Cookie Dough Cheesecake

These are not even remotely vegan, though I have veganized this recipe in the past.  This lasted maybe all of an hour at our not-Super-Bowl party.

1 graham cracker crust
1 8-oz container light whipped cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
frozen cookie dough

Mix the cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla together.  Spread in the graham cracker crust.  Cut the cookie dough into tiny chunks (I used about 4 cookies' worth of Trader Joe's frozen chocolate chunk cookie dough) and sprinkle it over the cream cheese mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350.  Let cool.  Nom.

Homemade Cottage Cheese

I've been eating a lot of Kalona Organics cottage cheese lately, so I decided to take a stab at making my own. Much like making your own yogurt, it's disgustingly easy.

1 half gallon milk (I used Picket Fence Creamery 2%)
5 drops liquid vegetable rennet (purchased at Gateway Market)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Heat the milk over low heat until it reaches 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat, add rennet, stir. Cover and leave out for 4 hours, or until set and jiggly. Slice through the jiggly milk, cutting into cube-like shapes. Add the salt and lemon juice and heat over low heat until the curds separate from the whey. Strain, discarding the whey (or save it for later use), drain in the fridge for another hour, then eat and/or store.

Chai Steel-Cut Oatmeal

1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water (you can replace up to 2 cups of the water with non-dairy milk and/or whey)
a hefty pinch of sea salt
1 roobios chai tea bag
1 tsp cinnamon
vanilla stevia/sweetener to taste
slivered/sliced almonds for serving

Put the water/milk mixture and chai tea bag in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Add the oats, salt and cinnamon, remove tea bag, lower heat to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes.

Serve sweetened with slivered/sliced almonds mixed in.

Note:  You can also make this in the crock pot, using this method.  Alternately, you can bring the water to a boil, stir in oats, salt and cinnamon, turn the heat off and leave covered at room temperature overnight.  I like to divide the oatmeal up into pint-size jars after it's done cooking, so I have handy portion-sized jars ready for grabbing in the morning.

Also, this is even better after having sat in the fridge overnight.  The texture becomes chewy and awesome.

Green Smoothie

Adapted from the recipe here.

2 cups baby spinach
1 banana, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup almond milk (or leftover whey)
1 6 oz. container plain Greek yogurt
6 drops vanilla stevia or 1 Tbsp agave nectar
2 tsp fresh ginger
1 Tbsp peanut butter

Blend until creamy and green.  This keeps well in the fridge overnight.