Nasoya Silken Style Creations / banana cream pie / FTC targets blogger freebies

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Several years ago I came across a recipe for vegan banana cream pie and was so excited I couldn't wait to try it. I didn't make a single change to the recipe - just followed the directions exactly. That pie was gorgeous, and it was with great anticipation that we waited until dessert to try it. Let me tell you, you could have bounced a ball off that pie. Couldn't crush it with a sledgehammer. Couldn't dent it with a crowbar. Couldn't eat it with a fork. That pie could have stopped a speeding bullet faster than Superman. And it didn't taste good, either. We stared at the pie in horror and disappointment for a brief moment, then collapsed in hysterical laughter. We laughed about it for days, and even now someone might occasionally say, "remember the banana cream pie?" Have you cooked something that brings back memories like this?

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

So, it was with some trepidation that I decided to try again. The Nasoya company sent me coupons for free samples of three different varieties of Nasoya Silken Style Creations, a new dairy-free, lactose-free, low-fat, gluten-free pudding-like soy product that can be used as a base for creamy desserts. I meant to use the vanilla for a banana cream pie but Whole Foods was out of vanilla, so I made a chocolate banana cream pie instead. I couldn't find a recipe for banana cream pie on the Nasoya Website, so I followed their directions for similar pies and hoped for the best. The filling right from the container has a taste and texture similar to very sweet chocolate pudding, and you could layer it as is with fruit and ice cream for an easy parfait dessert. It was a little too sweet for me, but I imagine a "normal" person would find it quite delicious. And it tastes like "real" chocolate pudding. I doubt that anyone would think it was vegan.

Fill the raw crust with sliced bananas  ©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

I made the pie with a pressed pastry crust, substituting agave syrup for the Sucanot and whole wheat pastry flour for the white whole wheat, but you could use a prepared crust or whatever crust you like to make. Oddly enough, once the pie was baked, it no longer tasted too sweet - it was really creamy and good. And it was unbelievably easy to prepare. The pie tasted richly of fresh banana with the chocolate taking a complimentary role. I definitely want to try this again with vanilla so I can compare the two. (fyi: I served it as a "birthday pie" for my husband's birthday and that's why it has a candle!)

Just out of the oven - still molten and bubbly  ©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

All right then. I present you with a chocolate banana cream pie. But first I have to insert a little disclaimer.
The June 22 edition of our local morning paper had a front page headline blaring, "Bloggers' Freebies are Under Scrutiny." Subhead: "The Federal Trade Commission is expected to issue guidelines for online consumer reviews, which can be tainted by perks." Gasp. The article goes on to describe how bloggers accept "free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a 200-word post." Then it describes how a blogger from New Hartford, N.Y. who earns up to $800 per month as well as assorted gifts from her five blogs, now worries that even an innocent review of a product she purchased herself could bring an inquiry if the FTC gets involved in bloggers' lives. Does this free product thing sound familiar? I have to admit I didn't realize some bloggers were cashing in to this extent.

Anyway, in anticipation of the proposed FTC scrutiny for every little review we bloggers do, I just want to come clean and say that although Nasoya gave me thousands of dollars, a free laptop, a free trip to Hawaii, a Vitamix and a new car, in addition to three coupons for their product, my review is totally honest and above board. I'm stating only what I truly believe to be truly true. And that's the truth.

Birthday pie!  ©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Chocolate banana cream pie

• Crust for an 8- or 9-inch pie
• 4 bananas, sliced (You may need more or less to fill the crust, depending on the size of the bananas.)
• 1 package of Nasoya Silken Creations chocolate flavor
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot (or cornstarch)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 banana for decorating (optional)
• lemon juice (if using banana for decorating)

1. Place the arrowroot in a bowl and add the water. Mix thoroughly until arrowroot is completely dissolved.
2. Add the Silken Creations to the bowl and mix until completely combined.
3. Slice the bananas and place in the crust.
4. Pour the Chocolate mixture over the bananas, covering them completely.
5. Bake in a preheated 325˚ oven for 45 minutes.
6. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until completely cold.
7. If desired, slice a banana just before serving, and toss with some lemon juice so it won't turn brown. Arrange the banana slices on the top of the pie.

Silken Creations Dark Chocolate ingredients: soymilk, dried cane juice, cocoa, rice starch, natural flavors, salt.
1/2 cup has 120 calories, 1.5g fat, 18g sugar, 1g fiber, 3g protein, 45mg salt.
The package contains approximately 5 servings. I used one container plus five bananas in the pie filling. The pie contains 6 to 8 servings, depending on the size of a serving.

