Spiders, Eyeballs and Worms: A Home Made Halloween!

It's no secret that I love Halloween.  We had a lovely, smallish dinner party this year and I wanted to serve my old friends to my new friends:

These guys are so easy to make.  Just melt chocolate chips (I use a whole bag) in a large (I have a four-cup) Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave on like fifty percent power for a minute at a time, whisking or stirring after each minute.  I add about two tablespoons of non-dairy milk to make it melt evenly and make it a little smoother.  When the chocolate is melted, pour in a bunch of chow mein noodles (mine were vegan as far as I could tell) pretty much to the top of the cup. Stir them carefully with a spoon until they are all coated with chocolate:

Then I used a spoon to gently load my large, Oxo cookie scoop with chocolate noodles.  Press them into the scoop a bit to stick them together.  Then pop them out onto wax paper on a cookie sheet.  Then use your fingers or a fork to arrange the noodles to look like legs and add your eyes!  I used those cinnamon red-hots that you can get in the baking aisle, but you could use any kind of small eye-shaped candy.

You can also mix in coconut! After I made a dozen spiders, I still had chocolate noodles left over, so I mixed in some coconut and pressed some on top and made "eyeballs:"

Chill all your spiders and eyeballs in the fridge for a little while to let them set.  It doesn't take very long.

I also made a Baked Ziti with Basil-Cashew Ricotta and Marinara Sauce. The "worms." It was delish:

That's Aleppo pepper (a Turkish variety) sprinkled on top.  

To do the Basil Cashew Ricotta, use the base recipe for Cashew Ricotta here, then use one full cup or more of packed basil leaves instead of the 1/4 cup called for in my recipe.  Pulse the cashews and garlic, then add the basil leaves with olive oil and pulse some more, like you are making a pesto, THEN add the tofu and other ingredients to the processor.  Once you cook and drain your pasta, mix all the ricotta into the pasta while the pasta is still hot so it melts nicely and mixes in thoroughly.  I also add my marinara sauce at this time.  It also has a little Daiya Mozzarella layered in there.  Bake at 350 or 375 to heat through (about 30 minutes).

Halloween is a nice way to end MoFo.  It eases the pain a bit.  Have a great Halloween everyone!

Cashew Ricotta In Action!

So, now you have made a nice container of Cashew Ricotta from my last post, but what to do with it now?

Here are some ideas.  Instead of posting formal recipes, I just bolded the ingredients and typed away.  Please let me know what you think of this style, is it as usable as the "listing" style with ingredients separated? Curious.

I made some some roasted fennel and asparagus that I happened to have in my fridge.  I roasted them in the oven w/ olive oil, salt & pepper (oven at about 400 or a little hotter for about 20-25 minutes).  You could also do carrots, parsnips, potatoes or whatever else you like.  Stir/turn them once about half-way through the baking time. Here are the fennel & asparagus:

Roasted asparagus & fennel.  So easy, guys.

Now, you could just cut up the veggies and put a tablespoon or more of the ricotta on them, stir it up, letting the ricotta "melt" into the warm veggies and snack away,

Or, you could boil up some pasta, any shape or size, and just mix some of the ricotta into it while it is still warm (or even use cold leftover pasta from the fridge and microwave it with some of the ricotta and a little olive oil and just mix it).   I made my son some using the microwaving leftover pasta method, and he ate THREE bowls. Ratio was about 1 cup of cooked pasta to about 1 tablespoon of the ricotta. I put the roasted fennel & asparagus in mine:

Then, with the SAME batch of ricotta (I still had tons) I made eggplant & zucchini "Parmesan." Peel one eggplant, cut on a bias (or just into rounds) and put it in a colander covered with Kosher salt for 30-60 minutes to suck out some of the bitterness.  In the meantime, peel 3 small zucchinis and slice them up.  Oil a 9x13 Pyrex pan or aluminum baking dish.  Rinse the eggplant slices in cold water once they are done (you will see that the eggplant looks wet/moist because the salt draws out the water from the eggplant) and pat dry. Now, just layer the eggplant with the cashew ricotta (smoosh some ricotta onto a piece of eggplant with a spoon) and stick the zucchini on top of the ricotta.  Here are pics:

You have a lot of zucchini left, right?  Now you "glue" them on top of the other zucchinis/eggplant.  I was using the rest of the zucchini as little chips and "scooping" up a bit of ricotta from the container and then "gluing" them onto the eggplant and the other zucchinis.  A little like an arts & crafts project, fun! Like this:

