Holy crap, I made cheese

Ricotta cheese. And not a lot of it. Turns out 1 gallon of milk does not produce a gallon of cheese. But this ricotta was earthy, light, fluffy, and ...cheesy. Would I make it again? Probably not. It did not yield much, yet I had an adequate amount for my stuffed pasta shell dinner. I rarely consume ricotta, but when I do, I'll likely go back to just buying Polly-O.
It was a fun experiment, with successful results, and was not difficult - but it just takes SO much milk!

Here's a pic of the cheese in curdling action, before it was separated from the whey and cooled.

Scenes from a Thanksgiving

Vegan red bliss mashed potatoes


Vegan green bean casserole


There were other foods...but I was too busy to take pix! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

So we were sitting around at work today talking about our upcoming charity dinner that we prepare, and since I'm Head Chefette, I had suggested open-faced 'build your own' turkey sandwiches. I selected Kaiser Rolls instead of plain old white or wheat bread, because I believe the Kaisers will hold up tremendously better than thin slices of bread.

Some folks had not heard of a Kaiser Roll before. Which kind of surprised me; I thought it was a pretty common name for that type of roll. We pondered aloud, though, why "Kaiser"? Was it named for Kaiser Wilhelm? Was it some immigrant's last name?

Turns out the Kaiser was named for Kaiser Franz Josef of Austria, and concocted in the same country. Now we know; now you know.

If the Kaiser Roll you choose is as crusty as the dude it was named for, then, that's a good thing.

ATFP's OPEN-FACED BUILD-YOUR-OWN TURKEY SANDWICH

Ingredients:
sliced white breast of turkey, hot or cold
mashed potatoes
cornbread stuffing
cranberry-orange relish, fresh (not canned!)
turkey gravy

Lightly toast roll halves. Layer a bit of turkey on the roll; follow with your choice of potatoes, stuffing, gravy, relish.

Gumb-OH!!!

Vegan gumbo. Everything's from scratch. Started with a roux. Subbed tofu for chicken; chopped up green onions, tomatoes, yellow onions, garlic, green peppers and cayenne peppers from my garden. Cooked down 4 hours. Oh. My. Goodness.

The humble bean.

This is a humble little pinto bean. Many, many more just like this one will result in delicious meals.

When you cook the heck out of these little beans and mash them, you then have the basis for refried beans. Add garlic and onion powder, a little oregano, sea salt, and cumin. Drizzle a bit of olive oil. Mash and mash some more (don't 'whip.') Add a tablespoon of water at a time to get a creamy consistency.

Fill into tortillas, taco shells, or eat plain with chopped scallions.

Dinner.

Spinach, mushroom, & garlic crescents. Addictive. Vegan.

And all gone.

I hate to say it...

...but sometimes, the only thing that satisfies, during a late, late night, is cheap store-bought pizza. (Meatless, of course.)