Wednesday Wonders: A Recipe That Passed The Test!!

 Recently I saw a few episodes of Brand New Vegan on YouTube.  Also I saw someone reviewing recipes from Chuck Underwood's book about vegan comfort foods.  Since Dear One is leaning more towards plants again, I decided to give another look at Brand New Vegan.  This the recipe I tried:

My Grandson's Favorite Air Fried Tofu (I will let you go to the link to get the actual recipe...)

Extra firm tofu (I used Super Firm tofu in case I did not have time to press it, which time I did have so it was a moot issue...)

For the marinade:

Soy sauce
Vegetable broth (I used water and some  teriyaki sauce to give it a little flavor)
Minced garlic
Rice vinegar
Maple syrup
Cornstarch

For the "breading":

Granulated garlic

Granulated onion

Smoked paprika

Cornstarch

These are the ingredients from Chuck's recipe.  The process is to slice the block of tofu in half horizontally and set it to draining on paper towels on top of a cutting board with another cutting board and more paper towels on top then a heavy item. I used the cute little 6" Lodge cast iron skillet and the even cuter heart-shaped  Lodge cast iron skillet as the pressing agents.

Chuck puts the marinade ingredients in a quart jar with a cover then adds the pressed  and diced tofu and shakes and lets rest, shakes and lets rest, for a quite a while so the tofu can soak up the flavor.

Next he puts the breading into a gallon ziplock bag along with the drained-from-the-marinade-tofu and shakes gently until all the tofu is covered in the breading.  Bake 400 degrees F in an air fryer for 15-20 minutes, shaking the basket every five minutes to keep from sticking.

At that point I varied from his plan.  We had some leftover matchstick carrots, half a sliced sweet onion, and half a chopped red pepper.  I poured a tiny bit of olive oil in the frying pan, added the vegetables and started cooking them while the tofu was in the air fryer.  By the time the tofu was about done, so were the vegetables cooked enough to be pleasant to eat. I added the tofu and the leftover marinade to the pan and cooked until all the vegetables and tofu were nicely covered with sauce.

Finally I poured this over some Ramen noodles I had cooked in plain water without the seasoning packet and mixed them all together.

I put it on the table and let Dear One serve himself.  He took a serving.  Then he took ANOTHER serving.  And if that was not enough, he said, "This is pretty good."  That is not something we hear in this house very often!  Made me happy.

This is not a good picture but you get the idea.  Go for it. It really is pretty good.

Food Friday: Hunger Mountain Garlic Ginger Tofu

Several years ago Sister V and I went on a road trip...maybe for genealogy, maybe for something else.  We ended up at the Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier, Vermont around lunch time.  We ordered their Garlic Ginger Tofu and fell in love.  It was so good.

This past week I found the recipe and tried making it.  Despite the fact that I botched it, the tofu was still good.  I say this unreservedly because Dear One kept picking at his bowl of tofu until it was gone!

Hunger Mountain Coop Sesame Ginger Tofu (though there is no sesame in the recipe for some reason...)

2 pounds tofu

4 Tablespoons tamari

5 teaspoons sunflower oil

1/3 cup “tofu spice”

Tofu Spice

3 teaspoons ground ginger

3 teaspoons ground garlic

½ cup nutritional yeast

Cut tofu into cubes and mix in the tamari, sunflower oil, and tofu spice.  Let marinate in refrigerator overnight.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and flip over.  Bake 15 more minutes.

This is the recipe.  Sadly, I failed to follow the recipe. I will make it again soon and actually follow the recipe.

What I did:  I doubled all the ingredients except the tofu.  And here is where I went wrong.  I doubled the tofu spice but I used it all instead of only 1/3 cup.  I did not have tamari but used Braggs Liquid Aminos.  Also, I roasted the tofu for 30 minutes, then did not like what I saw, flipped most of it over, and roasted another 30 minutes.  It really was good, though, as Dear One said, it had too much covering.

Also, I did use a Silpat knock-off on the pan.  Makes clean-up so much easier.

On the subject of Silpat:  I just learned when we were at my sister's house that you actually CAN use soap (I used Dawn) to clean your Silpat!  For the first time in years it is actually not greasy feeling. I do not know where I got the idea you can't wash them with soap (t was probably the same people who said you can't use coarse salt to scrub cast iron pans.  I do that also, when I am in the mood for it or think it is needed), but now I do.

