Tofu Scramble

Last weekend I attended the Post Punk Kitchen Vegan: The Gathering and cooked a large amount of tofu scramble Sunday morning. People were really happy with the dish and hearing Julie tell me it was "the best tofu scramble" she'd ever had, was a compliment to many any heart smile.

Sun dried tomato Tofu scramble with Basil

I don't really have a recipe but it usually goes like this:
Saute onions, add garlic, mix. Add tofu, a bit of soy sauce and any dried spices and cook until the tofu starts to brown.
Add veggies related to their firmness (carrots, to green beans, spinach and tomatoes) and add fresh spices last.

Miso Popcorn

I thought I would have a smart idea again like the pesto fries and come up with a new popcorn flavor, but my idea flopped.

Miso Popcorn Flavoring:
1 Tablespoon red miso paste
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Vegenaise

Mix it all together and quickly mix with the popped corn. Top with Nori spice.

The reason I wasn't happy with it is because I don't like wet popcorn. I don't like melted butter on my popcorn. Maybe if I was able to dry out the miso and make it into a powder, it might be better.

Fall Back Popcorn:
Popcorn popped in Earth Balance and topped with a bit of salt.


On a popcorn note - I found a popcorn machine at Pirates Tavern and asked if I could use it. I was like a kid in a candy shop - so much fun!

Tofu Apple Quesadilla

I've been enjoying the panini grill to the extreme.

Tofu Apple Quesadilla:
Marinaded and grilled tofu
Sliced Fuji Apples
Follow Your Heart cheese

Place it all together and grill.
I was trying to figure out a dipping sauce for this. I kept munching on it thinking and by the time I thought of using a Balsamic Vinaigrette, I was finished.

Tofu Marinade:
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tsp. all purpose seasoning salt
1 tsp. thyme
water - enough to cover the sliced tofu.

I usually just keep a block of tofu marinading in the fridge with this mixture.

It's a very plain, and white meal. Spinach would look better in here.

Christmas in July

My friend Shelley throws the best parties, so much so that she throws two Christmas parties a year. I wanted to come up with a a new way to enjoy something common. With that in mind I came up with a dessert dip - cheese and crackers.

Cheesecake Dip with Ginger Snap Cookies:
1 8 oz. container Tofutti Cream Cheese
1 12 oz. container vacuum packed firm tofu
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons corn starch
2 Tablespoons soy milk
2 Tablespoons raspberry jelly.

Blend cream cheese, tofu, lemon juice, corn starch and soy milk in a food processor until smooth.
Place in square baking pan and bake at 375F for 25 minutes.
Let cool completely.
In a glass dish spread sides with a bit of raspberry jelly. Layer cooled cheesecake dip with some raspberry jelly in a decorative fashion.
Put in the fridge for 2 hours before serving with ginger snap cookies.


The dip was a hit!

Potatoes with Carrot Tarragon Sauce

Potatoes with Carrot Tarragon Sauce:
2 large potatoes
olive oil
1/2 sweet onion
1 large handful baby carrots
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Mirin
3 cloves garlic
2 sprigs tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the potatoes in round and boil until soft, but not falling apart.
When the potatoes are done, spray cookie sheet with olive oil and place boiled potatoes on sheet and bake about 10-20 minutes at 425 F until lightly browned on both sides.
Saute the onion until caramelized. Deglaze with Mirin.
Add carrots and water and boil until the carrots are very soft. Add garlic last three minutes of cooking.
Blend the carrots, onion, left over water in the pot and 1 sprig of tarragon until pureed.
Spread across a plate and place boiled and baked potatoes on top. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and tarragon.
Serve warm.
This sauce is fun to trick people because they will think it's a cheesy sauce. Really, it's a hearty, lightly sweet and warm carrot sauce.
The sauce would make a great soup with more liquid. This sauce had Mr. Bolsh licking his plate!

Kitchen Gadgets

The following meals feature dishes made from new kitchen gadgets.