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

I Scream Ice Cream: mango-banana-ginger-chocolate chips

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

I've been seeing lots of ice cream posts lately, so naturally, I wanted ice cream, too. The post that finally sent me over the edge was this one at eat'n veg'n. After I saw it all I could think about (other than gardening) was making ice cream. It's also been at the back of my mind that Wheeler's Black Label Vegan Ice Cream is releasing an ice cream cookbook ("Vegan Scoop") in June and is going to do a virtual book tour on lots of blogs. The blog you are reading right now will be hosting Wheeler's virtual tour on July 7, and they've sent me an exclusive recipe to try out and share. But this isn't the recipe. I thought I'd wait until closer to the date of the tour before I posted that recipe. You're probably wondering how a virtual book tour works, and so am I. Guess we'll find out together.

The ice cream I saw on Diann's blog was made with cashews and fruit, and although I've made cashew ice cream before, I've never done it quite this way. She made hers with peaches and strawberries but mine is made with banana and mango. I used frozen mango so I could eliminate the "chill in the refrigerator for several hours" part because I am impatient that way. And I happened to have a bag of frozen mango from Trader Joe's that I've been adding to smoothies. And I wouldn't have to touch the mango skin.

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

I used to love mangoes, especially the champagne mangoes I used to find three for $2 at Whole Foods. They were fabulous, and I ate them whenever I could. Then one day I must have gotten a little too enthusiastic and was kind of gnawing the inside of the mango skin to get every last drop of fruit. The next thing I knew my lips and the whole area around my mouth were red and swollen and covered in nasty, itchy, burning bumps and welts. I was horrified because for one thing it was ghastly looking and extremely painful, and for another, I did not want to be allergic to mangoes! I didn't eat mangoes for about two years.

My friend Lorraine said I was likely just allergic to the mango skin, but that I could probably still eat the fruit if I didn't touch the skin. She wears rubber gloves to peel the fruit and never touches the mango skin with her bare skin or she gets that horrible rash. I was too afraid to try until recently, when I was missing mangoes so much I bought the bag of frozen fruit. I added a few pieces to a smoothie and told my family that if I stopped breathing they should call 911. So far so good. I've consumed almost the entire bag without incident. However, from what I've learned about mango allergy, you can be allergic just to the skin, or to the whole fruit. So if this has happened to you, make sure you have access to medical help before you experiment with eating the fruit! Allergic reactions can be fatal.

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup rice milk (or other non-dairy milk like coconut or soy)
• 1 banana (at least 1 cup of slices)
• 2 cups frozen mango chunks
• 2 large strawberries
• 1 to 2 teaspoons grated fresh gingerroot
• 1/2 cup agave syrup
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional but highly recommended because the bitter chocolate contrasts beautifully with the sweet mango flavor)

1. In a blender, grind the cashews to a powder. Scrape down the sides to make sure all is ground.
2. Add the rice milk and blend on high speed until very creamy. Check to make sure all graininess is gone.
3. Add banana, agave and ginger, and blend.
4. Add mango and strawberries and blend until mango is puréed.
5. Freeze in an ice cream freezer. When almost frozen, add the chocolate chips, if using.

This was the creamiest and best ice cream I've ever made. It was fabulous. In fact, it was better than any of the commercial non-dairy ice creams we've bought. For my taste, it was a little too sweet (my husband didn't think so) and I'll reduce the sweetener next time. I used 1 teaspoon of gingerroot and will probably use 2 next time because I love ginger.

Read more about ice cream makers here. There's also a recipe for chocolate ice cream.

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Rhubarb-banana tart

 

It's time for the annual "rhubarb ritual." This refers to the moment I realize there are still bags of rhubarb in the freezer that need to be used up. But then I think, "why would I want to use old, frozen rhubarb when there's new fresh rhubarb growing in the yard. Sigh. Another year's crop of carefully washed, cut and individually frozen on baking sheets before being packed into freezer bags for the winter rhubarb is destined for the compost. Why don't I use it? Why do I freeze it? Why do we eat rhubarb only once a year? (Twice if there are leftovers!) And what will this year's ritual rhubarb dish be?

