For the Vegetarian with Soul  

Soy Milk:

1 lb. uncooked soy beans, washed and cleaned of stones

Fresh water

raw sugar

a small piece of fresh ginger or fresh orange peel

Equipment:

1 large pot

Muslin cloth (cheese cloth doesn’t work very well)

Containers to store the soy milk in

A food processor

Big bowls or containers

1. Soak the beans in a large bowl overnight.

2. The next day, dump out the water that the beans have been soaking in.

3.Place some beans and fresh water in a food processor in a ratio of 1 part bean to 2 parts water, and grind the beans.

4. Spoon out the ground soy beans into another bowl and repeat the previous step until all the soy beans are ground up.

5. Place a handful of the ground beans in the middle of a piece of muslin cloth. Gather the four corners together and squeeze the soy milk into a pot. Repeat this step till all of the beans are squeezed dry.

6. Place the pot of freshly squeezed soy milk on the stove. Wash and cut a small piece of fresh ginger and place that into the pot of milk. You can substitute the ginger with fresh or dried orange peel. The ginger or orange peel will take away the beany smell of the milk.

7. Bring the milk to a rolling boil and add the sugar of your choice. The amount of sugar is up to you. Stirring the milk occasionally will prevent a film from forming.

8. Remove the ginger or peel, cover the pot and let the milk cool down. Then pour into containers and refrigerate the milk immediately.

9. The left over ground soy can be used to make soy burgers or as a filler in your favorite chilli.

Basic recipe for nut milk

1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds or other nut is your choice, unroasted)
2 cups water, best if warm
1 tsp. raw honey or pure maple syrup

Blend nuts and all other indredients in a blender until smooth. Strain mix and refrigerate for up to 3 days. You can use the strained material as a thickener for a soup, sauce or stew as long as its not too sweet. It is a shame to throw it out so find a way to use it.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST "CHEESE"
from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes*
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 tsp wet mustard

Mix dry ingredients in saucepan. Whisk in water. Cook over medium heat, whisking, until it thickens and bubbles. Cook 30 seconds, then remove from heat, whip in margarine and mustard. It will thicken as it cools, but will thin when heated, or when water is added. Makes 3 cups.

Tofu Mayonnaise

About 30 grams of Tofu (enough to make 2 heaped dessert spoons of creamed tofu)
I dessert spoon of lemon juice or vinegar
5 or 6 dessert spoons of oil
A pinch of mustard powder or a quarter teaspoon of prepared mustard
2 or 3 dessertspoons of water
A pinch of salt

Cream the tofu with a pestle and mortar then transfer it to a bowl for mixing. Add the lemon juice and mix it in. Add the oil gradually. One dessert spoon at a time should be okay - beat it into the mixture before adding the next lot. Beat in the water a dessertspoon at a time and add the salt at the end.

Wheat Gluten

Ingredients:

• one five lb sack of white flour
• large bowls and colander
• large container that can be sealed, hold liquids and small enough to fit in the fridge
• large microwave bowl for cooking 45 minute approx.
• microwave oven

Directions:

Make a smooth dough in the evening. Fill the sealable container with cold water and place dough in it also. Seal this container and place it in the fridge over night.

Late next morning take the dough out and throw out the water. Put the dough in a large colander inside of a large bowl. Pour a stream of room temperature water over the dough as it is vigorously kneaded. Keep rinsing and kneading the dough in the water until all of the white wheat starch is washed away.

Place the wheat gluten which should have lost all white colour, into an open container for microwave cooking. The gluten should be strained of water as much as possible. Microwave the wheat gluten for 45 minutes or until it develops a somewhat hard skin on the top. The gluten should not be covered when cooking. It may rise as much as bread so make sure it has plenty of room.

After it is well cooked take it out and dump it upside down into another bowl and allowed to cool. After it is cool enough to handle it needs to be cut into bite size pieces. The bite size pieces can be refrigerated in a sealed container at least for a few days. Add some bite size pieces of cooked wheat gluten in with your favorite vegetable preparation.

Gluten is a protein and this makes a preparation more desirable. However, some people may have difficulty in digesting gluten. To remedy this use a small amount of chile as well as digestive aids like ginger and turmeric in your preparation. Also it is wise not to make the gluten the main meal. Since gluten is made from wheat it might be best to cut down on other wheat preparations in the meal.

Use soy sauce and nutritional yeast to add a cheese flavor to your preparation. Of course, you must account for the salt in the soy sauce. You may like to salvage the wheat starch that is washed away to uncover the gluten. If you have used good quality flour you may want to use this wheat starch for gravy and other preparations.

Serving Idea:

Try sprinkling the small chunks of cooked gluten with soy sauce, olive oil, and which can also be mixed with nutritional yeast. This should be done before adding the chunks of wheat gluten to another vegetable preparation.

Non-Stick Cooking Oil Spray

1 c. Vegetable Oil

Store in pump spray bottle.