DDD #69 – Vegan 4-Layer Pumpkin – Cheesecake – Chocolate – Pecan Pie

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2017

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option.  Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out.  It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing.  The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.

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Click the image below to watch the video.

You can easily eliminate any of the layers without any great loss to the overall deliciousness of this pie – so – give it a try – why don’t you!

 

Please note – this pie needs AT LEAST 6 hours in the fridge (overnight being ideal) before you cut it so making it the day before is best.

INGREDIENTS

Vegan Buttery Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup VERY COLD vegan butter

4-6 TBS VERY COLD water

Chocolate Layer

1/4 cup vegan heavy cream (see heavy cream replacement idea below)

1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips

Cheesecake Layer
8 oz vegan cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 vegan egg (see my egg replacer note below)

Pumpkin Pie Layer
1 2/3 cups unsweetened fresh or canned pumpkin puree
1 cup vegan heavy cream (see heavy cream replacement idea below)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 vegan eggs (See my egg replacer note below)

Pecan Pie Layer
1 cup mix of whole and coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup light or dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 vegan eggs (See my egg replacer note below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted vegan butter

Egg Replacer

I pureed 14 ounces of silken tofu & used 1/4 cup of it for each “egg” in the recipe.  You can do this or use your favorite egg replacer.

Heavy Cream Replacer

I used 1 can of full fat coconut milk blended with one can coconut creme.  You can do this or use your own favorite heavy cream.

 

 

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl or food processor, mix the flour & salt.  Slice the butter up & work it into the flour.  I did this in my food processor by pulsing it until it was all crumbly. Little chunks of butter in the dough are okay.  Add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough just comes together.  Don’t add so much that it gets sticky or gooey. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill in the fridge while you prepare the pie filling layers.

PECAN – Combine the eggs (see replacer idea above), sugars, melted butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract and salt in a bowl.  Stir in pecans.  Set aside.

CHEESECAKE – In a medium bowl or food processor, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1/4 cup sugar, then add vanilla and 1 “egg.” Beat mixture until smooth.  Set aside.

PUMPKIN – In a large bowl or food processor, combine pumpkin puree, heavy cream (replacer idea above), the 2 “eggs,” vanilla extract, sugar, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and salt. Mix thoroughly until uniform.

CHOCOLATE – Melt the chocolate & “heavy cream” in a pan.  Set aside.

 

Roll the dough out on a heavily floured surface.  Flour the top of the crust if it begins to stick to your rolling pin.  Roll it out a few inches larger than your DEEP pie dish. Carefully fold the crust in half twice so it looks like a pie wedge.  Put it in your pie dish & unfold.  Trim the edges if you like & crimp the rim with your fingers.

When oven temperature is at 400 F, line the pie crust with a large sheet of lightly oiled/buttered aluminum foil, buttered side down, covering the edge of the crust so that it doesn’t get too brown. Fill the lined crust with pie weights, dried beans, or raw rice. Bake the pie crust for 10 minutes. Remove the weights and foil. Prick the bottom of the crust well with a fork and bake the crust for another 7 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn golden, but the crust is not fully baked. Cool the pie crust on a wire rack.  Turn oven up to 425 degrees.

 

When the crust is ready, pour the chocolate layer in & freeze for 20 minutes.

Next, pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the chilled chocolate layer, spread evenly, then freeze for about 15 -20 minutes.

When the oven is 425 degrees, remove the pie shell with cream cheese from the freezer and pour the pumpkin mixture on top of it.  Cover the crust edges with foil & bake the pie for 10 minutes.  Lower heat to 350 & bake another 25-35 minutes or until the pumpkin is beginning to set but is still soft in the center.

Remove pie from oven and carefully spoon the pecan layer over the pumpkin layer.

Keeping the edges covered in foil, bake another 60-75 minutes or until the pecan layer is bubbling & set at the edges.  The center can still be soft.

Let it cool & then refrigerate for AT LEAST 6 hours – overnight being ideal.

 

 

 

4-Ingredient Easy Vegan Enchilada Mac and Cheese (Slow Cooker or Baked)

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2015

Follow @celisemccarthy

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option.  Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out.  It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing.  The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.

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I made this using 8 ingredients but 4 of them are actually optional – so I will list them that way below.

This is the easiest thing ever – if you make it with a slow cooker.  My only issue was that I left it in my slow cooker for too long & it dried out a bit but adding more milk and some vegetable stock thinned it back out.

This recipe is for a fuckton of mac & cheese.  I made it for Easter dinner & I had 12 people over & everybody left with mac & cheese.  So – cut it in half if you are not feeding a large party.

