Midterm week

The title describes all!! I had midterms last, this week and I believe the one after this... Great this shows how tentative I am in class. I don't even know when my midterms are. I've been so busy studying for calculus, I'm drained so I decided to treat myself by going to Six Flag for the fright fest. I'm not a picture person so there's no pictures. It wasn't what I had expected. I expected it to be more frightening but apparently not with all the rude people pushing and shoving.

Anyways onward to the food. I helped my boyfriend bake some goodies for his mother's office since she was leaving that hell hole yay!!! We had to bake 80 of each item but we didn't have enough time to bake enough of the muffins. I wished I had more influence on what was being served. We made apple cranberry muffins (ovo-vegetarian), gingerbread cookies (ovo-vegetarian) and VWAV pumpkin oatmeal cookies (vegan). Awesome. Everyone loved the baked goods. The vegan cookies came in second though :[ They liked the muffins more...but at least it's not last!!


This week's muffin, Persimmon Muffin!!
Tis is the season for persimmons!!! I love persimmons although they can cause severe heartburns if you just eat it out of the hand. They're amazingly delicious. Some how they remind me of pumpkins because they're so orange! *Note I tend not to use cups to measure ingredients as they can be quite inaccurate. I've just converted the weight to volume so please excuse all the odd measurement in volume.


Recipe Yields 6 Muffin // 165 Cal/Muffin


75g// 5/8 Cup All Purpose Flour
75g// 5/8 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
38g// 3 Tbsp Sugar, Granulated
12g// 1 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Cinnamon, Granulated
1/8 Tsp Allspice, Granulated
1/8 Tsp Nutmeg, Granulated
1/8 Tsp Salt

115g// About 1 Medium Persimmon, Pureed
12g// 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup Soy Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla

Kabocha Pie (Japanese Pumpkin Pie)
Tis is autumn!! The leaves are falling, the winds are strong, it's almost Halloween, Thanksgiving will soon follow. It's a great time for eating pumpkin pies and sweet potato pies! Normally people associate autumn with pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie but there aren't many pumpkins readily available here but there are many kabocha. Kabocha is also known as Japanese pumpkin. The taste a bit like pumpkin and a bit like sweet potato. Even better! Killing two birds with one stone. Of course I wouldn't do that I can't even kill one bird with a stone. Poor birdie. Kabocha is a popular ingredient in Asian cooking and it's avaible all year round in the Asian markets. I've seen them in both the Korean markets and the Chinese market. In the Chinese market these kabocha are actually called pumpkin in Chinese. Hey why not make so "pumpkin pie"?


Recipe Yield 1 7" pie, 8 slices// 140.25 Cal/Slice

Crust
62g// 4 2x2 Graham Crackers, Crumbled
60g// 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
24g// 2 Tbsp Soy Butter, Room Temp.
3 Tbsp Soy Milk
1/3 Tsp Cinnamon, Granulated

Filling
265g// Kabocha, puree
6 oz// 170g Silken Tofu, Firm (I used Mori-nu)
50g // 1/4 Cup Sugar, Granulated (You can use more, my kabocha was very sweet)
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Nutmeg

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
  
• Crumble the graham crackers and combine it together with the all purpose flour.
• Cut in the soy butter into the flour mixture.
• Make a well in the middle and add the soy milk and knead the dough.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerated it for about 20 minutes.
• Take out the dough and flour the rolling pin and your surface.
• Roll out the dough to be around 3/4 cm thick and cover your 7" pie pan.
  
• Poke many holes with the fork and back it in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Take it out and let it cool while you make the filling.

• Peel and dice the kabocha. (Make sure you measure the kabocha with out the skin and seeds.)
• Dice the kabocha to 1.5" cubes and steam it in a steamer for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
• Puree the squash in the food processor until there are no more lumps.
  
• Put the kabocha into a large bowl and puree the tofu in the food processor. (Since we're using firm tofu, make sure there are no lumps! You don't want lumpy pie!)
• Add the kabocha sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg into the tofu mixture and puree it until all the ingredients are combined.
• Pour the filling into the crust and bake it for 20 minutes. If you bake too long, it will crack!

