Asian Pasta with Sesame Tofu and Exciting News!

Hello all! 

Been a bit since I've visited the old blog, but things got crazy in my life yet again.  Moved back up to the Cleveland area and in the process of selling my old house and trying to find a new one and also, I am now a mama-to-be and my husband and I are expecting our first child at the end of August!  So lots of exciting changes and a lot of work to be done. 

That being said, I am going to try to devote more time to cooking.  I've gotten tired or eating pre-made meals from the local Mustard Seed or lazy dinners.  We are currently staying with my parents while our house sells and that has created many cooking challenges, as I have little room for storage of groceries and cooking supplies, but I am determined to work through the challenges and make some tasty meals once again.  I've ordered The Vegan Pregnancy Cookbook and Raw Food in Pregnancy for some meal inspiration and planning a super shopping trip tomorrow for supplies.  It has begun!

Today was a "what can I make with that I have lying around..." kind of day.  It started out as a lazy stir-fry meal, but turned into something magical.  This recipe is gluten free, vegan, and has tons of protein.  Behold!


Asian Pasta with Sesame Tofu
 Serves 2-4.  Cook time: 40 minutes (if you're a good multi-tasker)

Asian Pasta with Sesame Tofu  
(Pardon the crappy phone photography.  Have to drag out the ol' camera rig here soon.)

Ingredients: (I will link some of the gluten free brands I used, but feel free to choose your own.)
2 Blocks Extra Firm Tofu (drained and pressed)
1 pkg Explore Asia | Edamame and Mung Bean Spaghetti(organic)
2 T sesame seeds
3 T Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 T Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos
3 T Rice Vinegar
6 T Bragg Liquid Aminos
2 t Sky Valley Sweet Chili Sauce
1 t Sesame Oil
1/4 c Organic Cane Sugar
1 bag frozen veggies of your choice, steamed or thawed (I used 365 Organic California Blend)


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and put a pot of water (approx. 8 cups or more) on the stove for the noodles and bring to a boil.  While the water is getting hot, drain and press your 2 blocks of tofu and cut into cubes. 

In a large baking dish, place the tofu and drizzle with the olive oil and coconut aminos (if you are not gluten free, soy sauce will work in place of the coconut and Bragg aminos) and mix until lightly coated.  Place in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway.  Once the 30 minutes are up, add 1 T sesame seeds and place in the oven for another 10 minutes.  Flip the tofu and add the remaining 1 T sesame seeds and cook for an additional 10 minutes or longer depending on how you like your tofu. 

While the tofu is cooking, cook the edamame and mung bean spaghetti according to package (7 minutes worked beautifully for me). 

In a large bowl, combine rice vinegar, liquid aminos, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil, and cane sugar. 

Once noodles and tofu are done, combine with the sauce.  You can chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight if you prefer a cold dish, or serve warm. 




 

Baked Black Bean & Tofu Tacos

Ingredients:
15oz can black beans
1 block extra firm tofu
taco seasoning (recipe for homemade seasoning below)
medium salsa
romaine lettuce
tortillas



Taco Seasoning:
1T Chilli Powder
½T Cumin
½t Paprika
½t Garlic Powder
½t Onion Powder
½t Oregano
½t Red Pepper Flakes
½t Natural Iodized Sea Salt
½t Fresh Ground Pepper (I just eyeballed it with a pepper grinder)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Drain, press, and crumble tofu and put in 8x8" baking dish.  Drain and rinse can black beans and pour over tofu.  Sprinkle taco seasoning of choice over beans and tofu to taste (about ¼c or all of the mixture above).  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15.  You can warm up the tortillas in the oven for the last 5 minutes on a baking sheet.

Add black bean & tofu mixture to tortilla with salsa and lettuce and eat!

Tofu Baked Ziti

This is a different recipe than previously posted.  This recipe is one I made up on the fly using what little ingredients I had and a few borrowed in a borrowed kitchen.  

1lb uncooked brown rice pasta
1 block extra firm tofu
1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3T Nutritional Yeast
1t Garlic Powder
1t Onion Powder
1t Italian Seasoning
½t Finely Ground Sea Salt
¼ Fresh Ground Pepper
2-3c Pasta or Marinara sauce

Cook brown rice pasta to package directions.  Preheat oven to 375° F.

Drain and press tofu and crumble into a medium bowl. Massage olive oil into tofu.  Add spices and mix well. Once pasta is cooked and cooled, add ½c pasta sauce to the bottom of a 8x8 baking dish.  Add a layer of pasta, then a layer of the tofu mix, then another layer using ½c sauce. Repeat until dish is full adding extra sauce on top to make sure everything is covered.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Sorry no photo - hubby and I gobbled it up!

The many variaions of the Tofu Scramble: Spicy Spinach Tofu Scramble

Spicy Spinach Tofu Scramble

I have made the tofu scramble before (on MANY occasions actually) but I've always eaten it the same way.  Today I decided to mix it up a bit. 

