Tofu "fast turkey"

We love our Thanksgiving turkey, but it's a lot of work.  I simplified the original recipe for a "lunchmeat" or easy dinner.  See http://chefinyou.com/2009/11/18/tofu-turkey-recipe/ for the original.  The original involves "night before" preparation. The prep time is streamlined because of how we cook the "turkey" -- we shape it flat for baking so it can cook off the liquid more easily. In the original recipe, the overnight drain really gets you a very dry tofu. 

Preparation (15-30 minutes)
Press the tofu--get as much liquid out as you can.  You'll use 3 14-15 oz. tubs extra-firm tofu.

After it's pressed, put the tofu and the spices in the food processor.

For the Tofu Turkey

All the pressed tofu

1/2  - 1 teaspoon ground dried thyme

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 - 2 tsp. garlic powder

salt (1 teaspoon) and pepper to taste

For the Basting Sauce

1/4 -1/2 cups low sodium tamari or gluten free soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Spread the "turkey" on a baking sheet pan with sides.  You can cook on parchment paper or a silicone liner.  Brush on basting sauce.

     


Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Brush on the basting sauce again.  Bake for 30-45 minutes more. The tofu will crack on top but still be moist inside when done.


Makes an awesome "meat" dish with a side of veggies, mashed potatoes, or salad.  We love it on sandwiches.



We cut off pieces for sandwiches/eating.

Kira creates Bean Dumplings and wins!

Simply marvelous!  You can read the recipe on her blog.

Over the summer, the girls have a way to make money... Find or create a new recipe and blog about it.  They get paid $2-10 for the recipe.  Desserts earn less money than super healthy dinners.

very very very easy

I think this blog should be known as the blog where recipes are SUPER easy.  I take recipes and try to hack them to make them easier and faster to make.  This blog is dedicated to people with very little extra time EVERY where!

Some of my hacks include:
1) using frozen veggies
2) cutting up onions ahead of time and freezing them
3) just being lazy

Today, I decided I wanted a chickpea scramble for lunch.  However, putting the chickpeas into a bowl and mashing them seemed like too much work.  I decided I needed to try to simplify chickpea scramble.  (What???! Chickpea scramble is VERY simple--it can't be done, they cried.)

It can and it was.  Here's how.

Open 2 or 3 cans of chickpeas.  Drain off 2/3 - 3/4s of the brine in the can, but keep 1/3-1/4.  Pour the chickpeas and brine into a regular pan.  Add a teaspoon or so of olive oil.  Add spices.  (I used 3 cans of chickpeas; I knew this was going to be good.)

Spices:
1-2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
2-3 teaspoons of chili powder  (maybe more)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1-2 cloves of garlic
a few shakes of onion powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cumin
A few squeezes of Sriracha sauce (could be cayenne pepper)
1 teaspoon salt (remember I had 3 cans of unsalted chickpeas)

(Spices are approximate, I don't measure.  If you're nervous, start with the smaller amount, and then add more if you need it.  Tasting is part of cooking!)


Stir all the ingredients in the pan and smash the chickpeas while cooking.  I used a big stainless steel spoon to stir and smash.  Easier and less messy than smashing them in a bowl for chickpea scramble.  I cooked this for about 10-15 minutes.  I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like.  It wasn't that exciting; next time I'll get a picture!

I put it on a tortilla and smashed the chickpeas even more.  I added broccoli to my wrap.  YUM.  (I ate too much.)

Next time, I'll probably add some kale to the mixture. 

One of my favorite things

We pack lunches every day -- and have since the girls were in kindergarten.  Early on, we realized that we'd go through an awful lot of plastic bags, so we started looking for re-useable options.

This silicone bag (click the link to see) is one of my favorite things! It holds our sandwiches... cut in half and kind of stacked. It's awesome 'cause when the sandwich is gone it is nearly flat and doesn't take up room in the backpack/lunch bag. It's also awesome because it's silicone! No Plastic! And it goes in the dishwasher!

Just like a meatball sandwich

I do this all the time and call it my "meatball sandwich." My husband laughs at me and says I've been plant-based for too long! First, we make this sauce every week so I always have it on hand for smothering broccoli.

Then, I steam some frozen broccoli.
 

Smother the broccoli and put on a lot of black pepper.
(I heart black pepper!)

 

Then I put it on a tortilla, roll it, and try to eat it without dripping too much sauce everywhere. I never succeed with not dripping too much.  It's yummy (to me) so I just try not to get it on my shirt. 

 

Honestly, I love it. 

Mexican chickpeas

 

I wanted to make something with chickpeas. They are my current favorite bean. Well, they are probably in a tie with pinto beans. Anyway, this was dinner. I used kale instead of cabbage because of these beauties that are a LOT bigger now. 

