veganmofo - old fam recipe + túrós csusza

Day Twenty of #vgnmf15! Prompt: old family recipe, veganized, of course.

This prompt will result in a flurry of childhood or family recipes being veganized, I've no doubt. Like everyone else, I, too, have one of those old family recipes hanging on the back shelf waiting to be improved.

My recipe is an old traditional Hungarian recipe that is really quick and easy. It is called Túrós CSusza which translates basically to cheese pasta.

I remember my mom or dad making this very often and the only thing preventing me from making it vegan is the Quark Cheese, which seemed exotic to me at the time. Ultimately, it is just a soft cheese curd of sorts that can be subbed with any good crumbled vegan cheese - or even tofu, when push comes to shove.

This meal consists of pasta with a sauce made of quark cheese (almost like cottage cheese), sour cream and bacon. Seasoned with salt and plenty of black pepper, this is a very fast meal to throw together, given you have vegan bacon and a few store-bought ingredients on hand.

So, after 15 or so years, I stocked up on the requisite ingredients and finally decided to make this family recipe that also happens to be in many other Hungarian family's meal rotations.

I used the crisp vegan bacon from Everyday Vegan Eats (Amazon, B&N) because it is our favorite. I made a triple batch in order to have enough bacon to make the California Club Sandwiches (also from EVE) later in the week, and then I went to work re-creating this pasta dish.

Below is the recipe and I hope you enjoy!

As an aside, over the past few days I've had a few questions regarding substitutions in the recipes in my new cookbook Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N). One was a nut replacement request because of allergies.

If you have bought the book and need substitutions for an ingredient, please contact me and I will be more than happy to help in any way I can. In addition, I will be starting a page on this blog specifically for nut substitutes as that is the only primary allergen that the book does not include substitutes for (due to lack of space).

I am hosting an International giveaway of the Kindle edition of  Vegan Bowls. Enter HERE. Contest ends Monday night, September 21.

Truros Csusza

Makes 4 servings

12 ounces pasta, rotelli, shells, etc.

8 ounces nondairy cream cheese

10 ounces nondairy sour cream 

2 to 4 tablespoons mashed tofu or vegan cheese

1 cup chopped crisp vegan bacon (Everyday Vegan Eats has a delicious vegan bacon recipe)

Sea salt and plenty of ground black pepper

1. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside. 

2. Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, tofu and ¼ cup of the bacon in a medium saucepot. Mix well and heat over medium heat until warmed through. Season with salt and black pepper. Toss half of the sauce with the pasta. Serve in bowls garnished with the rest of the sauce and bacon. Season with more cracked black pepper and serve. 

 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

veganmofo - to-go lunch + savory cream cheese

Day 19 #vgnmf15 is about lunch on the go.

I have three teenagers (one having just left for college) and a hubby and I have been around the inside of a lunch box many a time. Since we also homeschooled, there were lunches on the go for the four of us an equal amount of times.

Simple, fast and balanced is the key to lunch on the go -- and, of course, the person being packed for. I wouldn't pack the very same thing for my husband as I would for my oldest daughter; they simply have different tastes.

In addition, access to a microwave also needs to be taken into consideration. Packing leftovers that need to be reheated is possible when there is a microwave in the lunch room.

Let's take, for instance, lunch for a student without access to a microwave. Here is my daughter's lunch tomorrow:

An apple, sea vegetable, roasted almonds and a bagel with Savory Vegetable Cream Cheese with lettuce, tomato and slivers of onion.

Naturally, she won't eat all of this at once. My girls experience migraines and we've been following the advice in the "Migraine Brain" which recommends eating at a very consistent time.

For my youngest, that is every two hours (otherwise she gets very hungry and it triggers her migraine). She'll have the above lunch throughout her time away from home.

Let's focus on that cream cheese.

That cream cheese is really awesome and we have it for breakfast and snacks, as well. It really only depends on how long it lasts; not long at our house since this is a fast-moving spread. It is a store-bought tub of cream cheese with a few stir-ins that change it into something very tasty.

We've experienced other people bringing flavored cream cheeses to outings and we weren't about to be left in the dust. This cream cheese trumps their cream cheese any day!

I am hosting an International giveaway of the Kindle edition of my new cookbook, Vegan Bowls. Enter HERE. Contest ends Monday night, September 21.

Savory Vegetable Cream Cheese
Makes 12 ounces


8 ounces nondairy cream cheese
¼ cup minced scallions (about 4 or 5)
1 small carrot, finely grated
¼ teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and black pepper

1. Soften the cream cheese in a medium bowl using a fork.
2. Stir in the scallions, carrot and paprika. Season with salt and black pepper.
3. Transfer to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator, where it will keep up to a week.



 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.