STRAWBERRY MANGO CRISP

Being a Vegan doesn't have to mean boring desserts! Everyone loves apple crisp so here's a delicious twist on that. Strawberry mango crisp will be a huge hit with your family, at a barbecue or your Saturday girl's day luncheon!

FRUIT MIXTURE:

4 cups strawberries chopped into fours
2 cups diced up mango
4 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp flour

TOPPING:

1 cup of flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup or 1 stick margarine

First you're going to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the ingredients for the fruit mixture together in a large bowl. That would be the strawberries, mango, sugar and flour. Spread this evenly into a 2-quart casserole dish and set aside.

Next mix the ingredients for the topping together in a medium bowl. This is the flour, oats and sugar. Cut in the margarine until the mixture looks small little peas. spread this topping evenly over the fruit mixture.

Bake this whole thing for 35-45 minutes until it is bubbly. Serve warm with 'non-dairy' ice-cream! Yum!

On a side note, if you're looking for great advice on buying the right cutting board to prepare your meals on, visit Cutting Board Care for tips on making the right selection as well as maintaining your board.

VEGAN PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Everyone loves pumpkin pie and cheesecake and unfortunately until this past holiday season I always had to opt out on dessert at my family's house. This past Thanksgiving though I stumbled upon this this delicious recipe so I offered to make dessert (first time for everything) and it was a huge hit. My mother actually asked me to make another one at Christmas!

Things you'll need are:

12 oz firm silken tofu, pureed
8 oz nondairy cream cheese (I use Tofutti brand)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 prepared graham cracker crust (be sure to check the ingredients and make sure there are no eggs, etc..usually easy to find ones at Wholefoods...you really didn't think I was going to make the crust too did you? lol)

First you need to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

While your oven is warming up you need to puree all of the ingredients (except the pie crust of course). After you have this all pureed, pour the filling into the graham cracker crust (by the way you don't have to tell anyone you bought the crust) and bake this for 50 minutes.

Once this has baked, allow it to cool for 30 minutes, cover with plastic wrap or the top of the pie container and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight before serving. It really needs to be cold to be extra delicious.

So, if you always get seriously gypped out of desert at the 'pumpkin' pie holidays, now you can offer to bring a dessert and you get to indulge just like everyone else!

In case you don't know or you already know and it just makes you smile to think about it, consuming a Vegan diet has many health benefits. It aids in disease prevention, has nutritional and physical benefits and of course most importantly, it spares the lives of beautiful innocent creatures that deserve to live, live freely, live happily and feel loved.

SAVORY VEGAN POT PIE

Think you can't have a delicious pot pie being a Vegan? Think again! Here's a delicious recipe for you to try.

4 cubes vegetable bouillon or faux chicken bouillon
2 1/2 cups hot or boiling water
1/2 cup nutritional east flakes (available at health food stores)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 15.5 oz can potatoes, diced
1 1/2 cups frozen or caned/drained mixed corn kernels, peas, and diced carrots
1/2 lb faux chicken, cut into tiny cubes (try Worthington food's chick-ketts)
1 box puff pastry sheets

First things first. Preheat the oven, of course to 400 degrees. Mix the vegetable or faux chicken bouillon with the hot water to make a stock. Set aside.

Next, combine the yeast and flour in a large pot and stir constantlly over low heat, until lightly toasted. Add the oil, stirring to make a roux. Slowly whisk in teh stock, the garlic salt, and teh pepper. Add the vegetables and faux chicken and cook this for 10 minutes.


After you have that mixture cooked you are going to roll out one sheet of puff pastry adn place in a 9 inch pie dish; trim to fit. Pour in teh filling and cover with teh other sheet, cutting adn crimping the edges and making several 1 inch slices on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pasty is golden and puffed. I dare you to tell that these are Vegan. They're delicious!