Chocolate Mousse Parfaits

This was mmm mmm good and surely chockfull of trazillions of calories. Mmmmm. Calories. Arghlghlghlghl.

Steps:

1. Get some sort of vegan Oreos* and throw a bunch of them into your food processer and hit that button until they're smashed to bits. Empty into a bowl.

2. Throw a cube of firm silken tofu into your food processer. Blend it until it's sufficiently whipped. Add 1 T. of maple syrup. Melt 1 & 1/4 C. of semi-sweet chocolate chips on your stove (or fancy shmancy double-boiler). Add the melted chocolate to the food processer along with 1/3 C. soy milk and blend until everything's mixed together really well.

3. Throw ANOTHER cube of tofu (this time silken soft) into your food processer. Blend. Add the following ingredients for Tofu Whipped Cream. Blend some more. Taste. Try not to hork when you realize it tastes pungently tofu-esque and has a consistency that is absolutely nothing like whipped cream. Try to combat that by adding some Oreos. Realize it now just tastes like Oreo tofu. Add a T. of cocoa powder and find it tasting at least SOMEwhat edible for a dessert recipe, despite looking not even as attractive as the mutated, genetic defect, one-eyed, incestuous cousin of whipped cream. Remind yourself that perhaps you should recommend that your readers just skip this step as it adds nothing really to the dessert. Skip this step, readers, skip this step.

4. Get out two wine glasses. Throw some Oreo cookie crumbles into the bottom of each. Top with Hershey's chocolate syrup (also vegan). Top *that* with your chocolate mousse from Step 2. More Oreo crumbles. (The muck from Step 3 which, while not turning out to taste too badly didn't add anything to the recipe, so feel free to skip.) More chocolate mousse. More Oreo crumbles. More chocolate syrup. And a little poof of the very last bit of the mousse prettily on top. Garnish with a single Oreo.

Makes enough for 2 large servings.

We ate these for breakfast Sunday morning--yes, we are gross, but we were too stuffed to eat them the night before, so it was our only opportunity--and E said that they were definitely one of his top 2 favorite dessert recipes I've made. So there.


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*Sidenote: I did some vegan Oreos research, of course, before going out and purchasing any. Seems there's a lot of discrepancy on the 'net about whether or not the original Oreos are vegan (there are some original oreos that have whey in them--I ran into a vending machine pack that did--and there's some that don't). Nabisco was not much more help:

Hi L____,


Thank you for visiting http://www.nabiscoworld.com.

We make changes to our product formulas on a regular basis. Ingredient lists can become outdated very quickly, so, we don't maintain them.

We do have an online tool that lists the label information on some of our products. Just visit www.kraftfoods.com and then click on the product information tab.

Please remember that the best source of information for you is the ingredient statement on the product that you have purchased.

If you haven't done so already, please add our site to your favorites and visit us again soon!

Kim McMiller
Assoc Director, GCR Consumer Services

However, using my masterful skills of deduction, and comparing the ingredients on the packages of both the Nabisco Chocolate Creme Oreos (which Peta and VegCooking have listed as vegan: HERE), I realized that there were no differences between the two. Logical deduction: if the Nabisco Chocolate Creme Oreos are vegan and the Nabisco Original Oreos (at *my* grocery store at least) share the same ingredients, then the Nabisco Original Oreos at *my* grocery store must be vegan. So that's what I used. But do keep your eye on the ingredient list on *your* Oreo packages because they *do* slip whey in there on occasion for some reason, which makes me wonder what else they might slip in unbeknownst to the rest of us if you don't keep your eye out. And as far as I know, none of this is applicable in England (and/or just generally overseas perhaps) because their Oreos--from everything I've read on the 'net--more often than not are *not* vegan. Crazy Brits! =)

Steph's Sockarooni Pasta

I make this recipe all the time--an amazing fiddle player ex-girlfriend of a friend of mine (follow THAT connection) made it for a bunch of us once when we were lounging at another friend's commune one night. (How hippie is that?)

While over my friend D's on Saturday night, several of us trekked out to the grocery store to figure out something to cook, and I recommended we whip up a large batch for dinner since D'd never had it before.

Anyways, it's so fricking easy to make, it feeds a buttload of people, and it's really damn hearty.

