Sherri Travis’s Watermelon Splash

Please welcome today's guest blogger, the very talented Phyllis Smallman, author of the Sherri Travis mysteries. As Sherri is a bartender when she's not sleuthing, Phyllis has asked her to provide us with an easy and cooling drink. This is an excellent series with a witty sleuth, now paying off for us with this fun recipe.





When MJ asked me for a drink recipe I looked in The Mystery Lover’s Kitchen and there was Avery picking apricots and making candy. As the lady said, “Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker,” and I’m all for a quickie. And what’s with this candy making? What’s wrong with M &Ms? They come in so many pretty colours.

I work in a bar. Well, much to my surprise, the bank and I actually own it, at least until they repossess it. Things being what they are, I pretty much live at the Sunset and I eat there too, so making a peanut butter sandwich is pretty much a stretch for me. But I’m all over drinks. I’ve got dozens of them in my head but just in case someone throws me a zinger I keep a little bar book full of recipes beneath the counter.

All you need for this one is a seedless watermelon and a blender, this bartender’s favourite tool. Well, except for...no, no, mustn’t go there. So, scoop out the pulp of the watermelon, drop it in the blender, give it a whirl and then pour the juice into a tall glass jug and add a glass swizzle stick to stir it with. It looks so pretty on your bar. Splash an ounce of vodka in the bottom of a tall, slim, Tom Collins glass filled with ice and top it up with the pretty pink watermelon juice. Garnish with a sprig of mint and bring on the heat because you’ve got a Watermelon Splash.

Now back to the food. You do know you are all crazy don’t you? Things come in frozen trays now or, when you’re feeling flush, you can dial and dine. But if you ever need someone to eat your delicious concoctions give me a call. I’ll bring the vodka!

Phyllis Smallman

Phyllis Smallman’s debut mystery was short listed for the Debut Dagger in the UK and won the first Arthur Ellis Unhanged Arthur in 2007. In 2009 MARGARITA NIGHTS was shortlisted for the best first novel by the Crime Writer’s of Canada. In 2010, Good Morning America named the Sherri Travis mysteries as one of the top six series for a summer read. CHAMPAGNE FOR BUZZARDS, the fourth book in the Sherri Travis series, came out in April 2011. Phyllis worked in a library and as a potter before moving to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and turning to a life of crime. Find out more about Phyllis and Sherri at www.phyllissmallman.com

Summer Mint Syrup

With National Ice Cream Month coming to a close, it's time to move on to lighter fare.  But it's still brutally hot outside, so I'm still not wanting to, you know, cook.

As a result, I decided to go with something simple, refreshing, and versatile:  mint syrup.

Mint is the perfect antidote to summer's woes.  The candy commercials get it right:  take a bite of peppermint or spearmint, and your core temperature seems to plummet.

Personally, I plan to spend this sweltering weekend on my front porch, keeping cool with a variety of minty treats.  And they all start with this basic mint syrup, a summer staple you can make for a specific recipe or simply keep in the fridge for whenever you want an extra dose of refreshment.

Hibiscus-Mint Iced Tea

Mint Syrup

2/3 - 1 oz. fresh mint leaves

1 c. sugar

Chop the mint.  Combine the mint, sugar, and 1 c. water in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Simmer syrup (without stirring) 2 minutes.  Allow the syrup to cool for 15 minutes, then pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove the mint.  Cover and chill up to two weeks.

What to do with it:

1. Add a couple of tablespoons of the chilled syrup to lemonade, limeade, iced tea, or a combination of the above.
2. Drizzle the syrup over well-chilled cubed or sliced watermelon (1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of syrup is enough for a regular-sized seedless watermelon).  If you like, squeeze the juice of a fresh lime (or two) over the melon, too.
3. Make minted hibiscus iced tea:  Bring 6 cups of water to a boil.  Remove from heat, stir in 1 oz. dried hibiscus flowers, cover, and steep for 10 to 15 minutes.  Strain the tea.  Stir in another 4 cups cold water and 1 cup of the minted syrup.  Serve chilled over ice with wedges of fresh lime.
4. Make mojito slushies:  combine 1 recipe of the syrup with 1/2 c. fresh lime juice, 1/2 c. light rum, and 8 cups crushed ice in a blender and, well, blend!

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.