First the Panini Grill:
I love grill lines on my food. I can't wait until the day we have a backyard grill to include the smoky flavor. The Panini grill is great because it's larger than a George Foreman Grill and the lines are closer together.
I wanted a quick meal so I threw on a cut of cabbage, onion and some quickly miso-marinaded tofu. I sprayed the cabbage with soy sauce and sprayed the onion with olive oil before sprinkling on some kelp powder before grilling. I walked away and when I came back there was hot, grilled food waiting for me. I stacked them on top of each other and called it a meal.


Rocket Blender or "The Magic Bullet":
The Magic Bullet is a tool I've heard people rave about for a long time and I ignored it because I have my dear food processor to fulfill all my desires for chopping, blending, shedding. The Bullet seemed like the Vita Mix people who are just loyal.
When I broke our blender I went out and bought a Rocker Blender, just to try it. I had no idea the world I was about to step into!

Peaches and Cream:
Smoothies have been a great way to fill me up while not having much time for a full home cooked meal.
1/2-1 cup raw cashews soaked in water for an hour or more (I have these soaking in the fridge these days)
1- 1 1/2 cup soy/rice milk
1- 1 1/2 cup frozen peaches or strawberries

Blend the cashews with a bit of soy milk.

You might need more soy milk or other liquid, so just blend until it's thick and creamy.

Add the frozen fruit and maybe more liquid. Blend until the consistency you desire.

Take off the blender attachment and add the drinking cap.

We've really enjoyed this kitchen gadget because it's quick and easy both in clean up and use.
The pros, beyond the clean up and user-friendly style, are how well it blends ice and how you don't have to push down or stir the items -you can just lift it up and shake! When it's ready to serve you just throw on a little drinking cap to cover up the threaded edge and drink away.
The cons to this toy is the annoyance of screwing and unscrewing the blender attachment. Blenders are great because you can continue to add items while blending, something you can't do here.

Creamy Potato Soup:
I've been pretty stuck on the cashew cream lately. I used it in a potato soup to make it creamier and a bit thicker. It was a hit.
Cashews, veggie broth, carrots, onion, potatoes, and basil.


Pesto Shells:
Here I was trying out the Bullet again while making pesto.
basil, olive oil, veggie broth (to cut the oil down), garlic, cashews, sun dried tomatoes.

The problem with using the Rocket here was that to dice the garlic small enough the pesto became soup-like it was so smooth. I prefer various sized basil pieces in my pesto over a pesto-soup. It still got the job done but I will be sticking to my food processor for pesto.

Little Pies

A few weeks ago Jess and I prepared for her 4th of July party together. I enjoy cooking with Jess because we work similar to each other in the kitchen - cooking, cleaning, tasting, adding, experimenting.
You can see more of what she made over here.

Raspberry Coconut Pie:
This was based off my coconut pie recipe. Jess wanted them pink, so we added the juice of some raspberries but it turned lavender. They still tasted great!


Yogurt Fruit Pie:
Luckily, Jess made the crust for all of these because I really dislike making pie crusts.
These were filled with apricot yogurt, various thickeners and sweeteners before throwing in some fresh fruit.

07.07.07

Time to tie the knot at 7:07pm.
Look forward to our culinary experiences cruises the oceans in a couple of weeks.
Bye!

Baked Cauliflower

My sister gave me this vague recipe and it turned out great and is perfect for an end to an exhausting day.

Baked Cauliflower:
1 head of cauliflower
1 cup +/- marinara
1/3 to 1/2 block of vegan cheese - shredded
Chopped garlic, optional
parsley, for garnish

Steam1 head of cauliflower until tender.
Place cauliflower on tin foil (easy clean up for your lazy day), sprinkle with minced garlic (optional for non-lazy days) and smother in marinara. Sprinkle with vegan cheese (I used follow your heart)
Bake for about 10-15 minutes until hot and a little melty.
Let cool from the oven and sprinkle with chopped parsley (on non-lazy day.)
Slice into 1/4s, or however you like and serve warm.