Cinnamon Raisin Coconut Rice Pudding


Rice pudding hmm....The coconut taste is very subtitle but with the addition of shredded coconuts, it goes quite far. Actually I've made it twice, once in my b/f house and once at home. The one that my b/f and I made was from a recipe in vegweb. It didnt turn out the way we wanted to so I've made it again.

Recipe Yields 4-6 Serving// 533-355 Cal/Serving

1 13.5 Fl Oz// 2 Cup Canned Coconut Milk
1 1/2 Cup Soy Milk (I used plain, sugarless)
185g// 1 Cup Jasmin Rice
150g// 3/4 Cup Sugar, Granulated
40g// 1/4 Cup Raisins
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Cinnamon, Granulated
2 Tbsp Agave Nectar (Optional)
23 g// 1/4 Cup Shredded Coconut (Optional)

• Boil the coconut milk and soy milk together in a saucepan or pot while you wash and rinse your rice. (It helps a lot if your saucepan or pot are nonstick because the rice will stick!)
  
• When the milk mixture is just boiling, pour in the sugar and let the sugar melt in the milk. (If you are happening to use sweetened soy milk, reduce the amount of sugar.)
• Pour in the the rice and let it boil with a lid overing the saucepan or pot on a medium to low heat.
  
• While you are waiting for the rice to cook, soak the raisins in half a cup of warm water. If you don't soak the raisins they will absorb the moister in your rice pudding, making your pudding dry.
• When the rice is starting to cook and has already absorbed about half of the milk, lower the heat to low and let it simmer slowly with the lid on so the steam can softens the rice. If you don't use a lid, the moister will evaporate out of the saucepan or pot. It's essential that you lower the heat or else the rice will burn! No shortcuts!! It may take up to 20 minutes to 30 minutes of simmering and steaming depending on the size of the saucepan or pot.
  
• Stir the rice every few minutes to prevent burning or sticking to the saucepan or pot. If it does stick quickly scrap off any rice that is sticking to the saucepan or pot to prevent burning.
  
• When the rice is mushy and reaches your desire consistency, fold in the raisins, vanilla extract, cinnamon, shredded coconuts and agave sugar (if you are using those).
  
• Let the rice pudding simmer and steam for five more minutes. If your rice pudding happens to be drier due to moisture lost, add in some more soy milk.

Fatfree Carrot Muffin
Delicious muffin. My b/f and I got this recipe from fatfree vegan but we made our own streusel. which was not exactly fat free.



Streusel Topping

Recipe Yields enough for about 16 Cupcakes// 349 Cal total

36g// 3 Tbsp Sugar, Granulated
24g// 2 Tbsp Sugar, Dark Brown
1 Tbsp Applesauce, Sweetened
1 Tbsp Soy Butter
1 Tsp Cinnamon. Granulated
1/2 Tsp Ginger, Granulated
1/4 Tsp Clove, Granulated

• Combine the sugars and spices.
  
• Cut the applesauce and soy butter into the dry ingredients.
  
• Combine until they are the consistency of breadcrumb
• Sprinkle them onto the muffin batter after you scooped the batter into the muffin pan.
  

Tofu Pie!!

Yearly check up at the doctors. I got a call back from my doctor because there was something wrong with my check up. I had a low count of white blood cell uh oh...don't know why though. I haven't gotten sick in a long time so I didn't really use any wbc... I dont know. I also have a high level of URIC ACID. All vegans and vegetarians should be concerned because high level of uric acid is caused by beans, pea, wine, beer and nutritional yeast! If you're a vegetarian/vegan and a lover of alcohol, it's a double whammy. High level of uric acid causes gout which is also known as metabolic arthritis. Here's a little more info about uric acid. Uric acid is the product of the purine when it's broken down by your body. Some holistic ways of reducing uric acid are eating 1/2 lb of cherries per day, drinking celery tea, eating bilberries, eating hawthorns, drinking juniper berry tea and much much more. Ah this is terrible...

Lots of cooking but not a lot of recording. I find that cooking is something that is hard to measure...People have different taste. Some people love to eat salty things, some people like blander things. Some people like spicy, some people can't stand spicy. I think I'm going to focus mainly on dessert and baked goods since I love baking. Whoopdeedoo.

