Tag Archives: cheese

Veganized BerryCakes

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 2 comments

I just finished watching the most disgusting video (I didn’t embed it it’s so violent) regarding the treatment of pigs and piglets on a large factory farm in Pennsylvania, seriously don’t watch it if you aren’t ready to make a lifestyle change.  Suddenly I don’t miss bacon anymore.  Which then made me again question why it is I’m NOT vegan.  All I can come back to is cheese, which is lame because I can find a sub for that.

Today I decided it’s time to embrace faux cheese and gradually veganize my kitchen, and make a bigger attempt at exempting animal products one at a time.  Recently I stopped in at Saffrons-A Gluten Free Marketplace which is a local (to West Michigan) place and to my surprise ended up speaking with the owner for a while.  In addition to the ENTIRE store being Gluten Free, he has a delightful array of vegan food products.  I bought some Daiya which I’ve had before and liked as far as faux cheese goes; I also got some coconut milk, coconut milk ice cream (which frankly tastes better than regular ice cream to me), quinoa pasta, “chicken less” vegan cubes of lower sodium bouillon for soups (it’s not soup season but it’s hard to find this stuff in the winter), an egg replacement (to see how it tastes) and Vegenaise.  The owner and I had a conversation about the varying Vegenaise types (he carries the hard-to-find Soy Free variety ), I settled on the reduced fat variety.  He mentioned how excited he was to attend a food show recently, and had the opportunity to sample a new Follow Your Heart product:  block cheese.  We talked fake cheese for a while and I mentioned he should carry Teese, from Chicago Soy Dairy our neighbors to the West, it’s amazing and used widely in even the most traditional deep dish pizza joints to help their vegan customers stay loyal.  He noted the name brand and said he’d try to get some in soon.  Talk about a delightful shopping experience.  Not only did I get to meet the OWNER, but he is going to look into one of my suggestions for a product to carry in his store?  Nice.

So what’s the point Adrienne?  Oh, yes…the point is today, I veganized my pancake recipe using coconut milk, earth balance, and ground flax seeds in place of cow milk, butter and eggs, and here it is for your animal-cruelty free enjoyment.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Vegan Pancake Batter

  • 1 1/2 C all-purpose whole grain flour
  • 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 T sugar (optional)
  • 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
  • 1 1/4 C reduced calorie coconut milk
  • 1T ground flax seed and 2T hot water, mixed together and let set for about a minute or longer
  • 3 T melted Earth Balance spread
Whisk together the dry ingredients, make a well for the wet ones, and then incorporate them all to make a batter.  Pour by 1/4 C onto a griddle you have preheated to 350-365 degrees.  Flip when the pancakes rise and bubble let cook for about a minute more and then serve.
If you want to add fruit to your pancakes like I have done in the photo.  After you pour the batter onto the hot pan, wait until it rises slightly to put a handful of fresh but dry (not DRIED, just not wet) fruit onto the cake.  I have found this helps them cook through better than adding right after you drop the batter.  Keeps them looking like pancakes and less like sloppy pancakes.

2 Comments

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Gluten Free, Michigan, Product Review, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Radish Sammich

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 2 comments

My previous post discussed the ever important Village of Manchester Chicken Broil in all of its glory.  Something I remember more than the chicken dinner, were the leftovers from the dinners and what my Grandma Helen used to make from them (we always ate Chicken Broil at Grandma’s house).  In case you neglected to read the links provided in that post, let me briefly recap:  the dinner is comprised of a half chicken, roll with butter, fresh made cole slaw with secret local recipe, radishes, chips and beverage.  What was always leftover besides chicken (which was made into chicken salad)?  Rolls and radishes.  No one EVER ate the radishes until my Grandma made them into ‘sammiches’ with the neglected butter pat.

So just what in the hell am I getting at here, talking about chicken for the last 2 posts?  Well my point is….in my CSA  share bag for the last few weeks, I’ve had radish overload, so I grabbed some slider buns and made a delish lunch of radish sammich and Parmesan cheese, pictured below.  Don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it.  Besides, what the heck else are you going to do with those radishes?  You can thank me later.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

2 Comments

Posted in BBQ, Bread, Fridge Finds, Leftovers, Less is more, Lunch, Michigan, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegetarian

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rummaged Flatbread

Posted on May 26, 2011 | 1 comment

Some nights I just don’t feel like cooking.  Really.  Yes, even me.  Which is why I’m thankful that I am competitive enough to make a game out of what I can scavenge from the fridge to pull dinner off.  Mr. Wonderful loves anything in the family of pizza.  So naan is a great quick pizza crust and Costco has the best deal on naan in the free world.  Enter naan from freezer and let the creative juices flow.  The most difficult part about this recipe is the patience it takes to caramelize the onions…chop them up and toss into a fry pan over very, very low, for a very long time.  You can vacuum, do dishes, watch some YouTube videos in the mean time.  Hell, get crazy and read a real book.

