Magic Sprinkles

Lately I've been putting this stuff on top of everything. It's tasty on just about every kind of pasta dish, including mac 'n' cheez. It makes pizza more magical, which is hard to do since pizza is the perfect food. It's salty and savory like parmesan, and comes pretty close to the real thing. The best part is it's super-easy to make, and it keeps nicely in a shaker alongside all your favorite condiments.

Vegan Parmesan Nut Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon dried italian seasoning (or small pinches of dry basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme & marjoram)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
pinch of paprika
several grinds of fresh pepper


Method


Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until crumbly and fine. Sprinkle on everything in sight.

I baked some on top of this shells 'n' cashew cheez dish, then sprinkled more for good measure. It was delicious. These sprinkles would probably taste badass on kale chips too. 

Dr. Jack Shephard's Pie

I know the series "Lost" is long gone now. Probably forgotten by most. I was bitter about how it all ended and how much of my time was invested in that show. Bitterness turned to hunger, so here we are. A shepherd's pie good enough for Jack. And if not, his whiny ass can starve. Fine, go eat a can of Dharma Initiative refried beans, Jack!

Dr. Jack Shephard's Pie

Filling

4-5 pks Tempeh (boiled for 10-15 minutes), crumbled
2 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1/4 cup frozen peas
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons Earth Balance (or your favorite vegan margarine)
3 tablespoons unbleached, all purpose flour
2 tablespoons Nutritional Yeast (optional)
2-3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 teaspoon vegan worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 3-4 sprigs worth of fresh thyme)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram (1 sprig worth of fresh marjoram)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (2 teaspoons of fresh oregano leaves)
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary needles)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon poultry spice
Up to 2 cups of veggie broth (or mix a few tablespoons of faux chicken broth powder with water)
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Mashed Potato Topping

6-8 medium potatoes (I like yukon gold, red or russet)
4 tablespoons Earth Balance
1/2 cup cashew cream or unsweetened plain soymilk
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste


Method

Prepare your taytoes (skin on or skin off, whatever floats your boat) and set them in a large pot filled with cold water and a large pinch of sea salt. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until fork tender. Avoid over cooking. You don't want water logged taters. At this point, I throw in my blocks of tempeh and cook them in the same water with the potatoes. Now that's what I call efficient!

While the potatoes are cooking, dice your other stuff up.

In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, add a couple tablespoons of oil and drop in your onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent (about 5-7 minutes) avoid browning them. Add a little salt to sweat them out. When the onions are cooked, drop in your mushrooms and cook those down a little. Drop in the celery, carrots, dried herbs and spices. Continue cooking for another 4 minutes. We really want to get the mushrooms to cook down as much as possible. They will be adding a lot of the meaty flavor to this shiz. Once things are looking good, add some Earth Balance, let it melt, then drop in your crumbled up tempeh. Add your flour and coat things evenly with the flour. We are going to spend a lot of time here getting some brownness in. Basically we want to make a roux so we can get a good gravy. Continue stirring things around, browning your tempeh and the flour coating. This takes a good 8-10 minutes. Once all the tempeh is golden brown and delicious, you will pour in some stock or water, worcestershire and tamari/soy sauce. Get things to a simmer, you'll see it thicken up. If it gets too thick for your liking, add more liquid. Conversely, if stuff is not thick enough, continue to simmer until some liquid evaporates. If you're using fresh herbs, now is a good time to toss those in. Keep stirring. Oh and hey, be sure to check your potatoes. You should probably turn the oven on too. 375 degrees!

Once taters are cooked, turn off heat, drain and put back into stock pot. Put the stock pot on the lowest heat, drop in the Earth Balance, add the potatoes and mash with a masher. Don't over work them or they'll get gummy. We want fluffy! Stir in cashew cream or soymilk, season with nutritional yeast, onion, garlic, pepper and taste for sale. Don't fuss with them too much. Just get them to the right consistency and thickness and leave em on low heat. Go check on your gravy.

Stir in the frozen peas into your gravy. The gravy should be all nice and brown. If you want more brown, you could add browning sauce, but I'm weirded out by that stuff. Sodium Benzoate doesn't belong in my food. Pour this hot mess into a large rectangular casserole dish (Pyrex types are wonderful). Top with your taters. You could also top the potatoes with grated vegan cheese. Place in preheated 375 degree oven. Bake for 25-30 mins until bubbly, browned and lightly crisped on edges. Serve hot, garnish with fresh thyme sprig or fresh minced parsley.

