This experiment was inspired by a friend at work. Last week, I brought in various vegan food for a cookout. Among the things I brought were some grilled chickpea cutlets (a la Veganomicon by Isa and Terry). My non-vegan friend loved them and said that they reminded her of salmon croquettes. From what I could remember, she was right! The texture was right, but the flavor needed to be tweaked big time.

Usually, kitchen experiments end with an upset version of myself reflecting on all of the ingredients I wasted. Not this time. I made the base of the chickpea cutlet recipe and created a vegan, almost eerily salmon-esque croquette. This dish is sure to satisfy any vegan who is craving the familiar taste of fish--without the actual fish. See? Everyone wins and it's delicious.

Additionally, these are baked unlike traditional croquettes which are fried. I used nori sheets to replicate the fishy flavor that's so necessary in such a dish.  There's some beet juice for color. If you don't have it, just sub water. I have to tell you that if you weren't crazy about fish as a pregan (before you were vegan), then you won't like this. It tastes almost exactly like fish. While I loved the flavor, I just couldn't dig in like it was a zesty burrito or anything. This is perfect for a summer lunch or light dinner, though. Top it with your favorite sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 Cup Soy Yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 2 Egg Replacer Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 Cup Celery, finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil for Sauteeing
• 1 Cup Cooked Chickpeas
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten
• 3 Tablespoons Beet Juice
• 1 Cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/4 Teaspoon Terragon
• 1/8 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/8 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Nori sheets, finely chopped using food processor
• 1/2 Cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs for coating)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, mix soy yogurt, mustard and egg replacer eggs. Set aside.
2. Cook chickpeas.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate pan saute onion and celery with 1 tablespoon Olive Oil. Cool.
4. Mash cooked chickpeas with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add in vital wheat gluten and mustard/soy yogurt/egg replacer mixture to the chickpeas.
5. In a food processor, place several nori sheets and chop them until you have 1 cup of very finely chopped nori.
6. Add in the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT 1/2 cup Panko reserved for coating.
7. PREHEAT OVEN TO 375 F
8. Form the croquettes. I used a biscuit cutter as a mold and pressed some of the croquette mixture into it. Pull the cutter away from the formed croquette, and you're ready to coat.
9. In a bowl, have the 1/2 Cup Panko ready to coat the small patties.
10. Roll the patties around in the panko until they are evenly coated.
11. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Bake them for 8 minutes, and flip. Bake another 8 minutes to finish the other side.
12. Top with your favorite sauce and enjoy.
13. You can also squeeze a lime wedge and drizzle its juices over the top.

This week, I'll be sharing my new and improved Avocado Pie recipe along with my Sunday biscuits!

Yesterday, we thought we should try making tortellini from scratch. We had all day and figured we could take our time and give it the TLC it needed. We stuffed them with shredded Teese and my Tofu Ricotta.
They were so good. I don't even have a pasta roller so everything was done by hand. We dressed them up with two different sauces. One sauce is a regular tomato pasta sauce and the other is a creamy garlic alfredo sauce that Chris and I have been working on. It tastes amazing, but isn't as creamy or beautiful as I'd like it to be. Until then, we aren't sharing it. (Sorry, but we will share that recipe once it's fool proof and perfect.) Make these tortellini when you have time though. They are so worth the work and every bite is a burst of cheesy creaminess.

INGREDIENTS

3 Cups Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Olive Oil
4 Ener-G Egg Replacer "Eggs"
6 Tablespoons Water

1 Tofu Ricotta Recipe with 1/2 Cup shredded Teese

PREPARING THE PASTA DOUGH

1. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Trust me, doing it on parchment paper was NOT a good idea.
2. In a separate cup: mix water, oil and "eggs" together.
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour/salt mixture.



4. Pour egg/water/oil mix into the well.
5. With your fingers, knead until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour on counter.
**During this time, PREPARE THE TOFU RICOTTA/TEESE FILLING**
7. After an hour, either put it through your pasta roller OR separate it into 4 parts and roll out each part flat with a rolling pin. I just rolled them out as thin as possible, used a knife to cut a rectangle and put the scraps to the side. The scraps later became the fifth rectangle.



8. Place your pieces side by side (above are 3 out of 5). Give them another firm roll if you're using a rolling pin.



9. Cut squares that are about about 2"x2". Brush them with a light coating of olive oil.

STUFFING AND SHAPING THE TORTELLINI



1. In the center of each square, drop about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of tofu ricotta/teese filling.



2. To form a triangle, take one end and press it into the opposite end of the square.



3. Press all sides firmly. You can even stretch out the corners so they are easier to fold.



4. Pick up the triangle, so the top is facing you.



5. Fold the top corner of the triangle over the opposite side of the triangle, leaving a flap.



6. Pick it up and wrap the bottom corners around your fingertip.



7. Press and seal the corners together.



8. Viola! It's a beautiful tortellini. Do this about... 50 times.



This was the final product.