Here’s a quick flatbread recipe as rummaged from the fridge/freezer/pantry:

Grilled Asparagus, White Bean and Caramelized Onion Flatbread

  • 1 very large onion, any type, chopped finely into half circles (approx 2 C raw)
  • 1 bunch asparagus trimmed and washed
  • 1 C Provolone cheese, grated (goat or gorgonzola cheese would be better here, but none in the fridge, alas)
  • 4 C white beans, cooked or 2 cans, drained-reserve this liquid in case your hummus is too thick and you can drizzle some in (I pulled these from my freezer-reserve 3/4 C to sprinkle on TOP of flatbread, the rest will be used for “hummus” for the sauce on the flatbread)
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2-3 T Tahini (or just use a little of the juice from the beans if you don’t have this in your cupboard)
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano or a handful fresh
  • 1/2 tsp dried cumin
  • 1/2 tsp dried chipotle or red pepper flakes, omit if you are not pro-heat
  • 2 T lemon juice, fresh squeezed preferred, but that little plastic lemon kind won’t kill you here
  • salt to taste, this will take more than you think…white beans have little flavor
  • EVOO
  • 2 pieces commercial naan bread

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Cut up onion, toss in hot frying pan with a swig of EVOO, then turn way, way down to low.  Here is where the patience comes in…now, wait.  Stirring every 15 minutes or so.  Caramelized onions take TIME.  Like, an hour or so.  Good news, you don’t have to do anything to them except poke around at them every quarter hour….seriously quit your complaining.
Take the following ingredients and zap them in the food processor until smooth:
tahini
white beans (minus 3/4 C for topping of flatbread)
lemon juice
garlic cloves
spices
pinch of salt
You just made white bean hummus which is the “sauce” for the flatbread.
Asparagus should be washed, trimmed and tossed with a splash of EVOO, then turned out onto a hot grill, or in a grill pan until just warm, they should be crispy, semi-raw still, they will be cooked again in a hot second.
Fire the naan for a few minutes in a 400 degree oven to crisp it up just a little.
Now assemble:
Apply “sauce” to naan bread, then onions, reserved white beans, asparagus and top with provolone cheese.  Toss back into hot oven until cheese melts.   Season with a bit of black pepper.
Devour.

1 Comment

Posted in Bread, Leftovers, Less is more, Quick Cooking, Recipes

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I put that shit on everything…

Posted on February 7, 2011 | 2 comments

Dear Frank’s RedHot,

Thank you for choosing simple ingredients and powerful flavors to create your sauce.  I eat that shit on everything, for real.  Here’s my Super Bowl Sunday dinner:  grilled sharp cheddar/swiss cheese on home baked bread with a side of Frank’s Red Hot.  That is all.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

2 Comments

Posted in Less is more

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Simple AND Delicious

Posted on September 5, 2010 | 1 comment

After the “less is more post” I promised a Pineapple Brie Pizza post.  So here we have a common sense delicious pizza. Made at home in like 5 minutes plus about 5 more to melt the Brie.  I tried and didn’t HATE the low fat Brie on this pizza made by President.  Now, it didn’t melt into the delicious puddle that I had hoped, but it didn’t look like a melted styrofoam plate either and it was still pretty tasty.  For naked eating enjoyment, and I mean on crackers plain obviously…the full fat Brie would be better to create that delicious melty mess to put on top, but for this pizza, the low fat version was totally acceptable.

Pineapple Brie Pizza

Adapted from Clean Eating

Makes 2 small Boboli Crust pizzas

  • 1/2 cored, and slivered ripe pineapple
  • 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 small wheel Brie thinly sliced, with skin still on
  • 2 cubes Pesto (about 2 Tbs) from my Pesto blog post (or any Pesto really)
  • 2 small whole wheat Boboli crusts

Directions:  Couldn’t be easier.  Preheat oven to 425, prebake crusts for about 5 minutes so as to keep them from getting soggy from the pineapple juice.  Remove, cool, add to pizza crusts, fine layer of pesto, red onion slices, pineapple slivers, then sliced Brie.  Pop back into oven until Brie melts, remove, salt and pepper for taste and enjoy.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

1 Comment

Posted in Recipes

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,