tofu scramble omelette

It seems I've been keeping a secret, unintentionally, as it came up when I was talking to Mel on the phone last night. I...don't eat meat anymore. It's been a while, maybe since April. I don't really use the "V" word, mostly because I don't have a stance. I never really ate much meat. I was to the point where I never cooked it myself, and was really eating only chicken on occasion. I decided, I really didn't need it. So, out it went.

Enter tofu. I've never really cooked much with tofu. I guess you can say the same thing, I don't see the point. I'd rather more veggies and cheese to the tofu. But, I suppose there is some benefit, like say protein.

Now, most of you all should know by now, I'm not a fan of eggs. In fact, I hate them. Anything that tastes egg-y...yuck. But, recently a vegan friend of mine was telling me about this tofu-based omelette thing, and I was struck by the fact that, the tofu wasn't really there to TASTE like eggs. It was more a vehicle to get the other goodness into your mouth. And, a dream was born. One day, I will wake up on a Sunday, tired and hungry, and I will make an omelette. And it will be good.

That dream came true on Sunday, and it wasn't good. It was DELICIOUS.

I read various things, about omelettes and scrambles. And I decided the omelette route was mine. I diverged from the above recipes, mostly because of what I had on hand. First I began with my filling. I sautéed some white onion and garlic, then I added some asparagus. Once that was mostly cooked I added some fresh spinach. Is anyone else amazed at the significant size reduction of sautéed spinach. I put in so much, and it just shrunk down. And then, when the spinach was all cooked, I added a few tomatoes. Along the way I added some salt and pepper and our Cajun seasoning that tends to go in everything.

I left this on a low burner while I focused on the tofu. I pressed out some of the water, but I wasn't really careful to get it all. Then I sliced it, and put it through my little mini food chopper. It was somewhat paste-y at this point. I added some soy milk, although I didn't measure it - likely just shy of 1/4 cup. I mixed this up. It was still rather paste-y. Then I went to town with some seasoning. Cajun seasoning, salt, pepper, oregano (I think), and something else for sure.

Now, according to the omelette recipe, I was supposed to pour the "batter" onto a hot frying pan. My "batter" wasn't pourable, so I scooped it into the frying pan, and I tried to spread it around. I had some olive oil in the pan, and the tofu began to brown. Then, I put the filling on the tofu batter, and covered it with some freshly grated colby-jack cheese. I covered this, and let it sit for 4 minutes. At thing point, I was supposed to fold the omelette in half. This clearly wasn't happening, but I tried. It resulted in more of a "stirring" of the whole thing. So, this is when I switched from tofu omelette to tofu scramble. I just continued stirring and scrambling the whole mess. When it seemed done (brownish and warm), I scooped it on to a plate. I added more cheese on top, and ate it up.

It was so delicious, that I ran to give some to RO'D. He's pretty skeptical when it comes to these types of things. Veggie burgers, lentil tacos, tofu stir-fry, it takes some convincing. But, I tried. I said "Try this, it's delicious!" He asked "what is it?"

"Tofu scramble"
"oh, with egg replacements?"
"No, with tofu!"

So he ate a bite, and thought it was great. And said, "Wow, you can't even taste the eggs!"

"because, it's tofu!"

This is a winner!

The Incredible Hulk

I know all of us have a lot of cookbooks. When I moved last month, I had to weed out some of them because they just weren't all necessary. I kept one book around that I had never used, but always wanted to. It's called Super Smoothies. All of the smoothies sound delicious, but I guess I just don't usually think to use a recipe when making a smoothie because it seems kind of silly. I was flipping through this book over the weekend though, in my seemingly endless search for a healthy, filling, quick breakfast, and found one that sounded interesting. It wasn't even that original or with anything I wouldn't have thought of myself, but anyway, I gave it a try. . . and it's absolutely delicious. You HAVE to try it. Seriously. Do it. And don't worry, it's not green.

The Incredible Hulk

1/2 cup silken tofu
3/4 cup low-fat milk (I use original or vanilla, enriched rice milk because that's what I have around for cereal and, well, I've never really liked milk!)
2 Tbs. peanut butter (my favorite brand is Teddie)
2 frozen bananas, sliced (I peel them and just break them in half before freezing -- my blender is pretty solid and can handle them in large-ish pieces)
1 tsp. honey

Combine the tofu and milk in a blender. Add the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups; serves 2


They also give a whole slew of nutritional information. . . here's my condensed version:
(Per serving) calories: 287; total fat: 12 g; saturated fat: 3 g; fiber: 4 g; protein: 11 g

Le French Toast

The thing about french toast is, I love it but I hate it. I like it at most restaurants, but most attempts at home-made I can't stand. The problem lies in the eggs. I'll let y'all in on a little secret - I was an extremely picky eater as a child. I mean, bad. If it wasn't Mac 'n Cheese, PB&J and maybe the occasional apple, I wasn't interested. My food couldn't touch my other food, and sauces - fawgitabowtit! So, to say my tastes have matured is an understatement. I'd like to think I'm not "picky" now, so much as - there are distinct things I don't like, for distinct, vocalizable reasons. For instance, I still like to dip into sauces/dressings, etc. rather than pour them on. And I still hate seafood, no matter how many ways I've tried it. And, well, eggs. I can't stand them. Omlettes, scrambled, over easy, under hard, whatever else the choices may be - I just can't stand them. It makes me feel icky just thinking about the way all of those things would taste. Which brings me to my problems with french toast. Cooked the wrong way, it runs the risk of tasting like cooked egg on bread. When done right, it's a melty deliciousness that I can't get enough of.

