Tasty Protein

One of my favourite ways to add protein to a vegetarian/vegan meal is by hiding it in the dessert.

I devised this recipe after being challenged last year to make a chocolate banana vegan mousse that was as tasty as the one at a local vegan restaurant. My recipe is vegan with the right margarine, otherwise it's vegetarian-friendly.

crust:
1.5 cups Graham Cracker crumbs (made by putting GC in a bag and *thwacking* it repeatedly)
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted

filling:
1 pack of silken tofu
2 ripe bananas
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract

Making your own crust is really simple. (Though, you could just buy one at the store.) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Press the mixture firmly onto the bottom and up the sides of 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

Filling: Put the tofu, bananas and vanilla in a blender. Blend. Put aside for a moment. On the stove, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don't have one, you can replicate it by bringing a small saucepan of water to a boil, then putting a metal bowl over the top of the pot and putting the chocolate in the bowl. (Make sure the boiling water doesn't come in contact with the metal bowl.) Stir the chocolate to help it melt... Once it's melted, add to the blender contents, and blend away. You'll probably need to use a spatula to scrape the chocolate from the sides. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Put it in the fridge to cool. (The cooled chocolate will harden, holding the pie filling together.)

ta da!

This recipe is also really good with berries mixed in with bananas (mix in by hand after all the blendering is done). Also, I've tried it with a bit of liqueur (I've tried cointreau and Bailey's) and both are super tasty in the mousse, just don't add to much or the filling won't harden.

Enjoy!