I am so much happier with non-greasy Silpat. 

Wednesday Wonders: Baked Sesame Tofu!

The LifeIsNoYoke website has so many good VitaMix recipes.  The Baked Sesame Tofu is one such.  I made this for the potluck last week.  Not many people ate these luscious little chunks of tofu that had been marinated in Bragg's Liquid Aminos, roasted sesame oil, garlic, and ginger, then baked.  Because I like my tofu more chewy than most people I baked them for twice as long as the recipe called for.

Because this is copywritten book that I used, I will give you the link so you can buy it yourself.

To let you know how good this is, and what people missed out on at the social, though in their defense, there was a LOT of really good food there so you had to make choices.  We took the leftovers home.  Yesterday I had a few pieces in a whole wheat tortilla.  Today for lunch I got out the dish of leftovers.  The bottom of the dish was almost completely covered with the little chunks of tasty tofu.  I asked Dear One to serve me some on top of my salad (greens in the bottom of the bowl then some of the Easy Black Bean Salad on top then a spoonful of the leftover rice conglomeration I had made a few days ago).  Dear One gave me two of the little plastic spoonfuls, maybe 6 or 8 pieces.

He did not take any at first but since it was in front of him and he had been fasting for 24 hours, I saw him reach for another piece. And another!  This is how the dish looked at the end of lunch:

Right!  There are only the tiniest crumbs left!  You could have knocked me over with a feather!!! I told him I thought I would season it a little heavier the next time I made it, though I thought it was just about perfect the way it was (which was me exactly following the recipe except for baking twice as long then leaving it to finish cooking in the shut-off oven) and he said, "Yes, it is!"

Can you believe it?!!!  I will probably make more later in the week.

Food Friday: Tofu Sticks

Since I planned to make spring rolls I thought I would make a "protein source" to insert into them. 

One block extra firm tofu cut into sticks about 1/4 inch thick and across the block short-wise.
Bulgogi sauce

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, or use parchment paper if you have it conveniently to hand.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the tofu sticks on the pan with plenty of room between.  Brush with bulgogi sauce.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Pull out of oven and turn over.  Brush with more bulgogi sauce.  Bake another 20 minutes.  Let cool completely then use in spring rolls.  Try not to eat them all up instantly.  After all, they are for the spring rolls...

Be sure to list the sticks as "protein source" when someone asks you what is in the spring rolls.  NEVER say tofu or no one will eat the nice spring rolls.  Trust me.

These are the spring rolls.  One caution:  they are much better the first or second day.  After that the rice paper toughens up and they are not so fun to eat.  Well, maybe that is a good thing.  Food as fun is probably a bad idea.  Food as fuel, much better idea.  Over-filling the tank with that fuel has very bad effects on the tank after a few, or many, years! 

Food Friday: Tofu Spread!

The other day I was at Whole Foods Market.  There was a nice girl with a display/sample table set up near the front of the store.  She invited me over as I was passing by.  I tried a sample. It was tofu spread that she served on a rice cracker.  It was amazingly tasty.  I walked all the way across the store to get a container of it out of the refrigerator case near the produce!

This is what it looks like (above) on toast.  Once, ages ago, I tried to make fake egg salad, which is what this reminds me of. My rendition was garbage.  The brand of this good stuff is "Toby's" which is local to Springfield, Oregon.  It made me happy to support a family business as well as have a tasty treat.

This spread is made of tofu, mayonnaise, onions, celery, nutritional yeast, sea salt, parsley, herbs and spices...all good things.  I wish I had their recipe.  When I go home to Vermont soon, I would like to be able to continue to eat this.

So far I have not tried this on Dear One.  That will be the proof of the pudding.

Munchie Monday: Whole Foods Market Sesame Tofu

The day before the falling episode I had stopped in at the Whole Foods Market near our apartment and had purchased another box of their Sesame Tofu Sticks/Logs...actually, I don't know that they are called.  They just called out to me and since I had spoken with a nice boy in their prepared foods section a few weeks before, I stopped at that display again.  A nice girl asked if she could help so I asked if they made their own sesame sauce to marinate their tofu sticks in or if they used some in the store.  They make their own.  Whereupon I asked if I could buy some.  She told me yes but that they made it up fresh and did not have any.  There was nothing for it but to order some!  So I did.  I asked for a pint which they would charge me the same price as a pound of food from the salad bar.  No problem.

