Mexican Ratatouille

ingredients:

• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 small eggplant
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed
• oil for frying (I use grapeseed oil)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 bag Daiya vegan cheese cheddar style shreds
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• salt to taste

method:

Heat about 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet.  When hot add the crushed garlic. Fry 30 seconds, then add the chili powder.  Sir for about 20 seconds, then add all the vegetables.  Stir well to thoroughly mix vegetables with the oil/garlic/chili powder.  Add a bit of salt according to your taste. If the garlic and chili powder is sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a splash of water. Place a lid on the skillet and let simmer, stirring every so often.

When the vegetables are almost done stir the black beans.  Allow the beans to warm up for a minute or so, then add 1/2 - 3/4 bag of the cheddar shreds.  Mix well.  Sprinkle the remaining shreds over the top of the dish, place the lid back on and keep the heat on low until the Daiya has melted.  Turn off heat, serve and enjoy!

Recipe by Trudel 

Zombie Fingers (Mozzarella Sticks)

These mozzarella sticks (aka 'Zombie Fingers' - keep reading!) made with Daiya vegan cheese are truly out of this world.

I came across the recipe on Daiya Foods' You Tube channel - its one of the entries to their 'Get Cooking' contest where the prize is a much coveted iPad.  The video is made by 'The Vegan Zombie', a highly entertaining vegan cook that makes insane food and really great videos.  In my humble opinion, he is by far the front runner in the competition thus far; the recipe consists of pretty much entirely Daiya cheese, its both super easy & fun to make, is insanely, stupidly, disgustingly good, and the video itself is really well made and fun to watch.

Enough is enough! This evening I made these mozzarella sticks and Andre and I had to really exercise some serious control not to eat the whole shebang. Wow, are these beauties ever tasty.

I don't need to print out the recipe, all you have to do is watch the video a couple times and you'll have it committed to memory.  Like I said earlier, very easy to make.

Watch the video, link over to You Tube if you want to give it a thumbs up or comment, and make yourself some Zombie Fingers!!

Daiya Mac 'n Cheese

I found this recipe on the Daiya Foods website and adapted it ever so slightly.  Basically, I omitted all steps beyond cooking the pasta and making the sauce as these first two steps are totally adequate if you have a desperate craving for mac 'n cheese. The original recipe goes on to transfer the mac 'n cheese into a casserole dish, top with breadcrumbs and paprika  and bake.  To see the original recipe, click here.


ingredients:

• 16 ounces (1 pound) pasta of your choice
• 1 full package Daiya cheddar style shreds
• 3 tablespoons vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
• 2 cups unsweetened soy / rice beverage
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• salt to taste

method:

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain well and pour pasta into a large bowl.

In a small saucepan melt the vegan butter. When melted add pepper and nutritional yeast and stir well.

Stir in the soy / rice beverage and the cheddar.  Cook over low - medium heat and stir well for about 3 minutes, making sure the bottom does not burn.

Add sauce to pasta, stir well and add a bit of extra salt if desired.

Vegetable Pot Pie with Daiya Vegan Cheese

This is a fairly basic veggie pot pie recipe, but the addition of wonderful Daiya vegan cheese makes it a step way above the ordinary.  I used to make veggie pot pies years ago, but there was no vegan cheese on the market that I would put anywhere near my mouth, so though the pies were tasty, they were really just a bunch of vegetables in a crust.  Well, hello Daiya!!  Daiya vegan cheese will spike up any meal giving dishes that restaurant-made quality.  You can buy it at any Whole Foods in North America, plus a wide, wide variety of other natural grocers.  For a listing of where to buy near you just click here for their locator page.

Note on amount of vegetables to use:  Use as many as will fill up whatever size pie dish you have, so you kind of have to eyeball the amount. My theory is it's better to have too much than too little.  I have a very deep pie dish as well, so all my veggies almost filled up a 4 liter cooking pot (see photo below).

ingredients:

• 1 double layer pie crust; either store bought or home made
• 2 - 3 average sized potatoes, cubed
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• a variety of veggies, whatever you have on hand (I used 1 small zucchini, green beans, peas, corn, mushrooms, broccoli florets and stem chopped up)
• 1 head red or green chard or large bunch spinach, chopped
• 2 - 3 cups vegetable broth (from cooking the veggies, see method below)
• herbs of your choice (I used Italian herbs, but cumin & garlic is good too)
• cornstarch or flour
• 1/2 bouillon cube
• 1 package Daiya vegan cheese (you may not use the whole package, depends how cheesy you want it)

method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

If using pre-made pie shells, thaw and place into pie dish.  If making from scratch, make the crust while the veggies are cooking and line the pie dish with the bottom layer crust.

Cook chard or spinach in a pot with about 1 cup water.

In another pot, a large one, cook the remaining chopped veggies in about 2 cups water until about half done.

Prepare your pie crust if making from scratch and line pie dish with bottom crust.

When veggies are done strain them over a bowl so that you reserve the liquid.  Strain the chard / spinach separately as it is used as a topping layer at the end, make sure to reserve the broth from the chard / spinach as well.

Transfer veggies to a large bowl, set chard aside.

Pour the reserved broth into one of the used cooking pots, put on low heat and add 1/2 bouillon cube and herbs & spices.  Add cornstarch (about 1 Tbsp) or flour (about 2 - 3 Tbsp) and mix well, until sauce thickens a bit.