Despite the fact that I should be reducing my intake of beans, I made CHOCOLATE TOFU PIE "magic pie". Love it so much. My b/f went ballistic. No picture since my mom borrowed my camera. Tofu is the shit!!. Also made raspberry chocolate pie. Hm.. hm.. good.

Chocolate Raspberry tofu pie

Not much modification. Just the addition of some raspberries.

Recipe 8" pie Serves 8/ 347Cal /Slice

Crust
8 large/128g Graham Cracker, Crumbled
4 Tbsp Applesauce, Sweetened
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, Grounded
1/4 Cup/50g Sugar, Granulated
or
You can use a prepared graham cracker shell.

Filling
16 oz/454g Silk Tofu (I used soft)
12 oz/340g Chocolate Chip, Vegan
7.35 oz/208 g Frozen Raspberries, Unsweetened
plus
2.5 oz/71g Frozen Raspberries, Unsweetened

• Start preparing the chocolate by heating up the chocolate chips in a double boiler.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Combine the graham cracker crumb with the cinnamon powder and sugar. Then mix in the apple sauce until it reaches a consistency of brown sugar.
• Bake it for 10 minute.
• While the crust is baking, place the tofu in a blender and start blending. The chocolate chip should be melted by now so add the melted chocolate while the blender is on.
  
• Add in the 7.35 oz/208g of Frozen Raspberries into the blender while it's on.
• Shut the blender off. Try and chop the remaining 2.5 oz/71g of frozen raspberries into halves or quarters and stir it into the blended mixture.
  
• Pour it into the graham cracker crust and let it sit in your refrigerator.

*Note: This is softer than the original "magic pie" due to the addition of raspberries. The brown color of the pie is much lighter too.

Autumn = Apples

Autumn is Here

Don't you just love autumn? My family and I went to the Masker Orchard in Warwick, New York for a jolly family apple picking trip. We picked around 45 apples but the variety was not great since there were only a few variety of apples ripe at that moment. We only have a few left. We love our apples. Yes we do.

Apple Tartlet


Recipe Yields 6 Tarlets 112 Cal/ Tarlet

3 1/2 Tbsp / 49g Vegan Butter, Room Temperature
48 Sheets/26 g Phyllo Dough (Each sheet around 4.5"x 2.5')
1 Large/ 268 g Golden Delicious Apple, Finely Diced
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Vanilla
1/8 Tsp Nutmeg
1/8 Tsp salt

• Grease a muffin pan.
  
• Peel and dice your apples and put it into a sauce pan with the salt and a tablespoon of butter.
  
• Heat up the apples on med-high heat and wait until the apples starts to let out it's juices.
• Pour the sugar and lower the heat. Let the apples simmer and continue stirring the apples until the syrup reduce into a thick syrup similar to the consistency of rice syrup.
• Add in the vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until it is combined.
  
• Then set the apples aside while you prepare the phyllo dough crust.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and Lay the first sheet down and generously spread some butter on the phyllo dough, lay another phyllo sheet and spread the butter on it again. You should do this four more times, resulting in 6 layers of phyllo dough.
  
• Gently stuff the sheet into the muffin pan and dollop 1/6th of the apple filling into the phyllo shell.
• Do this 5 more times resulting 6 apple tartlets.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Another day in Manhattan

Sorry I didnt bring my camera but damn!! I love Union Square. I went with my boyfriend and we went to the green market and bought a lot of those decorative guords and indian corn. There was also a street fair with many various booths. There was a couple who had a booth selling vegan soap. Awesome! The only non vegan soap they had was the Honey Oatmeal. The couple was very nice and offered some nice tips and free samples. They also have a website so maybe you can check it out. They're booth is called the Copasoaps. They're from Phila, Pennsylvania but they sell their soaps in the street fairs on N.Y. They have the locations, time and date on the website.

My boyfriend and I also went to Zen Palate. They serve mostly vegan Asian food. They do specify whether the food contain milk derived ingredients, eggs, or dairy. Although it's a bit small, I loved the atmosphere. Their dishes are also huge so we ended up sharing our food and getting some appetizer. I didn't fully enjoy my stay there because of the other customers. There were several groups of customers who went into the restaurant not knowing that it was a veggie restaurant. When they took a look at the menu, they got up and left. What bunch of pricks. Screw them.

