Yeah, so I had a recipe years ago, but then I updated it in the last couple of years since the new egg replacers and such have been available. I made this one last year, and it has been my best Easter pie recipe to date. Every Easter I get messages like, "Where is that vegan Easter pie recipe?" Well, here it is. I don't even have a picture of it, but it looks and tastes like Easter pie. 

Vegan Easter Pie

Makes one 9 inch pie

¼ cup diced super firm tofu
¼ teaspoon black salt (kala namak)
12 ounces vegan italian sausage crumbled and cooked
5 ounces other vegan meat (ham, bacon, or more sausage), crumbled or chopped
2 ounces vegan pepperoni, chopped
8 ounces vegan ricotta cheese
½ cup vegan mozzarella
2 Follow Your Heart Vegan Eggs (or 2 Just Eggs)
Pie crust
2 tablespoons aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)

Heat oven to 350F°.

In a large mixing bowl, add the tofu and black salt, toss to coat, then add the meats, cheeses, and eggs and mix to combine. This is your filling.

Press pie crust into a pie pan and add the filling. Place the top crust on top and crimp the edges to seal. 

Poke the top of the pie with the tines of a fork 5 or 6 times, then brush the top with aquafaba.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Remove from oven and let rest at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Mall food courts are typically barren deserts when it comes to vegan or even vegetarian eating. So I was super stoked when I was invited to check out the new Beleaf Cafe. Brand new to the Westfield Century City and Westfield Topanga Malls, this eatery serves up burgers, tacos, burritos, salads, and all kinds of sides and snacks..and it's ALL FRICKIN' VEGAN!!!

I stopped by for lunch and went with the Southwestern Burger. It's an Impossible patty with grilled onion, pickle, bbq sauce, red cabbage, and I added some Follow Your Heart cheese. A major alteration I made was the patty. You can swap any burger patty into any of the burgers. I definitely love the Impossible patty, but Beleaf offers a variety of interesting looking house-made vegetable-based patties, and since it had been a while since I ate any burgers that didn't have Beyond or Impossible meats, I thought I'd kick it a little old-school-vegan style and give their black bean patty a try.

The food came out fast, and it all looked fresh and vibrant. I always like to take a little piece of the burger patty to taste it by itself. Flavor-wise, it was tasty with some mild spices, and the texture was what I expected from a bean patty. It was soft, but not crumbly, as many tend to be. I liked the bun-to- stuff ratio. There was just enough bun to hold all of the toppings and such, but not so much that you feel you're eating a loaf of bread. Overall the burger was delicious, and the whole thing worked together nicely.

I added an order of buffalo cauliflower, which was also quite satisfying. A standard buffalo-style sauce drenched crispy, al dente-cooked cauliflower. Instead of the usual creamy ranch, or bleu cheese type sauce to go with the wings, they serve it with a side of their tahini sauce. I wasn't so sure about it at first, but I ended up liking it quite a bit. The fatty tahini sauce served the same cooling purposes as the regular sauces, so I was good with it.

I'm looking forward to tying more of the menu items, as there are A LOT! It's so excellent and exciting to have this vegan oasis in my local mall's food court. All VEGAN! In a FOOD COURT! In a MALL!!! What a great time to vegan.

​

So, whaddayagot? Labor Day coming up? Memorial Day? Just your run of the mill summer grilling weekend? I got you covered here. I took some Beyond Meat beef and brats, and mashed them together in these adorable little pretzel bun meatball sliders. Check it out. You're gonna turn some heads.

Beyond Beer Brat Ball Sliders

Makes 20 sliders

1 sweet yellow onion, sliced
4 light flavored beers (no IPA's or strongly flavored brews)
10 ounces Beyond Beef
2 links Beyond Sausage Brats, casings removed
1 vegan egg substitute (I use Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg, but I imagine Just, or a flax or chia egg will work as well)
1/2 cup finely ground salted pretzels
4 cloves garlic, grated
2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
5 pretzel buns, quartered (or 20 regular slider buns)
1/2 cup grain mustard (approximately)
1/2 cup sauerkraut (approximately)
4 wooden skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes
grill spray
20 sandwich picks

Heat a grill to high. In a wide pan with high sides, add the beer and onions, and cover with foil (which I didn't show in the video, oops!). Place on one side of the grill, and let it hang out and simmer away. Plan to have it simmer at least 30 minutes before you add the balls to really get those onions tender.