On Thursday I walked home from the office again, this time ON THE SIDEWALK ALL THE WAY!!  I stopped at Whole Foods, picked up the sesame sauce and two blocks of extra firm tofu.  (I also picked up a small amount of their roasted pork which I promptly ate after paying for it.  It gave me the energy to finish my road trip...!)

When I got home I put the tofu pressing.   The next morning I put part of the sesame sauce into a glass baking dish, sliced the tofu, put it on top of the sauce then poured the rest of the sauce over the tofu, covered it with a ziplock bag and put it in the refrigerator to marinate.  Well, I also ate two, maybe three, spoonfuls of that nectar of the gods!

Tofu ready to bake

Because I was not together that night to bake the tofu, I left it to marinate until the following day which was Saturday.  I baked it for 60 minutes at 350 degrees F, checking it halfway through.  It did not look cooked enough so I left it to cook the remaining 30 minutes then shut off the oven.  I still didn't think it was ready but did not want it to burn if I got too involved in something else (a real problem for me...Dear One does NOT like to hear the smoke alarm.  It makes him lack confidence in the next meal...) so I just left it in the oven with the heat off.

Tofu out of the oven--notice the separated oil in the lower right of the picture

Eventually I pulled it out of the oven and ate a bite.  Delicious!  Since it was warm it did not have the same texture as the Whole Foods tofu, but it sure did taste good.  Into the refrigerator it went after I took one slice for making a sandwich.  I had that sandwich around 2 PM and didn't need another thing to eat the rest of the day! Seriously.  I just was not hungry.  I wonder if tofu is magic food...

Tofu after refrigeration and ready to eat cold.  Makes a great sandwich though I might slice it thinner the next time.

If I had thought that I could ascertain the ingredients in the Whole Foods Market sesame sauce, I was mistaken.  All I could tell for sure was that there was a lot of sesame oil, some ground roasted sesame seeds, and some red pepper flakes.  When the baking was done, the oil had separated from the brown sludge-like material.  It still tasted good but I cannot for the life of me decide what it is.  I probably won't buy it again because it was so expensive and I am the only one eating it but it was a good experiment.

Tofu Sticks

Whole Foods Markets sells some wonderful tofu sticks/logs in their salad bar.  They are so delicious.  They are great cold from the salad bar, heated up with vegetables and grains, and warmed and put into a sandwich just by themselves.

These tofu sticks have been baked in some way so they are more chewy than mushy.  I cannot stand soft tofu, unless it is in miso soup, and then I really just prefer the miso broth and not the other stuff in the soup, except for the scallions.  The scallions really make the miso soup, in my opinion!

Anyway, the last time I was at Whole Foods I asked the nice boy how they made them.  He said he was not sure they gave out that recipe BUT the process was that they marinated the tofu sticks in sesame/ginger/garlic sauce.  After marinating, they pour some more of the sauce on top then bake for a while.  Once baked they pour more sauce over the tofu sticks and serve them in the salad bar.

This stuff tastes so good to me that one day when I was there I filled one of their small boxes full to the gunwales.  There were only two more pieces left in the salad bar pan. I could not in good conscience take them all...

This was what my effort looked like:

They do look icky but they tasted great!  Since I did not have any of the Whole Foods sauce, I made up my own with rice vinegar, sugar (about equal amounts of those two), soy sauce, ground ginger, ground garlic, Sambal Oeleck, some vegetable broth.  Since there was not enough sauce after marinating overnight, which does tend to produce a salty taste, I added more soy sauce and poured over the top on the pan which is why you see the black residue.

One thing Whole Foods Boy did not tell me was whether or not WF presses the tofu first. I did. I sliced it in half horizontally then set it on a kitchen towel that was covered with three layers of paper towels on a quarter sheet pan, put on three more layers of paper towels and a second quarter sheet pan  (which I bought for this specific purpose to Dear One's disgust) then put a few containers of food that were already in the refrigerator on top to press.  I did this in the morning then at night I pulled the whole works out (without dumping all the food containers, which was a big plus!) and removed the tofu slabs from the pans.  They were now ready to soak up the good sauce.  I cut them into sticks and started the above marinade.

