wild Javelina

Had a few vacation days to burn through, so Heather and I got to spend a bit of time and tool around town. A quick rundown of the festivities: Friday we hit up Cedar Point.

The heat was pretty ridic- but it wasn’t too humid and the nice breeze made for a great day of rollercoastering!

Saturday we got some dinner at Momocho and thanks to my pal Jason had free tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof. I had never seen it before and was really impressed. Sunday we cooked out with her family, and Monday we decided to get wild and rent jet ski’s. Although Heather had ridden before it was my first time- it was AMAZING and i can’t wait to go again! Monday night was my moms 60th birthday so over for a visit and some cooking out with the family. It certainly was an amazing much needed long weekend of fun!

I’m a lush for a good breakfast, and we had a few over this break. I wanted to quickly highlight one of our favorites. I was hellbent on veganizing these pancakes I had seen in the most recent issue of Food & Wine. After a bit of searching and some kind guidance from the post punk kitchen forums, I sort of winged it and came up with my own version of a vegan ricotta.

Again, here’s the link for the original recipe, and Here’s how I made it vegan.
Orange Syrup: made as directed.

Vegan Ricotta Topping:
1/2 brick extra firm tofu- crumbled
12oz package firm silken tofu 
zest and juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon raw sugar
1 Tablespoon agave nectar

Dump it all into a food processor or blender until you’ve reached the desired consistency. I let it go until it was pretty smooth.

Vegan Ricotta Pancakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornmeal - I just used regular yellow, I couldn’t find ‘fine white’ and i like the crunch.
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups vegan buttermilk (Just add 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar to either soy or almond milk stir and allow it to curdle for a few minutes.)
1/2 cup silken tofu
1/2 cup tofu ricotta

Mix all the dry ingredients well in a large mixing bowl- in a seperate bowl combine all your wet ingredients. Fold the wet into the dry, incorporating it all together. Be careful here not to over mix. A few lumps are always okay, and preferred to heavy pancakes! Heat a skillet and spray a light coating of oil. I used about a 1/3 cup of batter and was pretty happy with the size. Cook until the edges start to look dry and most of the air bubbles have escaped before flipping- about 2-3 minutes depending on how hot your pan is. Top with the ricotta mixture and orange syrup and get ready to smile and talk about how damn fine your pancakes turned out!

We had these with mimosas, tofu scramble, Gimmie Lean sausage and a follow up food coma… I highly suggest you try these out next time you’re craving a sweet breakfast!