Sunday, January 4, 2009

puttin' it to tha test

i've said this before, i'm not one of those vegans will screw up their faces and state they've never liked meat, dairy, or eggs. i loved all three very much. BUT, after learning about how animals sacrifice themselves for the sakes of our bellies, i have made a decision to refrain from consuming any animal products. one of the foods i miss most is cheesecake. for chanukkah, i scored the ultimate uncheese cookbook by jo stepniak. i zoomed in on the gazebo cheesecake recipe and tried it.

with tofu and cashews as the heart of the cheez, it makes for a very decadent dessert. i'm not gonna lie to those of you that are hardcore cheeseheads either, it ain't cheesecake. cheese is a very difficult thing to replicate in the vegan world. most of it sucks--but i assure you, this recipe DOESN'T. i topped it with a chocolate sauce i made with melted chocolate chips-(the kroger valu brand are vegan) and rice milk. the recipe states that it fits in one pre-made pie crust, but it that's bullshit...you'll need two or you'll need to make one big assed cheesecake in a spring form pan, which might take longer to cook. i know this is silly, but i have a fear of using those things. one day i'll address all my food fears head-on: using yeast, spring form pans, rolling my own sushi, and using agar flakes. hey--i used agar in that recipe, so i guess i've taken care of that one.

i'm testing for vegan crunk's southern cookbook. this picture is of the cinnamon pecan waffles. they were VERY tasty, but i cannot disclose the recipe because it is classified information. call me crazy, but i don't wanna get my ass kicked by a southern belle because i'm a bettin' she could do a number on me, even in her hoop skirt. with a name like jewbacca, i'm sure you think i'm super-tuff but i assure you that i'm a giant wuss.

6 comments:

VeganCowGirl said...

Jen! Those waffles and the cheese cake both look AMAZING! You rock.

Leslie Richman said...

If you like pumpkin, try the double layer pumpkin cheesecake on fatfreevegan.com I've made it for punk rock adventurers, future in-laws, and picky kids, none of them vegan, and seen every last person lick the crumbs off their plates. Yeah!

Jenn said...

Your waffles look great! I have the uncheese cookbook and MUST try that cheesecake recipe. Yours looks fantastic.

Chelsea said...

I need to try to make a cheesecake. Yours looks sooooooooo good!

Your food fears cracked me up! I just conquered my fear of yeast, but I still live in fear of springform pans and vital wheat gluten. And I'm sure there's more that I can't think of off the top of my head, haha!

Joanna said...

jen, you're so lucky to be testing her recipes!!! those waffles look outta-this-world.

the reason i dehydrate most of my food is because i've learned that heating food over 116F kills a lot of the enzymes and nutrients. i'm sure you could still dehydrate the food at 200F in your oven though. it will probably cut the time in half.

i don't eat raw food all the time though. i love muffins and baked goods WAY too much to do that.

Anonymous said...

I love your octopus mug! :)