Category: Tofu

Loaded Nachos

1/22/2015

The other night Jay and I were starving and running errands after work at Target. I knew when I got home I would want to eat as quickly as possible and I didn't want to put too much effort into it, but I didn't know what I wanted to make. Then I saw a bag of tortillas and thought - Bam - that's it! I had a block of Teese vegan nacho cheese that I accidentally opened (I thought it was the mozzarella...) and needed to use. One of the best decisions ever. Jay loved both the cheese and sour cream substitutes. The cheese was buried under a lot of stuff so I'll have to make another recipe that allows you to taste the cheese more.

If you saw my post about Champ's Diner from last week then you know that I don't each nachos very frequently. I guess I was on a kick from my nachos last month and wanted some more! As usual, I went a little overboard on the portions and toppings and made a humongous amount of nachos. This recipe is great for sharing or for a night when you are beyond hungry (I do not recommend trying to eat this all by yourself... in one sitting). There is so much great protein in here! Beans! Quinoa! Tofu! Plus avocado - this one healthy (well except for the chips...) and filling pile of nachos!

Jay and I ate just about half of it for dinner. We were skeptical about how good leftover nachos could be but I couldn't part with my amazing creation, so into the fridge it went. I actually portions of heated it back up in the broiler and it was great!

Ingredients:
About 7oz. of Chips
1 15oz Can Black Beans
1 Block Teese Nacho Cheese
1 15 oz Jar Salsa
1/2 Cup Cooked Quinoa
1 Avocado
1/2 Block Tofu
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon Juice

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 4 as a meal

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread chips out on a cookie sheet. Break apart the Teese nacho cheese and spread/sprinkle over the chips. Put in the oven for about 5 minutes. It just needs to be in long enough for the cheese to melt.

Drain and rinse beans. Add beans and quinoa to pan over medium heat and stir together so that the beans break down a bit and look kinda like re-fried beans.

Combine tofu and apple cider vinegar in a blender or food processor until smooth. Slice the avocado.

Layer the chips and melted cheese with the beans and quinoa mixture, tofu sour cream, salsa, and avocado.

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Slow Cooker Vegan Lasagna

12/15/2014

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What a winning recipe! I like making slow cooker recipes when I'm home on the weekend. I was looking through my cookbook Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Patalsky and was inspired to make a vegan lasagna. I used tofu to make the ricotta and added tempeh to tomato sauce to make it resemble a meat sauce. Jay loved it! Here are some of his quotes while finishing his plate:

"Definitely Jay Approved!"
"I can't tell that this is vegan at all!"
"The tempeh tastes exactly like ground beef!"
"One of your better ones!"

He kept on raving on the texture of the tempeh and how it worked perfectly for ground beef!

This lasagna has tofu and tempeh in it - so it's packed with protein! Definitely a hearty meal. It doesn't serve quite as easily from the slow cooker since your slices will be taller than from a lasagna dish, so not every piece will include every layer. You can also cook this in the oven if you prefer.

Ingredients:
1 small onion
1 package tempeh
1 teaspoon vegan Worcester sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 large bunch of fresh cooking greens (I used kale) or two packages frozen
2 jars tomato sauce
1/2 package no boil lasagna noodles

Tofu Ricotta:
1 package firm tofu
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Servings: 6 generous portions

Instructions:

To make the tempeh meat sauce: Dice onions and cook over medium heat until translucent. Crumble the tempeh and add to the pan. Add the soy sauce and Worcester sauce and stir to coat the tempeh. Combine with the tomato sauce.

To make the tofu ricotta: Press the tofu to remove excess water. Crumble it into a bowl and add the nutritional yeast, minced garlic, and onion powder.

If you're using fresh greens, chop them up and heat them in a pan with a little water just to wilt them a bit.

Oil the bottom of your crock pot and layer the ingredients inside. Start with the tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles, followed by the tofu ricotta and greens and then start over again with the sauce. After you've placed the top layer of noodles pour the rest of the sauce on top. Cook on high for 1.5 hours or on low for 3 hours. Serve and enjoy!

