Vegan Fazool's School: The First Class

Here's the reason I haven't been blogging since my birthday:

My first class!  

I hosted a demonstration style vegan cooking class/cashew cheese and wine party for some interested friends yesterday and it was so much fun!  

I have been working on it for the last month.

From left to right: my awesome neighbors Lorraine & Pete, my sweet, social worker friend Jeannie, my friend Jane the Guerrilla Gardener of South Philly and Roof Meadow Marketing Master  (standing, she was also my volunteer videographer! Thanks, Jane!), my friend and amazing Philly Realtor Brooke (standing), Jeannie's enthusiastic vegetarian friend Amanda (seated) and Brooke's friend Brook :-) who was inspired to make some vegan cheese with my to-go rejuvelac!

They are the members of my first class in Vegan Fazool's School!  

We started with a wine reception and vegan hors d'oeuvres featuring some amazing handmade vegan cashew cheeses from Artisan Vegan Cheese:

This is a (slight) variant on Miyoko's amazing Goat-Cheese Style Cashew Boursin.  

I used a pound of organic basic cashew cheese, the parsley, 1 T. of nutritional yeast, 2 garlic cloves, 1 T plus 1 tsp minced fresh tarragon, 2 tsps minced fresh thyme, 1 tsp Kosher salt, and 1 tsp fresh marjoram.  It was everyone's favorite!

Here it is in progress, look how gorgeous and creamy the basic cashew cheese looks after culturing:

All fluffy and delicious!

Here were the rest of the vegan hors d'oeuvres:

Fresh grapes, assorted olives (Wegmans olive bar!), Cashew Boursin, Cashew Soft Gruyere (I forgot to line the mold, so that's why it's in it's crock!), and vegan crackers (club crackers, Wegmans vegetable crackers and TJ's flax water crakers).

The Syllabus:

Recipes:

Simple Sautéed ‘Fu, Baked Marinated ‘Fu and Korean Fresh Noodle Salad.  

We also learned both marinades:

The Sweet and Spicy Marinade and Dawn's Easy Asian Dressing 

(for the Korean Fresh Noodle Salad). 

Techniques:

Properly Pressing Tofu (with and without a tofu press)

Using Cast Iron Cookware

And a Vegan Food Tasting: 

Vegan Chocolate Chips!

*Recipes, Techniques and Tasting Posts Coming Soon!* 

And, Jane took a lot of video, which I will try to edit and post soon as well!  Thank you so much, Jane!

Recipes:

Simple Sautéed Tofu

Baked Sweet and Spicy 'Fu

Homestyle Sweet and Spicy Marinade

Korean Fresh Noodles for the Noodle Salad 

(noodles are from the Asian Market in Cherry Hill):

Korean Fresh Noodle Salad with Red peppers, Scallions, Sesame Seeds 

(Cilantro, optional!)

Of course, I forgot to serve the black sesame seeds in class!

Dawn's Easy Asian Dressing:

I mixed this in a measuring cup, then poured it into a re-purposed Wegmans Rice Vinegar bottle (with a shaker top) so it can be used to refresh the noodle salad as needed!

Techniques:

Properly Pressing Tofu (with and without a tofu press)

Using Cast Iron Cookware

Proper Pressing:

Proper Pressing Without a Press: post coming soon!  But, if you don't want to make laundry AND dishes when making your tofu, you'll probably want...

The TofuXpress :-)

I love my TofuXpress!  

Cast Iron Cooking:

Don't be afraid!  

A Vegan Tasting: Vegan Chocolate Chips!

The Contenders: Whole Foods 365 semi-sweet chips, Wegmans semi-sweet chips, Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips, Enjoy Life semi-sweet Mega Chunks and Trader Joe's semi-sweet chips.  The results were surprising! View the blog post and *video* here!

Thanks so much for a great class, everyone!

Thank you for making me a plate, Jeannie :-)

I can't wait to host Class #2! 

I have a ton of ideas...

XOXO

Santa Plunder and The Jan Plan

It's that time of year again, time to finish all the unpacking, de-decorating and putting away from the holidays.  It is also time to look at what we did over our winter vacations and to really examine our awesome pressies AND to plan some fun projects for the next three months of winter, aka, The Jan(uary) Plan.

So, what did I get from Santa this year?

What IS that big blue box, Santa??

Oh My Goodness! It's the SoyaPower Plus Soy Milk (or any bean milk, grain milk or nut milk) Maker!

Looks like I got me Jan Plan Project#1: Home Made Soy (and Almond and Oat!) Milk!

But, wait! What did Santa Dad get me for Christmas?

A ton of his time and effort, that's what! Sheesh! What the hell? It took about forever to disassemble my little refrigerator, and it took both my dad and me to figure it out.  Look at all those holes in the back of it, hardware was screwed into every one of them, I ended up with a HUGE bag of stuff, the fans, main board, on and on, all the electrical bits and pieces of a small refrigerator were really something to behold!  We were going to wire up a baseboard thermostat to the existing wiring as the thermostat for my desired project, but it just got too complicated, so we ended up getting a plug in thermostat instead.  Anyway, we did this all to turn my now empty and unobstructed mini fridge into...drum roll please...a TEMPEH INCUBATOR!  Huzzah! 

Jan Plan Project #2: I'm going to MAKE MY OWN TEMPEH.  Oh, yes.

Once I get me some tempeh spores, I'll be in business. (You actually have to write to this company to order them, how quaint!) It pains me to add tempeh to my grocery list at this point, but I'll only have to be buying it from the store for just a little while longer...

And, the pièce de résistance, a Griswold #10 Cast Iron Fry Pan given to me by my Mom B. The pan is from my husband's great grandmother! Oh, momma!!

Here is the original Griswold marking on the back of the pan.  Below it, you can just make out the mark, "Erie," which, along with the Griswold "cross" design, indicates the pan was manufactured between 1906 and 1912, which makes perfect sense given that it was my husband's great grandmother's pan, reportedly used for making some kind of delicious, old-fashioned maple candy...mmmmmm!

Jan Plan Project #3: Recondition heirloom cast iron pan.  Oh joy!! So excited.  I have never done a reconditioning project with cast iron, since I use modern, Lodge cast iron, pictured here (and in many of my on-the-stove shots all throughout my blog! It gets a lot of use):

You can see the subtle differences in the styling between the modern Lodge pan here and the heirloom Griswold pan above.  I really, really want to get that Griswold up and running on my stove top!  I think The Pan Man can help me! 

Oh, and of course, some of you may be familiar with my last post which involves...

Jan Plan Project #4: Grow a disgusting pet for my son (T. longicaudatis, aka, "Triops"). I already have three hatchlings this time around, and no, I don't plan to cook them, though some people want to! Check out the "fan mail" on the Triops site, scroll about 14 Fan Letters down, it's the one in the large font. Exotic, indeed! They probably taste like shrimp, lady, but don't do it! ;-)

I have to plan my garden, too, Jan Plan #5: Gardening Stuff.  More to come on that one.  In the meantime, start seed shopping!

What do you all have planned for the winter months??