Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S PEANUT BUTTER/TOFU "CREME CHEEZE" SPREAD

Yield: 2 cups/ Servings: 16

 Each serving= 2 T. 

This spread contains a similar amount of protein, 1/3 of the fat and 1/2 of the calories of an equal amount of peanut butter.

Ingredients

12.3 ounces extra-firm silken tofu

(OR press 1 lb. of medium-firm tofu down to 12.3 ounces-- see below)

1/2 cup unsalted peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

4 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. agave nectar, maple syrup or organic sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

Process all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Scoop into a 2-cup container with a lid.  Refrigerate. Easy as that!

How to press tofu: Sandwich your 1 lb. block of tofu between clean, absorbent dish towels (or several folded paper towels, if you must). Place a flat surface on top, such as a small cutting board or baking sheet, and weigh it down-- 28-ounce tomato cans or books work well.  15 to 30 minutes of pressing is usually sufficient.  Weigh the tofu on a small food scale to make sure that it is now about 12 ounces, or slightly more.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition (per 2 T. serving): 82 calories, 49 calories from fat, 5.8g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 75.9mg sodium, 121.8mg potassium, 3g carbohydrates, less than 1g fiber, 1.3g sugar, 5.9g protein, 2.4 points.

Enjoy!

I make alot of hummus for snacks, but one day I wanted a change of pace-- a spread that is easy and fast to make, with what I had in the house.  I came up with this cheese-y spread and my husband went nuts over it and some omnivore guests did, too.  It is very yummy!

Ordinarily, I would have made this with extra-firm silken tofu, but I didn't have any in the house, so I used medium-firm ordinary tofu, which I pressed in my tofu press.  When there was about 3/4-inch of liquid on top the the tofu, I weighed it and it weighed 12.3 ounces, exactly as much as a box of silken tofu.  It worked just fine in the recipe and costs quite a bit less than silken tofu.

There are a few tofu presses on the market-- I have a Tofu Xpress, which takes a 1 lb. block of tofu:
 

For pressing more tofu at once, I have a small (1.6 L) inexpensive Japanese pickle press, similar to this one, which can press 700g/1.5 lbs of tofu at a time.  

This is the model I have:

I know it looks flimsy, and, when I posted once about this on Facebook, people had a hard time believing that it could handle pressing tofu-- but it does just fine! I've seen a picture (which I cannot locate now) of a pile of tofu squares being pressed in a large round Japanese pickle press.

See also  TOFU PRESS (Canada) OR USA Amazon link)

NOTE: If you don't have a tofu press, here's a link with three other methods to extract some of the liquid from tofu.  Oh, and don't pay attention to any advice that says you can only press firm tofu.  I press medium-firm tofu all the time.

This is what medium-firm tofu looks like:

"Medium-firm tofu has a rougher texture than soft—curds are visible—but will still crack with handling. It can have a droopy appearance due to its moderate moisture content, and it's a good choice for dishes that don't require much manipulation, like braising or boiling. Because there is more whey in medium-firm tofu, it may break up during vigorous stir-frying, and pan-frying can lead to sad, deflated tofu planks."  Photo and quote from http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/shopping-cooking-guide-different-tofu-types.html

It was such an early spring and summer, and the weather has been so warm, that my basil is doing wonderfully well. I had to use some of it, so I thought I'd share the two easy recipes, a spread and a salad dressing, that I came up with-- both use a whole cup of fresh basil leaves, packed down.

PS: We had the basil dressing on our whole-meal lunch salad toda. The salad was comprised of home-grown freshly-picked lettuce with snap peas, oven-broiled Crispy Tofu (or B of T- recipe at the end of this post but this time I crisped it under the broiler instead of sautéing in a skillet); sliced baby cukes, grape tomatoes, oven-grilled corn, with our first pattypan squash and onions. Mmmmmmm!

