25 April 2010

No Bake Strawberry Pie



Yesterday after a very exhausting bike ride scavenger hunt, I came home and made Kittee's No Bake Strawberry Pie. It has to sit overnight so I had a slice for brunch!  You can find the recipe in Kittee's Papa Tofu cookbook which can be purchased on her blog.

What You Need:
  • A pre-baked and cooled pie crust. I got mine at Whole Foods.
  • 1/4-1/3 tub Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
  • Approximately 1 1/2 quarts of fresh strawberries (enough to fill an entire pie plate, plus an extra cup to mash), washed and with the hulls cut off. Cut the tops as straight as you can so the strawberries stand up easily in your pie plate.
  • 1 cup unbleached granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup water
What You Do:

  1. Mash up enough strawberries to fill one cup. Throw them in your food processor and pulse them a bit, go slow so you don't end up with soup. (I always make a cup of "strawberry soup" and then chop up 5 strawberries into little cubes)
  2. In a medium saucepan, blend together the sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the water and mashed berries.
  3. Over medium high heat, cook stirring all the while until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce heat so you don't get splattered and keep stirring for one minute. Remove from heat and cool.
  4. While the jam you made cools, stir the cream cheeze until soft, and spread it onto the bottom and sides of the cooled pie crust.
  5. Top the cream cheeze with your strawberries, pointy side up. I started in the middle and worked my away around in circles. You will want to place them along the edges too. I found that putting the tallest in the center is best, because the jam is deepest there. You might have to rearrange them a bit to get it to look the way you want, but don't worry about making it look perfect since the jam covers up a lot and fills in any gaps (especially on the sides).
  6. Pour the cooled jam evenly over the whole thing and refrigerate several hours until set.  

31 March 2010

Mad Cowboy

The first time Scott and I went to California we happened to be in Anaheim and looking for Vegan grub and we came across a restaurant called Native Foods in nearby Costa Mesa. We had the "Save the Chicken Fingers" and we were hooked. A few days later we made our way to the Native Foods in Westwood and I had the "Mad Cowboy Bowl" and fell in love!! We bought the cookbook and have been making the Mad Cowboy pretty regularly. Below is my adapted recipe and if you ever find yourself in Southern California, I strongly suggest you visit Native Foods. You can check out their website for locations.

Ingredients:
3-4 Soy Chicken Pieces
1/2 Cup of BBQ Sauce
2-4 Small to Medium Golden Potatoes
2 Heads of Broccoli
1 Head of Cauliflower
1 Yellow Squash
1/2 cup of corn (frozen, fresh or grilled)
1/4 cup of chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup of Vegan Ranch Dressing (great recipe in the cookbook)

Directions: Bake potatoes. Steam all veggies (except bell pepper), you could grill them for a better flavor. Place Soy Chicken in a skillet with BBQ sauce and cook until warm.

Assembly:
Slice potatoes in half longways and place at the bottom of the plate. Add about a tablespoon of Ranch Dressing to the tops. Pile on steamed veggies and drizzle another tablespoon of Ranch Dressing over them. Place BBQ Soy Chicken on top and drizzle 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce and 1 tablespoon of Ranch Dressing on top. Garnish with bell pepper and corn (about 1/4 cup of corn and 2 tablespoons of bell pepper)

ENJOY!

03 January 2010

Putting this blog back in action for 2010!

So I don't normally do new years resolutions, but this blog has been seriously neglected and so has my baking. So my resolution is to update this blog twice a month in 2010, with my baking, cooking, or traveling vegan food adventures. Hopefully some of you out there will enjoy it!