Cheezecake Bars

Cheesecake bars were a part of my childhood. My mother made them just about every time she had company over, probably because they were so good they were requested time and again. Obviously I had to veganize them. I am so thrilled with the end result! They are very easy to make and so scrumptious because the center is so perfectly sandwiched between two layers of delicious crust, just as I remember them! It is amazing how almost any recipe can be veganized – even cheesecakes that typically call for at least 3 eggs. Agar Agar is awesome! It is a tasteless, vegetable gelatin derived from sea vegetation. For those of you who are unaware – gelatin is absolutely horrid. It is made of animal bones (along with animal skin, hooves, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage) all boiled together into a goo that’s added to all kinds of candy and baked goods. Agar Agar has none of that nastiness! It works perfectly in this recipe to hold the cheezecake together. You can find it at health food stores or specialty markets like Whole Foods, as well as on online. While these bars may not be the healthiest recipe on my blog, they are so delicious and every once in a while I like to indulge. If you do too, then try these bars. You won’t be disappointed.

2/3 c brown sugar
8 T vegan butter
2 c flour
1/2 c finely chopped walnuts
2 8 oz tubs vegan cream cheese
1 12 oz package firm silken tofu, drained
3/4 c sugar
3 T lemon juice
2 t vanilla
2 t agar agar flakes
1/2 c vegan chocolate chips

Cream the “butter” and the brown sugar. Add the flour and the nuts and work together with your fingers until it forms little crumbs.

Reserve 1 cup for topping, and press the rest into a 9×13” pan.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Mix all remaining ingredients, except agar agar, in a large bowl with a hand mixer.

Add agar agar and mix one minute more. Pour into crust and sprinkle 1 cup reserved topping on top.

Bake for 30 minutes. Turn off oven and leave in with door open for 30 minutes more. Chill. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired. Cut into 18 bars.

Grilled Seitan with Tangy Asian Sauce

I LOVE SEITAN!! I love it sauteed, steamed, fried, and baked, but my favorite way to enjoy seitan is grilled! This recipe is so simple and can be made using my basic seitan recipe, or by purchasing seitan already made. When I don’t have time to make it myself, I like to use West Soy Seitan, which is available at health food stores and specialty markets like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. The advantage to making the seitan yourself is that you will end up with nice cutlet size pieces, as opposed to the smaller cubes or strips available pre-made. But whichever seitan you use, this recipe will be sure to please! If you use the pre-made seitan, then you will need a grilling basket. You can also forgo the grill and sautee the seitan in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and it will still taste great!

FOR MY BASIC SEITAN RECIPE – CLICK HERE.

You will need 9 “steaks” – which is 1/2 of my basic recipe for seitan, or 2 boxes of West Soy Seitan.

2 T sesame oil
1 entire bulb of garlic, pressed
2 T soy sauce
1 1/2 T agave nectar

Mix together in a small bowl and then rub 1/2 t onto the front and back of each “steak.”

Oil your grill and grill the seitan steaks about 3 minutes per side.

For the sauce, combine the following:

1 T rice wine vinegar
1 T agave nectar
1 T braggs liquid aminos

Serves 4

SEITAN demystified

I really love SEITAN!! For those of you who are not familiar with it, let me get you up to speed. Seitan is a plant-based meat alternative made from wheat gluten. The beauty of seitan is that it is really easy to make at home and freezes well too! And who wouldn’t love a protein source that offers 20 grams of protein for each 3 ounce serving and yet only 1.5 grams of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat? Seitan is also very versatile. It can be baked, grilled, sauteed, fried, or prepared just about any way that you would prepare meat. So who needs that nasty meat anyway? If you have not tried to make seitan yourself, please go for it. You will be glad you did. If you are not into cooking, you can purchase seitan at health food stores and specialty markets like Whole Foods. When I am in a rush, I will use the West Soy brand, but the pieces are small and imho are best suited for a quick stir fry. Not that there is anything at all wrong with that! That is delicious! However, in many of my recipes, the seitan is much better when it is the size of what a cutlet of meat would be. By making my own seitan, I can make it any size I want.

