Pumpkin "Cheesecake;" Mushroom/Pumpkin/Leftovers Soup

My day off is almost over, back to work in the morning, which means I have to set my alarm when I go to bed tonight. I'll be up at 4:45AM, but these last two days I have slept until a little past seven. Sure was nice!!

I made the Pumpkin "Cheesecake" I mentioned earlier, and am very pleased, very. The recipe came from a vegetarian starter kit I ordered, free, from ChooseVeg.com, I think. It was free...um, sorry, I already said that...and had recipes in it, which is why I sent for it. So, here's the cheesecake recipe:

Pumpkin Patch "Cheesecake"

12-oz. firm silken tofu, pureed
8-oz. nondairy cream cheese(try Tofutti brand)
1C canned pumpkin
1C granulated sugar
3Tbs. flour
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2tsp. cinnamon
1/2tsp. salt
1/4tsp. baking soda
1 prepared graham cracker crust

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Puree all the ingredients(except the crust...duh, right?)in food processor. Pour the filling into the graham cracker crust and bake for 50 minutes.
Allow to cool for 30 minutes, cover with plastic wrap or the top of the pie container and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight before eating.

Now, did I wait 6 hours?!?!? Hell, no, I didn't, I started munching as soon as it came out of the oven, of course. And don't tell me that you wouldn't have, ok? I actually followed this recipe exactly, except for one minor detail: I forgot to buy a pie crust this week, so I made my own graham cracker crust. No big deal, and it was good. Will I make this again? Probably. Most likely, in fact, it's really good.

The best part of it was that there was quite a lot of the batter left in the blender top, so I ate a lot of that, right out of the blender, lol. Yum! When there was about a quarter cup left, I did something strange, an experiment, if you will, that fortunately turned out good.

In the 'fridge, I had a little bit of Zandra's Veggie Noodle Soup, a little bit of the Mushroom and Buttermilk Stroganoff from the other night, about a tablespoonful of the mushroom mixture from last night's burrito, and about four little Brussels sprouts. Figured out where I'm going with this? Are you saying, "Eeeeuuuuuw, yuck," yet? LOL! Yup, I did, I really did...all those little bits of leftovers went right into the blender with the pumpkin mixture. Not only that, but there was half a can of the pumpkin left, so I threw that in there, too, and pureed away! Poured all that into a saucepan, stirred in some soy milk, and heated it in the top of a homemade double boiler, because it was so thick I was afraid I'd scorch it. It was excellent, so good that I've frozen the leftover soup for another time. With it I had saltines with margarine and/or chevre goat cheese. The earthy, tart flavor of the chevre was wonderful with the sweetish soup, too. Would I make it again? Well, I would if I should ever happen to have those exact leftovers in the 'fridge, lol.

Until next time, Happy Eating!

JB's Chocolate/Coconut/Banana Pie with Rice Crust

And it didn't turn out as yummy as I had thought it would, sigh. I'm quite disappointed in it, in fact. After thinking about it, I realized that when it comes to chocolate, I'm much too much of a purist to like a pie with so many other flavors in it. The rice crust was totally an experiment, and I learned something: It don't work, lol. Next time it will be a plain ol' chocolate pie with a graham cracker crust.

The pie isn't actually bad, not at all. It just has too many things going on to suit me, that's all. The rice crust was made just like a graham cracker crust, but with cooked rice...butter and brown sugar...patted into the pan, which was a 9" round cake pan. Then I made the chocolate: blended one package of silken tofu, 1/2C unsweetened cocoa powder, 2/3C sugar, 3tsp. vanilla extract, 3Tbs. of cornstarch all together until it was smooth and creamy, about 4 minutes, I'd say. While it was all whirling merrily in the blender, I patted the crust into the pan, and sliced a large banana over the crust. When I stopped the blender, I poured about one cup of sweetened grated coconut into the mixture, stirred it all in with a rubber spatula, and poured about half of it into the pan, covering the bananas. Then I sliced another banana on top of that, and finished pouring the rest of the chocolate mix on top of those bananas. Then I sprinkled a good handful of the grated coconut over the top, and put the whole thing in a 325ºF pre-heated oven for 45 minutes. The 45 minutes, which was a guess, was the perfect timing for this pie, as it came out exactly like I had hoped it would: solid, but not burned.

Now. Do I like it? Not too much, no. Will I make it again? Nope, I sure won't. Will I try a plain chocolate pie sometime? You bet your sweet whatever I will, lol. And, I will use more chocolate and less sugar, too.

For dinner last night, I went into my beloved freezer and pulled out the last of the cabbage/tomato/sour cream concoction I made, um, last week? I think so. Anyway, I heated that up, baked a potato, and heated up some frozen winter squash I'd found at Kroger this past Wednesday. It's been a long, long time since I've had that kind of squash, and truly enjoyed it, and there's enough left for another meal with it. YUM!

So, I'm thinking that possibly I'll use that leftover squash tonight to make a sorta/kinda/but-not-really succotash for dinner. What I'm thinking is to drain and rinse a can of Great Northern beans, and mix those and the squash together, along with some roasted red peppers and some onions. Maybe. Not sure yet, but will let you know later on, lol.

Until next time, Happy Eating!!!