So here's her recipe--I'm sure she won't mind me sharing (Steph, you rock):

INGREDIENTS:

2 jars of Paul Newmann's Sockarooni pasta sauce
2 packages of frozen spinach
1 package of firm tofu
2 small cans of black beans (drained)

Cook up some vegan pasta of your choice. Set aside. Cook up the spinach until it's at least unthawed. Drain as much excess water out of it as you can. Dump all the aforementioned ingredients into a large pot and cook until hot (crumble up the tofu as you add it). Serve over pasta (or really, you can just eat it on its own--it's THAT thick).

Serves a buttload--I'd say anywhere from 6-8.

Tofu and Pesto-Mayo Sammich

Ok. So back a few months ago (four or five now, at this point) when I was still eating vegetarian (and not yet vegan), my absolute favorite sandwich used to be this sammich at my local sammich shop La Bodega that had fresh basil, tomatoes, a hunking slice of boccini, and pesto mayo, all on a couple large slabs of ciabatta. I was a bit sad when this occasional luncheon treat came to an end. There is little I like more on a sammich than fresh basil and ripe tomato.

BUT THEN!

This Saturday it dawned on me that maybe I could figure out some sort of alternative to satisfy this occasional craving. I had made and frozen some extra pesto (since I overbought basil on Friday) and I had a brand new jar of Veganaise in my fridge, so the gears in my brain started whirring. I nabbed some fresh rosemary bread that I had bought for Friday's dinner and sliced it up. I then topped it with some fresh basil leaves, some sliced roma tomatoes, and I mixed together some pesto and Veganaise and smeared it all oopy goopy on the other slice of bread. I then sliced up a leftover chunk of tofu into a couple thin slices and fried it up. Still piping hot, I slipped the tofu onto the sammich and chowed down while it was still steaming away.

Of course tofu doesn't have the same flavor as boccini, but it DOES have a remarkably similar consistency.

So Sunday, I tried again for both E and me. This time, I fried the tofu up in a tiny bit of olive oil and some rosemary. Much more flavorful though still not exactly like boccini, of course. But gorged on remarkably nummy pesto-mayo, I couldn't complain. Next time, I may try frying it up in a bit of lemon juice with rosemary and see how that goes. I also recommend pressing it because I'm certain it will fry up much better that way (I was just too hungry and lazy to do so on the weekend).

Any which way, this is a good sammich, and now I have a much lower-fat way to satisfy that La Bodega fix.

Sidenote: I have heretofore eliminated the VERDICTS section, mostly because it makes me sound like I'm tooting my own horn (which in turn sounds like a suspicious euphimism for, um, doing things to yourself that will make you get hairy palms). I will offer up suggestions, but no more ratings.

Mocha Vegan-Mousse Pie

I was gonna do a re-run of my Orange You Glad They're Double-Chocolate Cookies for my mom this weekend as well but then decided to hold off and save those for a cookout instead on Sunday (that way my sibs could try them as well). So instead, I decided to whip up a vegan-mousse pie.

Mishaps ensued when I realized that my Mori-Nu tofu had an expiration date of 04/08/2006, so I ran it back up to the market to exchange it. The woman only had expired tofu but told me that Mori-Nu is so very vacuum-sealed that it lasts months and months after its expiration date. I was doubtful at first and explained to her that I'd prefer not to kill my mom on her mother's day celebration and/or give her food-poisoning, but the woman just looked at me and said, "Do you think I'd tell you to eat it if I thought it would make you sick, seeing as I *want* you coming back as a customer?" The logic made sense. Plus, she gave me the tofu for a $1. So I took it. I am a cheap whore.

Anyways, we lived through the weekend, you will be happy to know.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cube of Mori-Nu firm silken tofu
1 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. brewed coffee
1 T. maple syrup
1 graham cracker crust*

Throw the tofu into a food processer and blend. Melt your chocolate chips whatever way you see fit (I just do it in a pot on the stove--you don't need double-boilers and all that as long as you continuously stir and keep your eye on it), and brew your coffee. Throw the melted chocolate, coffee, and maple syrup into the food processer and pulse until fully mixed. The mixture will seem soupy at first, but it stiffens up in the fridge. Toss the tofu mixture into your pie crust and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

My mom a) hates tofu and b) loves chocolate mousse, and she ate two slices of this and remarked that you'd never guess it was tofu. So high-marks on the faking-it front.

I was pleased with the taste as well, seeing as I wolfed all of the left-over pie down in just two days.

VERDICT: A for filling; C for crust

Oh yeah, and I decorated it with toasted almonds, in case you were wondering what the hell was going on. Perty perty.