In a mixing bowl, add beef, sausage, egg, ground pretzel crumbs, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper. With a clean or gloved hand, mash ingredients together until combined. 

Divide mixture into 20 ping pong ball sized portions (a 1-ounce ice cream scooper works well here). Shape them into round balls, and place them on a pan or plate lined with parchment. Cover and chill in the fridge 15 to 20 minutes to help them firm up before skewering.

Remove the skewers from the water, and slide 5 balls onto each one. Place on a plate covered with parchment and take them out to the grill.

Spray the available side of the grill with grill spray, and gently place the meatball skewers on the grill.

Grill 2 minutes, until browned and/or grill-marked, then, using a thin metal spatula, separate balls from the grill, and gently flip them over, and grill on the other side 2 minutes.

Remove meatballs from the grill and immediately transfer them to the simmering beer and onion bath. You can leave them on the skewers or remove them. No need to re-cover the beer pan. 

Simmer in the beer for 10 minutes, then remove the pan from the grill, and begin to build the sliders.

Slather the bottom buns with mustard, then top with onion. Add a ball to each bun, then top with sauerkraut, and finally the top bun. Hold it all together with a sandwich pick. Repeat for all sliders. Serve immediately. 

Okily-dokily, here's more ice cream. This was a highly requested one, so I took a stab at it. I took several stabs at it...several creamy, delicious, salty, nutty, chocolaty stabs. Tough gig. Finally nailed it. I had to increase the amount of sugar in my standard base, since the blended pistachios counteracted some of the sweetness. Got 'er done though, and now you can too! Hit me in the comments with what flavor of ice cream you're dying to have veganized.

Quick notes:

• Make sure you have an ice cream maker.
• Also to make this recipe right, you need about half a day or so. So plan for that.
• If you don't have a high-powered blender, you can use a regular blender, then, after the blending step, pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove any unprocessed cashew pieces. Then proceed with the mint steeping process.
• If I forget to soak my cashews, I place them in a microwave safe container and cover with water. Then nuke for 2 minutes and let rest another 5 minutes. Then they're ready to go.
• Below you'll find excerpts from my instagram stories showing some of the making of the mint chip ice cream recipe. The relevant part to this recipe is the chocolate splattering step. So be sure to check that out.

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 1 hour (overnight, if you don't have a high-powered blender), drained, and rinsed
1 cup raw, unsalted pistachio nutmeats, divided
1/2 cup water
14 ounce can coconut milk (regular, not the "lite" stuff)
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder/flour
Pinch salt
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 teaspoon refined coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon coarse or flaky sea salt or, fancily, Fleur de Sel

Into a (preferably) high-powered blender, add soaked cashews, 1/2 cup of the pistachios, water, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, arrowroot, and salt. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides, if necessary, to mix in any stray cashew pieces that jumped up onto the side.

Transfer to a medium saucepan, and heat over medium, stirring continually, until the arrowroot activates, and the mix thickens to an almost pudding-like consistency, 4 to 6 minutes.

Once thickened, immediately transfer to a wide, high-sided vessel, and stir it around for 3 to 4 minutes to promote quick cooling. Once cooled (it can still be a little warm), transfer to a container and cover tightly. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Add the chilled cashew/coconut mixture to your ice cream maker, and do whatever the maker's instructions say you have to do to make it into ice cream. In the meantime, place remaining pistachios in a small food processor, and pulse until roughly chopped. Add to the ice cream maker towards the end of the churning. If the nuts don't get evenly distributed, worry not, as you'll be stirring it all again later.

To get those signature non-uniform, chocolate freckles and chips, you have to do some abstract art. Place chocolate chips and coconut oil into a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave 20 seconds. Almost nothing will happen, so stir it around and continue microwaving in 20 second bursts, stirring after every nuking, until it's totally melted. Stir in the coarse salt.

Chose a container that's about 1 quart or so, and with the tines of a fork (or a child size spork), swoosh, swizzle, and splatter the inside surfaces of the container with chocolate. Next spoon enough ice cream on the bottom to make an even layer, then do more chocolate art on top of that layer. Add another ice cream layer, and then more chocolate squizzles. Continue until all the ice cream and chocolate is used up. Cover container, and place in the freezer for 1 hour.

