Color Me Orange

Another blogger (can't remember who!) raved about Joanne Stepaniak's Colby Cheeze from The Uncheese Cookbook recently, and I'd been craving a grilled cheeze prepared in my new panini press. So I pulled out my well-worn copy of the Jo's fabulous un-cheesy tome and whipped up this recipe for the Colby block cheese:

Agar powder (the recipe calls for flakes, but I only had powder) firms up the cheeze, creating a sliceable block perfect for sandwiches. I made a sandwich with a few slices of the Colby and some Lightlife Veggie Baked Ham, and then I cooked it up in my new panini press:

Yum, yum! Sticking with the orange theme, I chose the Carrot Fries with Blueberry Ketchup from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Color Me Vegan as a side dish:

This is the first recipe I've tried from Colleen's new book, which is organized by color of food. She emphasizes which phytochemicals come from what plants based on whether they're red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, tan, brown, black, and even rainbow!

The carrot fries were simply roasted matchstick carrots spiced with cumin, and they were yummy. I didn't have to cook them nearly as long as instructed though. The blueberry ketchup (from the blue chapter, of course!) was made from frozen berries cooked down with sugar, ginger, and vinegar. It tastes similar to ketchup, but with a blueberry kick.