Kohlrabi-Radish Salad

by Sheila Connolly

A week ago my daughter was seized by a sudden craving for serious breakfast food, and I, being of an acquiescent state of mind, agreed happily.  She did some online research and came up with a place I had never heard of, about ten miles from our home.:  Pogo's in East Bridgewater.

Off we went, through unfamiliar territory (mostly farm country, which I always forget exists around here) and arrived at lunchtime, but that wasn't a problem because all they serve there is breakfast, until 3:00 pm.  When we walked in, there were perhaps four other customers--and a crew taking pictures for a cable television segment of The Phantom Gourmet.

Now, some people might have backed out the door and sought other options, but I write for this blog, so how could I pass up the opportunity to watch the pros take pictures of food?  We settled ourselves in a booth, were handed humongous menus with a mind-boggling array of breakfast food choices, and I proceeded to take pictures of a guy taking pictures of food.  in fact, I almost took a picture of a woman taking pictures of the guy taking pictures.  Writing for MLK is doing strange things to me.

Don't you love the way the french toast matches
the flowers on the plate?

My daughter and I, after prolonged perusal of the menu, settled on our choices:  she opted for pumpkin pancakes, I chose french toast made of house-baked cardamom bread with almond glaze.  I finished mine; my daughter had to concede defeat after a mere five pounds or so of pancakes.

The camera crew (which arrived before we did and was still there when we left) kept rolling new dishes from the back of the restaurant, and taking more pictures.  I was immediately jealous of the large lights at their disposal, since I usually get by with my kitchen overhead.  I was also amused when the photographer, apparently not satisfied with the gargantuan stack of blueberry pancakes in front of him, sliced them in half and stacked the halves, resulting in a six-inch pile of pancake.  (Regrettably, he didn't eat any of the dishes he photographed.)

I hope to catch the show, but they were rather vague about when it might air.  I also hope to go back to the restaurant, although I calculate it may easily take me the rest of my life to work my way through the menu.

Since the cardamom in my french toast evoked happy memories of my Swedish step-grandmother's cardamom twist bread, I had hoped to present that to you this week, but (a) I can't find the recipe, although I'm sure it's somewhere in the house, and (b) it's really more of a holiday treat that a summer dish, since it's yeast-raised.  So I shifted gears to make something cool and healthy, using my more recent finds from our local farmers' market.

I am a newcomer to the joys of kohlrabi, which Wikipedia defines as a "low, stout cultivar of the cabbage," created by artificial selection for "lateral meristem growth."  Uh-huh. Basically it a softball-size round stem with a nice crunch and a mild flavor.

I also happened to have brought home some mild white radishes, so I couldn't resist combining the two.  Of course, the result was white on white, so I decided to spruce it up a bit with some parsley and some finely chopped red bell pepper.

Kohlrabi-Radish Salad

Serves four as a side dish

Remove the leaves and stems from a fresh kohlrabi and peel it.  Run it through the coarse grater attachment of your food processor.  (Okay, you could do it by hand if you insist.)

Scrub some radishes (there are many available varieties, large and small, bland through peppery--use what you can find fresh, in whatever quantity you choose).  You need to peel them only if they're large and tough.  Then shred them as you did the kohlrabi.

Remove the stem and membranes from a red sweet pepper (I happened to have some of the miniature ones on hand), and dice finely.

Chop a small bunch of fresh parsley (what size is a bunch?  depends on how much you like parsley)

Combine the ingredients.  Dress lightly with a vinaigrette or other salad dressing of your choosing (bottled is fine).  Do don't this too long before you intend to eat it or the salad will become soggy.

And enjoy! It's a light, quick dish with a nice earthy flavor and crunch--good for a summer side dish with whatever you've cooked on the grill.

Savory French Toast

I know french toast isn't the perfect summer meal.

It's hot, it's gooey, it's probably even considered heavy, but I've got to tell you, I had such a craving this weekend for brunch, and in particular french toast, that I had to make this. And it turned out delicious.

What is it about brunch that is so luscious? Is it that we get to sleep in and combine two meals into one? Is it that we feel we can overeat because it's two meals?

Is it the crossword puzzle sitting on the table, begging for an idle moment?

I love crossword puzzles, don't you? I think that's why I like mysteries and like writing mysteries. I like to solve things. I like to do them in pen. Sure, I make mistakes, but I never let one sit with empty boxes for longer than a day. It's a compulsion, but I have to know "the answer," and in a book "whodunnit."

