Faux Egg Salad

I know that both Melanie and I have made this, and it's really good - and easy for lunches! It came from How It All Vegan, but we've both altered the recipe a tad, to make it less...intense. Here's the closest, I think, to my recipe.

1.5 pounds firm tofu, water pressed out, and crumbled

1/2 cup soy mayonnaise

(a bit less than) 1/4 cup relish

1.5 Tbsp dijon

2 stalks green onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp tumeric

4 Tbsp parsley, chopped.

In a bowl, combine ingredients. Mix together well & chill before serving.

When I make a sandwich, I un-vegan it with a slice of cheese, some spinach, and maybe some avocado, cucumber, or other addition I have in the fridge. Delicious.

I should also remember that this makes almost more than I can eat in a week, so I should cut this recipe in half!

Clear-Out-The-Cupboard Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can count the days left in this house on one hand (ACK!) which also means, it's my job to use all the food left in the cupboards, or it gets thrown out. I have a full bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, and I WILL NOT throw those out. So, tonight I set out to make chocolate chip cookies.

Step 1: check your ingredients!

Flour, yes. White sugar, yes. Butter, yes (well, soy margarine). Baking soda, sort of (if we count the fridge box). Eggs, no. Brown sugar, no. Vanilla, no. Measuring cups and spoons, no. Baking sheet, no.

Step 2: gather substitutes!

Aluminum foil, silken tofu, maple syrup, snack-pac of unsweetened applesauce.

Step 3: go for it!

So, I preheated the oven to 350. I creamed one stick of Willow Run with what I estimated to be about 1/2 cup of white sugar. I was also without a mixing bowl, so this took place in a large tupperware container with a fork. When it was creamy (or, I was tired), I added what I estimated to be 1/4 cup of maple syrup. To me, the maple syrup replaced both the brown sugar and vanilla I was missing. Then I added in applesauce and a little silken tofu, to replace the egg. After combining this well, I added about 1 cup of flour, a tsp of baking soda, and some salt. Can't forget the Ghiradelli chips that started this whole process. At this point I crafted a cookie sheet out of 3 layers of aluminum foil and dropped teaspoon sized cookies onto the foil. I baked them for about 10 minutes, and let them cool slightly.

The result, actually, quite delicious. Good to know, because I have enough ingredients to do this again tomorrow. Who wants cookies?!?!

Added bonus, they are totally vegan!

Baked Tofu

Here's my new favorite thing. I've been keeping it a secret for a while, mostly because I've been too lazy to write about it. Baked Tofu! I guess that's what you call it. It's like fried tofu, but there's no frying, only baking. It's super simple, and pretty tasty, and easy to make any way you want and throw in to any dish you want.

Basically, you cut up the block of tofu. I've been using the firm tofu, and I haven't squeezed out much water. You could maybe press a little out. I've generally sliced it up in to squares about 1/2 an inch thick. Then you coat it in your breading mixture. This is where you can get crazy. I usually have used 1 part flour to 2 parts cornmeal and added in a variety of spices. One time it was paprika and some cajun spices. One time it was oregano and rosemary. One time I left it plain. But really, you can go as all out as you want.

I had some trouble perfecting the baking of it though. I've found that I line a pan with aluminum foil, and coat it with either cooking spray or olive oil (depending on which I have). I lay them all done and bake for like 10 minutes at 400 degrees. I flip them once and keep baking. The first time I think I took them out too early, they could have been crispier.

At this point you can do what you will with them. I've added some to salad, I've had them with couscous and veggies, I've put them with some beans and rice and made a burrito. The possibilities are endless....

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

The Tofu Chronicles, Part II -- Boston!

1:46pm - I'm waiting for my rice to come to a boil. My oil is heating up in the wok. Must run!

1:50pm - I'm cooking up the green curry paste and it smells amazing! I added the coconut milk (the rest of the can that I didn't use IN the paste) and then realized if it ends up too spicy I'm out of luck. . . no more coconut milk to cool it down! Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Oh, and I used two chilli peppers of the optional one to three.

1:54pm - I have ten minutes now, phew! The rice is cooking away. The tofu is cooking with the curry paste, coconut milk, and a medium pinch of shredded kaffir lime leaves. . . ?

2:01pm - I'm starving.

2:15 - I must rescue my frozen broccoli from the microwave and check on the already cooking yam, red bell pepper, carrots, and cauliflower!

2:19pm - Added the snow peas.

2:22pm - Pouring a glass of wine that's left over from Jenni's Chocolate and Red Wine Cupcake recipe that I whipped up this morning for a friend's party tonight. Adding the broccoli.

2:27pm - I tried the sauce and luckily it's not too spicy! I did add a little more soy sauce though because it was lacking saltiness -- just a bit.

2:59pm - I'm ready to eat when you are, Jenni!