After an hour, the ice cream will be plenty cold but not totally frozen and still soft. Using a spoon, stir the ice cream. This will break up all those swoozles of chocolate, achieving that flecked look.

Again, tightly cover and place in the freezer at least another 3 hours. It's fairly easy to scoop right out of the freezer, but letting it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes will make it a lot easier. Enjoy!

So I made the mistake of asking my instagram audience what ice cream flavors they'd like to see me develop. And, well...I got some suggestions. The only reason I say it's a "mistake" is because I really liked all of the suggestions and I'm probably going to make (and eat) all of them. Parts of my body will love it, others won't. But I must press on with this important work, so here is one of the most requested flavors. I opted for using fresh mint, mostly because I actually had a bunch on hand and I don't have any extract on hand. But once I tasted this batch, I knew that an extract could not hold a candle to the perfectly smooth yet not-too-subtle mint flavor the fresh stuff imparted. So I'm not even going to present an option for extract here. 

Quick notes:

• Make sure you have an ice cream maker.
• Also to make this recipe right, you need about half a day or so. So plan for that.
• If you don't have a high-powered blender, you can use a regular blender, then, after the blending step, pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove any unprocessed cashew pieces. Then proceed with the mint steeping process.
• If I forget to soak my cashews, I place them in a microwave safe container and cover with water. Then nuke for 2 minutes and let rest another 5 minutes. Then they're ready to go.
• Below you'll find excerpts from my instagram stories showing some of the making of this recipe.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
​Makes about 3 cups

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 1 hour (overnight, if you don't have a high-powered blender), drained, and rinsed
1/2 cup water
14 ounce can coconut milk (regular, not the "lite" stuff)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
1 bunch fresh mint (about 1 1/2 cups including the stems and everything)
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder/flour
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 teaspoon refined coconut oil

Into a (preferably) high-powered blender, add cashews, water, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides, if necessary, to mix in any stray cashew pieces that jumped up onto the side.

Transfer to a medium saucepan, and submerge the mint, stems and all, into the milk. Heat on medium, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to bubble. Let it simmer 2 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let mint steep in the milk for 1 hour.

Once an hour has passed, remove the mint from the milk, making sure to return as much milk to the pot as is possible either by gently shaking or pressing into a fine mesh strainer over the pot. Surprise, the milk will not be green. Commercially made versions add food coloring, which I suppose you can do at this point if you like. I won't be mad at ya.

Remove 2 tablespoons of the milk and place in a small bowl. Add the arrowroot, and whisk it into the 2 tablespoons of milk until dissolved. Place arrowroot mixture back into the main pot, and heat over medium, stirring continually, until the arrowroot activates, and the mix thickens to an almost pudding-like consistency, 4 to 6 minutes.

Once thickened, immediately transfer to a wide, high-sided vessel, and stir it around for 3 to 4 minutes to promote quick cooling. Once cooled (it can still be a little warm), transfer to a container and cover tightly. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Add the chilled cashew/coconut mixture to your ice cream maker, and do whatever the maker's instructions say you have to do to make it into ice cream.

To get those signature non-uniform, chocolate freckles and chips, you have to do some abstract art. Place chocolate chips and coconut oil into a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave 20 seconds. Almost nothing will happen, so stir it around and continue microwaving in 20 second bursts, stirring after every nuking, until it's totally melted.

Chose a container that's about 1 quart or so, and with the tines of a fork (or a child size spork), swoosh, swizzle, and splatter the inside surfaces of the container with chocolate. Next spoon enough ice cream on the bottom to make an even layer, then do more chocolate art on top of that layer. Add another ice cream layer, and then more chocolate squizzles. Continue until all the ice cream and chocolate is used up. Cover container, and place in the freezer for 1 hour.

After an hour, the ice cream will be plenty cold but not totally frozen and still soft. Using a spoon, stir the ice cream. This will break up all those swoozles of chocolate, achieving that signature flecked look.

Again, tightly cover and place in the freezer at least another 3 hours. It's fairly easy to scoop right out of the freezer, but letting it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes will make it a lot easier. Enjoy!

