Vegan Blueberry Cranberry Mini Cashew Icebox Cheesecakes

I'm usually quite the rule follower, but today I broke the rules and I have the sweet Kate from Kate's Kitchen to thank!

With this installment of Blogger C.L.U.E, our group's prompt for November is "Pie".  Now I have to admit I'm not much of a pie person.  Not that I would turn away a warm slice of sweet Apple Pie, but I really don't like making it.  Pie just seems to take so long and needs to be planned ahead.

Enter dear Kate.  A blogger I've been following since the Foodbuzz days, Kate hails from Indiana and cooks with her sous chef extraordinaire (and husband!) Connie.  Cooking in a new kitchen (decked out with white cabinets I can only dream of!) Kate and Connie bring spectacular dishes to the table and truly love creating and then enjoying the bounty.  A girl after my own heart, I'd love to share a Pineapple-Chili Margarita with her.

Which brings us to the pie.  Kate is a little like me and doesn't have many pies on her blog ( that Pear Frangipane Tart ?  Divine!), but a post from a prior Blogger C.L.U.E Installment brought a lovely Blueberry Icebox Pie.  Filled with bright blueberries, yogurt, cream and a dash of my beloved Grand Marnier I found my recipe!!  However... my family is dairy-free.  And plant-based.

Our Blogger Clue Group likes our post recipes to remain as close to the original as possible with a goal of introducing new bloggers to our own readers, and here's where I broke the rules.  Going off-grid, I took Kate's recipe as a base and turned it into a dairy-free recipe that has just made our Thanksgiving menu.

Cheesecake has been my sons favorite dessert since he was little and he asked for it for his birthday right up until the moment he became lactose intolerant.  Even after the intolerance began, he would enjoy a few bites along with some lactose pills and still be ok.  But as time passed his intolerance has become severe and now he simply foregos anything with any dairy, and cheesecake has become a thing of the past.

Now I've seen those cashew "cheesecake" versions and while I've wanted an alternative, I've always turned my nose up at them - just too weird.  Basically, if we can't have the real thing we just won't have it.  But my poor son... could there really be a substitute?

Searching the internet for advice on how to turn the heavy cream and yogurt into something dairy-free for Kate's icebox cake took me time and again back to frozen cashew cheesecakes.  "Fine... I'll try it," I thought - doubtful of the result.

So I soaked my cashews and then blended them up with the other ingredients.  Hesitantly taking a taste, the maple syrup and vanilla brought a delightfully sweet flavor to a surprisingly creamy concoction.  Not at all bad.

Freezing them into my favorite Mini Cheesecake Pan (we gave up full size cheesecakes years ago and I'm ever so thankful not to have to cut the cake anymore!) I cheated again and added a bit of cranberry to the blueberry topping for a holidayish (and healthy) addition.

Popping the minis out of the pan I have to say they looked pretty darn cute.  Letting them thaw as I did my photo shoot, they ended up just about the perfect consistency at about 30 minutes out of the freezer - so note to self, remove them as you sit down to dinner and they will be ideal when dinner is finished!

But the true test came with my taste-testers, Liv and my husband.  Now Liv is not a fan of cheesecake in the first place, and for her Kate's graham cracker crust was her favorite part - but I noted that she did eat an entire mini cheesecake.  Not something she's done in the past.

Asking my husband to take a bite he said, "You know I don't want to eat dairy."  I told him to just try it, it's for a post and I needed an honest opinion.  Taking a bit he thought a minute, then took another.  His comments were as follows:
 
"Nice and creamy, and I love the tartness.  The blueberry is awesome.  But you know I don't want to eat dairy.  Why did you even make that?"

Smiling, I call that success.  Even more fun was his face when I told him the cheesecake didn't actually have any cream cheese in it and that it was totally plant-based.

Thank you Kate!  I haven't told my son yet, but my boy will be having cheesecake when he comes home for Thanksgiving this year, and he will be ever so thankful.  We owe this success all to you!

Check out what the rest of our C.L.U.E member made this month!

Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake

   

Kate from Kate's Kitchen

   

Christiane from Taking on Magazines

   

Heather from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

   

Stacy from Food Lust People Love

   

Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet

   

Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva

   

Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch

   

Kelli from Kelli's Kitchen

   

Kim from Liv Life

   

Anna from annaDishes

   

Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm

   

Jean from Lemons and Anchovies

   

Debra from Eliot's Eats

   

Lora from Cake Duchess

   

Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme

   

Rebekah from Making Miracles

   

Aly from Cooking in Stilettos

   

Sue from A Palatable Pastime

Coconut Lime Cashew Cream (Crema)

What's a taco without crema??  That luscious, creaminess that brings all the flavors together and also kills the heat when spice gets a little out of hand.

Crema became one of the most missed things when my son turned lactose intolerant, and for years we've just gone without.  But home for the summer, he asked if we could try to recreate one of his favorite recipes,  Grilled Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa, with some sort of dairy-free alternative.

