Tag Archives: cornstarch

Vegan MoFo 2014: Soup, Sandwich, Salad Saturdays: Easy Creamy Tomato Soup and Basil Grilled Daiya Cheese

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Comfort foods, Kid Friendly, Original Recipes, Recipes, Sandwiches, Soups, Vegan Mofo 2014 and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Growing up, as a kid I loved creamy tomato soup. I’d even put some mozzarella cheese shreds in the soup and let it melt and swirl it around. Thankfully, due to Daiya that part was easy. However, finding an easy to make vegan creamy tomato soup was more difficult. Luckily, I figured out something that tastes good, especially if you dip the Basil and Grilled Daiya Cheese sandwich in it too!

These are two very simple recipes to make, which I am happy about.

tomatosoup

Vegan Creamy Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 15-oz can organic tomato sauce
  • 1 cup unsweetened, original hemp milk
  • Italian Seasoning blend, to taste
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
  • 2 tbsp water
  • Daiya Mozzarella shreds (optional)

Directions:

  1. In a saucepan, mix together the tomato sauce, hemp milk, and seasoning (you can also add salt and pepper if desired).
  2. On medium heat, begin to heat up this mixture.
  3. When starting to become hot, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry in a little cup, and then whisk into the soup.
  4. Stir constantly until bubbling and thickened more. If the soup doesn’t really thicken you may need to add more cornstarch and water.
  5. Serve in a soup bowl and sprinkle some Daiya Mozzarella shreds into the soup for a melty, delicious extra kick, or dip the basil grilled Daiya cheese sandwich in it.

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Basil Grilled Daiya Cheese

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices bread of choice (I used sprouted rye)
  • 2 slices Daiya Provolone or Swiss
  • 6 leaves of fresh basil
  • Spray oil

Directions:

  1. I recommend lightly toasting the bread first, especially if you have a softer type of bread you are using.
  2. Spray each side of the bread with oil.
  3. Place the cheese slices on one slice of bread, followed by the basil leaves.
  4. Place the other slice of bread on top.
  5. Spray a bit more oil onto a frying pan.
  6. Heat on both sides of the sandwich on medium heat until the bread is crispy and brown and the cheese is melted.
  7. Dip in the soup or eat alone. Enjoy!

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Vegan MoFo 2014: Too Good Baked Good Tuesday: Pina Colada Pie

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Baked Goods, Desserts, Original Recipes, Vegan Mofo 2014 and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Phew, I am barely making it to post this tonight. I literally just finished it, as it requires 3 hours of chill time.

This recipe was originally inspired by a recipe for lemon pie in the book Soy Not “Oi!”, but I ended up changing it quite a bit once I realized it was going to taste better and be a better consistency the way I wanted to. It’s still somewhat runny, but is incredibly delicious, if I may say myself (I just tasted it!) I am bringing the rest (I made 2!) to school tomorrow so they can all try it and give me feedback on it, as well.

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Pina Colada Pie

Makes 1 pie

Ingredients:

Pie crust:

  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
  • 1/2 tsp vegan sugar
  • 3 tbsp cold Earth Balance
  • 3 tbsp non-hydrogenated organic vegetable shortening
  • 2 tbsp cup cold water

Pie filling:

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 tbsp cup cornstarch
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup pineapple juice
  • 3 teaspoons arrowroot
  • 3 tsp water
  • 2 tbsp Earth Balance 
  • 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 1/2 tsp agar agar powder

Whipped cream:

  • 1 can coconut milk (I used Goya brand), placed in the freezer for at least an 1 hour before use with the white cream scooped out only, not the rest of the clear liquid.
  • 1 1/2 cup vegan powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup organic non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla

To make the pie Crust:

  1. Place flours and sugar in a food processor. Give it a quick whir to combine together.
  2. Add 1 tbsp of shortening, quickly pulse, and continue to add the shortening 1 tbsp at a time until you’ve put in 3 tbsp.
  3. Follow the same method with the earth balance as above.
  4. With the processor running, open the little opening thing on top and slowly pour in the water.
  5. Smoosh into a round disk shape, and wrap in plastic wrap.
  6. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to 2 hours.
  7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  8. Roll out the dough into a thin round layer on top of plastic wrap.
  9. Carefully place on top of a pie pan and shape the crust with your fingers around the edges of the pan.
  10. Bake in the oven 7-12 minutes until golden and crispy looking and not mushy when touched.