Truthfully, I love rhubarb cobbler and I never get tired of it - how could I when I only make it once a year? But this year I wanted something a little different, so I decided to try combining the nicely tart rhubarb with very sweet bananas and raisins, just to see what would happen. I also wanted to use the very cool tart pan I was so excited to find at a garage sale a couple of years ago but have probably only used twice. It seemed appropriate to combine the once-a-year ingredient with the once-a-year pan.



Well, the rhubarb plant got a workout this year because I wasn't 100% satisfied with the first tart, and decided to try again. It's not that we didn't like it - we ate the whole thing - but it wasn't quite right. The crust was too hard and there wasn't enough banana. Looks like we'll be eating rhubarb more than once this year! I do want to warn you that I like things tart, and this tart is tart is tart is TART.




Rhubarb-banana tart (11" tart pan)

• 4-5 heaping cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1" pieces
• 2 level tablespoons coconut flour (this is for thickening the rhubarb juices. Coconut flour is very absorbent so measure carefully. You don't want to soak up all the juice.)
• 1/2 cup sucanot (more if you like it sweeter) or other sweetener (I almost used agave syrup or maple syrup)
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened, dried coconut (optional)

Pressed pastry

• 1/2 cup walnuts, raw or toasted
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons sucanot
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 4-6 tablespoons cold water

1. Pulse the oats and walnuts in a food processor until they look like cornmeal.
2. Add the flour, salt and sugar, and pulse a couple of times to combine.
3. Add the oil and pulse to incorporate. (I'm talking quick buzz buzz.)
4. Add 4 tablespoons of water and pulse a few times. Continue adding water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture is still crumbly but sticks together when you press it with a finger.
5. Lightly spray the pan with oil and, with floured hands, start pressing the crust into the bottom of the pan. You want a thin but not too thin, even crust. When the pan bottom is covered, nudge the remaining mixture onto the sides with the backs of your fingers. At this point I start to worry that there won't be enough, but there always is! When the crust is complete, place the pan into the fridge (or freezer if you have space).
6. Toss the rhubarb with the coconut flour, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl.
7. Mash the bananas. If you mush them up a bit with your fingers while still in the skin, they will mash right up when the skin is removed. Mix the bananas and raisins into the rhubarb, taking care to incorporate completely. Arrange the filling in the crust.
8. Bake in a preheated 450˚F oven for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350˚F and remove the pan from the oven so you can sprinkle the top with coconut. Return the pan to the oven and bake 20 minutes or until rhubarb is tender but still holding its shape.
9. Cool. Eat. I like my tart chilled.

The unbaked pie going into the oven

Okay, so you're probably wondering if making this tart was a lot of time-consuming trouble. If you do it like I did, the answer would have to be "yes, about four days worth." First I went to get the tart pan but it wasn't in the drawer under the oven, where I've always kept it. In fact, it was nowhere to be found, and no one in the house had a clue what could have happened to it. (The usual.) I searched everywhere with no luck. I finally decided that I really do need this pan and walked to the local kitchen store (Orange Tree Imports on Monroe St.) and found the exact pan on sale for only $12.99. Cool. The problem was it came in two sizes (9" and 11") and being a Libra, it took me a ridiculous amount of time to decide which size to get. By the time I finally had a pan, it was late and I didn't want to make the tart anymore so it was put off until the next day.

The next day I started gathering my equipment and ingredients and discovered my 1/2 cup measuring cup was missing from the baking cupboard. Are there gremlins living in the house? What is going on? I did a thorough search of the pull-out trays in the cupboard, and in the process knocked over the dog's full water dish, which is on the floor near the cupboard. I could go on and on about how I couldn't sprinkle coconut over the tart because my husband used the coconut up making burned granola and didn't add it to the shopping list blah blah blah. But why bother; you get the picture. At one point my son bopped into the kitchen and remarked, "It seems to be taking you an awfully long time to make that." . . . And then I made it again two days later. It probably won't take you long at all.

.............................................................................

Dangerous chemicals in "natural" productsI prefer as many of the products I use to be as safe as possible as well as cruelty free. I've been using Mrs. Meyer's dish liquid and other household cleaning products because I was assuming they were natural and safe, but the dish liquid tested out to have an alarmingly high level of 1,4 dioxane, a known carcinogen. Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Liquid Dish Soap had the highest levels of the carcinogen at an alarming 204 ppm (parts per million), ten times higher than any other product’s current results in a recent study. Other products familiar to health-oriented shoppers were also found to have high levels of this dangerous chemical.

