Vegan Fried Rice

Reminds me of home without the meat and consistent nagging. The best part about this dish is that it's versatile! Try it with different kinds of vegetables...

Ingredients:
12 oz. Bag of Frozen Peas (and Carrots if available)
Box of Firm Tofu
1 Small Yellow Onion
Cooked Medium Grain Rice
Garlic Powder
Soy Sauce
Salt
Black Pepper
Canola Oil or Sesame Oil

First cook about 2 cups of rice in rice cooker. Prepare to cook by chopping the onions. Usually the rice takes about 20 minutes to cook. Once you've reached close to 20 minutes, take a fork and pre-mash the tofu. Then take a quarter of the frozen veggies bag and 2 Tbsp of oil and dump into pan. Heat the veggies until thawed. Place chopped onions in pan. Throw the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook until soften. Throw in the mashed tofu. Stir. Now spoon in the cooked rice. Add about 2 Tbsp of soy sauce.

Salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste. Gobble it up.

Cauliflower, Tofu, and Spinach... Yum!

Although it's New Year's Day, I couldn't sleep in due to the fact that I've been recovering from a nasty upper-respiratory 'thing.' So I'm leaving you with this wonderful recipe that Steve just conjured up from that many faceted brain of his. I'm not hungover at all, but I bet this recipe is well and good if you're feeling that way today.

Ingredients:
10 oz of Cauliflower, thinly sliced
8 oz Extra Firm Tofu, cut into thin long strips
2 Handfuls Spinach, chopped coarsely
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Pinches of Black Pepper

Combine olive oil, soy sauce, and pepper in pan. Turn to high heat. Add cauliflower. Stir and let cook, remaining on high. Cover for 5 minutes. Add tofu strips. Cover again and cook for an additional 3 minutes. When cauliflower begins to soften add spinach. Turn down to low heat and let spinach wilt. Stir.

Add salt to taste and serve (over bed of rice.)

Spicy Kung Pao Tofu

If you like peppers this recipe is definitely for you. Inspired by the Chinese version of 'Kung Pao Chicken' this healthy vegetarian version is also simple to make. I stole this from Recipezaar.com and modified it a little bit. Click here for the original.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs of Vegetable Broth
1 Tbs Soy Sauce, 2 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp of Cornstarch
1/2 tsp of Sugar
2 Tbs of Sliced Garlic
2 Tbs of Minced Ginger
3/4 tsp of Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbs of Canola Oil
1 Red Bell Pepper - sliced into 1/2 inch squares
1 Yellow Bell Pepper - sliced into 1/2 inch squares
1 Green Bell Pepper - sliced into 1/2 inch squares
1 Carton of Firm Tofu - cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Salt to taste
1 Tbs of Chopped Peanuts

In a small bowl combine vegetable broth, soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch, and sugar. In a large wok or skillet over medium heat - cook garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper in hot oil for about 10 seconds. Add bell peppers and stir-fry until peppers start to soften. Add tofu and broth mixture. Stir-fry a few more seconds. Cover, reduce to low heat and cook until tofu has heated through and sauce has thickened. Add salt to taste and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Sprinkle with peanuts. Serve over rice!

Tofu Scramble Part Two

Here's an example of how having the same ingredients in your fridge can go a long way. Here I used my staple ingredient tofu to make a spicy breakfast scramble. It's super quick and easy.

Required: Firm Tofu, Onions, Spinach, Sea Salt, Turmeric, Garlic or Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Curry Powder, Olive Oil, Cayenne Pepper

Half of a carton of tofu makes about 2 small servings. Take the desired amount of tofu and smash with a fork. You can do this in a large bowl. Make sure the tofu winds up looking like the picture when you're done with it. Chop half of a small onion. Mince a small clove of garlic.

Start by oiling your pan with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Turn on high heat and dump the chopped onions and minced garlic into the pan. Stir in a dash of salt, 4 tsp of turmeric, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Keep stirring. Next place the squished tofu into the pan. Add a few dashes of black pepper, 2 tsp of curry, and another Tbsp of oil. Stir. Lastly put in the spinach. Add more salt and pepper to taste. If you need more turmeric or curry please add a little more.

I served this with toast and a few slices of mozzarella cheese.

Stuffed Mushroom and Carrots

Pictured here are some julienned carrots and a stuffed portobello mushroom. Thank you guest chef Steve for making the yummy carrots!

Julienned Carrots
Required: Carrots, Spinach, Canola Oil, Sugar, Salt, Soy Sauce, Black pepper

First you'll want to take your desired amount of carrots. We used baby carrots so it was easier to cut them. Julienne basically means to cut into long thin strips. Steve prepared this, by cutting the carrots first. Mix 1 1/2 of Tbsp of oil, 1 Tbsp of sugar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, salt, black pepper in a separate bowl. Make sure the pan is heated for a few seconds before placing the mix in. Place the carrots in the pan. Use high heat. The carrots should caramelize a little. Stir. Once the carrots look nearly blackened on one side, you'll want to put in some spinach. Carrots should be crunchy on the inside and sweet on the outside. Spinach goes into the pan last since it cooks very quickly. Add salt to taste.

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom
Required: Broccoli, Tofu, Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Onions, Black pepper, Salt, Olive Oil, Garlic, Cayenne Pepper

For this dish, you'll need to preheat your oven at 350 degrees. Make sure you have a small oven tray or baking sheet to place the stuffed mushroom on. You could also use aluminum foil if you don't have either.