Droppin' a little double fantasy on ya, here. I wrote my original cookies 'n' cream recipe last year, and never got around to posting it. Then, the other day, I decided it was time to bust out the ice cream maker, so I did what I call an "inverse cookies 'n' cream" since it's a chocolate ice cream with vanilla Oreo-type cookies. Down at the bottom is a little collection of Instagram stories I made when I was making one of the recipes. Sorry but the live video I mention in the video is not available, but at least you can see some of the process. So here are both of the recipes. Enjoy!

Quick notes:

• Make sure you have an ice cream maker.
• Also to make this recipe right, you need about half a day or so. So plan for that.
• If you don't have a high-powered blender, you can use a regular blender, then, after the blending step, pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove any unprocessed cashew pieces. Then proceed with the heating/thickening process.
• If I forget to soak my cashews, I place them in a microwave safe container and cover with water. Then nuke for 2 minutes and let rest another 5 minutes. Then they're ready to go.

Classic Cookies 'n' Cream

​Makes about 3 cups

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 1 hour (overnight, if you don't have a high-powered blender), drained, and rinsed
1/2 cup water
14 ounce can coconut milk (regular, not the "lite" stuff)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder/flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch salt
1 1/2 cups roughly crushed up Oreo cookies

Into a (preferably) high-powered blender, add cashews, water, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, arrowroot, and salt. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides, if necessary, to mix in any stray cashew pieces that jumped up onto the side.

Transfer to a medium saucepan and heat on medium, stirring continually, until it just begins to bubble, at which point the arrowroot will activate and the mix will thicken to an almost pudding like consistency, 4 to 6 minutes.

Once thickened, immediately transfer to a wide, high-sided vessel, and stir it around for 3 to 4 minutes to promote quick cooling. Once cooled (it can still be a little warm), transfer to a container and cover tightly. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Add the chilled cashew/coconut mixture to your ice cream maker, and do whatever the maker's instructions say you have to do to make it into ice cream.

Once that is done, in a large bowl make an ice bath with ice and water. Place a smaller bowl inside the ice bath. Remove the ice cream from the machine, place it in the smaller bowl. This is simply to keep the ice cream from melting too much while you're transferring the ice cream from the machine. Depending on style of machine it could take a couple minutes to scrape ice cream off the sides and such. Remove the bowl from the ice bath as it will be too wobbly to stir the cookies in while it's floating in the ice bath. Add the crushed up cookies and fold them in with a spatula as quickly as possible. The ice cream will melt fast!

Once the cookies are mixed in, add the ice cream to a container, tightly cover and place in the freezer at least 4 hours. It's fairly easy to scoop right out of the freezer, but letting it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes will make it a lot easier. Enjoy!

Serves 2 to 4 (enough to make 2 good sized BLT sandwiches, or 4 side servings for breakfast plates.)

6 ounces king oyster mushrooms, tops trimmed, stems thinly sliced lengthwise (1/16 to 1/8 inch thick)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons ketchup
1  1/2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon oil, plus more for frying

Place mushrooms slices in a zip top bag.

To a small measuring cup or bowl, add soy sauce, ketchup, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke, and oil. Whisk to combine, then pour into bag.

Massage marinade around a bit. The mushrooms won't be submerged by the marinade, but over time, water will be drawn out of the mushrooms, adding to the body of the marinade, eventually submerging the mushrooms in tasty liquid. Push as much air as is possible out of the bag, and store in the fridge at least 8 hours or overnight.

When ready to eat heat a wide non-stick skillet to medium, and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Remove mushrooms from marinade, shaking off the excess.

Place "bacon" in the pan, in batches if necessary, making sure they sizzle. Fry 1 to 2 minutes, then toss and cook 3 to 4 more minutes, tossing occasionally, until browned with some blackened crispy edges.

​Drain briefly on a paper towel lined plate, serve.
​

Sorry no video for this one. It's pretty straightforward. I made this soup the other night, and it was pretty darn good and easy, so I thought it was worth writing up for you. When I made this soup, my 5-year-old was super mad that dinner wasn't hot dogs or spaghetti, so he engaged in like a 20 minute meltdown over the fact that I told him this was the only available food.

I think we may have (definitely) set a bad precedent until now, having backup meals at the ready if he didn't eat the regular food I was making. I decided to end that practice, so when I told him this was the only dinner, he did not take kindly to it. 