Thank goodness we went to some place sweet to calm my nerves. We went to Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen. FUck Yah. COMPLETELY VEGAN. I think Babycakes is overrated. Pretty website and what not. After reading an article online about Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen, I found out that they went through a lot since early this year, they were suppose to be scheduled to closed down due to their landlord but with support from the lovely customers of the bakery, a rally was held to keep the bakery open. Hell yah! They're still open. We got a pumpkin pie. Great treat for the fall. It tasted great! The bakery does not look the best nor was it big, it fucking rocks.

Slow week

Yes it has been a slow week. It's the second week of summer school. Calculus/intergals is hard work. After classes I go straight to work and on the days I have off, I spend all my time with my b/f. Not a lot of time for cooking. I've been just microwaving morningstar veggie bites for dinner and what not. I still have a lot of lacto octo vegetarian food...

I got this recipe off of recipezaar I still need to get rid of my vegetarian items.



Avocado Pie (Lacto Vegetarian)

8 in" pie/Serves 8 Slices - 282 cal/serving

Filling
1 /173g Avocado
1 14 oz/397g Condensed Milk, Canned
1/3 Cup/79 mL Lime Juice, Freshly juiced

Crust
12 1" by 2"/93g Graham Crackers, Crumbled
2 1/2 Tbsp/37 mL Baby food or Applesauce, Sweetened

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
  
• Make the crust by crushing the graham crackers into medium coarse grains.
  
• Cut the baby food/applesauce into the graham cracker until the mixture is cut into texture like coarse bread crumb.
  
• Press the crumb onto the bottom of a 8" circular pan.
• Place the crust into the oven and bake it for 10 minutes.
• Let the crust fully cool before filling the crust.
• To make the filling pit and skin the avocado.
  
• Put the avocado, lime juice and condense milk into a blender and blend it into a thick puree.
  
• Pour the filling mixture into the pie crust and let it chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
  

Verdict: Need to use up some left over vegetables.

It taste much better as leftover since the casserole firmed up and the tofu absorbed more of the flavor.


Vegetable Casserole (Vegan)

9" bu 5" loaf/4 servings

1 15 oz Block Firm Tofu, Thawed or in Packaged
1/4 /152g Eggplant, Sliced into 1/4"
1/2 /164g Large Zucchini, Sliced into 1/4"
3/4 /114g Large Onion, Sliced into 1/4"
2 Cup/592 mL Tomato Sauce
Vegetable Oil

• It's best if you use thawed tofu because it absorbs more flavor. Drain the tofu and press as much liquid out of the tofu as possible with a heavy weight.
• Slice the tofu block into 1/3".
  
• Cook the Onions in a pan with some oil until half way tender then add in the zucchini and eggplant. Season with some salt and pepper and cook until tender.
  
• Drain as much liquid as you can because when you bake it, all the water sweats out of the vegetables.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350F.
  
• Line the bottom of the pan with about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce or enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Then line the next layer with tofu and cover it with another 1/2 cup of tomato sauce or how ever much it takes to coat it.
  
• Line the next two layer with the zucchini and the onion and cover it with 1/2 cup of tomato sauce.
  
• Then line the last layer with the eggplant and coat it with 1/2 cup of tomato sauce.
• Bake it in the oven for 45 minutes.
  

Verdict: Had a lot of plums and I love spreads ;3 Stored in gerber jars. That's why I've been using a lot of baby food in my baking recently. I bought 24 jars of baby food for 10 dollars at my local market with my b/f. I felt like I had a baby and I didn't even know it. I got this recipe off of epicurious. Note: Preserve is not as sweet as jam. It's a tad bit sour for those who dislike sour stay clear of this recipe!

Plum Preserves (Vegan)

Serves 4 4oz jars

2 lb/907 g Plums, Any
1/2 Cup/100g Sugar,Granulated
1/2 Cup/118 mL Water
1 3" Cinnamon Stick

• Pit the plums and roughly chop them into large pieces if you like large pieces in your spread and smaller pieces if you like jamish like spread.
• Mix the water, plums, sugar and cinnamon stick into a small pot and simmer it for about 45 minutes or until it reaches the consistency you like.