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*I used the graham cracker crust from The Garden of Vegan, but it was disastrously mushy, despite the fact that I used the low-range of liquid ingredients listed in the recipe--I ended up having to add more and more graham crackers and it STILL never solidified quite the way it should've been. Your best bet is just grinding up a couple cups of graham crackers and then gradually adding a bit of margarine or oil to it until it's *JUST* damp enough to stick together. I also recommend adding a bit of almond extract to the mixture for a bit of flare.

Pesto Stuffed Shells and Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce

I cooked way too much this weekend--enough not to be able to post about it all in one day. So expect recipes all week long--yip yip.

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I cooked for my mom finally this weekend--a belated mother's day present (the delay was not due to slackerism on my part but moreso a long story involving arrest and whatnot). Anyways, I settled on Pesto Stuffed-Shells weeks ago and finally got around to making them (which was a good thing because you can now get boatloads of basil at the market for dirt cheap).

Early in the day, I diced up about 6-8 roma tomatoes and put them in a plastic container along with a few tablespoons worth of minced basil and two cloves of chopped garlic. I then drizzled a bit of olive oil over everything, gave it a stir, and let it sit out all afternoon marinating.

As dinner-time rolled around, I whipped up a batch of the pesto from Vegan with a Vengeance (using only half the amount of oil in the recipe though--some days I prefer a not-so-greasy pesto) and after doing so, I stuffed the cooked shells with a tofu ricotta (recipe here), substituting in cooked and drained spinach in place of the basil. I threw the shells into the oven at 350, after having drizzled a bit of the excess tomato-olive oil juices from the diced tomato-mixture over the top of them and let them get warm (about 15 minutes).

To serve, I spread out a bit of the uncooked tomato-mixture on a plate. I then set the shells out on top of it and crowned each shell with a nice, generous dollop of creamy pesto.

I was pleased with how these came out--they offered up a strange and wonderful mingling of flavors *AND* temperatures. The tomatoes added a nice bit of cool sweetness to the recipe while the pesto added a luxurious decadence. All in all, it ended up being a very good concoction. The only thing I need to play with is heating up the shells--the shells dry out a bit in the oven, so I need to figure out a way to keep them moist somehow (while still keeping the raw tomato mixture cold).

VERDICT: A



On the side, I whipped up a batch of roasted garlic using Fat Free Vegan's recipe from a couple weeks ago. Instead of steaming the asparagus, I topped it with the garlic-walnut mixture and tossed it in the broiler for a few. For some reason, the actual sauce came out a bit thicker than it did for FFV, but it still was damn good and we both scarfed it all down with nary a complaint.

VERDICT: A-

RECIPE: Here

Topless Tofu-Salad Sammich

Click HERE for more topless pictures

Everything always looks better in a slight state of disrobement (except for old men in thongs), so I give you the Topless Tofu-Salad Sammich. As I've said before, I usually don't post about lunch-stuff, mostly because I'm usually lazy and just jam a hotdog or pbj in a sack with a piece of fruit and drag it in. But the other night I felt a bit more inspired, so I whipped up this sammich.

I have no exact measurements--it's kind of a "to-your-taste" kinda thing. But here's the ingredients anyways.

INGREDIENTS:

About 1/4 block of extra-firm tofu
About a handful's worth of diced up celery
A couple of tablespoons of Vegenaise (or some other vegan mayo)
Some dried basil
Some salt (but don't accidentally spill a bunch in there while refilling your salt shaker like I did or you'll end up dehydrated all afternoon)
A handful of walnuts
A couple slices of hearty grain bread

TO MAKEY:

Smoosh up the tofu in a bowl with a fork. Then add the Vegenaise and mix around. Then toss in the celery and basil, and swirl again. And then finally, take those walnuts and crumble them up between your palms and sprinkle the small bits and pieces in, and mix one last time. (The walnuts add a nice crunch.) Throw it all on a slice or two of hearty grain bread (I used a 7-grainer from the WSM)--you can leave it open-faced like I did if you wanna enjoy the flavors more, but just make sure the whole thing doesn't end up in your lap. Though it *IS* a topless sammich. So perhaps an afternoon rendezvous in your lap wouldn't be TOO terrible.

VERDICT: A

COMMENTS: A vegan friend who taste-tested said, "i remember having tofu salad at tommy's [a local veggie restaurant] once. i think i like yours better, though"--yip yip!