However, after putting himself through massive emotional strain OVER GODDAMN SOUP (a soup that happens to be all kinds of delicious, mind you), he reluctantly sat down, and leaned over the bowl of the, now lukewarm, soup. And through his tears, and sobs, and dramatic whimpering, he meekly said, "It smells kind of good." Then he ate the whole fucking bowl, and begged for more. Kids, whattayagonnado?

Serves 4 to 6

1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
8 cups broccoli florets, plus an additional 10 florets for garnish
2 small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cubed
4 cloves garlic smashed
6 cups chicken-style stock
1 1/2 cups whole raw cashews
3/4 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
1 to 2 tablespoons prepared basil pesto
1 tablespoon high heat oil
Extra virgin olive oil for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pot or Dutch oven to medium. Add onion. When the edges of the onion get browned and begin to stick to the bottom, deglaze with a touch of water. Continue cooking and stirring 8 to 10 minutes, adding a touch of water when necessary to prevent sticking. Onions should be lightly golden and tender, but not fully dark and soft like a caramelized onion - somewhere in between raw and caramelized. 

Add the broccoli, potatoes, garlic, stock, cashews, and milk. Bring to a simmer (not a hard boil because that makes the broccoli stinky), and cook 10 to 12 minutes until broccoli and potatoes are tender.

Stir in the pesto, and transfer everything to a blender (in batches if necessary) and blend until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion blender, and blend it right there in the pot. Return to pot, season with salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm.

For the seared broccoli garnish:
Cut broccoli florets in half so there is one flat side. Season generously with salt and coarsely cracked pepper.

In a skillet, add oil and heat on high. Place broccoli, flat side down in the pan so they sizzle. Sear 1 to 2 minutes until browned. Turn them over, and add a tablespoon of water to the pan, then quickly cover. Let steam for one additional minute.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with broccoli, then artfully drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil over top. Done.

Sometimes you just wanna throw some butter on your spaghetti and call it a day. Other times you'll drop 10 bucks on a jar of good-ass pasta sauce, and kill the whole thing with a loaf of bread. Hey, I've done both, and I ain't mad at it. If you want to save some cashola, though, fugghetabout that fancy expensive sauce, and just make this one. It's good as hell!

Enough for 8 Servings.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, sliced
28 ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning herb blend
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon pepper
15 leaves fresh basil

In a wide skillet or medium saucepan, add olive oil and garlic. Turn heat to medium low. Once garlic begins to sizzle a bit, reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally 10 to 12 minutes, until the garlic is golden with slightly toasted edges.

Add tomatoes, and stir in soy sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, sugar, and pepper. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the tomato can and swish it around to release any tomato puree remaining inside, and add that to the pan.

Increase heat to medium and bring to a low simmer (reducing heat again to medium low, if necessary, to find the right heat level for some low bubbling action), stirring occasionally, at least 20 minutes, and up to 1 hour.

In the last 5 minutes of cooking, hand-tear the basil, and stir it into the sauce. Once the basil is wilted, the sauce is ready to serve.

To store, let cool completely and keep in a covered container for a week, or freeze for a month.

For the uninitiated, a pizzelle is an Italian waffle cookie, most commonly flavored with anise, orange, lemon, or coco. I grew up eating them at every family event and holiday. I got very excited when the Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg became available, because I had been having trouble getting the right texture, using the egg replacers on the market. So, a couple years ago, I was able to use the vegan egg to perfect my vegan pizzelle recipe. I made a video with the great Vince Lia on his youtube channel. So here is the video and full recipe.

Chef's Notes:

• You need a pizzelle maker, so go get one or borrow your nana's.
• Letting them rest on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, but ideally an hour is essential for letting them get a crisp texture. Don't skip that step.
• You can find the Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg online if your local market does not have it.

 

Makes 12-14 cookies
​
1 prepared Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup melted vegan butter
¼ teaspoon anise oil or extract
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
powdered sugar for dusting


Heat your pizzelle maker according to directions.

In a medium mixing bowl add the egg and sugar, and whisk vigorously for about 1 minute, until the sugar is incorporated. It doesn't have to be fully dissolved.

Whisk in the melted butter, vanilla, and anise.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until combined into a smooth dough.

To make larger pizzelles, use a rounded tablespoon of the dough, and to make the smaller ones, use a leveled off tablespoon. Place the desired amount of the dough in the center of each round iron on your pizzelle maker, then close and lock it. Cook for 25-30 seconds, until there is slight browning all around. Remove and let cool on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.