"Chicken" Quesadillas

I am always so proud of myself when I come up with a recipe that is all my own. Granted, someone else somewhere in the world may have at some point thought of it too, however I don't know about it, and that means that it's mine. I was making the wonderful vegan mexican pizzas last night and thought that it might be fun to have something else along with it, a quesadilla perhaps. I had some Morningstar Farms Chicken Strips in the freezer, a few extra tortillas, leftover enchilada sauce from the pizzas, and some Tofutti cream cheese. The lightbulb above my head: visible and flashing. The end result: absolutely delicious.

"Chicken" Quesadillas
Morningstar Farms chicken strips (one bag will make several quesadillas)
1/2 C Tofutti cream cheese
1/4 C enchilada sauce
1 tsp each of garlic, cumin, and paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
tortillas
1 C vegan cheese (I combined Follow Your Heart Monterey Jack and cheddar)

Method:
Combine the cream cheese, enchilada sauce and spices. Saute the chicken in 1 tbl of olive oil until heated through and browned on both sides. Place one tortilla on a cookie and spread the cream cheese mixture across it. Place strips of chicken ontop of the cream cheese mixture, then sprinkle with cheese. I also added a few scallions and jalapenos. Bake in the oven at 450* for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place another tortilla ontop the mixture. Brush the top tortilla while a light layer of olive oil, and cook for ten more minutes.

Cheesecake Cupcakes with Blackberry Sauce

I would first like to apologize for the photo. It's awful, but I am not used to taking my photos in the middle of the day by a window with sun streaming in (which I realize is the best circumstance under which to take a photo) but this is the best one I got. I'm sure you'll forgive me.

Rather than make an entire cheesecake, I thought it would be cute to make little cheesecake cupcakes and then spoon a thick fruit sauce over them. It was cute, however it seems that cupcake liners melt, or stick to the molds more, or something equally annoying, when left in the oven for over an hour. Additionally, (and I know this, believe me) there is a HUGE difference between regular tofu and silken tofu. As I said, I know this, but thought that I could get away with using the regular instead of the silken, because I really wanted to make these and had no silken tofu in the house. I wouldn't recommend it.
The cupcakes came out tasting ricotta-ish, not to mention we had to spoon them out of the liners that refused to tear themselves away from the muffin tins. Jeffrey suggested putting them in the freezer. After a day, I removed them and lo and behold, it was possible to remove them from the tins (although not easy and I did ruin a few). They did somehow taste a bit better, as well. So I spooned the sauce over the cupcakes, lined them up in a storage dish, and put them in the refrigerator. It was a good day.

Ingredients (for the cheesecake):
24 oz. SILKEN firm tofu
8 oz. vegan cream cheese, such as Tofutti
1/2 C Turbinado or other granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Combine ingredients with hand mixer or in a food processor. Spoon into 12 individual cupcake liners. Bake in the oven at 350* for 40 minutes. Let the muffins sit in the oven with the heat off for an additional 40 minutes. Set on cooling rack until completely cool, then refrigerate for several hours. Spoon sauce (recipe follows) on each cupcake and serve.

Blackberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 C blackberries
1/4 C water
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 C sugar

Method:
Mash the blackberries, leaving several large chunks. Combine in small saucepan with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then lower heat and simmer until thickened. It should only take a couple of minutes. Enjoy.