Ingredients:
1.5 Tbsp Earth Balance
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 block firm tofu, crumbled
1 Tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
1 tsp turmeric 
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ c chopped fresh spinach (I just used two handfuls)
1 c Mild Organic Salsa


Put the Earth Balance and garlic into the frying pan on medium and cook for 3 minutes.  Mix in tofu, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, and nutritional yeast and cook until tofu is yellow, firm, and turns into brown little balls.  Once Tofu is close to your desired consistency, add chopped spinach and cook for another few minutes until spinach shrivels and the salsa is warm.

You an serve this multiple ways - I ate it with home made hash browns and topped with salsa and hubby made a burrito with a tortilla, hash browns, and the scramble. Yum!

Christmas breakfast, the "Vegal", and the best gifts ever!

Hubby eating his first Vegal

A happy Hubby is one of my favorite things to see!  For this Christmas, among the new tripod and camera bag, my wonderful husband told me he is going vegan in 2012!

To celebrate, I made an attempt to veganize one of his favorite meals - a Sheetz Schmagel.  For those of you who have never been to a Sheetz, a "Schmagel" is basically a bagel and egg sandwich with toppings of your choice.  I dubbed this new creation, "The Vegal".

For the "egg"  modified my favorite Tofu Scramble recipe.





Ingredients
1 vegan bagel of choice (hubby loves the "everything" bagel)
1 block extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
2 Tbsp Earth Balance (although this may have been a little much.  Would like to try it with 1 Tbsp next time.)
1-2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
½ tsp Tumeric
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast

Directions (Makes 4)
1. Drain and press the tofu (I usually squeeze out what I can in the container, rinse, squeeze again, then wrap in a paper towel and squeeze a few more times.  Be careful not to squeeze too hard or you'll crumble the tofu.)
2. Heat up a large frying pan on medium heat with the Earth Balance.
3. Cut tofu into 4 even slices across the length of the tofu.
4. In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
5. Place the tofu slices onto a plate and cover the tofu lightly with the half the soy sauce then sprinkle on the spices, saving half for the other side.  Flip the slices over and repeat on the other side.
6. Place the slices in the pan, flipping often.  Cook until desired consistency (about 15-20 minutes). 
7. Toast your bagel in a toaster, add the tofu patty and desired toppings and your Vegal is complete! 
Toppings I recommend: lettuce, spinach, tomato, avocado, green peppers. 


I will be experimenting with this recipe more in the future until I feel it is "just right", but for now Hubby is satisfied and approves.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Love,
Brit at VeganAmore

 

Breakfast Feast

Tofu Scramble, Home Fries, Toast, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Tea, and Orange Juice.

Dad's in town on a surprise visit and I really wanted to make him something special.  We ended up going out for lunch and dinner the last two days so I could show him the town and all our favorite places, so I made him breakfast before work today and went all out!

Breakfast included:

Tofu Scramble w/ Home Fries

Toast (Made with fresh bread using my new bread machine and this recipe - Simple Bread Machine Wheat Bread)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Made the same except I used vegetable oil instead of Earth Balance)

Hope he liked it! 

Tofu Sandwich

I had some tofu in the fridge and saw this recipe in an e-mail from Peta and had to try it.

Recipe: $3 Dish of the Day: Grilled Tofu Sandwhich

I used the recipe for the tofu but added tomato and avocado to the sandwich instead with my fresh made bread!

I don't think I drained the tofu enough before pouring on the soy sauce because it probably only absorbed an 8th of what it called for.  Next time I will press my tofu before adding the sauce.  Also the soy sauce made this dish VERY salty, so maybe lighter on the sauce wouldn't be such a bad thing.

For $3, this meal gets an A!

Tofu Scramble w/ Home Fries

Thought I would get some practice, seeing as I am not the best cook and am not as knowledgeable on vegan cooking as I should be; plus I needed to use up some tofu about to expire in my fridge along with some potatoes starting to sprout.

I combined two recipes I found on the internet, give or take a few ingredients.

Home Fries:
5-6 Large Potatoes, cut into 1/2in cubes
5-6 tablespoons olive oil
Cook on medium until soft
Add garlic powder, sea salt, and ground pepper to taste.

Tofu Scramble: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/TofuScramble.htm
I used this recipe minus the onions, green peppers, and onion power; and I used Earth Balance margarine instead of oil.

Once both were cooked I combined them probably 60-40 potatoes to tofu. I even added a smidge of ketchup to my bowl for kicks.

I think this may be one of my new favorite breakfasts (although I had it for dinner) and even my roomate Cory (the non-vegan meat & cheese lover) and my other roomate Paul (the picky eater) loved it. Edit 11:30p: Most importantly, hubby loves it too. Said it is his favorite thing I've made, vegan or not.

I have made vegan dishes out of the McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook before, but this was my first attempt at "winging it" with ingredients I had. I would call first attempt a success.