Choosing cheezes: the Conscious Cook cashew cheeze

A tasty vegan cheeze is the holy grail. There are so many promises, and none of them fully deliver. You can have one that melts but doesn't slice, one that tastes good but doesn't shred, one that almost melts and tastes okay... Not to mention the price of some of these products. Is the main ingredient gold?

I decided to try one cheeze recipe a week for Vegan Mofo, and I picked the hardest one first. This is the cashew cheeze recipe from The Conscious Cook. It takes about three days to make. The first part is soaking the cashews overnight. The second is blending the cashews with Probiotic All Flora.

Getting those capsules is one annoying part. The other is that the recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of water. Even with a fancy blender, that's not enough liquid to get a smooth texture. The first time I made this cheeze, I added lots more water and the end product was a loose hummus consistency. This time I added an extra 2 tablespoons of water and the final product was only a little bit thicker-- definitely not sliceable.

I would recommend adding as much water as you need to get a smooth consistency, because the third step-- squeezing in cheesecloth overnight-- will get rid of any excess water. After a 14 hour stint (under the weight of two cans and a liter of rice milk) my cheeze still hadn't given up any liquid. Scraping it out from the cheesecloth was a mess, and after mixing in the seasonings I skipped the part where you roll it tightly in parchment paper. I tried that with my first batch and it was a messy, wasteful pain in the butt. I just packed the cheeze in a glass container and left it overnight for the flavors to develop.

Final verdict: the taste is difficult to describe. It's sweet from the cashews, but really complex from the probiotics breaking down the ingredients, much like enzymes (rennet from baby cow's stomachs) do in dairy cheese. I really like the flavor, but next time I'll add a little bit more water while blending and I'll probably skip the cheesecloth step altogether-- I'll just leave it out overnight in a warm place for the probiotics to do their work.

Review: Instant Indian

Can't beat a two-minute meal! We keep these Indian meals-in-a-pouch around for nights (or weekend afternoons) when food is needed NOW. Usually I upgrade by adding easy, fresh produce like baby spinach, pre-cooked faux meat (goodbye, beloved seitan-in-a-can, we loved your gluten-y deliciousness), even frozen peas.

Or I'll whip up some homemade gluten-free naan bread using this gluten free bread dough I try to always have on hand. See how to use it for naan, here.

But for this particular meal, I was too tired even for that. So I decided to do a taste test of two different brands-- non-TastyBite, who originated the idea. Beyond Kohinoor's "India on Platter" vegetable pilaf rice, and Trader Joe's "Indian Fare" punjab choley.

Wow, these dishes both look great from the photos on the boxes, don't they? Fluffy, separated rice and fresh veggies, and saucy but chunky chickpea curry. Hm, I wonder if the real product will look this good...

The most important thing, of course, is that you can see from the ingredients that these are both vegan and gluten free!

Here's the Punjab choley (chickpea curry) after two minutes in the microwave. The flavor is good-- it's not too salty and just the right amount of spicy heat-- but it's mostly thin liquid. It's so much better if you add other veggies to thicken and soak up the sauce.

I'll admit it: this rice was scary when it came out of the bag in one giant block. After trying to break it up with a fork, I microwaved it for two minutes and it relaxed into the lovely steaming mound you see here. While not as fluffy or veggie-full as the photo on the box, this rice tasted good. The problem is, it was pretty oily. I'd recommend it with a much drier veggie dish; for something as saucy as the Punjab choley, you're much better off steaming your own rice. Sure, it takes about ten times as long, but 20 minutes really isn't that long to wait, and you can use the time to chop up some broccoli and red pepper to add to the curry.

Final verdict: next time I won't be quite so impatient and I'll take the time to add veggies, but I would definitely buy both of these (to eat separately) again.

Seasonal soup: beans, greens and winter squash

I'm not much of a soup maker. Sure I like to eat it, but I hate the humongous quantities you end up with. Having leftovers once or twice is great, but more than that and I cannot stomach it. Luckily, this soup made just enough for four meals-- two for each of us in the house.

The other great thing about soup is that just as soup-weather hits, the best soup-making ingredients come into season. Fresh pinto beans came in my weekly farm share so I wouldn't normally have them, but the other ingredients are fairly common. The sweet, buttery delicata (winter) squash and dark, nutty Tuscan kale hold up well under multiple reheatings, and their flavors really shine through. Of course, feel free to experiment-- you can't really go wrong with soup.