But back to the meal. I wanted french toast. Now, I have to eat gluten-free, so that makes a bit of a problem. It means I need my gluten-free bread in hand. I keep some in the freezer, or I make a loaf with a bread mix. I love my bread mixer. It makes the whole process of baking bread easier, and the scent of fresh-baked bread just can't be beat (unless by the scent of chocolate chip cookies, berry pie, or french toast).

I hope you enjoy my delicious meal. It satisfied me. I won't want french toast again for at least...a week! LOL

Oh, by the way, I used my gluten-free cheese bread for this recipe (link below) and it really enhanced the cheese flavors!

Ingredients:

(serves 4)

8 slices cheese bread (gluten-free cheese bread** or regular cheese bread)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons Penzey’s cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 strips of bacon (chopped into 1” slices)

2 tablespoons canola or safflower oil

8 tablespoons cream cheese

Syrup of choice

Jam of choice

Cinnamon

  Directions:

Make bread a day ahead. Slice off 8 thin slices. Set aside.

Set bacon pieces into frying pan and cook on low until crispy. Drain and set aside.

Mix eggs, vanilla, cinnamon in a flat pie tin. Dredge the bread slices in the eggs.  Make another batch of the mixture if necessary.

Heat oil in large fly pan or on griddle, at medium high heat.

Place the dredged bread slices on the hot oil.  Cook until golden and flip.  About 2 minutes a side.  Remove and drain on paper towels.

To prepare plate: Spread one to two tablespoons of cream cheese on one slice of French toast.  Sprinkle with bacon bits. Top with a plainly cooked piece of French toast. Serve with syrup and jam as a choice of topping.  Sprinkle with more cinnamon, if desired.

*This recipe is gluten-free if you use the gluten-free bread.

LINK FOR GLUTEN-FREE CHEESE BREAD

Enjoy and say cheese!

* * * * * * ** 

 

BOOKSELLERS LINK

Quick Pasta Salad

While I was visiting family in Alabama, we enjoyed a tasty pasta salad that my husband’s family served cold alongside of sandwiches for an oven-free meal. And if I thought it was hot in North Carolina, Alabama was like an oven, itself!

The only hot part of this meal is the cooking of the pasta on the stove. After that, you’ve got a delicious side dish…or even a main dish. It filled me up pretty well (pasta always seems to.)

The pimentos make it Southern. :)

Quick Pasta Salad

1 16 oz package Vermicelli
1 T all-purpose seasoning
1 T seasoning salt
3 T lemon juice
4 T oil
4 oz. chopped pimento, drained
1 pepper, chopped fine (green or red)
3/4 cup green onion
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients and chill overnight.

Stay cool! :)

Riley/Elizabeth
Delicious and Suspicious (Riley Adams)
Finger Lickin’ Dead—June 7 (book 2 of the Memphis BBQ series!) It’s here! Download it on Kindle: http://amzn.to/kh7MAp
Mass market paperback: http://amzn.to/lfUE2N

Frozen Hot Chocolate and Enter to Win Cleo's new Coffeehouse Mystery: Murder by Mocha

Murder by Mocha is the
10th book in Cleo Coyle's
Coffeehouse Mystery
series. Now a bestseller
in hardcover and e-book
formats from Penguin's
Berkley Books and on sale
 in audio from AudioGo
(BBC audiobooks America)

To learn more about Cleo's
books click here.

Serendipity (noun): finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance...

I have a delicious frozen hot chocolate recipe for you in this post, but your serendipity is also finding a chance to win some lovely prizes, including my new bestselling mystery.

TO ENTER MY MURDER BY MOCHA CONTEST, CLICK HERE and scroll down my more recent post for details on how to enter. It's a fun one!

As for this post, you will find a delicious Frozen Hot Chocolate recipe below, along with a tribute to my new mystery's culinary theme of chocolate and coffee and a little New York history…

Serendipity isn’t just any noun. It's the proper name of a legendary café in the basement of a New York Brownstone.

Three bohemians launched the white-washed space as a hipster coffee house of the 1950’s. Four tables, sixteen chairs, and one giant, old espresso machine were all they needed to attract nightly lines around the Upper East Side block.

