is risen. Plop on a dollop of Pesto and Bob's yer uncle. We had these with Sweetcorn and Mashed Potato.

And because I'm a sucker for filling in fun vegan related survey's here's my answers to this survey here 1. Name a song that involves food in some way. one potato two potato three potato four........ 2. What criteria do you use when choosing a new cookbook to buy? One that's going cheap on Amazon 3. What did you eat today? Chocolate Cake so far 4. Name a vegan food that you know exists but you have never tried. Marshmallows 5. The Food Network just called and needs you to start your new show tomorrow. What will the title of the show be? Take 5 6. Favorite hot sauce or other spicy condiment? Black Pepper 7. How old were you when you became vegetarian/vegan? 14 - vegetarian and 34 - vegan 8. Favorite vegan cheeze? My own homemade 9. Cutest baby animal? hedgehogs 10. Favorite type of jam/jelly/marmalade/preserves? Gooseberry Jam (I am addicted to the stuff) 11. Do you take any vitamins/supplements? no 12. What food/dish most embodies the Fall season? Soup 13. What food would you have a hard time living without? Mushrooms - I would end it all if I couldn't have Mushrooms 14. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate? tea - with milk 15. It's 10PM and you're starving. What do you eat? a Piccalilli sandwich 16. If you have an animal companion, what is his/her favorite food? One of my cats likes Peanuts another one likes birds and the other two will eat anything 17. Worst injury you've gotten in the kitchen? I spilled boiling oil on my finger 18. When you have a food-related question, who do you call? The PPK'ers 19. Summer is ending- What food will you miss most? Asparagus 20. What snacks do you keep in your purse/backpack/desk at work? Gum 21. Favorite soup to make on a rainy day? Any Soup, all Soup, Soup is goooood 22. What's your favorite combination of fresh vegetable and/or fruit juices? Carrot and Swede mashed together 23. Favorite brand of root beer? I don't have one 24. Make your own question What's the un-vegan food you miss the most? Tuna

Eggplant Rollatini with Spinnach and Toasted Pine Nuts

Man oh man I can hardly move with my belly so stuffed. Made yet another awesome recipe from Vcon - Eggplant Rollatini with Spinnach and Toasted Pine Nuts. This is just soooo freaking awesome I don't know where to begin. You'll just have to make it for yourself - it's the only way. I made a bit of a boo boo whilst making this. Well in actual fact I made two boo boo's. The first one was that I fried the breaded Eggplant and then proceeded to bake them as well!! As I put them in the oven I thought there's no way I'm gonna spray them with more oil - there's plenty (and then some) in them already and there's NO WAY they'll bake for 20 mins what was Isa and Terry thinking!! I decided to bake them for 10 mins instead and whilst they were in the oven I then read the recipe properly. The fact I'd already read the recipe through a good few times (like ten times) obviously hadn't made any difference - the recipe states that you EITHER fry them OR bake them....NOT BOTH YOU FOOL!!! *ahem* The second boo boo wasn't quite as silly - I whizzed up the Pine Nuts in the blender because I thought you added them to the breading mixture and there was no way they were gonna stick to the Aubergine if they were left whole!! THEN I realised as I was assembling everything together for the final stage of the dish that you add the Pine Nuts when you add the Spinnach and roll them up. DOH! But we live and learn as they say and I've learnt to read a recipe and understand it completely BEFORE setting foot in the kitchen. I didn't use riccotta either I finished up the last of the Besto Pesto.

Absolutely delicious dish and one I know I'm gonna make over and over again!

Served with some Fresh Asparagus (possibly last of the seaseon *sniff*)

Kiwi Adventures

I had recently bought a HUGE tray of Kiwi fruit from the Supermarket because I do like a good kiwi. I had been having one every day as a snack but realised today that the remaining four would need to be used up pronto. So I thought I'd make Kiwi Jelly. Why not? No good reason I could think of. Not even not having a jelly mold wasn't enough to dissuade me. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It's not very sweet (you might want to add some sugar if you like sweet jelly) it is clean and fresh tasting and would be superb after any meal - to...ya know...clean the palate and all that.

Ingredients 1.5 Tablespoons Agar Agar Flakes Half Cup Boiling water 4 Kiwis, peeled Tblsp Maple Syrup 1 Cup Bottled Water (or filtered - whatever you have) The easiest way to peel a Kiwi (giggle) is to cut the knobbly end of and using a vegetable peeler peel downwards from the cut off end. Peel all 4 Kiwi's and slice 5 or 6 slices to line your jelly mold with later, set them aside and place the rest of the fruit in the blender. Blitz for 3 or 4 mins until smooth. Scoop out all the pulp and place in a mixing bowl. Take the cup of cold water and put it in the blender - swilling round to get all the last pulpy bits up. Pour that into the mixing bowl with the pulp and stir. Add the Maple Syrup and stir again. Place the Agar Agar in a saucepan, add the boiling water and stir continuously for 3 mins. Add to the mixing bowl with the fruit pulp and stir well. Line a jelly mold (I used a big pudding dish) with the kiwi slices you reserved earlier. One on the flat bottom and the others round the edges. Pour in the jelly mix and refrigerate. I left mine in the fridge for 3 hours. Lunch was some Besto Pesto tossed with some pasta. Simple but delicious. Dinner was pizza with tomato, olive and more Besto Pesto. I tell ya, whilst my taste buds will lament when the Basil has all gone from my garden, my waist line will, at least be grateful. This stuff is addictive.

And the award for the best kitchen utensil goes to..........

The humble rubber spatula. I never realised this utensil's full potential until it came to getting a gloopy mixture out of the food blender. Having only owned a stand alone blender for a few months I was seriously regretting buying it and wish I had replaced my broken stick blender with a new stick blender. The shapes I was having to contort myself into to get to all the gloopiness was no joke. So as I was pawing my way through the pages of Vegan with a Vegeance I noted with mild interest that one of the kitchen utensils listed was a spatula. "Yeah right" I thought "Like I need another useless utensil to clog up my already clogged up kitchen drawers even more!".

Well the fickle finger of fate played a role in my life the other week as I was aimlessly walking round town and nipped in to a todo todo shop (a bit like a pound/dollar store). There on the shelf was a pack of 3 rubber spatulas of various sizes for the bargain price of 60 cents!! How could I resist? So I made my purchase, went home, unloaded my shopping and placed my new set of spatulas in the utensil drawer with an air or skeptism. Haha! The last laugh is on me. I decided to make some pesto tonight as I had a bit of tofu in the fridge that needed using up and I realised it was the perfect opportunity to try out my new gadget. All I can say is "How did I ever get by without one of these before?!!" I am a complete spatula convert and so I am dedicating this post to all the spatulas of the world. We do love and appreciate you - we really do. So yeah...onto the pesto (sorry spatula - food always takes the limelight).

Besto Pesto 1/8 Cup Pine Nuts 20 Fresh Basil Leaves 80 grams Firm Tofu 2 Cloves Garlic 1/2 Cup Olive Oil Pinch of salt Dry roast the Pine Nuts in a frying pan for a minute, toss the pan and fry for another minute. Place Pine Nuts in blender. Peel and roughly chop Garlic, crumble the Tofu and place both in the blender along with the Basil Leaves. Blitz for a few minutes. Add half the Olive Oil and blitz for another few minutes. With your spatula, scrape the sides. Blitz for a few more minutes then add the remaining oil and a pinch of salt. Blitz the whole lot again until everything is smooth and there are no lumps. And HEY PESTO! Delish

I'm storing mine in the fridge over night and will use it tomorrow with pasta. YUM!