When marinated well, I baked at 350 degrees F. for about an hour, turning over after 30 minutes.  The tofu sticks that were smaller were a little crispy, which was great.  The rest were nice and flavorful and chewy.  I am going to get more tofu (once the refrigerator is empty of leftovers...) and see if I can find that sauce Whole Foods uses.

Munchie Monday: Waffle Tofu!

The other day a message popped up on my computer about waffle tofu. What?!!!  Well, I looked at it.  It sounded easy and good.  It promised chewy tofu.  With a nice flavor.  How can you go wrong?  Wrong!

This is what I did:

Heated the waffle iron to hot.

Cut a block of tofu into thick slices.

Dragged it through some barbecue sauce.

Put it in the waffle iron for four minutes.

Ate it.

It was NOT chewy.  The waffle iron WAS sticky with stuck-on barbecue sauce.  I was NOT impressed.

Well, to be honest,  when I looked at the recipe again, it said four minutes was the minimum to cook.  I should have cooked it longer.  Maybe it would have been chewy then.

After eating one piece, I put the rest in the refrigerator. I do not like my food projects to fail, so I insist upon eating them either way.  After a few hours, I ate a piece in a sandwich. It was okay, just not stunningly good. 

After cleaning the waffle iron, a big pain, I decided that I need to try this again, but that I will NOT put the barbecue sauce on the tofu first.  After it is cooked to perfection, THEN I will slosh it with barbecue sauce. 

On the topic of barbecue sauce,  I guess in my heart of hearts I did not expect this to be a stellar recipe because when I went to get the barbecue sauce (not a condiment we keep on hand...) I just picked up the 99-cent no-name brand and took it home.  When I actually looked at the ingredients, I discovered the first ingredient was HFCS--you know, that deadly high fructose corn syrup.  What a dope for not looking at the ingredients in the store.  I may have to learn to make my own barbecue so.

SO...the news is not all bad about this recipe. I will make a note when I make it again.  I do think it will work, just not the way the original said.

Looks cute, doesn't it?!!

Food Friday: Roasted Tofu!

Most people turn up their noses at tofu. I did for many years. I still don't like tofu in its soft version.  This way of preparing it is nice and chewy.  I like that.

Roasted/Baked Tofu

Slice one block of tofu horizontally to make two "slabs" that are about an inch or less thick.  Place on double or triple layered paper towels and cover with more paper towels.  Put a flat pan on top with a can or two of soup or vegetables on top of it.  Let drain for about fifteen minutes.  Cut into cubes.

In a large bowl place  3-4 Tablespoons hoisin sauce and an equal amount of teriyaki sauce.  Stir well.  Toss the tofu in the sauce to cover completely.

In another large bowl, place dried bread crumbs...a cup or more.  Put the coated tofu in the bread crumbs and toss to cover.

Place on a parchment-paper-covered or Silpat-covered pan and roast for 20 minutes in a 400 degree F. oven.  Remove from oven and flip the cubes to the other side.  Roast for another 20 minutes.

Eat them like popcorn.  I enjoyed them.  They could have had more flavor, and would have if I had marinated them overnight in the refrigerator, but I thought about it after coming home from Church.  Too late for marinating.  Next time.

Munchie Monday: Breakfast Burger, Surprisingly Good!

We have been cleaning out a lot of things from our home to make the house more live-able for two families for the next few months.  This morning Dear One cleared off the table that has been used as the "desk" for bills and other claptrap.  He kept bringing piles to me to look at/dispose of.  Nice.  Anyway, one was a recipe.  Which I made for breakfast.  Never mind that breakfast was at 11:30 AM.

The sheet of paper called the recipe  Bakin and Egg Breakfast Burger.  The person who posted this recipe somewhere online where I found it, had not remembered the URL.  No problem. I didn't include her URL either!  So I just went online to see if that recipe was available, and it was!

The recipe was at EverydayDish.tv.  I was thrilled to find it so I could attribute it to the creator of this burger.