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Scrambled Tofu

11/23/2014

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Scrambled Tofu is a quick and easy breakfast dish, especially if you have Vegg vegan egg yolk replacer. Vegg has both an egg yolk replacer and a egg replacer for baking. I've only used the egg yolk version in pretty basic ways, mainly sprinkling it on tofu. It's main ingredient is nutritional yeast, which is high in B12 (the only essential nutrient that vegans do not get naturally in their diet).

Ingredients:
1 Package Firm Tofu
4 Tablespoons Vegg Vegan Egg Yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt (if you have Himalayan Pink Salt that will add a sulfery taste)
1 teaspoon pepper
Tomato
Spinach
Avocado

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4 as a side or 2 as a main dish

Pressing my tofu

Instructions:
Wrap and press all the water out of the tofu. This is not essential, but will produce a better product. Because tofu comes in water, it helps to press the tofu out so that it can absorb whatever flavors you are adding to it. I wrapped my tofu in paper towels and a dish cloth and then put something heavy on it, like the inside of my slow cooker. If anyone is looking for a Christmas gift a Tofu Press would be awesome. I pressed my tofu for 10-15 minutes, but however much time you have is good. If you're pressed for time, you can still have a good scrambled tofu without it.

Add a little bit of water to your pan and crumble the tofu into the pan so that it resembles the texture of scrambled eggs. You can continue to break up the tofu as you cook it. Add 1 tablespoon of Vegg for every quarter of your tofu. In these pictures I made half of my tofu with two tablespoons of Vegg. Continue to cook, mix, and add a little bit of water until all the Vegg is absorbed and the tofu is yellow. Add salt and pepper to taste. I generally top mine with some tomatoes and avocado and my favorite condiments - Heinz Ketchup and Sriracha. Eat on it's own or serve with some bean and/or potato hash.

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Butternut Squash Tacos

11/11/2014

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Looking for something to do with the other half of the butternut squash you used for the macaroni? Here's what I made!

I actually made this before I made the macaroni, but since it's based on a recipe from someone else I didn't want to leave off with it on the blog. I thought #TacoTuesday would be a great day to post it!

This recipe comes from the great Richa Hingle over at Vegan Richa. I made the butternut squash part almost exactly the same way. I didn't have any Chipotle sauce so I used her alternate of BBQ sauce plus taco seasoning. Jay had an Old El Paso taco kit on hand and I was really worried that the tacos were going to be sweet because of the butternut squash so I used the taco seasoning from that (we don't use the sauce they provide). These are definitely Jay Approved! They were some of the best tacos I've ever had. We both had them for left overs and when I finished them off Jay was definitely upset there were none left for him. I plan on making them again but this time I'll use a healthier taco seasoning - probably this one I've had pinned on Pinterest for a while but have yet to make...

The night I made this it was one of those nights where we had nothing on hand, so I had to scramble to find some toppings to put on the tacos. I had some frozen corn in the freezer, homemade pickles carrots in the fridge, and some salsa so I threw those on and I made some quick vegan mayonnaise using Mori-Nu tofu. Mori-Nu tofu is packaged in an aseptic box so it is shelf stable and is great to have in your pantry for nights like this. Normally I make cashew sour cream, but Jay said that he liked the texture of the tofu sour cream better - it was a lot smoother and closer to sour cream than cashews.

For night 2 I had time to run to the store and grab some avocado to go along with the corn, sour cream, and salsa.

Ingredients:

For Tacos:
1/2 Butternut Squash, peeled, with seeds removed
1 tsp Oil (or water)
1/4 Cup BBQ sauce
1 Package Taco seasoning
1/4 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Chipotle Pepper Powder
2 Tbsp Water

Toppings:
1/2 Cup Corn
Avocado
Salsa
Any other toppings of your choice - cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

Sour Cream:
1 Package tofu
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:
Shred butternut squash with a cheese shredder. Heat oil in pan and add squash. Cook for a few minutes, until heated all the way through.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, but don't cook too much.
While that's cooking, make your sour cream. Add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until well combined.
Once heated all the way through, add squash to the taco shell of your choice and add your toppings. Make it gluten free by using corn tortillas or make a taco bowl by putting it on top of quinoa or rice.

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Loaded Nachos

Slow Cooker Vegan Lasagna

Scrambled Tofu

Butternut Squash Tacos

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