Your Vegan Mom

Everyday Dessert: Cashew Date Custard

 
Have I ever mentioned that my kids have dessert every night?  Are you scandalized?  It's true that I haven't seen Fed Up yet.  But before you leave in disgust, let me explain.  Dessert is a legitimate meal in our house composed of real food as opposed to its more common components - white flour and sugar.  It comes about an hour after dinner and serves to top off little bellies before bed.  I'm totally not saying you should do this too, but it's an essential part of our day for these two reasons:

The Rice Plate, or Sharing Lunch with a Four-Year-Old

While Paul was working out of town (for 6 weeks!  Did we talk about this?), this was the go-to lunch for Felix and me.  I would make a big pot of rice at the beginning of the week, and then I could stick all this on a plate for us to share when he came home from school.  It's totally conducive to the addition of leftovers - in particular slivers of fried tofu.  You grab a piece of seaweed, spread it with some gochujang (unless you're four), pinch up some rice, top with avocado, dip the sticky rice ends in toasted sesame seeds and eat.  Or eat it any way you like.  It's finger food or fork food - the perfect sort of meal to keep a kid interested while you chat about his day at preschool.  And it's totally simple and delicious to boot.  

On the topic of rice, the insert for my beloved wedding present rice cooker is looking a bit scratched up after 10 years of constant use, so I've been employing this method of rice cooking with good results, though I prefer it cooked for 5 minutes longer here where soft and sticky is preferable to light and fluffy.

And related to nothing at all, but I want to talk about it anyway, Wheeler del Torro's new cookbook just showed up in the mail, (along with a copy to share with one of you guys) and I had to force myself to put it down so that I can savor it like a novel this weekend.  It looks really good.  We'll discuss further.  

What's for lunch at your house?  

Pancake Layer Cake

 

You guys, the broccoli we talked about?  It's not ready yet.  It cooks a long time.* 

In the meantime, let's talk about birthdays.  In our house, the special day starts with a pancake layer cake. Ideally the number of pancakes in your layer cake corresponds to your age, but this morning when we made one for Grandma, we rounded down to three.  In addition to the pancakes, you need something to hold them all together.  

In Desmond's cake from last fall (seven layers!), peanut butter syrup holds together oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes.  Excellent choice, son.

And last summer, Felix's pumpkin pancakes were held together by yogurt frosting (soy yogurt + raw cashews + maple syrup -> Blend until smooth.)

For Grandma, we made multigrain pancakes with layers of lightly sweetened yogurt and berries.  She looked like a little girl on her birthday as the teetering tower of pancakes topped with a candle came her way.  

To turn our basic pancake recipe multigrain, I used a cup of whole spelt flour, 1/4 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 cup of all purpose, and 1 cup of oats in place of the 2 cups of flour called for.  Pancakes are the perfect place to use up whatever odds and ends you have.  Leftover rice?  Throw it in the pancakes. Overestimated how many pecans you needed to toast?  You get it. 

I love birthdays and pancakes and watching my boys snuggled up against their grandma at breakfast.

It's been a good day.  Happy Birthday, Mom.

*(Also, I'm not 100% happy with the recipe yet.  It's coming.)  

Natalie Slater's Cujo Chow

Keep reading. I'll get to the part why this snack bowl looks nothing like one of Celine Steene's (always) gorgeous photos.

In her adorable, well-crafted, thoughtful, delicious, personal and fun new cookbook, Bake and Destroy: Good Food for Bad Vegans, Natalie Slater describes this recipe: 

Rabid Puppy Chow fans might recognize some of these ingredients. (Heh, get it? Rabid.) “Puppy Chow,” for the rest of you, is the somewhat unappetizing name for the traditional mix of chocolate, peanut butter, and rice cereal that showed up most often at sleepovers and school parties. In this version I’ve added some tasty new elements and even a superfood or two for good measure. 

Caramel Tofu

"How's the tofu?" I ask as I sit down across from the 6-year-old.

"It's...(throws his head back for emphasis, and then more breathes than says)...aaawe.some (while slowly nodding his head forward)."

With that sort of review, I thought I better get back in the saddle, and share this recipe adapted from the latest issue of Bon Appetit. 

Digging into my second bite, I hear the boy's plate scootch across the table to me.  With his mouth still full of rice, he asks for seconds.  When I bring the plate back full again with rice and tofu and simple roasted broccoli, he asks if he can have more once he finishes that.  He did too.

Caramel Tofu

makes: 4 sevings (allowing for quite a bit of self control and side dishes)
takes: 45 minutes (about 10 active)

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 19 ounces firm tofu
• 8 garlic cloves, smashed, peeled, chopped
• 1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced (or chives if that's what you already have in your garden)

Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat.  Slice tofu about 1/4 inch thick.  Pat slices dry, swirl the hot oil around in the pan, and carefully arrange the tofu in a single layer.  You'll probably need to do this in two batches.  Fry on each side until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate.  Add the garlic to the pan, and cook, stirring often, until golden, about 1 minute.  Scrape the garlic onto the tofu.

Return the pan to heat, add 1/2 cup water, scraping up browned bits.  Add brown sugar, stir to dissolve, and cook stirring often until you have a rich brown syrup, about 4 minutes.  Carefully stir in the vinegar.  If the sugar crystalizes, keep stirring over the heat to dissolve it again.

Stir in the ginger, broth, and soy sauce.  Add the tofu and garlic back to the pan.  Swirl to coat with sauce.  Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook until the sauce is syrupy thick, about 20 minutes.  (Which is just about the amount of time broccoli needs to get some charred bits in a 450 degree oven, if you're looking for a tofu accompaniment.)  If you have an old stove like me, move the tofu around occasionally to evenly distribute the sauce and make up for the hot spots.

Top with scallions or chives, and serve with rice and broccoli.