You can make a recipe of my quick marinara sauce as follows: In a large, stainless saucepan, I just sauteed two chopped carrots (for fun) in some oil, added about 1 1/2 tsp of dried oregano and salt & pepper, sauteed about 7 minutes total.  Then add two chopped cloves of garlic and saute one to two minutes more (don't burn it!).  Go ahead and add one 28 ounce can of organic, chopped tomatoes. a tablespoon (or more if you like it) of nutritional yeast in it to add body and 2-3 tablespoons of the ricotta in it to add flavor and "cheesiness."   Simmer about 20-30 minutes.  Guess what?  If you only cook it for five minutes it will still be great!  You could also (gasp!) just use a jarred sauce as well, just make sure it is a good, organic brand.  Add the nutritional yeast and the ricotta to the jarred sauce and I'm sure it will be pretty good.  Pour the sauce over the eggplant and zucchini like so:

I put some breadcrumbs on top, too.  Now, if you like, add some Daiya cheese (mozzarella kind):

Now, bake at 375 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, until cheese is melted and it is hot & bubbling.  Stick a fork in it to test the eggplant/zucchini for doneness.  It will be soft, fork will pierce right through.

                                                                          Yummers! Serve over linguine, like so:

I think I'll get me some right now, I'm starving!  Guys, have fun using your Cashew Ricotta, I know I did!

BTW, I got me a new cookbook, The 30 Minute Vegan and made the coconut-lime banana bread to bring to a friend's house today.  It is AMAZING (but, um, took like an hour and not 30 minutes, but that is what I expected for a recipe like this).  Here is a picture of it:

The glaze didn't dry yet, so it looks goopy in the center, but it was great!  The authors of that book live in Hawaii, so a lot of the recipes seem to have coconut oil and macadamia nuts in them :-) no nuts in this one, just coconut (oil & shredded).  Get out the paddles of the defibber, it's worth it! Thank goodness for my friends who served a yummy vegan tofu scramble and vegan bran muffins for brunch today, we needed the detox after this guy!

Questions, comments, etc. are all welcome!  As usual, my FB friends, I'll answer anything you'd like there as well.

Have a great weekend! Dawn

Cashew Ricotta, No one will know!

Stock Your Pantry Episode Seven: Raw Cashews Take the Stage!

Raw cashews are used very frequently in vegan cooking to make things creamier, including sauces and baked goods.  Get a nice big bag of them and keep them right in the freezer to preserve them.  I keep my bag of raw cashews in the freezer and just use them right out of the freezer without thawing them in recipes.  It works just fine! 

This is one of those plant-based substitutes for a popular animal food that most will agree actually tastes better than the animal product version.  Awesome!  And it is so easy.  My version is based on the one in Veganomicon, actually I sort of combined the Tofu Ricotta and Cashew Ricotta recipes into one!  I put Vcon's original recipe for Cashew Ricotta instruction below.  Recipe variation noted with the *.

I go lighter on the cashews and oil (using the water from the undrained/unpressed tofu as a sub for the extra oil as Isa does in her Tofu Ricotta). 

Vegan Fazool Does Veganomicon, Tofu-Cashew Ricotta!

¼ cup raw cashews *                                                                            
2 cloves of garlic

1 pound extra firm tofu, crumbled (but NOT pressed or drained)*      
Juice from ½ a lemon

¼ cup fresh parsley or basil  *                           
1 tsp Kosher salt*                
Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tsp. olive oil  *                                             

Process cashews and garlic together in a food processor until nuts are in a fine crumb.  Crumble tofu into processor and add the rest of the ingredients.  Process until smooth.  It will look exactly like the real thing.  Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.  Scoop out into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. You can make this ahead and I’m sure it lasts a while in the fridge. I make it the day before or the morning of to save time.  Done!

Here are the ingredients for the original Veganomicon Cashew Ricotta, which I made tonight:

    I used Kosher salt, not regular iodized as pictured. 

*original calls for 1/2 cup cashews, draining the tofu, 1 1/2 tsp dried basil instead of fresh parsley, 1 1/2 tsp of salt and 2 tablespoons of oil.  Veganomicon's instructions for the original Cashew Ricotta: Process cashews, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic until a thick, creamy paste forms.  Add the crumbled tofu and process until it is thick and well blended.  Blend in basil and salt.  VCon's is thicker, richer and a bit saltier than the hybrid version I make, but also amazing and works very well when you want a richer taste or are using it for a special occasion. 

Either way, it will look something like this:

You can use the ricotta in your baked ziti, your stuffed shells, on top of your vegan pizza, etc. etc.  I can also post my recipe for baked ziti using my version of the ricotta, with quick spinach marinara sauce, it is to DIE for!

Anyway, I also use this just on top of vegan take-out pizza.  Order a tomato pie with whatever, and just stick scoops of this on top, OMG.

Hope you guys enjoy this one.  It is SO easy and fast.  Try it right now!  If you don't have a food processor, then just make my hybrid version of it and leave out the cashews (which would be really close to Isa's tofu ricotta).  Blend up the tofu by hand and "squish" it with your fingers to get the right consistency (this is actually how Isa does her tofu ricotta, she doesn't use the food processor).

Enjoy!