Pinto, kale and delicata soup

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C pinto (or your favorite) beans
  
  or 1 C uncooked pintos, soaked overnight and cooked in twice as much water for about two hours, until fork-tender
• olive oil
• 1 medium delicata (or other sweet winter squash)
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, diced or run through a press
• 1 C vegi ham, diced (tempeh bacon would work too)
• 4 C chopped kale (lacinato/Tuscan/black is my favorite, any heat-resistant green will work)
• 14 oz chopped tomatoes and their juice (that's a small can or half a large one)
• 4 C vegetable broth
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder (or cayenne) *optional
• 1 tsp salt (to taste)

Directions

• Prepare beans if they're not already cooked.
• Roast delicata your favorite way, or...
  
  Cut squash in half. Clean out seeds with a spoon. Cut halves lengthwise into four pieces each, then slice 1/2" chunks from each slice. Pour 1-2 tbsp olive oil on a baking sheet and toss squash on it til the sheet and squash are both coated. Roast at 375 for 15 minutes, flip, and roast for another 10-15 minutes, til both sides are golden brown.
• In a big stock pot, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil on medium. Saute onions 5-10 minutes. I like mine browned and well done.
• Add garlic and vegi-ham, stir for 2 minutes. Add kale, saute til darker green, but not wilted, about 5 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, broth, spices and beans. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, until everything is cooked through and flavors taste melded. Add delicata about halfway through. Serve hot!

Molasses cookies

Happy Vegan Month of Food! To start it off right: cookies! This was my favorite cookie recipe before the great event that removed wheat (and the rest of gluten-y items) from our lives. I haven't put much into finding new gluten-free cookie recipes because most of them are such a disappointing waste of ingredients.

 

But this recipe is amazing. It always produces chewy, spicy cookies-- almost a light gingerbread-- equally good warm out of the oven or cooled down the next day. And it makes the perfect amount of dough to bake all at once on a standard cookie sheet, so you don't have to refrigerate the leftovers and worry about getting around to baking the rest.

For the 1 cup and 2 tbsp flour, I used almost a cup of sorghum flour, topped off with Bob's Red Mill gluten free all-purpose baking mix, plus the two tablespoons of the latter. I also added 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. And as is the case with any cinnamon-y spiced item, I always add a bit of fresh grated nutmeg. Don't bother with the powdered stuff.

Go forth and conquer the vegan, gluten-free molasses cookie!

Tostadas with mango slaw

You get home late, you're tired, it's hot out. Making dinner is a choooore. Am I right?

Quesadillas would be great, but they're so much work to put together and then a mess to clean up. Ready for the revolution? Its name is "tostada!"

First and foremost, arm yourself with a batch of this mango slaw (I use peanuts instead of cashews). It keeps for days, and there are so many easy, hot-weather meals you can make with it. Last night I boiled some thin rice noodles, browned some julienned ham tube (just make sure it's vegan and gluten-free. ALWAYS read the ingredients, every time), and tossed a spoonful of chili garlic paste in with some mango slaw. You can also serve it over rice, with baked tofu. Or on a chickpea burger made with homemade bread (frozen and toasted to thaw).

If you're looking for more work to do in the kitchen while the tostadas are baking, slice and saute a ripe, black plantain in a little bit of oil til dark brown on both sides. It makes a wonderful, simple side dish and should be done just in time.

Tostadas with mango slaw

vegan, gluten-free

serves 2, 2 tostadas each

Ingredients

• 1 cup mango slaw. I love this recipe.
• 4 corn tortillas. I buy the uncooked, frozen ones. You don't need to defrost them or anything. Convenience!
• 1 cup refried beans. I like Trader Joe's black or pinto. You can use whole beans and mash them up a bit, too.
• 1 cup vegan cheese. I use Daiya white, I think it's called Italian style.

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
• Spread each tortilla with about 1/4 cup of the refried beans, and sprinkle with about 1/4 cup cheese.
• Lay the tortillas flat on a baking sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges of the tortillas are just starting to brown and the cheese is melted.
• Let sit for 2 minutes, top with about 1/4 cup of mango slaw each. Serve immediately.