Making seitan makes me happy! There is no fat to trim or blood to rinse off or e coli or salmonella to wipe off from my countertop! No hormones or antibiotics in it at all. And when I have the finished seitan cutlets on a plate I think about how easy it was to make a cruelty-free protein source that is so much healthier than meat and then I compare that to the entire wretched process of how a piece of steak or breast of chicken gets on a styrofoam tray at a supermarket chain and what that entails. The difference is astonishing. One is so good, healthy, compassionate and the other just so horribly bad – bad for your health, bad for the environment, bad for the animals.

This recipe is adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan with a Vengeance. All Isa’s cookbooks are incredible!! The actual work time is minimal, maybe 20 minutes tops, but it does take a lot of time on the stove, so plan accordingly. That is why I usually make my seitan over the weekend. The recipe will yield enough seitan for 2 family meals or 4 meals for one or two people. I actually double the recipe and thereby get enough seitan to make 4 meals for my family, and I freeze at least half of it which is great! Then, I just defrost it in the fridge the night before I want to use it and it is ready to go!

BASIC SEITAN RECIPE

Ingredients for Seitan

2 c vital wheat gluten – you can get this pre-packaged from Arrowhead Mills for example (they carry this at my local Shoprite) or you can get it in bulk from health food stores and specialty markets like Whole Foods.
2 T flour
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1 c vegetable broth
1/2 c soy sauce
1 t ketchup
1 T olive oil
2 T chickpea flour

for the broth –

9 c water
3 c vegetable broth
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder

In a large bowl, combine the 3 first ingredients.

In another bowl, combine the next 4 ingredients.

Pour the wet into the dry and mix with your hands and knead until it is all incorporated.

Knead in the chickpea flour.

Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the broth ingredients in a large pot, but do not heat yet.

Roll the dough into a 10” log

Cut into 6 pieces.

Place the pieces into the cold broth. Partially cover and turn the heat to high. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 90 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool in pan for another hour if you have the time. At this point, you can use the seitan, store in the broth in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for later. I usually cut each of the 6 pieces into 3 cutlet size pieces, so I wind up with 18 cutlets from this recipe. If you are using it later, don’t slice it into individual pieces until you are ready to use it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Drop Cookies

OMG. Don’t know what else to say! These are so delicious they literally melt in your mouth (and your hands)! They are vegan, gluten-free, and have no added butter or oil. I wish I could bake them and eat them every single day.

1/2 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c agave nectar
1/2 c cocoa powder
1 c peanut butter
1 t vanilla
1 T ground flax seed mixed with 3 T water (let sit for 5 minutes)
3/4 c vegan chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips.

Stir in chips.

Dough will be very thick and gooey. Don’t worry if it is not all fully incorporated. I actually like it when you can see streaks of yummy peanut butter in the cookies!

Form into a ball and wrap in wax paper to freeze for 15 minutes.

Form into 1” balls and place on baking sheets covered with parchment paper and very lightly oiled.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 18 cookies.

Creamy Carrot Soup

While I love ice cream (non-dairy of course) in the winter, for some reason I don’t really love hot soup in the summer. Summertime for me is gazpacho and other cold soups with fresh from the garden fruits and veggies. So, I have been making lots of my favorite soups lately since the cold weather will soon be gone. This carrot soup is so healthy, so easy to make and has so much flavor, but my favorite thing about it is the texture. It is not a broth and not really thick, but somewhere perfectly in the middle. You have to try it to understand. It is really that good. And because it is so delicious it is a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables. My kids were eating this and loving it at a very young age, and are still enjoying it now. And best of all, the health benefits of carrots are remarkable! Carrots are rich in anti-oxidants. They are loaded with beta-carotene which easily changes in our bodies to Vitamin A, essential for healthy cell growth. Carrots have been shown to lower cancer and heart attack risk, to nourish the skin, and even to improve night vision in some people. So here’s to Bugs Bunny – and here’s to your health!

1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 lbs baby carrots
4 c vegetable stock
1 1/4 c water
3 T uncooked long grain white rice
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 t agave nectar

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients, except the agave, stir, and increase the heat to high.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Let cool a bit and puree in a blender or use an immersion blender. Stir in the agave and add more salt and pepper if desired.