Straight out of the oven:
Easy dish:

Scrambled Tofu

Scrambled tofu is such an easy dish: crumble some tofu and pan fry, add some spices and veggies and serve warm. I love to shred my tofu before cooking it. The small texture of it is a perfect crumble for me. This one I added shredded onions, garlic, carrots, purple cabbage, kale, tummeric and other random spices.

I was kind of bored with it though so I decided to use up the rest of my phyllo. I put the phyllo in muffin tins and filled them with tofu scramble and put them in the oven. This would be a great way to serve a breakfast food at a buffet brunch.

Pesto Fries

Why didn't I think of adding pesto to potatoes sooner?!

Pesto Fries:
2 large potatoes
Olive oil 2-3 Tablespoons pesto
Marinara for dipping

Roast th potatoes like normal at about 425 F. When the potatoes are about 5 minutes from done take out and toss with a few tablespoons of pesto to cover them. Place back in the oven for a few minutes for the pesto to cook in.
Sprinkle with salt and serve warm with a warm bowl of marinara for dipping.

SO GOOD!

Berry Picking

One of the greatest things about living in Portland is summer-time and with summer-time comes berry season!
This past weekend a few friends and I went berry picking on Sauvie Island. We gathered blueberries, raspberries, marrionberries, and strawberries!
I prefer my fruit fresh and simple.
Here a few of the ways I've been enjoying the fruit.

Fruit on skewers with a side of cashew cream and raspberries. Putting fruit in skewers just makes it more fun to eat!


Fruit layered between cashew cream.

Check out Jess' blog because you know you'll be doing something crazy with berries!

Nori Popcorn

Another Friday Popcorn Night Invention.
There's a great restaurant in Portland called Proper Eats and they have a great spice mix that's a play on a traditional Japanese mix. I forgot the name, like many Japanese dishes I try to create.

Nori Spice Mix:
2 Sheets Nori
1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon white salt
1 teaspoon black salt

Blend the nori sheets in a food processor or coffee grinder under powdery or only small flakes remain.
Toast the sesame seeds.
Combine all ingredients in the food processor and blend together.

This is a great topping for rice, stir frys, salads, hummus, and of course, popcorn!

Another thing I did with this mix was use it as the base of a marinade with soy sauce and water. The results were wonderful! Mr. Bolsh called it "Sushi Tofu." The marinaded and broiled tofu was served on a bed of steamed carrots and zucchini with a sprinkling of the nori spice mix.

Pesto and Hummus Sandwich Spreads

I told you my food processor would make my life exciting again!

Pesto and Hummus sandwich:

Webly's Pesto:
3 cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoons sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup cashews
1 cup tightly packed basil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in the food processor and blend until smooth.
The mixture will be a bit thick, like peanut butter.
I like to keep it this consistency until I know what I will be using it for. The thick consistency is good for a sandwich spread but if you're using it with pasta you'll want to add more oil to make it more like a sauce.

I didn't write down my ways of making hummus, but it's pretty straight forward with chickpeas, lemon, thanini, garlic, paprika and olive oil. The only thing I do different is cup the normal massive amounts of olive oil with some water.

Coconut Pie

I had to scratch the idea of coconut cream pie and just go with a coconut pie for this one. I will continue to work on the coconut cream pie at a later date.
This is a wonderfully fatty, melt in your mouth pie that goes great with just a touch of chocolate and a side of fresh fruit.

Coconut Pie:
1 1/2 cup coconut cream
1/4 cup Earth Balance
3/4 cup sugar
2-3 Tablespoons Corn Starch
1 tsp. coconut essence or extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat the coconut cream in a sauce pan over medium-low heat until liquid.
Take out a few tablespoons and mix with the cornstrach in a separate bowl until fully mixed. Make sure the coconut is not too hot or else you'll get lumps in your corn starch.
Add the sugar to the warming coconut cream and stir constantly until well dissolved.
Add cornstarch mixture and earth balance and stir or wisk constantly for about 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens.
Turn off heat and add flavors wisking as the mixture cools.
Pour into your favorite crust. I went with a chocolate cookie crust.
Let sit in the fridge for 2-8 hours until firm.