Done! Eat up!

Mad Pizza Skillz

Living in Los Angeles is a vegan pizza lover's dream. There are so many places offering vegan pizzas and even one pizzeria that has gone totally vegan. Even with all these options I still find it necessary to make my own pies at home. Why? Besides having "mad pizza skillz" it's way more cost effective. Unfortunately vegan pizzeria's break my bank. It's easy to spend upwards of $30 on one pie. I can eat three to four times as much homemade pizza for that price! Although you may sweat a little (or a lot) making these this summer, they are totally worth the effort. Sure you can buy pre-made dough at Trader Joe's (I used to) but making your own pies from scratch will make you feel extra radtastic in the kitchen.




Basic Pizza Dough

• 3 cups unbleached, bread flour 
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to coat
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons vegan sugar

Method

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and let stand 10 minutes or so, until the mixture begins to froth up. In a large bowl mix bread flour, sugar and salt. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil, blend then mix with hands to form the dough. Knead for 7 - 10 minutes. This also doubles as a good arm workout so reap the rewards. If you have a buff significant other or roommate, let them do the dirty work. Also, kneading helps build up the gluten in the dough which makes for a nice chewy crust. So knead some more if you like. Form into a ball, lightly oil the surface, cover with plastic wrap or a clean, lightly dampened towel and allow to rest for 1 hour in a well oiled bowl.

While the dough rests get all your toppings prepped. After the dough has rested for an hour remove from the bowl, split into two balls for two medium thin crust pizzas or 1 extra large pizza. Stretch and roll out dough on a cold pizza stone or lightly oiled metal pan. Cover with your sauce and favorite toppings and bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-35 minutes depending on your oven and preferences. If you have a peel, slide that bad boy on a pre heated stone.

Tips:

Invest in a pizza stone and peel if possible. You can probably find one under $10 at a discount retail shop (Ross, Big Lots, etc). Sometimes they even come in sets with a pizza cutter and serving tray.

Sometimes I use my favorite jar variety marinara sauce. It's great in a pinch, but tends to be too watery for pizza. Try making your own pizza sauce using tomato paste, a couple tablespoons of water, minced garlic, fresh and/or dried herbs, red pepper flakes, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper to taste. I love having another reason to use fresh herbs from my garden. Try combining basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary.


To keep your dough from sticking to the stone sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal.

For an extra crispy crust pre-heat your pizza stone, sprinkle with cornmeal, then roll out the dough on the stone and work quickly to get all the sauce and toppings placed.

If you want a slight crispiness with a soft and chewy crust, roll your dough on a room temperature stone.

For extra flavor brush the edges of your pizza crust with olive oil during the last 5 minutes of baking. Sprinkle on a little sesame seed while you're at it.

This dough can be used to make bread sticks or garlic bread twists. Just roll it out into long, skinny logs and twist together. Coat with vegan margarine, minced garlic, salt, nutrition yeast and fresh or dried herbs. Or try stuffing them with vegan cheese for cheesy bread. They are insanely tasty with marinara sauce. I've even made sweets with this dough using vegan margarine, diced apples, cinnamon and sugar. Just roll them up like cinnamon rolls.

Extra dough can be kept refrigerated up to 5 days. If using dough that has been refrigerated, place on counter and allow dough to come to room temperature before attempting to roll out and bake.



Here are some of my favorite pizza topping combinations:

Supreme style:
Daiya Italian blend vegan cheese, Field Roast Italian sausage, roasted garlic, black olives, baby bella mushrooms, green bell peppers, tomatoes and red onion with fresh basil

Garden blend: Daiya Italian blend vegan cheese, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic and spinach

BBQ Chicken: BBQ sauce base, Gardein chicken strips coated in BBQ sauce, red onions, tempeh bacon and Daiya Italian Blend vegan cheese topped with fresh cilantro

Gourmet style: Artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and roasted garlic with a bechamel sauce base.

Margherita: Lots of vegan cheese and fresh tomato slices. When removed from the oven, top with fresh basil. The heat from the pizza will lightly wilt the basil and release the aromatics. It's a classic combo with tons of flavor.



The possibilities are endless and there are tons of awesome mock meats and vegan cheeses (I'm a big fan of Teese and Daiya) on the market. Go crazy! Don't be surprised if you want to start lining your oven with bricks once you've mastered this recipe.