Tag Archives: tofu

December 8, 2010

My Favorite Tofu

By psyckoprincess

Probably my favorite way to eat tofu is scrambled. Don’t get me wrong, I love lots of other preparations, but scramble is SO freakin’ tasty, and SO freakin easy to make.. it’s really a go-to dish around this house. Besides, the Beebits loves it too so that definitely makes it a staple!

(Who am I kidding, the child will eat tofu blocks right out of the package, so I guess I make the scramble it mostly because I love it, lol!)

I’ve perfected my scramble though, so I’m going to share with you! Of course, you may not like it my way, and that’s fine – come up with a fab version for yourself! And feel free to share, I’m always down to try new things. :) I know there are a ton of great scramble recipes out there, and lots of people pan fry it with a load of cut veggies – which is awesome! I have eaten it that way, still do sometimes, but it’s not my preferred way. When I want scramble it’s generally  just scramble – plain – kinda like how I used to eat scrambled eggs. Hence the short ingredient list ;)

My Favorite Tofu

  1. Tofu
  2. Scramble Seasoning
  3. Water!

Directions:

  • Press the tofu!! It won’t absorb the seasoning as well if you don’t press it. 
  • Lightly oil a pan. Just enough so that the tofu doesn’t stick during the browning.
  • Break it up. I used to just kind of squish/crumble my tofu into the pan and I realize now that is not the tastiest way. ;) Now, it takes longer, but I actually just break it into about thumbnail sized pieces. It makes for a bulkier scramble and as I realized the first time we did it – it was way easier for the Beebits to pick up and eat!
  • Toss n turn it. When I used to eat eggs, soft scrambled was my fav.. but for tofu I like a firmer scramble (hence he breaking into kinda ‘chunks’) So before I add the seasoning, I let some of the water cook out of the tofu, and toss it in the pan for a few minutes to ‘brown’. ;)

    Letting it 'brown' a little before adding the seasoning...

  • Add in a couple tablespoons of scrambler seasoning. Just shake it onto the tofu and then let it cook another minute or so, turning the tofu so it gets well coated.

    Well coated in seasoning

  • Add water! Just add enough to get all og the tofu w/the seasoning wet, so it can soak a minute or two in the liquid. Not too much or it might over dilute your seasoning and hen you have bland scramble ;)

    Simmering..

  • Simmer a couple minutes. So the tofu can soak up the seasoning (why we press it!). You want to heat it on the heat until the water’s almost completely gone. If you leave it too long it’ll just start to stick to the pan. You do kind of want to keep an eye on it while it cooks down to stir occassionally, and keep it mixed (and keep from sticking to the pan!)

    The water's almost gone...

  • Garnish and eat! Mmmm…. My momma gifted me some Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream (we get the non-hydrogenated kind), so I put a dollop on mine for a treat and sprinkled with some cut scallions. Delish!

    Little paprika sprinkle for pretties and it's SO yum!

Do you have a favorite way to eat tofu?

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1 comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Recipes

November 19, 2010

My Vegan Deviled “Eggs” (aka Tofu Devils!)

By psyckoprincess

(*Note: This was yesterday’s post that wouldn’t go through, finally got it to work! Yay!)

My FAV part of holidays has almost always been deviled eggs. OMG. I was in charge of making them and generally managed to sneak down WAY more than my fair share too… I think there were more years than not where the tray didn’t even make it to dinnertime!

Sometime after becoming vegan, I distinctly remember telling my mom, “Ya know, I just might have to cave for devilled eggs!”  Keep in mind that I did not (have not!) even caved for Peanut M&M’s which were my F.A.V.!  The more familiarized I became with (and developed a serious love affair with too *giggle*) tofu, though, I thought there has to be a way to recreate these, in pretty close comparison… Right?

Oh yeah.

