If you’re lucky enough to be part of a CSA this spring and early summer, you likely blessed with an abundance of greens. Green smoothies are the way to go… But we have to have variety! These Chinese style greens may give you a new option. First, I’ll start with the disclaimer that of course you […]

via Chinese style greens — rookievegan

Really, this is a feature for breaded, fried, and softly spiced tofu. But considering the fact that my son wanted to eat it all in one sitting, disappearing tofu seems to be more appropriate.

The truth is, I use tofu sparingly because of my thyroid condition and what seems to be mixed reviews for using tofu in that situation. This recipe justifies the exception.

The original version is here:

allrecipes.com
I stuck to the original version with the exception of using quinoa flour rather than all purpose flour, and I used coconut oil rather than vegetable oil.

Don’t skip the step of pressing the tofu to get the liquid out. This is important to have the right consistency after breading and frying.

Yes, the tofu is in between the plates, sandwiched between paper towel. There is a tool for this purpose, but I don’t own it. If you read this blog, you know I’m not deterred by such things.

Cut the pressed tofu into strips, and marinate as directed in the recipe.

Mix the ingredients for the breading, and roll the drained and slightly pressed strips in the breading mix.

Be generous and make sure the tofu has a good coating. Fry until crisp and browned on all sides, and add more oil if you need it.

You can serve this with any side vegetable that you’d like, but I happen to have colored peppers and made a very simple sauce with cornstarch, water, ginger, Sriracha, Tamari, and a bit of honey. I even used the same pan while the tofu was draining on paper towel, because I don’t like to create extra dishes to wash! Cooking is fun, dishes not as much. But it was definitely fun watching a seventh-grade boy ask for more tofu.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Santa (aka Sam) brought me a pressure cooker for Christmas this year. My first experiment is a barley vegetable soup.

  
I must say, I’m impressed! The pressure cooker has the ability to sauté before cooking. 

  
The rest of the process involves adding everything and pressing a button. Not too shabby!

  
I used whatever was on hand. In this case, it included onions, shallots, bell peppers, carrots, sliced mushrooms, and a diced sweet potato. I topped it off with a cup of organic barley, a can of rinsed black beans, and 8 cups of vegetable stock. If you use vegetable stock, I encourage you to consider this product.

  
It’s so much easier than lugging around the big tetra pack cartons from Whole Foods or wherever.

So I press the button on the pressure cooker and here’s what happened 30 minutes later. 

  
Indeed, the barley was soft and everything else was perfect. After the taste test, I found that I needed my magic ingredient. 

  
After a couple shakes of Shoyu, I was satisfied. (Wheat free Tamari works great as well. ) This will be my lunch all week, if not longer with freezer meals. This is a new frontier! 

Do you have experience with vegan meals in a pressure cooker? If so, let me know. I’m eager to learn.

Even if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this in about two hours in a Dutch oven or large pot. Good luck and enjoy your culinary adventures!

Disclaimer! One of the two ingredients is an egg, so this isn’t vegan. My next experiment will involve a flax seed egg, so we’ll see what happens. 

  
My taste tester, Sam, says it’s excellent. The proof of that is how fast it disappeared. 

As advertised, the pancake has only two ingredients. If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably seen it. 

Mash a ripe banana and add an egg. Mix well, as if for scrambled eggs. 

Heat coconut oil in a pan (if you make it my way).  You know you can choose your own oil. Make a decision. 🙂

   
 
Allow enough space for the pancake to spread out. Use a very large spatula to flip it…or use the wrist flip if you’re a boss…and have extra time to clean. 

  
Fix it as you wish…this is what I had on hand. 

I’m calling it a success as it was simple, relatively nutritious, and was eagerly devoured. 

Try it and let me know. I’ll post the flax seed variety soon. 

Happy New Year! Thanks for joining me in the journey. 

  
Surprisingly, there are many recipes for vegan cream of mushroom soup. This one was from Pinterest Maria’s post, and I’ve modified it a bit. If you check her original post, you’ll see comments in which people hassled her a bit about putting some feta cheese on the top. The way I see it, if someone is kind enough and brave enough to post a recipe, either make it as is or modify it to your liking. We’re all grownups! 

Photo disclaimer… In a perfect world I would have saved some baby Bellas and sautéed them for a beautiful garnish. But guess what? It’s not a perfect world and I forgot to set aside mushrooms for that purpose. You know being perfect doesn’t stop me.

Let’s get to the modifications! The search for mushroom soup was born out of the need to use my huge package of baby Bella mushrooms that I purchased at Costco. 24 ounces of mushrooms waiting in my refrigerator for someone to come up with an original idea. Maria’s recipe called for one package of mushrooms, and I had the equivalent of four!

I started with a tablespoon of coconut oil in my spiffy new blue Dutch oven, and sautéed diced white onion and a teaspoon of minced garlic.

On a gamble I sliced the baby Bellas and added all, yes all of them…to the pot. 

Next I added a 48 ounce carton of whole foods vegetable broth, one cup of unsweetened almond milk, a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, and a few sprigs of time. 

  
After it came to a boil, I let it simmer for about an hour and used my immersion blender to get it to a smooth consistency. I added about 2 tablespoons shoyu sauce and freshly ground pepper to get just the right taste.  (You could use soy sauce or just salt, but be careful as you go.) If you make it, skip the immersion blender and go straight to the Blendtec or Vitamix… I had to go that route to get it as smooth as it needed to be.

In the end, well worth it! Creamy healthy soup that gets all of its dark color from mushrooms and vegetable broth.   I now have eight generous servings portioned out for the refrigerator and the freezer, which means I have lunches ready and waiting!

If you try it and or use your own modifications, please let me know. Enjoy!