The trendiest of avant-garde types were soon packing the place, including Andy Warhol, who declared it his favorite sweet shop. (As legend has it, he paid his checks with drawings.)

These days, Serendipity is as far from the avant garde as you can get. The Tiffany lamp-decked ice cream parlor primarily attracts families, couples looking for nostalgic romance, and kids celebrating birthdays.

Five decades may divide Serendipity’s then from its now, but one delicious bridge closes all gaps—chocolate! Frozen hot chocolate to be exact. Serendipity is world famous for it.

Although you may not have this legendary café in your town, today I’m going to show you how to make a tasty version of their famous frozen hot chocolate. How’s that for serendipity?


Serendipity's version of the frozen hot chocolate is pictured left; mine is below...

Cleo Coyle’s Frozen
Hot Chocolate


Cleo Coyle, who invites you
to "chill" with chocolate, is
author of The Coffeehouse
Mysteries. Visit Cleo's
Web site here.

I’ve seen a few versions of the Serendipity frozen hot chocolate recipe on the Net, and I have to say, they make no sense to me. Heat up milk and cool it again? Use 3 cups of ice, which dilutes the chocolate flavor? There is a better way.

My version of this icy chocolate drink is much simpler yet still quite tasty (IMO). It cooled me off nicely enough during our recent 100-degree heat wave in New York City (and I never had to turn on my stove, a very good thing indeed).

This recipe also is a great way to use up your hot cocoa before winter rolls back around. You don’t want all that hot chocolate mix to go stale on you, do you? Put it to good use now…

For a free PDF of this recipe that you can print, save, or share, click here or use the Print Friendly button at the end of this post.


Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 one-ounce packets of your favorite hot chocolate or cocoa mix*
2 cups milk (skim or whole)
1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped or grated*
Whipped cream (optional)

*In the case of the hot chocolate mix and the chocolate, the higher the quality of the products, the better your drink will taste. (Duh, right?)


Step 1 – Make "Hot" Chocolate Milk: Whisk one packet of hot chocolate mix into one cup of cold milk. If you’re using loose hot chocolate powder instead of packets, then simply measure out enough powder to make the equivalent of one six- to eight-ounce serving.

Note: No need to heat the milk as some recipes direct. Simply whisk the milk and hot chocolate mix for 30 to 60 seconds until the powder is dissolved. Be sure to use a real whisk, not a spoon or fork. You’re finished when the liquid resembles smooth chocolate milk with no sign of powder or granules.

Step 2 – Make "Hot Chocolate" Ice Cubes: Pour the chocolate milk mixture into an ice cube tray. Chill in your freezer until solidly frozen. NOTE: When ready to use, if the frozen chocolate cubes stick to the ice tray, simply set the bottom of the tray in a warm water bath and use a knife to carefully dislodge the cubes.

Step 3 – Repeat and Blend: Repeat Step 1, using your second packet of hot chocolate to create another cup of chocolate milk. Place this milk in your blender with the "hot chocolate" ice cubes. Pulse the blender to chop the frozen cubes into fine particles. You can create a slushy drink with small ice chips (like a frozen margarita) or you can run the blender full speed until the mixture is completely liquefied yet still cold and frothy. But first...

Step 4 – Choco-fication: Add most of the finely chopped (or grated) semi-sweet chocolate into the blender with the hot chocolate slushy (holding back some of the semi-sweet chocolate for garnish). Pulse once or twice to mix. Pour into cups or mugs. Finish with whipped cream, then a final sprinkling of grated chocolate and…

Drink with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of
The Coffeehouse
Mysteries

To view
The Coffeehouse Mystery series
trailer, click here or on the film strip.

To download more of my recipes
sign up to win free coffee, or
learn more about my books, visit my
virtual coffeehouse at...

www.CoffeehouseMystery.com

Murder
by Mocha

Book #10 of
the Coffeehouse series

Now a national bestseller
in hardcover!

Includes chocolate recipes!

"...a tasty espresso-dark tale of
multigenerational crime and
punishment lightened by the Blend's
frothy cast of lovable eccentrics."

~ Publishers Weekly

To order
from Amazon, click here 

To order
from Barnes and Noble. click here.

To order
from an Indie bookstore, click here.

 

 

 Roast Mortem

Includes firehouse recipes!

A Reviewer’s Pick 

"Favorite Book
of the Year" ~ 2010

Bookreporter.com

 

Now a national bestseller
in paperback!  