Verdict: Homemade is the best even if it is organic.

Cashew Butter (Vegan)


Yields 1/2 Cup/ 16 Servings of 1 Tbsp = 48Cal/Serving

1 Cup/129g Cashew, Salted Roasted
or
1 Cup/120g Cashew, Raw
Salt

• If you are roasting your own nut, preheat the oven to 325F
  
• Place the raw nuts on a shallow rectangular pan. Do not pack your nuts!
• Sprinkle enough salt for your tasting.
• Roasted for about 10-20 minute or until golden brown. Stir often because they burn easily
• Put the Cashews into the blender and blend it until it turns into butter.

**Note: If you like crunchy cashew butter, blend the whole cashew until it's chopped into coarse pieces and reserve 2-3 Tbsp. After you blend all the cashew into a cream, fold in the reserved cashew pieces.




VWAV's Chickpea and spinach curry. I made it with some coconut milk. hmm... :3

Many unsuccessful dishes =/

Attended a family bbq for July 4th so I decided to bring some food there and my mom asked "Why? There's yam and fruits" Wow very nice...yam and fruits. I decided to make the Green pepper wheat gluten steak. It's a recipe I got off of vegweb.com. It's modified to what have had in stock. Here's the recipe I used.


Green Pepper Wheat Gluten Steak (Vegan)

recipe yields 4-6 serving 246 cal/serving

1 12 oz Pkg of Gluten (the one found in the chinese supermarket)
1 Tbsp of Olive Oil
2 Tsp of Sesame Seed Oil
1/2 Cup of Onion, 1 inch half ring
2 Cloves Large Garlic, Minced
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper, Grounded
1 Tsp Fresh Ginger, Grounded
1/4 Tsp of Guilin Garlic Chili Sauce (Hot sauce will do)
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper, Grounded
1 Vegetable Bouillon
1 Cup Hot Water
1 lb Chopped Plum Tomato
2 Large Green Peppers
1 Large Red Pepper
2 Tbsp Corn Starch
1/4 Cup Cold Water
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

• Drizzle a pan with the olive and sesame seed oil and saute the onions. Then add the pepper and salt and saute it until they are almost tender.
• Add the gluten and cook until the sides are lightly brown. Don't burn them! Then add in the ginger and garlic.
• Dissolve the bouillon in the cup of boiling water and add to the gluten in the pan.
  
• Let the food simmer for about 5 minutes and then add the tomatoes, peppers, cayenne and guilin garlic chili sauce and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
• In a small cup or bowl create a slurry with the corn starch, soy sauce and cold water. Combine until all the corn starch has dissolved.
  
• Mix the slurry into the food in the pan and let it cook until the sauce reaches your desire consistency.

I also made some vegan seasoned faux "sausage" patties but I don't think it tasted that great. It tasted a bit too herby since the recipe required a lot of herb. I like the texture of the pattie though.



Avocado = Guacomole :) Two attempt using two different recipe. I like the 2nd one more. I got this recipe out of one of my vegetarian book.

Guacamole (Vegan)

Recipe: Yields 4 Serving 173 Cal/Serving

2 Ripe Avocado, Mashed
2 Tomatoes, Seed and Chopped
6 Scallions, Finely Chopped
1-2 Jalapeno, Seeded and Finely Chopped
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste

• Peel and seed your avocados and then mash it up well with your fork or masher.
  
• Quickly add the lemon juice and mix well. Then add the tomatoes, scallions, jalapeno, cilantro, salt and pepper. Incorporate all the ingredients together.
• Serve with tortilla, crackers, bread etc.

"Zucchini in bikini are walking down the stairs" an excerpt of the lyric from the the children show "Banana in Pajama". Wow...I feel old that was from my childhood. Needed to get rid of my zucchini so I ate it. I also needed to get rid of my dairy items. The light cream has been sitting in my refrigerator for about a month.