I like to mix up the noodles I use – and I used these here – but any pasta will do.

Easy Vegan Enchilada Mac and Cheese (Slow Cooker or Baked)

Serves a shitload

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs pasta – cooked al dente

32 oz grated vegan cheeses (I used 1/2 pepper jack & 1/2 Chao Cayenne but cheddar or American would be good, too)

32 oz red enchilada sauce ( actually used 48 oz because of the length of time my pasta sat in the cooker)

2 cups milk (I used unsweetened almond milk) – plus more – in the event your mac & cheese gets too dry

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OPTIONAL ingredients: (I used all of them)

6 garlic cloves – minced 

8 oz vegan cream cheese 

1 cup vegan sour cream 

12 oz can vegan evaporated milk

Garnish – avocado, diced tomato, cilantro, sour cream, hot sauce, jalapeno peppers

DIRECTIONS

Slow cooker:

Put everything in there & heat on high (stirring occasionally) for 2-3 hours or until everything is melted & well-combined.  If it gets too thick – add more milk.

Baked:

Heat the oven to 350.   Make the pasta & then combine it in a large bowl with the other ingredients.  Transfer into casserole dish(es) – treated with cooking spray.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the cheese is melted & bubbling at the sides.

Garnish at will.

 

Ciggy’s 4 Less in North Hollywood, California

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

 

Hey guys!  I wrote a funny novel!  I hope you will check it out!  www.BathingBook.com

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Say, what’s this, you ask?  A cigarette post on a food porn blog?  How vulgar!  Uncouth! Degenerate!

And while I understand your reaction – let me offer this explanation.  I do not smoke.  I never have.  Yeah, sure.  I have puffed my way through a few in my lifetime, made reckless either by youth or alcohol but in all cases – I regretted it.  I think cigarettes are really gross & I am very grateful for every stride this country takes making smokers feel like second-hand-smoke-baby-killers & relegating them to places like those DEPRESSING lucite cubes they corral them in at airports & the like.   It is so nice to come home from a night at a bar & not return home with hair that smells so bad that it gags you.  Nice not to have to wash all the clothes your wore, etc.  The one time I can get behind smoking is perhaps controversial but I stand by it.  It is OK to smoke if you are just trying to look cool.  I mean – look at these babes! (images stolen from Google)

No.  I am kidding.  I don’t think smoking looks cool.  Not anymore, at least.  But, the reality is – is that my boyfriend is a pretty heavy smoker and I am blown away by the amount of money he spends on cigarettes.  So – when driving through North Hollywood one day – I spotted a sign that read “Cigarettes – any carton – $24.95” and I thought of Miles.  On his most recent trip to Los Angeles, I dragged him out there to suss out the situation.  Neither of us had any real expectation that he would be buying cartons of Marlboro Lights for $25 but it was worth the trip to find out.  We parked outside the very nondescript exterior (seen here – the white storefront to the left of Odyssey):

which was now devoid of any signage & stepped inside to see this:

It looked like a store that was going out of business.  To our surprise – we were greeted warmly & cheerfully.  Folks wanted to know how they could help.  Miles inquired about the $25 carton of cigarettes & they explained the situation.  You tell them your regular brand & they custom blend a few fresh tobaccos so that the resulting product tastes like your brand BUT without any chemicals or additives or any other harmful matter beyond what comes naturally in tobacco.  Then – for $25 – they give you a box of 200 empty cigarette tubes & you use a huge machine there & basically roll your own!  Here is the machine:

Inside looks like this:

They put your box of tubes in a large cartridge & slide it into the machine & before you know it – the machine is spitting out perfect cigarettes.  Here is Miles watching his first few emerge.

And here is a video!

The finished product looks like this:

So – while I do not encourage anyone take up the very nasty & VERY dangerous habit of smoking – it is kind of nice – for the inveterate smokers out there – to have an option like this that cuts out at least some of the toxins & a lot of the cost.  Perhaps, once you were fully transitioned to smoking just these – the quitting completely part might be that much easier.  I don’t know.  I just really liked the whole “roll your own” vibe & the people at Ciggy’s were really friendly.

Ciggy’s 4 Less is at 4812 Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood, 91601.  They even sell Tupperware-style containers to store the ciggies in & protect them from being crushed.  They also have a loyalty program involving referrals & frequent smoker miles.   Check them out, smokers, and don’t say I never did anything for you!

And PS – they also claim to be able to repair ANY broken computer or smart phone!