I don't know what came over me tonight, but, without so much as a recipe I made myself french toast for dinner. And, for the first time ever, it came out great. I used some honey whole grain bread, complete with nuts in the bread (Mom, are you reading this - NUTS. In the bread! And let me say, this was the bread from my cupboard, as in, I've been making my sandwiches with this bread!) I took two eggs, a cup of milk, a tsp of cinnamon and a tsp of vanilla and whisked it up good. Then I poured the mixture onto a large plate (my plates have quite a lip, so there was no spillage). I took each slice of bread and I dipped it quickly into the mixture, flipping it once, to coat both sides. Then I set it out on a wire rack to drip out a bit*. I pre-heated my griddle pan, and melted about a tablespoon of butter on it. I kept the burner heat at medium*, and put on the first four slices of bread. I allowed the first side to sizzle a little, and flipped them quickly. Then I let them cook a little longer and slower on each side. Once they were done, I kicked up the heat a touch to brown them, and then put them on a cookie sheet that was already in my just-warm oven. I repeated with the next set of slices.

Viola, there was no egg-y taste at all. I topped them with some warmed up strawberry preserves, powdered sugar, and pure maple syrup (a gift brought to me from Canada!) It was a perfect Easter dinner!

*I think these are the key steps that made the difference.

I want more breakfast!

So I was watching the Food Network yesterday (what else is new) and in an attempt to find a healthy, grab-n-go breakfast option for Scott, I turned to Ellie Krieger. She had a whole breakfast show on yesterday, so it was both entertaining and educational. I watched her make these Walnut and Dried Cherry Bars and thought, That looks pretty darn good! I knew though in my own breakfast bars that I had envisioned making that they had to include peanut butter. Mmm, peanut butter. . . I also prefer pecans over walnuts for most recipes, and can't STAND cherry anything. So, here's Ellie's recipe below, with my own changes in italics:

Walnut and Dried Cherry Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ -- 1/4 cup toasted oat bran, because that's what I had!
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey -- 1/4 cup honey and a little less than 1/4 cup agave nectar, because I ran out of honey. . .
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (mine is 365 brand with just peanuts and salt)
  
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg, beaten to mix
• 1 egg white
• 3/4 cup chopped dried tart cherries -- 3/4 cup raisins
  
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts -- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
  
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup "fruit only" apricot preserves

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ/oat bran, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, peanut butter, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cherries/raisins and walnuts/pecans.

Coat an 8-inch square baking pan (I used a 9" because I increased the amount of batter with the peanut butter) with cooking spray. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Put the preserves in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. As soon as the bars come out of the oven, brush with the preserves. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars, about 4 by1 1/2 inches each.

Per Serving

Calories 230; Total Fat 9 g; (Sat Fat 1 g, Mono Fat 3 g, Poly Fat 4 g) ; Protein 4 g; Carb 34 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 20 mg; Sodium 60 mg

Excellent source of: Manganese

Good source of: Thiamin

Of course I'm not sure the above nutritional information is correct anymore, but let me tell you, these bars are freakin' DELICIOUS! I'm totally addicted to them. So whether it's for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert, I highly recommend making them. The only question is what to call them since they're clearly not Walnut and Dried Cherry Bars anymore. . . Peacan Peanut Butter Goodness? Oh My God I Can't Stop Eating Them Bars? Anyway, just make them. How can you not?!

A Breakfast of Champions

With Jenni's big event next weekend in mind, I thought it was about time that I posted something about my latest breakfast creation.

I'm not a big fan of breakfast. It's been hard for me to find something I like other than toast. Toast is great and all, but all of the fat and calories from the "butter" I use (the vegan butter spread, Earth Balance) is still not ideal. I always have a piece of fruit to go with it, to make myself feel better I suppose. It's just too cold (especially in the morning) to eat cereal, so I thought I would try my hands at homemade oatmeal.

I've tried to make oatmeal in the past and I usually either force it down so I don't waste it (telling myself, It's healthy! Just eat it!) or if it's really bad, I do have to unfortunately throw it out. It took me about a week of making oatmeal every day to come up with the perfect formula, but I did it, and can now say that I make GREAT oatmeal. Don't worry, I'll share my secrets with you. What you want to do is replace the recommended water they instruct you cook it in on the package with HALF apple juice and HALF vanilla soy milk (which is naturally sweetened, unlike chocolate soy milk!) The result? Oatmeal that is perfectly sweet, still creamy, and delicious! I always cook the oatmeal with a few shakes of cinnamon too, some kind of fruit (blueberries might be my favorite) and sometimes a small handful of chopped walnuts. I also tried both the instant oats as well as the old fashioned, and I prefer the instant because it comes out creamier.

Perhaps this is one to try before, say, running a half marathon? I personally think it's great before teaching a bunch of dance classes, but maybe that's just me ;)