Here's the dressing recipe:

Printable Recipe (for both recipes)

BRYANNA'S FRESH, CREAMY VEGAN BASIL SALAD DRESSING

                                                              Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves, sliced

6 oz. (1/2 a tetrapak) firm or extra-firm silken tofu (OR 3/4 cup well-drained cooked or canned white beans)

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (I use my homemade)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder

1 clove garlic, peeled

Run all of the ingredients in your blender until smooth.  If it's too thick, you can add a bit of water or non-dairy milk. Store in a covered jar in your refrigerator.

And here's the spread:

Printable Recipe (for both recipes)

BRYANNA'S SUNDRIED TOMATO, BASIL AND KALAMATA OLIVE VEGAN RICOTTA SPREAD

Makes about 2 cups

1 lb. (2 cups) plain (no herbal seasoning) vegan ricotta (See my Tofu ricotta and Almond Ricotta recipes here-- at the very bottom of the post; and my Okara-Cashew Ricotta recipe here.)

1 cup (packed) fresh basil, sliced or chopped

2/3 cup drained and sliced pitted kalamata olives

3 oz. sliced sundried tomatoes in oil (squeeze most of the oil out, or rinse with warm water and drain well)

3 tablespoons vegan parmesan (I use Go Veggie!)

1 clove garlic

1/4 tsp. salt

Optional: a little bit of vegan milk or plain vegan creamer

Combine all of the ingredients (except Optional) in a food processor and run until mixed to your satisfaction.  If it seems too thick, add a bit of nondairy milk or plain vegan creamer. Pack into a shallow container, seal and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Our (vegan) friends Mike and Fireweed have joined us for Super Bowl Sunday for the last few years.  Mike and DH Brian watch the game, with munchies supplied by me.  Fireweed comes a little later and we have a visit together, then the four of us have dinner.  I kept it pretty simple this year because Fireweed, DH and I are all trying to eat low fat and moderately. (Mike can eat like there's no tomorrow and not gain an ounce!)

I decided to serve two hearty dips with vegetables and Ryvita crackers, one a recipe from Betsy DiJulio's blog and one my own recipe, with a little tweak inspired also by Betsy.  Betsy, author of The Blooming Platter Cookbook, is one of my favorite vegan cookbook authors (see my review here to find out why!).

Betsy's dip is a clever take on the old spinach dip-- Vegan Spinach-Three Bean Dip (fat-free if you use tofu instead of vegan mayonnaise).  I loved the idea of sneaking three kinds of beans into a dip!  Here's Betsy's recipe, but I changed it a wee bit according to the ingredients I had on hand.  I didn't have the dry vegetable soup mix, so I added 2 tablespoons of vegan bouillon powder instead, plus a little dried thyme, basil and oregano.  I used my quickly-made silken tofu mayonnaise (with no added fat) because I didn't have any of my usual homemade low-fat mayo on hand.  The guys ate about half of it at one sitting!

The second dip was an old favorite of ours that I've posted on this blog-- Cheddary Spread.-- except that I added a twist from Betsy's book, which she uses in her homemade vegan cheeses--  I added some beer to the recipe!  This ingredient is genius!  It adds just the right amount of tangy fermented taste, which really adds to the over-all flavor of the spread, or dip. Thank you, Betsy!  But, in order to do this and not have it turn  out too liquid-y, you have to crumble the silken tofu into a nut bag or a large square of white cotton sheeting-sort of material and twist and squeeze the bag until you have 1/4 cup of liquid from the tofu squeezed out.  Then proceed with the recipe, but add 1/4 cup of beer to the mixture.  Simple!

For dinner, we had a lovely salad with an avocado dressing that Fireweed brought, and lasagna made with DH's leftover homemade spaghetti sauce (with some red wine and Yves Ground Round hamburger substitute added), Okara/Cashew Ricotta, my vegan Bechamel Sauce, and some Daiya Cheese on top. For dessert we each had an espresso cup of organic drinking chocolate.  A great evening with good food and good friends!

Enjoy!