9. Boil the tortellini in lightly salted water for about 3 minutes. They will float to the top when almost ready. Remove them from the water once al dente. I had to boil in three batches, by the way.

Tortellini with creamy alfredo sauce



Tortellini with tomato pasta sauce and shredded Teese

"Concha" is Spanish for "shell". I've heard these called so many things, but concha is the only name that makes sense.

The topping is carved before rising and the end result looks like a pretty shell. Commonly, you'll find three different colors/flavors (pink, brown and white) and the original recipe isn't vegan. My recipe includes all three: cinnamon, vanilla and orange; and it's vegan. They are just one type of pan dulce (sweet bread). These are a perfect morning treat to enjoy with coffee.

If you've never had these, it's nearly impossible to imagine what they taste like. While baking these, I was reminded of going to the panaderia (Mexican bakery) with my mom when I was a child. At the time, there was a well-known place in town. People would drive from all over the city just for this panaderia's famous sweet bread. Often, there would be people lined up outside -- the line would go all the way around the building. The bakery was very tiny. By the entrance, there were trays and several pairs of tongs, and you would grab one of each. The next part wasn't for the indecisive or picky. Everyone was shoulder-to-shoulder, scooting and inching over from one side of the room to the other. You would quickly grab which ever pan dulce you wanted and at the end of the line was the cashier. The cashier would ring you up and toss your items in a brown paper bag. They had every kind of pan dulce you could imagine. This includes items like empanadas, polvorones and maranitos (gingerbread cookies shaped like piggies). No frills - just fresh oven goodness.

Conchas are very easy to make. I tend to use my kitchenaid or breadmaker whenever possible, but there wasn't a need here. Dare I say, "knead"? You just have to make these. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'd make a pot just so that I can dip the bread into a cup like I did when I was a little girl. Eat these hot. They can store for about a week, as long as they are covered and sealed in an air tight container. I keep them in the fridge, because I hate to leave anything out. They are just as good after being heated in a microwave for about 15-20 seconds. Make these, you'll thank me.

 
DOUGH

• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 2/3 cup water, warmed
• 1/3 cup vegan sugar
• 1/3 cup vegan margerine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ener-g egg replacer egg
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup lukewarm soymilk, warmed up and then cooled in the freezer for 3 mins

TOPPING

Base:

• 1/3 cup vegan sugar
• 1/4 cup soy margerine
• 1/2 cup flour

Flavors: (Do not mix these together, read on)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons orange zest 1 drop of red food coloring

DOUGH DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.
2. Warm-up soymilk, and place in freezer to cool for 2 mins.
3. Make your ener-g egg replacer egg.
4. Add-in (sifted) sugar, soy margerine, salt, ener-g egg replacer egg, (sifted) flour and cooled soymilk.
5. Knead until smooth.
6. Oil a large mixing bowl lightly (very lightly)
7. Put dough in mixing bowl and turn over onto parchment paper. Make sure that all places for air to enter are covered.
8. Let it rise, in a warm space for about 1 1/2 hours.
9. Punch down the dough.
10. Make 12 portions, shape them into balls.
11. Place on cookie sheet with parchment paper on top.
12. Leave at least 2" between each ball.

PREPARING THE TOPPING

Make the base for the flavors:

1. Mix sugar and soy margerine with a fork until fluffy.
2. Mix in (sifted) flour.
3. Divide into 3 balls.

Flavor the topping, three ways:

1. Mix cinnamon into the first ball. Once color is even, set aside.
2. Mix vanilla into the second ball, set aside.
3. Mix orange zest into third ball. Add one drop of red food coloring. Mix well and set aside.
4. Keep 3 flavors separate.

ASSEMBLE

1. Now you'll need 12 topping circles (one for each ball of dough).
2. Divide each flavor ball into 4 parts.
3. Now you'll have 4 parts for each flavor/color.
4. Take two pieces of plastic wrap.
5. In between the two sheets of plastic wrap, place a topping piece.
6. Shape it into a circle large enough to cover the top of your dough. You can use the back of a spoon or your fingers.
7. Once you have acheived the desired shape and size, remove the top layer of platic wrap. Slide your hand under the bottom layer, lift and turn it over onto the top your dough ball.
8. Once you've done this with all 12 topping pieces, you're ready to make the shell pattern.

MAKING THE SHELL PATTERN:

1. Take a knife and create a shell pattern into the topping. This takes about five cuts lengthwise and a few horizontally. Don't worry about it looking pretty. It just will, trust me.
2. Now, cover and let them rise for 30-45 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes.

You're probably wondering what this is. When I was a younger, my mom and aunt were always throwing parties. If my memory serves me well, then these are exactly (or very close to) what they made quite often. It's a sugar cookie crust with a toffee spread. It's then topped with sliced Granny Smiths, chocolate and nuts. It's really simple but the taste is really complex--especially the spread.