Zucchini Dessert Pie (Vegetarian)

Recipe Yields 8 Servings 283 Cal/Serving

1 9 Inch Pie Crust (you can make your own or omit it to make a custard)
2 Cup Pureed Cooked Zucchini (About 2 really large zucchini)
1/3 Cup Rice Syrup
1/3 Cup Sugar, Granulated
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon, Grounded
3/4 Tsp Ginger, Grounded
1/4 Tsp Allspice, Grounded
1/4 Tsp Nutmeg, Grounded
1 Cup Light Cream, warm or (Vegan version: Soy Cream)
3 Tsp of EnerG + 2 Tbsp Water

• Peel and cut your zucchini into 1 inch cubes and microwave it for about 8 minutes on high or until tender.
• Drain out off all the water from the zucchini!!
• Put the chunks of zucchini into your blender and blend it until there are no more solid pieces.
• Mix the puree with the rice syrup, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg.
  
• Warm the light cream and pour it into the puree mixture along with the egg replacer.
• Pour it into the pie crust and bake it for 425F for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 250F and bake it for 40-45 minutes or until your knife comes out clean when inserted near the middle of the tart.
  
• Let it cool down completely before serving.
  

Attempted to make pumpernickle rye bread but I'm not sure if it's really pumpernickel rye since it doesn't taste anything like the one my ex job had. Who knows I guess Ill try again with another recipe.


I made the Banana Split Pudding Brownie from VWAV. It tasted great but it was a bit too fudgy. I know it's suppose to be pudding but was it suppose to be goey? The photo I saw on ppk does not look like pudding. In fact it looked solid. I think the error occurred because I reduced the recipe to by 1/4 and I ended up baking it in a muffin pan since I don't have a small enough pan. The top of my brownie lumped inwards. It deflated!! Maybe it's because I filled the muffin pans too much. Who knows...I'll try baking it in a rectangular pan next time.

Lots of Baking!!!!

Por Lor Bao

hmmm...Por Lor Bao...Now that I'm vegetarian, I can't eat any more of those delicious chinese bakery buns. I miss them so much. I got a recipe from Jo's Deli - Polo Pau My attempt to make it vegetarian was not so great...I didn't have soy milk powder so I used soy milk. That was a poor substitute. It didnt taste like the por lor bao from the chinese bakery but my mom liked it. I'll post the recipe when I find a better way of substituting.

Green Tea Cupcake

My boyfriend and I made these last Saturday. We used Chockylit's Green Tea Bubble Cream Filled Cupcake recipe.

What we did:

• We added green tea powder to the cupcake batter.
  
• We substituted the regular milk with the soy milk.
• We used granulated sugar instead of the powder sugar.
• We didn't fill the cupcakes with the filling, instead we ate it!!

What went wrong: It didn't say until the end that we were suppose to fill it with the bubble tea cream so we were like ... we already ate the filling.

• The frosting came out a bit too grainy, sweet and the consistency of the frosting was to watery.
  
• The granulated sugar didn't absorb enough water and granulated sugar is sweeter than powder sugar.
  

What went well:

• Despite the problems, the cupcake came out great.
  
• The bubble tea filling tasted pretty good too.
  
• Yay. Next time we'll know what to do!

Yogurt Bread

I was inspired by Yochana's Mixed Berries Bun so I've decided to make some plain yogurt buns.
I've made some modification to her recipe. Here is the recipe I've used.

Yields: 1 5" x 8" loaf [930 cal/loaf]

1 tbsp (12 g) sugar
1 7/8 tsp (6.25 g) Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup (60 g) warm water (100 - 115F)

+ or - 1 2/5 cup (175 g) All purpose flour
1 1/5 tbsp (21 g) Honey
1/4 tsp salt
A little less than 1/3 cup Plain unsweetened Yogurt (78 g)
1 2/5 tbsp melted butter

To active the yeast:

• Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and add in the active dry yeast.
  
• Mix until its combined and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Dough:

• Mix the honey with plain yogurt and warm it up in the microwave until it's 100 - 115F. Make sure you don't burn it or warm it up too much that the yogurt will coagulate.
  
• Combine the yogurt mixture with the yeast mixture.
• In a separate bowl combine the salt with the flour.
  
• Gradually add the flour into the liquid mixture, little by little while mixing it with your hand or a spatula. When it gets to a thick enough consistency, starting kneading it with your hands.
  