Two studies (the original, and a follow-up to determine improvements), "looked specifically at products that come in contact with the skin. The studies were commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a watchdog group with over 500,000 members, and were overseen by environmental health consumer advocate David Steinman (author of The Safe Shopper’s Bible). The independent third-party laboratory, Bodycote Testing Group, known for rigorous testing and chain-of-custody protocols, performed all testing. The products selected for the study are available at popular retail outlets."

About 1,4-Dioxane
"1,4-dioxane is a petrochemical "known to the State of California to cause cancer" under Proposition 65. Due to its toxicity, many consumers would not expect to find it in "natural" or "organic" branded personal care products. The contaminant 1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of the ethoxylation process, which is a cheap shortcut companies often use to provide mildness to harsh cleaning ingredients. 1,4-dioxane is also a suspected kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant, and respiratory toxicant, according to the California EPA, and it is a significant groundwater contaminant. While previous studies have revealed the presence of 1,4-dioxane in baby, children's and adults products and those mislabeled as "organic" and "natural", this latest study shows the toxin is being significantly reduced as many brands reformulate."

You can find more information about the studies at the Organic Consumers Association Web site and also a link to a file listing specific products to choose or avoid as well as ingredients to avoid in products not on the list.

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Banana-coconut-yogurt cake

I live in a university town, and there's an old joke here that when you take a cab, your driver probably has a PhD. There's actually a lot of truth to that, and as I've discovered over the years, it applies to more than cab drivers. The story goes that people come here for their degrees, fall in love with the city, and never leave, causing a glut of overqualified job seekers. But there's more to the story than just too many qualified workers. Some of these highly educated folks decide to take a different path. Take the handyman who cleared our walks this winter, caulked the tub and made me a new cutting board. He's a (too young to retire) retired engineer who builds decks and pergolas, trims trees, does woodworking, etc. And in a conversation with the painter who is working on our house trim, I discovered that he used to be a social worker/ psychotherapist. He also sold plants at the farmers market for 10 years. He prefers painting, which he started doing to put himself through school, to therapy. These are two people who have found what they really want to do, love their work, and love where they live. This is one of the little tidbits that comes to mind as I get closer to leaving the city that I love so much. There will probably be more . . .

So how do I connect that little blurb about my favorite city to a banana cake? Well, the house trim will be brown - about the same color as the bananas that were sitting on the counter looking ready to explode. They were past the point where anyone would want to eat them, and were crying out to be baked into a cake and not wasted. Each morning as I passed them on my trip through the kitchen before going to work, they cried a little louder, until I finally took action. There was also a jar of leftover coconut milk waiting to be used, and a carton of the most tangy (damn sour) unsweetened soy yogurt in the fridge, that needed a purpose. The words "banana sour cream cake" were assaulting my brain, even though I've never had such a cake, let alone made one, but now I've done both. Not real sour cream, of course, but sour yogurt must be kind of the same once it gets into a cake, don't you think? The cake far exceeded my expectations (and apparently my son's since he ate about half of it after I went to bed!) It was substantial without being heavy, not too sweet and with an almost velvety texture. Delicious!



Banana coconut yogurt cake

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, sifted or stirred well before measuring
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup evaporated cane juice (like Sucanot)
• 2 very ripe bananas (3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened soy yogurt (I used Wildwood)
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used soy milk)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar.
2. Mash the bananas well and mix with the yogurt. Add the oil, coconut milk, soy milk and lemon juice and mix together.
3. Add the liquid to the dry and fold in until all the flour is incorporated. Don't over-mix.
4. Bake in a lightly oiled 9" square pan for about 40 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven. The baked cake should pull away from the sides of the pan and spring back to the touch. Don't over-bake.

This cake was especially charming while still slightly warm.

note: When I put the batter into the pan I was sure the pan was filled too high and would overflow, but it baked up perfectly. (I was so worried I even put foil around the edge just in case, but it was unnecessary.)

Frozen fruit sorbet

Now, this is my kind of frozen dessert. The cashew ice cream was great, but I think a sorbet is more refreshing. Plus it's really easy. I got this recipe from someone I was great friends with for one summer many years ago when we lived in Syracuse, NY. Then she moved to California and we lost touch. The original recipe contained beaten egg whites that got folded into the frozen fruit mixture, but you don't really need them. Besides, do people really even use raw egg whites any more?