Pour sauce over veggies and stir to combine.

Spread a handful or two of Daiya vegan cheese in the bottom of the pie dish.  Pour all the veggies over top and top with cooked chard / spinach.  Add some more Daiya over top, the amount is up to you.

Place the top pie shell over everything and seal up as best you can.  Make a few small holes in the top shell for venting.

Bake 45 minutes, or until crust is slightly browned.

Let cool a bit before serving.  I make pot pies in the afternoon if I have time, then leave them in the warm oven until dinner and they're just the perfect temperature. 

Vegan Lasagna with Daiya

We've made many a vegan lasagna over the years, but the availability of Daiya vegan cheese has truly revolutionized this recipe.  Daiya comes pre-shredded, and for lasagna we use the "mozzarella style shreds".  The "cheese" melts absolutely beautifully, and this lasagna is always the biggest hit at any gathering we take it to. I have a brother-in-law who is a seriously ravenous meat eater. He's big, beefy, races motorcross....and is a HUGE Daiya fan. It's actually quite funny to hear him rave about it!

Important Recipe Notes: 

• This "recipe" is actually more of a guideline so that we can replicate it again in the future.  There are no exact measurements and you will have leftover veggies and maybe sauce. 
• Dish size:  The lasagna dish I use is made by Le Creuset and is 8" wide x 11.5" long x 3" deep (not including lid)
• We pack the dish 3 layers deep, it ends up looking too tall for the dish but the heavy lid keeps everything down.  It shrinks down quite a bit during cooking, leaving you with nice thick slices.
• Do not pre-cook the lasagna noodles!! The veggies provide enough liquid to cook the noodles during baking! 

Ingredients:

• 2 jars tomato sauce of your choice
• 1 large eggplant
• 1 large, or 2 small zucchini (green or yellow)
• approx. 4 cups sliced mushrooms (or half a brown "mushroom" bag)
• red chard, 1 large bunch or 2 small
• 500 grams regular lasagna noodles
• lots of Daiya vegan cheese, have at least 5 cups on hand
• salt
• olive oil

Method:

Slice eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms very, very, very thin.  It's time consuming, but necessary.

Wash, dry and chop red chard.

In the very bottom of your lasagna dish spread a thin layer of tomato sauce and layer the first noodles side by side. DO NOT OVERLAP THE NOODLES. 

Spread another thin layer of sauce over the first layer of noodles.  Sprinkle a bit of salt over top. 

Layer eggplant slices on top, then layer zucchini slices on top of the eggplant, followed by mushrooms on top of the zucchini. 

Sprinkle a very light amount of Daiya over the mushrooms, then drizzle  a thin stream of olive oil over the cheese.  This may seem odd - please read the following note....

**The only fat content in this lasagna is coming from Daiya, and with all the volume of veggies, noodles and sauce that's not all that much.  Traditional lasagnas are full of meat and dairy, so the addition of a small amount of olive oil just "rounds out" the dish.

Place a layer of the chopped red chard over the "cheese".

Cover with another layer of noodles, taking care not to overlap the noodles (the overlapped portions will not cook properly).

Important Step!  Using a small pan, gently but firmly press the noodles down.  This compression will help you get an extra layer in the dish.

Spread tomato sauce over the noodles and repeat exactly as above for the second and third layer, making sure to top off the third layer with noodles, spreading sauce on top but no cheese!

The third layer will be itching to bust out of the edge of your dish. Not to worry, it'll shrink down during cooking. 

Place the lid on the dish - this will ensure that all the steam from the veggies will remain inside and cooks the noodles.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.


Both times we've made this, we've left it in the oven overnight before baking, then baked it the following day in the afternoon. I'm not sure if this affects the consistency, so if it's not completely done after 1 hour (test with a knife, it should slice easily through all the layers), just cook a bit longer. 

Remove from oven, remove lid, sprinkle a generous amount of Daiya vegan cheese over top, replace the lid and let sit for 10 minutes.  

Once you lift the lid, the top layer of "cheese" will have melted beautifully.  

Your lasagna is now ready to eat!

Daiya Cheese Breadsticks

I've been meaning to make these for at least a year and finally got around to it.  I've never made bread sticks before, but am an old hand at the bread machine thing, so thought I'd give it a whirl.  We used to love the cheese sticks that the Queensdale Market on Lonsdale sells, but these are easily just as tasty.

So, you do need a bread machine for this recipe, unless you're savvy at adapting these for the traditional method.

ingredients:

In a breadmachine, add the following ingredients in the order as they appear:

• 1 1/3 cups tepid water
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp bread machne yeast

You will also need about 4 - 5 cups Daiya vegan cheese (2 packages should cover you)

method:

Fit pan into bread machine and select "Dough Cycle"

Once done, remove dough onto a lightly floured surface, cover with a large bowl and let rise for 10 - 15 minutes.

Divide dough into sections (however many you want, size is up to you), and roll into long stick-like shapes, like in the photo below.

Pop your pan, or pans, into an oven preheated to 375 degrees, and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, depending on size of bread sticks.

Remove from oven, brush dough with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with Daiya, patting it onto the dough to "stick" and letting it crumble around the edges too.  The more the better!

Bake another 5 - 7 minutes, or until edges of the Daiya cheese are just slightly crispy.  Remove from oven and try not to eat them all within 24 hrs!