We served it with sourdough bread, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and whole wheat tortillas to make a wrap (you chose how you wanted to eat it). Yum! Four out of 6 of us loved it (my niece is here). We have almost another meal out of this for the four of us.

I'll make it again, I probably won't even change anything; well, I'll probably add more kale. I tripled the recipe tonight.

3 15-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), half mashed
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 can of diced tomatoes (I'd use fresh if I had them)
15 or so leaves of kale (shredded)

2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-3 teaspoons olive oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

3/8- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
salt & pepper to taste (I actually added about 1 teaspoon to the pan 'cause my garbanzo beans and tomatoes had no salt.)

Cook the onion, red pepper, and garlic until the onions translucent and soft. (I used just a little olive oil and some of the juice from the tomatoes to cook them in.) Mash the chickpeas and add the mashed and whole ones, along with the tomatoes and spice. Cook everything until hot; add the kale and cook until the kale is soft.

Green lunch

 

I've been getting rid of my plastic containers for lunches.  It's expensive to go all stainless, but over time I've been buying different pieces. I try out a style by buying one of a particular style. If I like it, I go back and buy more of that style, if not, I'm not stuck with a ton of what I don't like. They look so pretty! One good thing is that stainless steel containers don't really break, so as long as the girls don't lose them, we'll have them for a long time.

If you need a last minute gift idea for a fun Holiday gift for the person who likes "green" stuff, I recommend little stainless steel containers!

Red Pepper Spread

Inspired by Oh She Glows, again, I made this delightful, delicious red pepper spread.  Hers was more of a muhammara than mine, 'cause I left the bread out, didn't toast the walnuts, and I used sweet red peppers. You know I can't follow directions and I like doing mash ups of recipes (pun intended).

What did I do?

I roasted about 8 red peppers, with olive oil.  I just put a little olive oil on each pepper and broiled for about 20 minutes at 450, then I flipped them over and watched them (probably about another 15-ish minutes.) I only used 4 in this recipe. The others will be used when I make this for our Saturday get together.


Put all the ingredients in your food processor:

4 roasted red peppers
1 cup walnuts
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (my new favorite spice!)
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of tomato paste

Process until mostly smooth and serve with bread.

 

So delicious! I didn't toast the walnuts, but it was still excellent.  Next time I may toast the walnuts, just for fun. For the record, it was delicious with raw walnuts.  

We think it will be excellent on wraps, (vegan) burgers, and just as a dip. This was Nick and my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.  (Natalie kind of liked it, Kira wouldn't try it, and Tia said it was okay.) (I don't care if the girls eat it or not--more for us!) 

P.S. See the pictures at Oh She Glows!

Cashew Cream "Cheese!"

I am loving cashew cream "cheese!"

Inspired by this recipe, I made a cheese.

What I did:
1.5 cups raw cashews
water (soak the cashews in the water for 2-8 hours) then drain.

Put soaked cashews in the food processor along with
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced (or as much as you like)
½ teaspoon sea salt
black pepper, to taste
½ tablespoon dried basil
½ tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon honey* (or vegan sweetner)

Process until smooth.  It may take 5-10 minutes with stops to scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl.

Chill and enjoy!  (Or eat straight out of the food processor while it's warm.... your call.)


Someday, I want to make the "tomato jelly" on that same blog. It sounds FABULOUS.



*Yea, I know honey isn't vegan and I know we don't want to exploit bees, but I think if we treat bees right and use only small amounts of their honey, then they will be more valued and have more people on their side to help them. Bees are shipped around to different fields of produce to pollinate the fields. We need our bees and we need them to be healthy and we need to take good care of them. (We have so many problems with our food supply and the way we do things to make enough food for everyone in the country.)  See http://waywardspark.com/transporting-bees-locally-and-to-california-for-almond-pollination/ for more info--in my opinion really interesting.

Vegan Tuna

I kept seeing recipes for vegan tuna and thought it would be fun to try to make.

[Sidebar: I was always intimidated by the recipes because it seemed I didn't have all the ingredients.  Mostly, it was because all of the recipes had celery in them. I never have celery around the house.  It's a goal to work it into our diet, but so far, I haven't managed. I remedied the situation by make it without celery.]

Here's a SUPER EASY version of the recipe (sans celery).

1 can of garbanzo beans -- mash them with a fork, or just barely process them in the food processor.  You don't want them to turn into a mushy-paste. (I used a fork.)
2-3 Tablespoons of vegan mayo; it can be homemade or store bought
1-2 tablespoons spicy mustard
1/4 cup chopped dill pickles
salt (to taste--depending on whether your garbanzo beans have salt)
Herbamare (optional -- I don't actually consider this optional)
Kelp flakes (optional)
Celery seed (to taste -- I like a lot)
(optional) a squirt of lemon

Mix up.
Eat.
Yum!