Cashew Cream:
1 cup soaked cashews
1/4 cup coconut milk or cream
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Soak 1 cup of cashews in some warm water for about 1-2 hours.
Blend cashews in a food processor until course. Add coconut cream and let mix until starting to smooth.
Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. You may need to add more liquid to get the correct thicken you want.

To assemble:
Spread a bit of coconut cream on a plate, place the piece of pie on top, drizzle with a chocolate ganche and serve. Serve again and again.

Grains

Since I haven't been to the farmers market in a few weeks the house has been lacking many vegetables. Below are some simple meals with mainly grains.

Garlic Israeli Cous Cous:
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 cup vegetable broth
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch garlic scapes

Cook couscous in broth until tender.
Saute 4 cloves of garlic for 1 minute before adding the small chopped garlic scapes.
Sprinkle with your favorite salt and serve warm.


Shells and Fresh Herbs:
Since visiting a great new Italian joint in my neighborhood I have been craving pasta - something I've stayed away from for years.
It also helps that my little herb garden is growing into a medium sized herb garden.
Here I used a similar mixture as I did with the popcorn, but with the special inclusion of garlic, and lots of it. Shells are easily my favorite pasta.


Roasted Corn and Rice:
1 cup rice, I used a mix of brown and black
2 cups water or vegetable broth
1 cup corn
1/2 cup frozen spinach
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato

Cook rice as normal.
Saute corn on high until it looks like it's burning a bit, just give it a good char. Add garlic and spinach and stir until the spinach is hot.
Mix the cooked rice and corn mixture. Add more powdered vegetable broth, pepper and salt to taste.
Serve warm with a side of tomatoes and sprinkling of salt and chopped parsley. This mixture held together really well and were almost like burgers so it went perfectly with the tomatoes.


Raspberry Lime Fruit Salad Dressing:
Juice of 2 limes
1/8 tsp guar gum
2 Tablespoons seedless raspberry jam/jelly
1/8 round of fresh ginger root, or to taste
1 teaspoon toasted poppy seeds

Juice the lime, add the minced ginger, guar gum (it acts as a thickener, if you don't have it, don't sweat it) and raspberry jam. Blend together until well combined. Add toasted poppy seeds and toss with the fruit.
I used grapes, cantelope, cherries and apples. This dressing was wonderfully tart, and spicy and a little bit smoky with the seeds. Enjoy this salad on your deck with good friends on a warm day.


My life no longer lacks a food processor. My kitchen feels complete. For the salad. I was able to use my food processor to juice the limes, mince the ginger and blend everything together. It was so quick and simple. I can't wait until I can whip up my favorite carrot salad in just a few minutes.

POPCORN!

Since I move to my new house I have ignored my usual Friday Popcorn Dinner. Last Friday I rekindled popcorn dinners and it was a huge success!

Sun Dried Tomato Popcorn Topping:
2 Tablespoons dry sun dried tomatoes
2 tsp. vegan parmesan
1 tsp. salt, to taste

Grind the sun dried tomatoes in a clean coffee grinder or food processor. You want a powdery substance. Mix with parmesan and salt and sprinkle over popcorn.

This makes for a nice and zesty, sometimes sweet popcorn mix. If only it wasn't so wonderful I could have taken a photo before devouring it all.

Cheesiness and Sweets

Cheesiness and sweets, but not together, that would just be gross.