Bakin and Egg Breakfast Burger  (the way I made it...)

1 16-ounce block extra firm tofu
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1 Tablespoon granulated onion
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 cup fake bacon bits
1/2 cup flour
A little oil for the skillet

Remove the tofu from the container and drain the water.  Double-wrap the tofu block in a kitchen towel and place a weight on top of it to help extra water drain out.  I used a cast iron skillet but a plate with a heavy can of food would have worked.  Stay near by in case the weight falls off the tofu package! 

After the tofu has pressed for 10 or 15 minutes (or when you finish the other things you are doing,  remove the kitchen towel wrapping and place in a large bowl.  With your very clean hands (and fingernails!)  crumble up the tofu.  Add all the seasonings except the flour.  Stir with a wooden spoon to mix.  When they are well-combined,  add the flour and mix with your hands.  The mixture should cloy together into a ball. If it does not, add more flour a tablespoon at a time.

Form into 6 patties then sauté 3-5 minutes in a hot skillet with 1-2 Tablespoons of heated oil. 

Serve on toast with catsup.  Or anything else you like.  Next time I will serve on a large Romaine lettuce leaf. 

When asked how the burgers went down,  Dear One said, "Hmmm.  They did not fall apart."  High praise indeed!

These were surprisingly good.  Maybe a bit more spice.

Food Friday: Simple Montreal Steak Seasoning Pan-seared Tofu

After making the Instant Pot Meatless Loaf there was about half a box of firm tofu left over.  I had already drained it, didn't want to re-wet it and store it, so I decided to pan sear/fry it.

Son number four had just made some bacon in the large cast iron skillet and had left a tiny amount of greasiness in the bottom of the pan. I started heating that up over medium heat.

The chunk of tofu was easily sliced into quarter-inch "steaks".  I got out a plate and dumped on about 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch then added almost 1 teaspoon of Montreal Steak Seasoning.    I mixed them together well then dredged each side of the tofu in the cornstarch mixture then placed the slices carefully in the heated pan. I let them sear/cook for about 5 minutes per side then removed them to a plate.

We ate them with some Sweet Chili Sauce from the Asian market. The pan frying/searing made a nice chewy crust on both sides and a little bit of softness in the middle.  We had this as an adjunct to the failed Meatless Loaf dinner.  These also were not popular.  Well, again, I liked this and will eat slices on a sandwich during the next week.

Munchie Monday: Meatless Loaf

A few days ago Jill McKeever had a recipe video on YouTube that I just HAD to try. I always liked meatloaf when my mother made it and when my mother-in-law made it.  I made it a few times, too, and liked it.  Since trying to eat a more plant-based diet, I thought I would try this one.

This one tasted fine to me.  Jill says it is even better the next day because it becomes more solid as opposed to rather soft when you eat it hot out of the oven and is thus great on sandwiches. I am looking forward to a meatloaf sandwich for breakfast...!

Even the gravy tasted wonderful on the real mashed potatoes.

Sadly, this meal did NOT sell well at our house.  I probably will not make it again unless Dear One is away for a few days...something I do not anticipate happening any time soon.  Well, even then, I probably won't make it unless a freezer trial comes out well.

The next day was no more successful than the first time.  It still tasted good but the texture was too soft for me.  Sad. I wanted it to work.  Maybe it is time to make a nut loaf...

Munchie Monday: Food Failure

Just to add to the list of food failures...I thought I would make a smooth that someone on Facebook posted and said it was great.  News Flash:  It was not.  I can eat almost anything, but this was definitely not pleasing.  A little too gritty.  Having said that, Dear One ate his whole serving!

This is what was in it:

1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen cherries
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon chia seeds
3 ounces firm tofu, chopped
1 cup almond or other plant milk

Put everything except the almond milk in your sturdy blender (if the frozen strawberries were very large, chop them somewhat).

Healthy smoothie, if you can take it...

Pour the milk on top and blend well.  It makes a nice thick smoothie.

WELL....it was not the best. It was certainly good for you, BUT the taste was not the best.  For one thing, I did not have blueberries which were actually called for in the recipe. 

For the main problem:  we are accustomed to orange juice-based smoothies.  Having an almond milk-based smoothie did not work for our tastes.  You may love it.