Swiss Chard Pie and Making Vegan Cheese

I have written about this recipe I think twice now and finally, yesterday, I made it! I have also made some tweaks to the recipe from Colleen Patrick Goudreau now that I have actually tasted it and now I can post it too.

One of the reasons why I wanted to make this recipe so badly and why I had held off for so long was that it involved homemade vegan cheese. I don’t know why it scared me, but it did. In fact over the past couple years, I have been scared off by a lot of vegan ingredients, recipes and techniques. Vegan cheese freaked me out for a few reasons. Before going vegan, I was a self-proclaimed cheese addict. To me, adding cheese was how you could make any recipe better. It added flavor, fat and salt. It was my biggest fear when I went vegan… how do I replace cheese. The first couple months, I actually stayed away from anything I would normally add it to. I basically lived on Asian-themed dishes for a long time.

I attempted a couple times to make a vegan mac and cheese and while I guess it was a success, it never really killed the craving that still lingers inside of me. Also, anytime that I have faltered off the vegan wagon (yes, I have and one day I’ll even share more perhaps), cheese was what I went to.

The thought of making my own cheese seemed a little daunting. It couldn’t be easy to do, could it? Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s recipe is similar to many other cookbook authors. It is a combination of vegan milk, nutritional yeast flakes, something tangy (lemon in this case) and salt. A lot of vegans call this nooch and basically the end result is a cheese-y sauce.

One thing I will say for this recipe is that it definitely is my favourite one so far. Something about it seemed to hit on the underlying craving much better than ones I have attempted in the past. It has a good hit of salt and even though I don’t think it tastes like cheese, it doesn’t taste like an odd vegan concoction either. This recipe even has a modification to make it a slice-able cheese. I am very curious about that one and my next grocery run will have to involve some agar agar so I can try it.

When I made the Swiss Chard, I stuck to the original recipe, but I have now tasted, made notes and have a few changes that I would make to make this dish even better for me. Think of it like a crustless quiche or strata. The egginess comes for tofu and I am not totally sure that is my favourite way to go. You could nix the tofu and use white beans instead. Here is a link to a non-tofu quiche I made once and it have great results.

Swiss Chard Pie

* Serves 6, about 2 hours to make total if the cheese isn’t prepped.

Ingredients:

• 1 Yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch of Swiss Chard (Or spinach)
• 1 block of pressed, firm tofu
• 1 Tbsp Tumeric
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1 cup of cheese sauce (Your choice of type)
• 2-3 Tbsp Bread crumbs
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 Tbsp Basil
• Sundried Tomato

First thing you will need to do, if you haven’t is make cheese sauce. I don’t know if there is a store-bought version out there, but you could use anything that is a cheese-whiz consistency. To make a basic cheese sauce, bring 1 cup of milk, 1 Tbsp of arrow root (or corn starch), ¼ cup nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and a Tbsp of lemon to boil. Simmer it for 10 minutes or so until it becomes thick. While cooking get cashews or another nut and process to a fine grind. Add the liquid to the nuts while it is processing. Once fully combined, chill it for an hour or so.

Cooking the cheese sauce - kind of like making a white sauce

Grinding the cashews - this makes the right consistency

Combine....

and done.. I realize this does nto look like traditional cheese.. but it tastes good.

Now to make the pie – pre-heat the oven to 375 F. In a large pan or wok, sauté onion and garlic in a bit of oil for 5-7 minutes. Add in the greens and cook them until they are wilted down. While this is cooking, put the block of tofu into a food processor and blend until it is a good mash. Add the turmeric, nutmeg and salt pepper and pulse to combine. Add this to a large bowl and stir in the vegetables.

Sauteing the vegetables

Now stir in the cheese sauce and stir until it is well-combined. In a small bowl add the bread crumbs, paprika and more salt and pepper.

Grease a 9” pie pan and add this mixture to the pan. Add the filling mix to the pan and top with the bread crumb mixture. Finally add the basil and the sundried tomato.

Ready to bake! Can pre-make this and keep it in the fridge until you're ready.

Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until it is golden brown.

This was relatively easy to make when I had the cheese sauce ready to go. It does make for a lot of dirty dishes, but sometimes there is no way to avoid this. I found the original recipe I used was good, but a little bland overall. The bread crumbs and sundried tomato help add some texture that that this recipe really needed.

And.. ready. Serve with veggies

One thing I really did like about this one was that it really didn't need a crust. I thought that would be the ultimate downfall of this recipe, but the bottom and sides of the pie actually crisp up enough that it is pretty tasty. You could definitely use a crust with this too. Store-bought vegan pie crusts are not easy to find in my area. I have made them before, but still working on perfecting that. This is a nice way to have a quiche without the hassle of making pie crust. That I definitely liked!

Clever Rabbit... I love you!

To finish this meal off, I had an awesome chocolate cake that I bought at Clever Rabbit. It was the first time I had seen a cake there, so I really could not pass it up. Have to say, it was delicious. I am so appreciative of having somewhere I can buy a treat once in a while. If it wasn't for the Clever Rabbit, I would have been baking an entire cake at home… resulting in me eating an entire cake at home. I have no will power when it comes to these things. 

Cherry Pineapple Pie

Healthy? Well, I certainly think there are worse things out there!

I know I keep saying that I am going to make healthier food choices, but I have been craving cherry pie for ages now. Today I decided that not only would I fulfill my craving, but i would jazz it up with another favourite fruit.. Pineapple!