Cheesy Sauce and Neatballs:
As you know I've been working on the perfect cheesy sauce for Mr. Bolsh. This one had more lemon juice in it and that seems to be the way he wants to go with the recipe.
We poured it over cauliflower and Trader Joe's Meatballs.
New Farm Mac and Cheese:
Wow, this sure is a fat filled dish. 1 full cup of earth balance. Good thing it's going to an IPRC fund raiser tonight! All the fat sure does make it taste great though! I added some chili powder to give it a bit more of a kick.
Coconut Pie Pudding:
We've been enjoying dinner outside on our new covered deck.
I've been working on my coconut cream pie recipes for awhile now. Sunday morning I had a disaster where the crust ended up inside the filling. I don't know what happened, but I decided to just go with it. I lightly mixed the crust into the filling and called it a pudding. It has gone over well. Unfortunately, it's not the right consistency yet for a pie filling. But I am getting closer!
Behind the pudding is cherry limeaid - perfect for hot summer days!New Farm Brownies:
Brownies from the New Farm cookbook. It's a great chewy brownie. Emilie, from Conscious Kitchen, recently posted a brownie recently that contained yam. This seems like a great recipe to do that with. In this recipe you make a paste with hot water and flour. It's not very flavorful so I would want to replace it next time with a blended fruit.

Summer Salads!

It's been getting hot again - my favorite weather, so I've been making some salads to cool us down.

Chili Lime Salad:
Marinated tofu with lime, garlic and chilis; broiled, then chilled.
Mixed with some cold glass noodles, chopped carrots, ginger and garlic.
Garlic Bean Salad:
Briefly saute a lot of garlic with oil and a sprig of fresh chopped basil; mix with cooked beans and set aside.
Steam garlic scapes.
Mix with some shredded carrots and serve cold.
I sprinkled mine with black sea salt and pepper.

Sesame Noodle Salad:
Julieanne a large handful green beans and 1 carrot.
Saute 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 inch of ginger in some peanut or sesame oil. When the garlic is just about clear, add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.
Mix sauce, glass noodles and veggies. Add more oil if it needs it.
Serve cold.
Chocolate Mint Cookies and Cream Cupcakes!
Disaster struck as I was creaming the earth balance and remaining powdered sugar for the frosting and reached for the other box of powdered sugar and it wasn't there!
To make up for it I had to chop (I can't wait until I get my food processor) lots of cookies to make a nice earth balance and cookie crumb frosting.

Lunch Swap

My friend had a birthday party last Sunday with an interesting theme - a lunch swap. Half the people made lunch for two and the others just showed up. All the lunches were wrapped and placed on the table. When eating time came those who didn't come with lunch drew numbers. The first person got to pick a lunch, unwrap it and wait. The second person could steal the first person's unwrapped lunch or pick a wrapped lunch on the table and unwrap it. It goes on until everyone has picked a lunch. The chef of the lunches are then exposed and you have a little picnic with them.


The inspiration for my lunch came from my awesome, new dinosaur cookie cutters. I made Flax crackers from How it All Vegan, and a black bean "tar pit" dip. I didn't know how to continue making a meal with a dinosaur theme, so it stopped there.

The Flax crackers from How it All Vegan were great. I added some crushed, sliced almonds, and extra spices and they are great. I often skipped over this cookbook when I learned to cook, but it does have some good recipes in it. These will be made again with various spices.
For an appetizer I also included garlic stuff green olives and large capers.

Next dish was a simple potato salad. Apparently mustard and relish is not common to some peoples' experience in potato salad. Potatoes, vegenaise, mustard, chopped onions, fresh dill, fresh tarragon, vinegar, celery, salt and a tad of relish.

Tofurky Kielbasas satueed with onions and zucchini and put on skewers for easy eating. These were really easy and went over well because they can look impressive.

Fruit put on skewers. Another simple way to make fruit more fun and easy to transport by placing it in a pink glass.

Last was dessert, of course. Chocolate pear cookies with a strawberry filling.


The party was really fun but it took a lot more energy to make a full lunch/dinner for someone than making one dish I'd normally make for a potluck party. I later found out that others didn't put as much energy into their lunches.
The history from this idea came from a 50's dating and fund raising idea. Women would make lunches, men would then place auctions on the lunches. When they won the auction, they would then have lunch with the woman who made it. Very cute.