My son's all time favorite dish... Grilled Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

We've tried before, and while the tacos are always a treat, they just aren't the same without the crema.  I've stressed over the fact that I just haven't been able to come up with a satisfying dairy-free version, but turning to some of my favorite vegan books the time had come to give cashew cream a try.

Not one to always plan ahead I found a few recipes that didn't require soaking the cashews (so long as you have a handy dandy high powered blender - we have a Blendtec ).  

Following recipes including almond milk and cashews, the crema was okay.  Satisfactory in that it did the trick, brought that creaminess to the taco, but didn't add much else.

And then we tried coconut milk.  Oh my heavens!!  Beyond satisfactory, Coconut Lime Cashew Cream totally rocks!  A little tropical in flavor, but not overly coconutty, the coconut added a dimension that brought the whole taco together and had us spooning on just a little extra on, well, on everything.

Just a few ingredients and a blender and you're set... dairy-free lime crema that will leave your dairy eating friends totally jealous.

Creamy Pasta Bake

Twenty two years ago my husband, then boyfriend, made his favorite meal for me ... Baked Ziti.  Little did I know it was the only meal he knew how to make, but it was also one he had grown up with and still craves to this day.  Filled with pasta, tomato sauce and a good amount of creamy ricotta, this dish also became a favorite of our children, until they became lactose intolerant.  For years we've simply skipped this favorite dish in favor of alternative dairy-free pasta meals, but they alway have a little yearning for this old favorite.

A simple mention from my son last week of "I wish we could have that ziti" had me turning to the internet to see what I could do.  With alternatives including tofu, dairy-free milks, and brewer's yeast, I didn't see anything that I thought would do for our family until I spotted a recipe using cashews.

Cashews?  Could it work?  In a word... yes!  Is it exactly the same as the old ricotta version? No.  But did anyone care?  Again, no.

With one of those new high-powered blenders (my beloved Blendtec) on my counter, a simple spin in the Twister Jar had a cupful of cashews turning to a creamy cashew butter in no time.

With my sauce simmering along with the vegetables of the evening (this evening featured asparagus and mushrooms) I removed the pan from the heat and added a few Tablespoons of the creamy cashew butter.  In no time I had a sauce reminiscent of our creamy ricotta version and into the oven it went.

Serving up the dish to the family the first comment from my son held frustration as he asked for his lactose pills along with a reminder that "Mom... you know I can't have this...".

"Yep...", I responded, "you can have this.  It's dairy-free."

Quizzical looks fluttered through their eyes and hesitant forks speared the pasta as they asked "What did you do??".

Shortly thereafter the conversation switched to the usual what we did today topics and in mere minutes I had 4 clean plates.  No one commented through the meal what they thought of the dish, but the "Hey mom... don't lose that recipe!" tossed over my son's shoulder as he left to finish homework warmed my heart and confirmed what I  had already thought.  We have a winner.

Irish (Steel Cut) Oatmeal with a Ginger-Orange Cashew Topping

An Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

and rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again 

may God hold you in the palm of His hand

Six years ago my beautiful friend Annie crossed my path, and my world has been a better place ever since.  Her nearly 5 foot frame literally bursts with happiness and occasionally erupts with the most contagious laughter that has graced this earth.  We don't see each other very often as a few years ago life led her to Colorado.  Leaving behind her little town by the sea our busy lives leave little time to chat, and some of her short visits don't even allow enough time to see each other.

However, every year, about 2 days before St. Patrick's Day an envelope arrives in the mail with some sort of Irish best wishes.  Annie is a beautiful mix of Japanese and Irish, looking more Polynesian than anything, but always signs it "To my favorite Irish Friends".  She nicely includes me with my German blood, but my 100% Irish husband always feels that the card is really for him!  This years card included the above blessing, however, my husband's favorite was the one that told this Irish joke:

Front of Card: "So these two Irish guys walk out of a pub..."   

Inside of card: "End of joke!  But I suppose it could happen..."

Viewing all of the beautiful Irish recipes in my blog travels this last week has led me to the realization that I don't really know much about Irish food.  Pulling out my only "Irish" recipe and tweaking it just a bit, we present our St. Patrick's Day contribution of Irish Oatmeal with a Ginger-Orange Cashew Topping.

I am surprised at how many of my friends won't make Irish, or steel cut, oatmeal as they say it "takes too long".  Many of them love it, but buy it frozen at Trader Joe's or simply don't make it at all.  I have a trick!

Before you go to bed heat 4 cups of water in a sauce pan.  When it boils, add the steel cut oatmeal and turn off the heat.  Cover, go to bed.

When you wake in the morning the oatmeal simply needs a quick heating and maybe a few minutes of cooking, but your prep time will be cut down considerably making this healthy bowl of goodness an easier start to your morning.

Needing something to spice it up, we topped our oatmeal today with ginger and orange enhanced cashews finding the orange permeating nearly the entire bowl giving it a lovely fresh flavor.  Finishing off with diced banana and mango (just what we had on hand, any fresh or dried fruit will do!) the kids started their St. Patrick's Day morning with a nutritious and somewhat Irish breakfast.