So, Friend and I were both grad students the aforementioned summer — she in speech pathology and I in experimental open education (yup) — and my husband and I were house-sitting in an amazing suburban home with a swimming pool and a lunatic Brittany spaniel. The house's owner spent the summers as a nurse at her kids' overnight camp, and the dog's canine brother and sister also went to camp. Timmy, the dog, couldn't go to camp because he was slightly deranged. Among other things, Timmy was afraid of thunder, as many dogs are, but just before we had arrived for our house-sitting stint, Timmy, unlike most dogs, jumped through a plate glass window. This house was located on a totally private lot with gorgeous landscaping that could be easily appreciated because two sides of the sprawling house were entirely made of glass. This was of some concern to us, but Timmy did not jump through the glass on our watch. He did, however, bite the Culligan man, creating a bit of a fuss. I love dogs, and did my best to provide loving care for Timmy, but he was ... difficult.

Lots of other weird things happened while we were at the house - like an neighbor's entire wedding party showing up for an afternoon of swimming saying they had the owner's prior permission. (They didn't) "Oh didn't she tell you ...?" And, after finally getting over my 'city-girl' privacy issues, walking into the living room inappropriately dressed for public, and seeing the gardener on the other side of the glass. Not to mention the time the gas tank in our car leaked into the gravel floor of the garage and filled the house with gas fumes. We hiked to the closest pay phone (the house phones were out of order — another story) to call the fire department to ask if there was any danger, and the next thing we knew, there was a fire truck with lights and sirens racing past us on the road. "You don't suppose ...?" We raced back to the house as fast as we could and found firefighters with hoses and hatchets running around the house and yard and all the neighbors standing in the road. Fortunately, everything was okay. And about those phones. I was quite annoyed with the phone company for letting the phone be out of order for more than a week. The only way we could call them was from other locations — this was before cell phones — and they kept insisting there might be a phone off the hook. Then I discovered there was a phone we hadn't known about in the basement that the cat had apparently knocked off the hook. When the phone repairman finally did show up, unneeded, we were skinny dipping in the pool. Whew.

So, Susan and I had a lot of free time that summer. I was teaching a couple of art and music classes to young children at the Y, and I don't remember what she was doing. We spent a lot of time lounging around the pool, swimming, cooking and eating. We were always trying to find interesting new things to cook. This recipe is the only one I remember from that crazy summer. But, it's a good one.

Frozen fruit sorbet

• 2 bananas, sliced and frozen (or 1-1/2 cups mashed, unfrozen)
• 1 can (15 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice (or 1-1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• sweetener to taste (optional, and I think unnecessary)

I froze my bananas ahead of time because I knew I was going to make this, but it also works with unfrozen, mashed bananas. The quantities are kind of flexible and I wrote what I used and in the ( ) I wrote what the recipe actually says. Blend up everything in a blender or food processor until it's really smooth. (Frozen bananas probably work better in the food processor.) You can either freeze in a container until firm but not hard, and then beat with a mixer, or use an ice cream freezer. If you use the freeze/beat method, you'll have to repeat the process two or three times to achieve a smooth and creamy texture.

Chocolate banana cake

Here's a recipe I found in Vegetarian Times that was easy to veganize. It has a great texture and is not too sweet. You can bake it in a 9 x 5 loaf pan or as 12 muffins. I don't think I mashed the banana enough but it was still really good.

Chocolate banana cake

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour, (stirred well before measuring)
• 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice (like Sucanot)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• almost 1 cup soy milk
• 3/4 cups mashed ripe banana
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips for glaze (optional)
• extra chocolate chips (see note)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Coat pan with oil.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in bowl.
3. Put vinegar in measuring cup and add soy milk to make one cup. Let stand for a minute to curdle. Whisk together soy milk, banana, oil and vanilla. Fold liquid mixture into flour mixture.
4. Put batter into prepared pan and bake 50 minutes for a loaf and 20 minutes for muffins., or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
6. If desired, melt 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips in a small pot. Use a low flame and stir constantly (seriously, pay attention -it only takes a minute) until melted. Spread over the top of the cooled cake. This is a thin coating, more like a glaze.
note: This chocolate cake is relatively healthy with the whole wheat pastry flour and only 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of oil and all that banana. And I'm not saying you should change that, but you could stir 1/2 cup or more of vegan chocolate chips into the flour mixture before you fold in the wet ingredients. This is entirely optional, but maybe for a special occasion...

Lazy cooks read this: My friend Claire put chocolate chips on top of the hot cake where they softened, and she spread them into an icing. Now, THAT'S easy. Yikes.