The first thing you want to do is prepare a sugar cookie crust. I used NoWhey Katie's sugar cookie recipe. It's perfect for this. I didn't have Ener-G egg replacer so I used 1/4 c soy yogurt. Worked like a charm! Once you have your cookie dough ready, simply roll it out on your baking stone or dish.

Blind Bake the cookie crust for 15 minutes at 300 F. While it's baking, prepare your spread.

SPREAD INGREDIENTS

• 1 8-ounce package of Tofutti soy cream cheese
• 1/2 Cup packed Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

OTHER INGREDIENTS

• 2 Granny Smith Apples peeled, cored and sliced
• Chocolate/Caramel topping OR Chocolate Ganache
• 1/4  Cup Chopped Nuts (peanuts or pecans)

SPREAD DIRECTONS

1. With a fork, cream together all of the spread ingredients.
2. Spread on top of cooled cookie crust with a spatula.

When the sugar cookie crust is ready to be removed from the oven, make sure you allow it some time to cool down. This is a great time to prepare the 2 Granny Smith apples. You'll want to peel them, core them and slice them. One the crust is cooled, top with spread. Place the apple slices on top of the spread.

From here, you'll want to top the apples with either a caramel or chocolate topping. We had some vegan chocolate drizzle on hand; but if you don't have any, just make some simple ganache. You can make a simple ganache by boiling about 1 cup of soymilk. Once boiling, remove from heat and add in some vegan bittersweet chocolate chips. To thin out mixture, you can add maple syrup.

Don't forget to top it all off with some peanuts or pecans.

We ate ours with a scoop of vegan Praline Pecan ice cream. Chris says, "I expected this to taste very simple, however it was anything but simple. Every ingredient compliments the others well and this is just really awesome. Everyone should try it." Oh yeah, and it's really easy to make and doesn't dirty too many dishes. It's perfect for a weeknight. In less than 25 minutes, this is completely ready to be eaten.

Yesterday, it seemed like everyone was talking about pizza all day. Well, my stomach definitely has ears. With that said, guess what we had for dinner...

Now, we really wanted to make our own crust this time instead of the usual one we buy from Whole Foods. The only problem with that is we didn't have a baking stone for maximum pizza crust enjoyability. It must have been "in the stars" because when we contacted our local Pampered Chef representative, not only did she have a pizza stone but she had a model that hasn't even been released yet! She delivered it to our place that night. We were so happy since we didn't have to go to Williams-Sonoma. We love it but HATE the mall.

I also have to mention that we had to make 40 cupcakes last night, so we wanted something easy. The moment we got home, we tossed the pizza dough ingredients in the breadmaker, set it on the "dough" setting, and let it do its thing. We then made cupcakes and went to the store for ingredients. We still had to stop by Whole Foods for some vegan cheese. We usually buy Follow Your Heart soy cheese because of it's meltability (no, we haven't ordered Teese yet) and even at that, it doesn't really ever melt...without broiling. However, they were out of FYH cheese! We had to buy our old friend VeganRella. We set our expectations low for meltability and went on our way.

After we pulled the pizza out of the oven, we were shocked because after only 15 minutes on 375 F the VeganRella was melted.  I'm not sure if they improved their soy cheese or the stone is just that good, but we were pleased. This pizza dough is the only one that's really worked for us so I'm sharing it. It's unconventional but it tastes like a hand-tossed pizza. More thick than thin and very addicting - even for people who pass on the crust. Add more spices, if you like. I always do something different.

Here's the dough rolled out after kneading and rising twice (I was buying time). This is a 15" stone, by the way.

PIZZA DOUGH INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 cups Hot Water
• 3 1/2 cups Flour
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
• 2 1/4 teaspoons Fast Rising Yeast
• 1/4 cups extra Flour

BREADMAKER DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve sugar and salt in hot water.
2. Add flour, olive oil and spices to water mixture.
3. Make a well in the flour and add yeast.
4. Start on "Dough" setting.
5. After rising, transfer your dough to a mixing bowl (this is best by turning the dough pan upseide down, as it's very sticky).
6. Add in 1/4 cup flour, mix with hands or spatula.
7. When manageable, roll out onto baking stone or pan.

MANUAL DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve Sugar and Salt in Hot Water.
2. Add Flour, Olive Oil, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Crushed Red Pepper and Yeast to water mixture.
3. Knead until smooth.
4. Rise for 1 hour minimum (max 1 hour 30 minutes).
5. Add extra Flour and mix/knead until smooth.
6. When manageable, roll out onto a baking stone or pizza.

PREHEAT oven to 375 F and blind bake for 10 minutes.

TOP with ingredients.

BAKE at 375 F for 25 minutes.

After the dough is finished blind baking, you can add whatever toppings you'd like. We topped our crust with the following ingredients:

• Pizza Sauce
• Soy Cheese
• Tomatoes
• Black Olives
• Mushrooms
• Yves "Pepperoni"
• Onion

Straight from the oven.

This pizza fed two hungry vegans for 2 days. Try this dough for your calzones, too.