Making a pie can be as simple as purchasing a pre-made pie crust and dumping canned filling into it to making everything from scratch. I have provided the from scratch version here.

Now even though this is a pie recipe, it definitely has some nutritional benefits. First - Pineapple. It is full of Bromelain which is supposed to help with digestion, breaking down proteins. Also full of vitamin C, manganese and B1, Pineapple is great for your immune system and over all health. Want to know if your pineapple is ripe without cutting it? Pull on one of the leaves and if it comes out easily, it's ripe. If it doesn't, just leave it out for a day or two.

Cherries - well to start, they are beginning to be recognized as a super fruit. They are full of antioxidant and also contain other important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries) vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate. Cherries also contain melatonin, which has been found to help regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns, aid with jet lag, prevent memory loss and delay the aging process.

So even though this is a sugary somewhat fattening snack. Everything in moderation and there are lots of benefits!

Cherry-Pineapple Pie
The crust:

• 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup of shortening
• 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water + 3 Tbsp if needed

Combine all the dry ingredients together and cut in the shortening in 3-4 batches. Once the mixture is pebbly, combine the vinegar and water and add it in in 3 batches. Add extra water by the Tbsp until the mixture forms a dough. Chill in the fridge for one hour and then cut it in half. Roll out each half to 12" circles for the bottom and top of the pie.

Or... Buy pre-made vegan pie crust (be careful of ingredients, most pre-made contains lard

The Filling

• 5 to 6 cups fresh pitted cherries, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice or water
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch / Kuzu / arrowroot

First prep your cherries by pitting them. Combine the cherries with remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. Cool and then pour into pie.

Or buy a large can of cherry pie filling!

Next, assemble the pie. First roll out the bottom crust on a piece of wax paper. Use the paper to transfer it to your pie plate. Next chop up a fresh pineapple to about 1/2 - 1" cubes (or use canned. You can use the juice from the canned pineapple to make the cherry filling). Put a handful of the chopped pineapple in the pie plate, add the cherry pie filling and then add more pineapple. Cut a small hole in the centre of the top pie crust and then place on top of the pit. Press along the edges to seal and cut of any leftover dough.

Preheat the over to 450 F. Bake the pie for 10 min and then lower the heat to 350 and cook for 40 - 50 minutes. Keep an eye on it. My crust started browning early, so to stop it from burning I put a loose piece of foil on top.

Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

See? Pie can be made in minutes if you're using the pre0made items, but a little bit of extra work and you can make a tasty pie from scratch.

No Bake Black Bottom - Peanut Butter Silk Pie

Well, as some of you may know, I have managed to kill my oven about 10 days ago and in true ADD style, I have yet to get around to calling the landlord about it. Instead, I planned my week sans oven. I am working my way through a variety of recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I have never let the lack of an oven or any kitchen appliance stop me from having dessert and this week was no exception. I scanned through her book and found something perfect for testing - A no bake pie.

These sort of recipes scare me a bit. I get a little nervous when the instructions are to dump in a package of tofu into anything that is meant as dessert. Combine that with my fear of gelatinous sea vegetables and got a recipe full of fear! Some use love as a secret ingredient... not me!

Agar Agar anyone?

So it is time to get over this silly fear. What's to be scared of? Luckily this recipe is going to drown the scary ingredients with chocolate, peanut butter, and more chocolate. Besides, I think the animal derived alternative should be considered much scarier. I mean it is made of cartilage and connective tissue of animals... ew.

So here is the recipe and my review of it below:

No-Bake, Black Bottom-Peanut Butter Silk Pie
For the crust:

• 1 1/2 half cups of chocolate cookies, crushed
• 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 Tbsp of rice or soy milk

For the chocolate bottom:

• 4 oz of bakers chocolate
• 1/4 cup soy milk

For the filling:

• 12 oz  extra firm tofu silken tofu
• 3/4 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup of coconut milk
• 1 1/4 cup of boiling water
• 3 Tbsp agar

Prepare the crust:
Combine the sugar and the wafers in a food processor and blend until it is fine crumbs. Pour into a pie plate and add the oil and mix with your fingers. Add the milk and mix again and press into the bottom of the pan. Put in the fridge to chill.

Chocolate bottom:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. When the chocolate has melted, add the soy milk and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat. Pour most of this mixture on to the crust reserving a couple tablespoons for drizzling on the pie. Put the pie crust in the fridge.

Make the filling:
In a blender combine the silken tofu, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla and blend until smooth. In a sauce pan boil the water and add the agar. Stir constantly until it is completely dissolved (about 10 min). Pour it into a glass measuring cup (not plastic). There should be about 1/3 of a cup or so. Add this to the blender and then add enough coconut milk to make a cup (i.e. if you have a 1/3 agar, you will need 2/3 cup of milk). Pour the milk in the blend and blend until smooth and combined.

Slowly pour the filling into the pie crust. pour the remaining chocolate on top and make a pretty design. Put it back in the fridge and cool for three hours.

So when I made this recipe, my chocolate did not turn out ok. I wonder if maybe the recipe has a typo and really it should have half the amount of baker's chocolate. It still worked, but the chocolate layer I had was too thick and it over powered the peanut butter filling. Other than that, this recipe, was easy and super yummy! I recommend for a hot day when you don't want to use an oven.

Sorry about the lack of pictures on this one, I forgot to put my memory card in while I was snapping away, so all I was able to get were pictures of the proof that I did eat a quarter of the pie for dinner. :)