To make the pie filling:

  1. In a saucepan, add sugar and cornstarch.
  2. Stir in the coconut milk and pineapple juice.
  3. In a separate cup, whisk the arrowroot and water together. Add to the other ingredients in the saucepan.
  4. Add the margarine and boiling water over the Earth Balance so it melts.
  5. Heat on medium heat on the stove until just starting to thicken, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon.
  6. Once starting to thicken, add in the agar agar powder and immediately start to whisk until combined. Be careful to whisk a.s.a.p after placing it in the saucepan and whisking all around the pan or you may end up with agar agar clumps throughout. It will thicken very quickly after this step.
  7. Shut off the heat and continue to whisk for a bit.
  8. Pour into the pie shell you made and refrigerate for 3 hours before piping the whipped cream on top.

To make the whipped cream:

  1. Place the coconut milk can in the freezer for at least 1 hour before using.
  2. Open the can and scoop out the solid cream with a spoon. Use the remainder of the watery coconut milk in a smoothie or whatever else you think you’d like it in.
  3. Add in the powdered sugar, shortening, and vanilla. Mix with a rubber spatula until combined.
  4. Use a handheld electric mixer and whisk in circles until peaks form.
  5. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use/place on top of the pie, or for at least an hour until it’s more solid. I like to place it in a ziploc bag and cut the tip and squirt it out in little round globs.
  6. You will have extra left depending on how you choose to decorate the pie, so use every last bit of that for other delicious reasons!

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Oh, and here’s an interesting wikipedia article on the history and other fun facts about one of the ingredients I used, agar agar.

See you tomorrow for another entry for Vegan MoFo 2014!

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Simple Vegan French Toast Recipe

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,
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French Toast!

To be completely honest I really don’t like any of the vegan French Toast recipes that I have tried. They all call for chickpea (garbanzo) flour which can be difficult to get (never mind expensive!) and are kind of a pain in the but to make. 

Instead of chickpea flour, I have my own secret french toast ingredient. It’s arrowroot. Long ago when I was starting out as a vegan, I read in one of the punk rock diy cookbooks I had (It was either Soy! Not Oi! or Please Don’t Feed the Bears…if you are familiar with them both you might see why I get confused about which one’s which sometimes) that arrowroot was a great vegan pantry staple ingredient to always have on hand. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be tricky to find in large quantities. However, I buy it in a big bag from Bob’s Red Mill online. Arrowroot is a cornstarch substitute, but unlike cornstarch, supposedly it is more easily digested. Plus, thinking about the cornstarch and water mixture I used to love to play with as a kid going into my body scares me…that being said, if you want to make this delicious French Toast recipe right away and do not have arrowroot on hand, go ahead and use cornstarch. It’s a fairly small amount, and works exactly the same.

The recipe:

Delicious, Simple Vegan French Toast Recipe

Makes about 6 slices of bread (could be more or less depending on bread thickness and other factors)

Ingredients:

9 tbsp flour

2 tbsp arrowroot (or cornstarch)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp maple syrup

1 cup almond milk or other vegan milk of choice (I used sweetened vanilla almond breeze)

2 tbsp Vegan Margarine 

Vegan bread of choice (I used Trader Joe’s Texas Toast slices–they taste kind of like sweet bread and are really thick and delicious)

Directions:

  1. In a medium but shallow bowl or container, mix the powders together. 
  2. Add the liquid ingredients.
  3. Whisk together until it’s no longer clumpy. The thickness should be that of a typical french toast batter, but if you’ve never made french toast before, I’m not sure what to compare it to. You want it to be thick, but not the thickness of a pancake batter, but not too watery either. If the thickness doesn’t seem right, add 1/2 tbsp flour until you get the right texture.
  4. Heat a griddle or large frying pan on the stove on medium heat.
  5. Melt the vegan margarine.
  6. Once the margarine is melted, dip both sides of the bread in the batter and place on the griddle. Repeat until all the batter is used up or do like I did and save the batter for later by covering it and placing it in the fridge (you will need way less margarine if you only do 1 or a few slices).
  7. Cook on each side, at least two minutes each, but go by the way it looks, you want it to be crispy and golden with some brown spots.
  8. Voila! You can nom on it now! I put some maple syrup on top. Powdered sugar would also taste delicious!