You really only need the first 5 ingredients; if you don't add Herbamare or Kelp, you won't have fishy taste--with Herbamare, you'll only get a slight hint of the sea. (Full disclaimer, I haven't tried this with Kelp flakes yet. I have them, but haven't used them.) I can't believe I was intimidated by the idea of this recipe. All I can say is just do it!


Pictured is a wrap with a little baby kale and the vegan tuna. It was hard to make this because I really wanted to just eat the "tuna" off the fork.

back to school: lunches

This summer, we discovered "green noodles." We bought them at one of our favorite vegan restaurants, then found them at Whole Foods. They make quick lunches (only 2-3 minutes in boiling water), and 2 out of 3 girls and 2 out of 2 adults like them. The website makes you want to go buy them and eat them... (They talk about how green their company is and how good the product is.) They have no fat, 6 grams of fiber, and ingredients that are pronounceable, so at the very least, they aren't bad.


My oldest wanted to take them to school for lunch; I got each girl a stainless steel thermos (they were less expensive at Whole Foods than Amazon) and now they can take green noodles or pasta for lunch. They were all getting a little sick of PB sandwiches, it seems. 

If you eat GreeNoodles, what do you think of them? How'd you find them?

Salad

 

It's my lunch pretty much every day when I'm at work. This time, I forgot peas. Dressing-wise, I don't eat dressing, but instead, salsa and guacamole.  I tend to pour balsamic vinegar on it and mix it all up. Super yummy! What's your favorite salad?

Black bean burger wrap

I love to make wraps for lunch! I either eat a wrap or a salad (pretty much) everyday for lunch. (Salads when I go to work and wraps when I work from home.) I made black bean burgers the other night and I had some left over. I broke one up, added steamed broccoli, and dijon mustard and voilà, a burger wrap!

 

I did manage to close it, see?

 

However, I can't let go of the wrap.  Oh well, I'll just eat it!

Lunch

It's a simple lunch, and I eat a variation of it pretty much everyday when I work from home.  A bowl of steamed broccoli with some topping on a tortilla.  (The girls tell me I eat too much broccoli.  Heh.)

These are my favorite tortillas right now.

Here's the tortilla (toasted, one edge a bit crispy) with white bean hummus and the broccoli.  A little salsa would have been a tasty and colorful addition.

Sometimes it's black bean dip (or tofu) and salsa with the tortilla and broccoli.

It's always the tortilla and broccoli (or kale).  (Remember, I like it green.)  If I'm at work, it's always a salad. (Pictures someday, too.)  I never get bored with my wraps or my salads. 

White Bean Hummus

2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans (drained)
2 lemons, juiced (usually 1/4-1/3 a cup)
1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 garlic cloves
2-3 tablespoons tahini paste
1-2 teaspoons salt (unless your beans are already salted, if so, salt to taste and you probably won't need too much)
1-2 teaspoons olive oil

Place ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth.  Chill in the refrigerator, it always tastes better to me cold.  Eat with veggies, bread, tortillas, or a spoon (heh).  I love to put it in wraps!  I should take a picture of it before it's gone, but not right now.  (Maybe in the morning.)

Nick's lunch

 

He says he just plays a vegan at home.

Soup! Wintery! Vegetable!

From one of my favorite veggie cooking blogs...

The modifications I'll make include olive oil instead of coconut oil, no celery, more cumin--probably more of all the spices...   I just bought some red lentils so I'm excited to try them out!  Hopefully, I will make this tomorrow!

Turkey fun

 

 This was our turkey!  We dipped him in chocolate (dark, no dairy chocolate chips and soy milk melted in our fondue pot).  We all loved him!  Super fun! 

Here's a recipe I found a few years back that I love... (and need to make soon)

One thing I keep telling you, and it's true, I can't follow recipes. Part of the reason is that I don't always have the ingredients. In this case, I didn't have or the tools for the job.  I lacked the thing that spirals zucchini.  Lacking the right tools didn't stop me... I just chopped up the zucchini.  It turned out fine!  I also greatly reduced the oil.  This salad is raw vegan, based on this recipe, and it was yum.  (Yum is the term I use for recipes I really like.)

Ingredients:

chopped broccoli (4 small heads)
zucchini (2)
red pepper (1)
Carrots if you like them.  (I'm usually too lazy to chop up the carrots, so I just eat them dipped in the dressing.)

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons tamari (soy sauce)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
2 pinches black pepper
2 Tablespoons of olive oil (original recipe was a lot more, but it works and is good with as little as 2 tablespoons)

Let the veggies soak in the dressing at least 8 hours before eating.  As the veggies soak, the acidic lemon sort of "cooks" them and softens them. 

You can eat the veggies plain as a salad or over brown rice (or quinoa, or whatever your favorite grain is).  Enjoy!