 To order

from Amazon click here.

To order
from Barnes and Noble, click here.

To order
from an Indie bookstore, click here.

German Onion Bread (Zwiebelkuchen)

Zwiebelkuchen (ts-we-bell-kuchen) is almost as much fun to say as Zwetschgendatschi.  It's sort of misnamed, though, because it means onion cake, but it's more of an onion bread.  Actually, it's kind of a cross between a quiche and a pizza.

It's most often baked in the fall, when the harvest comes in, because that's when there are too many onions.  As it turns out, I had my own little harvest moment early, because I accidentally bought a second bag of sweet Vidalia onions when there were already plenty in the fridge.  (I know what you're thinking -- so take them back.  An hour and a half of driving to return a bag of onions?)  Upon hearing the news, my mother immediately suggested a Zwiebelkuchen to use up some of the onions.  I have to admit that she seemed more than a little bit excited about the prospect -- it's been a long time since we had this.

If you make your own dough, this is a recipe that needs to be started hours ahead of time so the dough can rise.  If, however, you choose to use a frozen or pre-made pizza bottom, then it's a snap to make.  I'm going to include the recipe for the dough because it's really lovely.  The next time I make this, though, I will use half the dough or make twice the topping and bake it in two pans, since the dough rose a bit more than I'd have liked.

This dish can be made with a yeast bottom (for those who love bread) or with a flatter pizza type bottom.  I used a large baking pan, but you could also use a pizza pan to bake it.

As so often is the case, I wish we had smell-a-vision because the scent of the bread and the onions with bacon is absolutely fantastic.

As I was going through my mom's recipes, I spotted one that said to boil the bacon.  That's right -- boil!  That's probably a well known method of cooking bacon, but I don't recall having done it before.  Naturally, I was eager to try.  My main concern was that the bacon would be soggy, but that wasn't the case at all.  (see picture)  I chopped it into small pieces and it was perfect on top of the kuchen.

I'm providing this recipe in reverse since I suspect most people won't make the bread bottom.  If you do want to make the bottom, please do that first!

More than one of you will be delighted to know that this is traditionally served with a glass of new white wine -- happily, any white wine will go with it nicely!

Zwiebelkuchen

(German Onion Bread)

Onion Topping 

4 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 to 3 onions

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup heavy cream or sour cream

1/2 package (6 ounces) bacon

  

Preheat oven to 375. (If using a ready made pizza or bread dough, follow the instructions regarding baking.)

Slice the onions into 1/4 inch slices.  Melt the butter over medium low heat.  Add the onions and cook about 6 minutes until translucent and soft (but not browned).  Set aside to cool.

Boil water.  Add bacon to boiling water.  Wait for it to return to a boil, then boil about five minutes.  Remove, drain, and chop into small pieces.

Whisk the eggs together.  Add the salt and cream and stir.

Scatter the onions over the prepared dough.  Pour the eggs over top of them.  Sprinkle the bacon over top of everything.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the dough is a light golden brown.

 

 

Bread

1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 package yeast
1 teaspoon sugar

3 + 1 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons room temperature butter
1 cup lukewarm milk

Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the water.  After two minutes, stir to dissolve.  Set aside for six minutes.

Use the bread hook in your mixer.  Mix 3 cups flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add the butter and mix on low speed.  Pour in the milk slowly while mixing.  Add as much of the remaining cup of flour as you need for the hook to form a soft ball.

Grease a bowl with butter or oil, place the ball of dough in the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for one hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove the dough and knead on a floured board, folding the dough into itself, for about four minutes.  Roll out into the shape of your pan.  Grease the pan with butter and place the dough inside, stretching it as necessary to fit.  Cover with kitchen towel and allow to rise until double (30 to 60 minutes).

Enjoy!

Mrs. Beeton's Plum Cake

by Barbara Monajem

Originally, I was going to blog about banana cream pie, as a tie-in to novella about a vampire who owns a food fight club. Banana cream pie was one of the club specialties, and it’s one of my favorites as well. But the anthology with the novella in it was postponed, so since I write historical romances as well, I decided to go that route instead.