3:18pm - Eating! Oh my. This is really quite delicious! I think it's still lacking in the saltiness department, but it's okay because it's so flavorful. I'm going to take my plate into the TV room and devour this yumminess while watching yesterday's Barefoot Contessa. More on her tomorrow. . . she's doing a book signing in Natick that I'm going to! :o

The Tofu Chronicles, Part II - Texas.

All times reported herein are in Central Standard Time!

12:02pm - I've begun draining the tofu, it's weird.  I've got it on some paper towels and sandwiched between two cutting boards with some cook books on top.  There is so much water coming out.  Is this what's supposed to happen?!  I might be ruining this before I even really begin.

12:08pm - mmm, lemongrass!  This is also my first experience with this, and wow - it smells amazing.  Almost as good as lemon pledge.  Who knew.  I'm sans food processor, so I've begun putting all my paste in

gredients into a bowl, and will cycle it through the hand-held chopper I

 do have.  

12:18pm - thanks to the gloves I "borrowed" from the whole foods spice section, I will not be having jalepeno hands!  In go the chillies (or chilli!)

12:20pm - "one small onion", mine was large.  I wanted to use only half, but even that seemed like too much.  I didn't use the whole half.  We'll see.

12:36pm  - so many firsts.  I've never used ginger either.  But lemongrass and ginger may be my two new favorite ingredients.  This smells good, and all I've done is chop so far.

12:37pm - my one loose cup of coriander leaves and stems is in, and it's what I call cilantro.

  The last thing to go in the paste...my interpretation of "kaffir lime leaves", which will include some zest and some juice from a kaffir lime.

12:53pm - the gre

en curry paste is made.  I managed to cycle it all through the hand chopper, and then get it all back in at one time for a final spin!  smells good.  I must pause now to run and get some rice (oops!) and make a few other arrangements for the study session happening promptly at 3pm.

1:18pm - we're back.  Rice is on.  Frying pan is heating up.  I am also sans wok, so I'll be using a large frying pan.  I guess this is the Green Curry Tofu without all appropriate kitchen appliances version!!

1:32pm - I'm impressed really, it's an hour and a half (holy god) after I started and I am just not suffering my first cooking induced injury.  I mean, I've used so many knives, gloves, juggled bottles - this is a miracle.  When adding my "kaffir lime leaves" (aka, more zest and juice) to the frying pan I dropped the lime and grated my knuckle.  awesome!  

1:39pm - I heeded Mel's advice, and I stirred completely the paste and coconut milk before adding the tofu (so as 

not to have to stir it too much).  also, I cut my tofu a bit larger than bit sized, in case it began to fall apart it would still be big enough.  We'll see.  ten minutes on.

1:50pm - I've officially added too much stuff already.  I put in my red bell pepper (or one and a half, they were small) and I used eggplant instead of yams.  The frying pan is getting full.  I still have broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, and baby corn to add.  Maybe I'll remove some of the larger eggplants chunks.  Ten more minutes!

2:01pm - broccoli (is for lovers), cauliflower, snow peas and baby corn added to the mix!  4 or so more minutes...

2:06pm - ten minutes until taste test!

2:18pm - Mmmmm!  This is pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

The Tofu Chronicles, Part 1

I'm calling this Part 1, not because there are currently more parts to the story, but because I'm hoping that the future will hold more exciting tofu chronicles for me to share with you. . . so stay tuned.

Once in a while, I get inspired to experiment with tofu. I did so recently, for Jenni! :) My usual attempts don't often pan out very well, typically asking myself why I didn't order takeout instead, letting the professionals cook it for me. This attempt however was pretty good, so here you go.

I've tried marinating, baking, and stir frying tofu. No matter what, it still tastes like tofu. . . which isn't really a GOOD taste, but when mixed with other vegetables, seems to suffice and definitely make me happy because I'm getting a little protein -- so I suck it up and eat. This time, I decided to pretend the tofu was a vegetable.

I bought extra firm tofu, pressed it with a bunch of paper towels to get some of the water out, then cut it up in the thin-ish pieces you see in the picture. I then heated up a medium frying pan with a little bit of EVOO (the more flavor the better when it comes to tofu, right?) and then added the tofu, which I sprinkled rather generously with salt and pepper. I let this sit in the bubbling oil (almost enough to cover the pan completely, but lightly) for a while. . . not sure how long. When it got this nice golden color, I flipped each one (that was fun -- I ended up using tongs after getting frustrated with my spatula) and then added more salt and pepper, letting the other side golden up as well. Once done, I took them out and let them sit on paper towels to drain a bit. It was an interesting texture. . . somewhat crisp on the outside yet not the gushy ickiness tofu typically has on the inside. It was. . . cooked? It tasted okay on its own too. But it was MUCH BETTER tossed in a simple garden salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. I drizzled my favorite dressing on top (365 Balsamic Vinaigrette, the one sold in the refrigerated section -- there are two actually). It was a good dinner!