Now with added cheese

I was watching an episode of Amazing Foods and heard a quote I've somehow never heard in all my cheesey adventures:

 "Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese--toasted, mostly"
-Robert Louis Stevenson

And inspiration struck!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adventures in vegan baking! I've spent the last 4 days eating vegan and considering I work with cheese all day I'm pretty proud of myself. That being said I've had wicked sugar cravings. I mean, INTENSE. So I decided to make these:

1 mashed banana (in place of egg)
1 cup Earth Balance (in place of butter)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips (most chocolate above 50% should be milk free, depending on brand)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Blend banana, earth balance, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Add in the dry ingredients. Fold chocolate chips in to the batter.
Bake for 12 min.

I don't really know how to describe these. They are gooey on the inside and crusty on the outside. The banana flavor is pretty intense, which I love. If you aren't a fan of banana you might want to try a different egg replacer. If you don't look to hard at all the sugar you'd almost think they were good for you!

Happy New Years!

The Almost Vegan Lasagna

For the sauce:
1 20oz can of diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 tube of Gimme Lean Sausage substitute
2 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoons of garlic
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon black pepper


For the "ricotta" (This part of the recipe was taken from this lasagna recipe)
1 16 oz tub of firm tofu drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/5 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast 
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon salt
8 oz vegan cream cheese


1 package lasagna noodles (this where is became not quite vegan. I was in a rush and could only find egg noodles)
8 oz package of vegan mozzarella shreds




Cook pasta until al dente. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Brown sausage. Combine the rest of the ingredients for the sauce and bring to simmer. Add browned sausage and turn down to low.


Combine all of the ricotta ingredients except the cream cheese in a food processor. The original recipe called to fold the cream cheese in, but I'm lazy and just added it to the food processor and pulsed quickly.


Put a small amount of the sauce on the bottom so the noodles don't stick and start layering. At the very end cover with the mozzarella shreds. 


Bake until cheese is melted.


I'm actually surprised how much I liked this. Which is great because I have a TON of leftovers. I might play with the acid in the ricotta. It was a bit much. But it was really nice and light instead of that super heavy feeling you get from meat lasagna. It's a keeper! 

Breakfast Love

Pancakes with Polenghi mascarpone whipped with cinnamon and 365 Maple Syrup. But beware, the mascarpone makes them pretty rich. Even with my recent obsession with maple syrup/mascarpone mixture (it's been a deliciously messy addition to my morning bagel) I couldn't finish these.

Vegan Pumpkin Waflles

Why yes, that is a hello kitty head.

My First Roast Chicken!

I have this issue with poultry. I think it stems from seeing the Birds at far too young an age. But birds of any kind freak me out. But I love, loooooove roast chicken. So I had to at least give it a try. I did super simple stuffing the inside with lemons and brushing the outside with butter, lemon zest, and parsley.