Prepare a mushroom or two by chopping off the stem and boiling for a little bit in a pot. For the stuffing, take a few pieces of broccoli and mince. You'll want to do the same to the onion. Use about half of a block of tofu. Smoosh with fork in a bowl. Oil your pan. Throw in the onions and a small clove of garlic. Stir. Cook onions until soft. Next throw in broccoli. Finally toss in the tofu. Continue stirring. Add some cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt for taste. I like it spicy so I put in a little more cayenne pepper than usual. Keep stirring.

Once your mushroom is cooked, place it on the baking sheet. Spoon in some stuffing. Top it off with a lot of cheddar cheese. It's better if you use more than you think you'll need. Take your baking sheet and place it in the oven. Cook until cheese is fully melted. I would give it a good 10-15 minutes depending on how quickly your oven cooks.

It sounds complicated, but this stuffed mushroom is really not hard to make at all. It does take a bit more preparation and it's a small and light meal. Don't expect to be very full after having one mushroom. Personally, I had a fun time making it and it was super yummy!

No Huevos Rancheros

Another recipe with tofu and broccoli! I promise I'll insert some variety in here. This dish is inspired by Cafe 101 on Franklin. They have a No Huevos Rancheros (no eggs) entree which uses tofu that's pretty good.

Required: Onion, Corn, Black Beans, Tofu, Salsa, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Sea Salt, Olive Oil

Optional: Corn Tortilla, Broccoli, Cumin

Chop the onion! Slice the firm tofu into cubes. Oil pan with 2 or 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute onion. If you're going to use broccoli, I would put it in at this point. Stir in tofu cubes. Sprinkle a little less than desired amount of cayenne pepper and a pinch of cumin. Add black beans then corn. Stir. Sprinkle more cayenne pepper to taste. Top off with sea salt and black pepper to taste and stir.

Prepare a piece of warm corn tortilla on a plate. Spoon the mix onto the tortilla and top with some salsa. Mmm, vegan mexican!

Tofu Messy in Bed

I love making this tofu scramble because first, I love breakfast food, but also it's easy to make and yummy to boot.

Required: Tofu, Spinach, White/Yellow Onion, Sea Salt (or just salt), Black Pepper, Olive Oil, Garlic Powder

Optional: Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preparation: Take a block of tofu and place in a medium sized bowl. Take a fork and mash up the tofu. It's easier to use soft tofu, but I often wind up with firm. The firm kind is more clumpy whereas soft tofu tends to be softer (duh) and more watered down. Chop onion.

Ok now that you've got your mashed tofu and onion. Place 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Let it heat up. Then take the onion and saute until soft. Then take the mashed tofu and dump into pan. Stir. Add 4 tsp of garlic powder. Sprinkle with a little black pepper and salt to taste.

Add your pre-washed spinach! Remember spinach tends to shrink a lot, so you'll need to put more than it looks like you'll need. I placed two small handfuls in my pan then covered it so that the steam would shrink the spinach. Once the spinach shrank, I continued to stir.

In the above picture, I topped the scramble off with shredded cheddar and mozzarella soy cheese.

Spicy Chinese Inspired Scramble

Broccoli, tofu and bean sauce are featured in this dish. It's easy, I promise!

Required: Broccoli, Bean Sauce (you can get this in any Asian grocery store), Spices (black pepper or Sri Ra Cha - pictured here), Sesame Oil or Canola Oil

Optional: Somen Noodles or Rice, Tofu, Peanuts or Cashews, Chili Oil

I always have to have carbs with my dishes, thus the Somen. But you can make this without noodles or rice. If you want to make the noodles, I would suggest boiling the noodles first. If you are making rice, you should prepare it well in advance. The noodles took less than 5 minutes to cook.

While the noodle was boiling. I crumbled the tofu. (After the noodles were finished boiling, I added some Sesame and Hot Chili Oil as well as a little soy sauce to the drained noodles.) You can use a fork for mushing. Then I used about 1 to 2 tablespoons to oil a pan with sesame oil. I let the pan heat up. I added pre-chopped broccoli into the pan and sauteed for a bit. I like my broccoli crispy but not soft; use your own judgement here. After I decided the broccoli was almost where I wanted it, I added the crumbled tofu. I then took another 1 to 2 tablespoons of black bean sauce and added to the mix. Black bean sauce is very salty so there's no need to add salt. (I learned this the hard way once.) After that, you have to push everything around in the pan until the ingredients are mingling well enough. Cook to taste. I added a little black pepper and Sri Ra Cha which is Chinese hot sauce.

This saute went over Somen noodles.

Done in 20 minutes!

Baked Tofu Sandwich

You need bread, baked tofu, some kind of spread, mushrooms, and some kind of leafy green. In this picture I used buttermilk bread. First I prepared the mushrooms by slicing them thinly. Then I sliced the baked tofu into thinner slices. (It usually comes as a block.) I had a difficult time slicing the tofu as you can see from the picture. The bread had a thin layer of mayo before I added the raw spinach. Finally, I topped it off with the tofu and mushrooms! For those of you who are vegan, you can easily substitute mayo with mustard or hummus. You can also make variations using sprouts rather than spinach.

15 minutes to make, 15 minutes to eat. Mmm!