I’ve been messing around with old-fashioned cookbooks for a while now. I didn’t think you’d have much use for artificial asses’ milk (excellent for invalids and those otherwise lacking in –ahem– vigor) or Dr. Ratcliffe’s Restorative Pork Jelly (a lovely broth, good for making Chinese soup, but I had to buy a huge hunk of pork leg to make only half the recipe). Instead, here’s a recipe for plum cake (which contains no plums, although it probably did at some point in the distant past). I adapted this recipe from a Victorian cookbook, Beeton’s Book of Household Management, changed a few items, and baked it the Christmas before last (hence the holly in the photo).  

“A Nice Plum Cake” 

3 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. soda

½ tsp. salt

1-1/2 cups currants

1/3 cup diced candied lemon peel

1 stick butter

1-1/4 cups milk

Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out more or less clean. It’s good! There was too much batter for one loaf pan, so I made six muffins with the rest, and they were fine, too. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Barbara Monajem wrote her first story in third grade about apple tree gnomes. After dabbling in neighborhood musicals and teen melodrama, she published a middle-grade fantasy when her children were young. Now her kids are adults, and she's writing historical and paranormal romance for grownups. She lives in Georgia with an ever-shifting population of relatives, friends, and feline strays.

Coming August 1 in all
e-formats

An Ice Cream Miracle

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream

As part of my July commitment to bringing you low- and no-cook ice cream recipes, I decided to pull out my favorite chocolate ice cream (which happens to be vegan) and make it extra sinful with a ribbon of peanut butter.

The recipe for the chocolate base comes from The Veganomicon, and it's pretty amazing.  Apart from melting the chocolate, the base comes together in the blender.  If you let it sit in the fridge overnight (as you should), the base develops the consistency of a luscious chocolate mousse.  You could absolutely serve the stuff straight out of the bowl, topped with a handful of berries or as the filling for a chocolate pie.

Because the base is so thick, it doesn't take long to freeze in the ice cream maker.  As a result, the finished product is dense and velvety smooth, without any build-up of ice crystals.  So good.

Alas, as I was starting to process the base in my trusty ice cream maker, I hit a little snag.  I don't know what possessed me, but I stopped the maker after about a minute so that I could redistribute the base in the canister.  Big mistake.  By the time I got the blades turning again, the base had frozen thick on the walls of the canister, and the blades wouldn't spin.  My little machine chugged its heart out, trying to break through the wall of frozen chocolate, shuddering and gasping as it struggled, but eventually I threw in the proverbial towel.

Oh no.

I thought my recipe for the week was a total bust.  But, on a whim, I scooped the base into a plastic tubby, drizzled the peanut butter over the top, swirled it with a knife, and popped it in the freezer for three hours.

And that's when the miracle happened ... despite the fact that my ice cream maker was completely sidelined in this process, the ice cream base froze to a near-perfect consistency.

In short, while this recipe started off as a more traditional ice cream recipe, it turned out that the ice cream maker was dang near superfluous ... you can make this decadent ice cream with nothing but a blender, microwave, and freezer.  [To be fair, this time around the ice cream didn't age as well as it had in the past.  Normally, this ice cream retains its good texture through long periods of freezing.  By Day 2, this stuff was pretty solid.  But about 15 minutes on the kitchen counter brought it back to a scoopable consistency.]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Vegan Ice Cream
(Adapted from The Veganomicon)

6 oz. silken tofu (1/2 of a tetrapack)
1 c. soy/almond/rice milk
1/2 c. coconut cream*
1 Tbs. vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 c. natural peanut butter, room temperature

* Coconut cream is the dense part of coconut milk.  You can buy coconut cream in some supermarkets and Asian groceries (do not use the sweetened cream of coconut--like Coco Lopez--that is sold in the liquor/mixer aisle of the store ... there's no sugar in coconut cream).  If you cannot find coconut cream, put a can of full-fat coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight.  Open carefully and scoop the dense cream from the top of the can.

Blend the tofu, non-dairy "milk", coconut cream, vanilla, and sugar in a blender until smooth.  Add the cooled chocolate and blend well.

Consistency of mousse

Look, Ma!  No hands!

Transfer base to a bowl or large measuring cup.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Process in your ice cream maker, drizzling the peanut butter into the canister when the mixture is almost frozen.

Or--if your ice cream freezer breaks down like mine did--simply transfer the thickened base to a plastic container with a good lid.  Drizzle the peanut butter over the top and marble with a knife.  Cover and freeze for 3-4 hours.

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.