• When the dough becomes smooth, add in the melted a tsp at a time. Continue kneading the dough until it becomes as firm as a baby's bottom.
• 
  
• Put it in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for it to rise overnight to develop it's flavor. When morning comes take out the dough and let it sit out until it's room temperature. Make sure it doesn't over rise.
  
• If you want to make the bread now, let it rise in a warm place until it double in size. (2 hours in a warm place or you can test it by pressing the dough with your index and middle finger. If it leaves an indentation it's ready to be shaped. If doesn't leave an indentation let it continue to rise.
  
• Punch does down dough and shape the bread into little buns or a loaf and place it into the pan.
• Let the dough go into the second rising for about 45 minutes or until an indentation is left on the dough.
• Bake for 375F for about 20 minutes or until it's golden brown and cooked.

Spinach, Broccoli and Cheese Tart

My b/f and I got the recipe from the Vegetarian book from the Barnes & Noble Books. The recipe is called Cheese and Spinach Tart but me made some adjustments. For the cheese you can use low fat or nonfat cheese.

Recipe: Yields 1 9" tart [3126 cal/tart]
8 slices [391 cal/slice]

Crust [2121 cal/crust]
8 Tbsp (138 g) Butter
2 Cups (250 g) All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Chinese Mustard Powder (or 1/2 tsp Regular Mustard Powder)
Large Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 cup (4 oz) Finely Grated Cheddar Cheese [used Cabot brand]

Filling [1005 cal/filling]
1/2 lb Fresh Spinach
1/2 lb Fresh Broccoli
1 med Onion or 1/2 Large Onion
pinch of Nutmeg
1 cup (8 oz) Large Chunk Cottage Cheese (you can use regular)
2 Large Beaten Eggs
1/2 cup (2 oz) Shredded Mozzarella [Sorrento brand]
2/3 cup (158 mL) Light Cream
Salt and Pepper for taste

Glaze
Beaten egg

Crust

• In a bowl rub the butter into the flour until the flour looks like bread crumbs.
• Add and combine the mustard powder, paprika, salt and cheddar cheese.
• Add 2-3 tbsp of water or enough water to form dough.
  
• Knead until the dough is smooth.
• Put it in a bowl wrapped with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator.

Filling

• Chop the onions, spinach and broccoli.
  
• Put the onions, spinach and broccoli in a wok or pan seasoned with the nutmeg, salt and pepper.
  Cook it until they are tender.
• Add and combine the cottage cheese, beaten eggs, parmesan cheese and light cream.

Crust

• Take 2/3 of the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it fits a 9 inch pan.
  
• Line the 9 inch pan with the crust and cut off the excessive dough.
  
• Preheat the oven to 400F.
  
• Spoon the filling into the pan with the crust.
• Roll out the remaining into a 9 inch circle and cover the pie with the crust and press in the edges. (You can also cut the crust with a decorative pie crust cutter like the lattice pastry cutter.
• Glaze the top of the crust with a beaten egg.
• Put the tart into the oven and bake it for 35-40 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Sicilian Filled Cannoli Cake

It's a 3 layer sponge cake with Sicilian cannoli filling. I've searched far and wide for the best recipe online. It looks like it was slumping because the commercial type of ricotta cheese needs to be drained, which I didn't do and it was such a hot, warm day. It made the cannoli fillng melt as soon as I took it out of the fridge but the cannoli filling tasted very good. I was stealing bits and pieces here and there. I hope my boyfriend don't mind . The frosting was not good for decorating though. Not only was it too soft and wont retain the decorative detail, it had huge chunks of orange peels/zest and chocolate. I've should've made the cake with regular cannoli filling. My boyfriend liked it but the consistency of the filling was not the same as the regular cannoli filling. He said it was too grainy. I should've placed it in the blender. Eh...it's good to learn from mistake. By the way...I used Key Food - Part Skim Ricotta Cheese. It's Kosher but it does contain whey. Use your own judgment whether or not you want to use it.

Ricotta Cheese

Key Food Brand
Ricotta Cheese - Part Skim [any size] (veg)
*Does contain Whey

This was the type of ricotta cheese used in the cannoli frosted cake. It does contain whey but it is Kosher. I'm also pretty sure the whole ricotta cheese are also vegetarian.