Easiest Ever Non- Dairy Fudge

So this fudge is pretty much a non-recipe.

You need:
1 can sweetened condensed coconut milk (I used Nature's Charm)
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate Chips*)
pinch of sea salt
1tsp vanilla extract
1 8x8 pan, "buttered" with coconut oil
1 jar of maraschino cherries (I used Tillen brand Merry Cherries)

Heat the milk in a heavy sauce pan on medium heat, stir in the chocolate chips and pinch of sea salt. Stir until the chips are melted and everything is well mixed. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Spoon into 8x8 pan. Dot the top with the cherries and cover and chill until set.

*Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate Chips are prepared on the same equipment they make their milk chocolate on so there may be a trace of milk in them. There are good completely vegan chips available. I used the Guittard because I love the flavor of them.

So I whipped this up, and handed the pan off to my children because apparently you never get too old to "slick the pot" and TG said "This is really good chocolate!" Since she's the chocolate fiend in the family, that is a great endorsement. She wound up sitting there with a bag of open potato chips scraping out the last of the fudge from the pan.

Last night, my husband tried a piece and declared it was delicious.
I said "TG saw me make it."
"Well, that might be dangerous." he responded.
From the back corner of the living room we hear her say happily "Yup."

I suspect she's going to make a batch with potato chips on top.

Disclaimer- I got the Nature's Charm Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk for free to review. I was not compensated or asked to provide a recipe or review on Don't Eat the Paste. I'm sharing the recipe because it's really, really good and I wanted to.

Book Review- Quick-Fix Vegan

Quick-Fix Vegan : Healthy Homestyle Meals in 30 Minutes or Less by Robin Robertson turns cooking vegan foods into something faster ,healthier and tastier than convenience foods using no animal products. She's also the author of Quick Fix Vegetarian.

As a lot of my readers know, my family are not vegans, but we try to eat a vegan menu a few days every week. We've realized a lot of the reason we eat meat is because it's convenient and easy. It's a health choice for my family.

So I have a lot of vegan cookbooks. My test for a good vegan cookbook is to see if my cheese loving, bacon adoring daughter likes the meals enough that she doesn't make herself a sandwich to supplement the meal.

One of the big things that goes over consistently well is meals that don't have meat substitutes, the flavor and texture come from fresh ingredients without trying to simulate meat. A lot of vegan cookbooks tend to take the path of substituting vegan meat alternatives in traditional recipes.

This one has lots of recipes that use good ingredients, frequently canned or frozen for convenience rather than using lots of those substitutes.

The tomato tortilla soup for example. A wonderful chili inspired soup with lots of tomatoes, beans, corn, and flavor that comes from the chili powder and cumin.

The Korean hot pot is a recipe I'm looking forward to trying. It does call for tofu, but also a lot of good vegetables and looks to be a cold-weather favorite.

Today we've gotten just huge amounts of snow, and I adapted the recipe for stovetop fruit crisp. The recipe originally calls for peaches, a mix of strawberries and cherries was perfect for the weather. While the top didn't crisp up as much as baked crisps, it was good.

There are also some recipes in here that look great for warmer weather. Chesapeake chickpea sandwiches uses chickpeas and sea veggies in place of crab for patties. The salty-tart rainbow rotini salad has dried cranberries for bursts of sweet and tart.

This book doesn't have lots of color photos. It does have a lot of great recipes that are well explained, and it's  going to be my go-to cookbook for our vegan meals for a while, especially for the soups and desserts. Because everything is quick to make, on nights we have a big pot of soup, I can see making a fresh dessert as well for a special treat.

Quick note: When cooking anything that calls for chile, the one we use is El Gaupo's Chile California Molido. It's mild and flavorful, and the rest of my family ups the heat with cayenne or hot sauce if they want to. We also use their cumin because I've been happy with the flavor of it.

You can get the book directly from the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing,

My reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.

Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pudding Recipe

Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pudding that's so good my non-vegan teens love it. Also good for pudding lovers who have a lactose intolerance. Another plus is that pumpkin and almond milk are both high in vitamin A and this is so much tastier than carrots!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup tofu- yes. Tofu. Since this is vegan, it won't have the body and silkiness that an egg offers. Tofu helps! A soft tofu works best. You can skip this if you want soy free.
• 2 cups almond milk- the first time I made this, I used soy milk, but the almond milk tastes so much better!
• 1/2 cup pumpkin butter (recipe HERE)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sweetener- I used a raw sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn starch

Blend the tofu, almond milk, pumpkin butter, cocoa and sweetener until very smooth.
Put aside 1 cup, and put the rest in a medium sized sauce pan. Whisk the corn starch into the cup you put aside until the corn starch is well incorporated
Cook the mix in the pan over medium until it starts bubbling, whisking to keep the almond milk from scorching. Pour in the cup you set aside, whisking constantly.
Keep cooking over a medium heat until it's thickened to your liking.

I compare making pudding to making gravy. You use a thickener and cook to let some of the liquid evaporate until you have the consistency you like. For pudding, this takes about 10-15 minutes of cooking and whisking to keep it evenly heated and not let it scorch.

Serve chilled, with pumpkin seeds on top for garnish if you wish. The photos are of a tiny demitasse glass cup and little decorative pumpkins.
Here's another one!