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!!!

JB's PDG Tempeh Gravy

I made the tempeh gravy Tuesday evening, and was very pleased with the results. And, as always, learned something. What I learned about the tempeh was that when I'm trying to brown it, do it by itself, don't do it with the onions in the pan with it. It's too easy to end up with burnt onions, but not nice and crispy tempeh crumbles. Having said that, I'll explain how I made this gravy...and without any recipe, btw.

First I put about a tablespoonful of evoo and one of margarine in a big skillet...the one I have is non-stick, but if you don't have one, well, don't sweat it. I diced up half a medium onion, and an 8-oz. package of tempeh, and when the oil and margarine were good and hot, put the onion and tempeh in the skillet, and just let them brown, stirring fairly often, probably for about ten minutes or so. During the last few minutes, I added a good teaspoonful of minced garlic, and some salt and pepper. The tempeh seemed to have sucked up all the grease, so I added about another tablespoonful of oil, this time using safflower oil, as I didn't really want the evoo taste in the gravy. Then I put about an 1/8C of all-purpose flour over the mixture, stirred it in well, and let it cook for a couple minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. Then I added about a cup or so of soymilk...really don't know quite how much, just until I thought it was a little too thin, because as it cooks, it's going to thicken up. Brought the whole shebang to a gentle simmer, let it simmer for just a few minutes, and there it was: tempeh gravy!

Did I like it? Well, it was ok, and I'll probably make it again sometime, but believe it or not, the next time I do, I'm going to add a few squirts of honey to it. There was a slightly bitter taste in it, and I think a little honey would be just the thing to get rid of it.

Yesterday at Kroger, I bought another package of tempeh, and I also bought a honey-based bbq sauce to try, so one of these days I'm going to try bbq tempeh again. Don't hold your breath waiting for this one, tho, as it's going to be awhile before I do. Tempeh just isn't one of my favorite things, altho I'm still hoping to find a way to use that I really, really, really like.

One of my plans for either today or my next day off is to try to make a Chocolate-Banana-Coconut Pie, with...ready for this?!?!?...a Rice Crust. Over on the foodieblogroll, the ingredients for the January Royal Foodie Joust(RFJ from now on)are coconut or coconut milk, rice, and bananas. My immediate reaction to those was "PUDDING!" Then I gave it some more thought, and decided that maybe a pie could work, too. So, I bought the grated coconut and some bananas, as well as some more silken tofu, and I already have the cocoa powder and rice. Sooooooo, I'll let you know how it turns out. Seems to me that it should be absolutely rich, creamy, and good!!!

Until next time, Happy Eating!