And so we begin

This blog stuff is harder than I thought it would be. Maybe its my lack of technological knowledge and computer illiteracy, but I find myself wasting hours away with nothing but a black background and a good looking color scheme. So today was a little bumpy, some pictures are flipped the wrong way, but don't worry just ironing out the kinks :)

So, my goal today was to put something actually relating to food on here. Thanks to my wonderful Roomies - Rachael and Riley - I have two wonderful little additions - both recipes that come directly from their ingenious minds. Also, I threw in my latest creation : Vegan Raspberry Cheesecake, YUM! Lets get started....

Riley's Hot Hummus:

Riley started getting a bit sensitive towards his hummus making ability for John labled it as "bland". Yikes. Nobody wants to hear that about their food, ever. To blow John and all of our minds, he came up with a recipe that I swear is the best homemade hummus I've ever had. This recipe makes A LOT of hummus, but I don't think anyone will be complaining. Our house devoured it in one day, so ENJOY!

-3 cans of chickpeas

-1/3 cup olive oil -1 tbs. tahini

-5 cloves of garlic

-2 habenaro's -no seeds

-1 1/2 tbs. chili powder

-2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. cumin

- juice from 2 lemons

All right, the trick to making smooth, delicious hummus is to cook the chickpeas before blending them with all of the other ingredients. To cook the chickpeas boil them for roughly 5 minutes. While they are cooking, go ahead and throw everything else in your food processor or blender, starting with the olive oil and working your way down the list. When the chick's are cooked go ahead and throw 'em in, blend, and BAM! You've got it.

Now lets talk about Soup. Winter isn't quite over, and last week at Acme they had a sale on 5 lbs. bags of potatos: buy one get one free. Along with our dumpster leeks, Rachael made an excellent animal friendly Potato Leek soup. Whip up some biscuits, and be prepared for addiction. Rachael's Potato Leek Soup: In a large soup pot saute 6 leeks (chopped) and 1 red onion (chopped) with about 2 tbs. olive oil. When they get soft add 2 quarts of veggie broth (more on homemade veggie broth to come) and 8 chopped potatos. Boil with bay leaves for 1 hour. Season to taste with celery salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. When it gets to a mushy consistency, scoop into a blender in batches (remember to remove the bay leaves). Once its all blended put back the pot and add one quart of unsweetened soy milk. Cook until warm, and garnish a bowl with a sprig of fresh thyme and hot sauce (our all time favorite is Franks). All right and now what you've all been waiting for.. Dessert, but not just any dessert, a beautifully crafted and scrumpsious Cheesecake!! Anabell Georgia's Vegan Raspberry Cheesecake On Friday the 13th it was Riley's 25th birthday. When I asked him what cake he would like me to bake for him he requested cheesecake. I had no intention to make it vegan, because well it was Riley's birthday and Riley not being vegan wouldn't be very fair. As John and I went to the Italian Market to shop for the birthday dinner and dessert, I told him what I needed to purchase for the cheesecake. He then quite simply asked, "can you do this thing vegan?", and I replied, "yeah, I think I can". And that's the story of why Riley got a vegan cheesecake for his unvegan birthday. Thankfully to the birthday gods it actually turned out wonderfully, and Riley's birthday was happy.

The Recipe: (makes two small cakes, not owning a spring form pan I used the already made grahm cracker crusts that you can get for like $1.25...I know, one day I will make my own crust, but not without my spring form pan which currently lives in AK).

-2: 8 ounce packages of Tofutti plain creamcheese

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 1 12 0z. package silken tofu

- 1 tsp. vanilla

-1 tbsp. lemon juice

That's it for the actual cake. Now lets move onto the Raspberry Puree. I used a puree recipe from some raspberry oat bars I used to make. I got the recipe off of vegcooking.com . This is a great simple puree recipe that you could really throw in any dessertish type dish to jazz it up.

Raspberry Puree

-3/4 cup Raspberries, pureed in food processor/blender

-Combine with 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. lemon juice

-Whisk well - bring to a boil over med. heat, boil for 3 minutes and remove from heat. Whisk for 5 minutes and cool.

After the puree is cooled, just poor your cake batter into the already made can't get any easier crusts and swirl in the puree! Bake at 400 for 45-1 hr - look for golden edges. It might look gelantinous still, but stick it in the fridge for a good 4-5 hours before you plan on eating it. Remember the longer it sits, the better it will taste.

Wow, and that's that for the first post of yummy goodness. This has taken me waaaay to long, hopefully things will smoothen out. But in the meantime, eat, eat, eat!!