First you need to develop a relationship with Kala Namak, or, black salt.  “WhoosaWhat-sa” you say? Seriously. It’s for makin vegan eggs baby. I use it in my tofu scramble, to marinate tofu for my lil man (though he’s 2… he’ll actually just eat tofu straight from the box. That’s my hardcore lil vegan boy right there!) and always in my Tofu Devils ;) There is one store in my relative area which sells it, but I’ve tried it against what I ordered from online and there was no comparison, so I’ll just order it thank you very much! The stuff is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. If you like(d) eggs that is, of course!

There are countless Google’s on this, but I’ve come up with my own, and I’m proud of them so here’s mine:

Tofu Devils (Vegan Deviled “Eggs”)

  • 2 blocks firm or extra firm tofu (NOT silken)
  • 1-2 c. water
  • 2-3 tsp. black salt
  • 1/2-1 tsp. curry powder
  • 1/2-1 tsp turmeric (gives a nice yellow color, if you don’t care that they’re yellow you can omit)
  • scant 1 tsp sweet pickle relish liquid only (I did 2 blocks of tofu and barely used a tsp relish liquid)
  • 1/4-1/2 c. vegan mayo, depends on how creamy you like it! (I prefer the Vegenaise Reduced Fat, but my store didn’t have that so I got the Vegenaise Original which is also good.)

Note: ALL of my measurements are approximate and feel free to adjust for your tastes.  It also depends a lot on how many Devils you’re making at once.  I was doing enough for 2 14 oz. blocks of firm tofu, if you’re doing more or less adjust accordingly.  It’s a user-friendly recipe :)

First you hafta press the tofu. Now, there are plenty of ways to do this. You can set your tofu between two plates and then begin to stack heavy objects on top until the water begins to squish out of your tofu. OR, you can get all kinds of fancy and use Tofu Xpress *giggle. Yeah it’s like $40 but lemme just share with ya, I got mine almost a year ago and use it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. There is no time goes by there isn’t tofu pressin in my fridge. So it’ll be worth it, trust me.

Ok, so I was a dumba**, and tried to Xpress silken.. (they now have a 'lite' coil for that btw), but you get the idea, it perfectly squishes all the liquid out!

Ok, so back to the tofu-ing….You want to use at least firm tofu, perhaps even extra firm, because the med and soft wont’ hold up for this.  You’ll want to press the tofu for at least an hour, overnight if you can get away with it. (Another benefit to the Xpress, you can put the stuff back in the fridge and forget about it!)

Once it’s pressed, you’ll want to cut it in half  (long ways) and then into approx 1/2 inch slices.  Then you plunk them into the marinade. I use more black salt in my marinade for these just to make sure the ‘eggy’ flavor really comes through, about 2 tsp black salt to about 1 c. of water. Soak the tofu slices in it for at least an or however long you can manage.

Take the slices out of the eggy-smelling-water (you’ll be tripped out by it if you’ve never done it before – I still kinda am! The ‘salt’ is a light pinkish gray color, but when you toss 2 tsp into a cup of water it turns a very dark greenish gray color. So weird.) and pat them dry with a cloth. You can definitely do this with little rectangle ‘eggs’ but I since it only happens once or twice a year I get all fancy and shape them ;) It’s really just rounding the edges, and then I go around the bottom and really shave it into a little half-egg-rounded shape. Yeah I’m a nerd I know it.

The edges I cut off and all the little bits I toss into a bowl for the filling (just like tossin the yolks out of the eggs!) Then I use a melon baller to scoop tiny circles out of the middle of each piece.

Next for the filling. Mash up all the cut off edges and balled out centers you’ve saved in a bowl and mix with the mayo and spices. Then it’s time to fill in the centers!  I find it easiest to use a cake frosting bag, but you can just use any old baggie with the corner cut out too.

Sprinkle with a bit of paprika for color (I’d prefer a nice smoked paprika here, but all I had was hot, so they were a bit spicier than I wanted but it’s a nice touch.)

VOILA! Look at those adorable edible lil dudes!

They were maybe half and half a hit at my potluck, there’s some folks without my kinda tofu love but that’s ok, more for me! (And my wee little man, who ate FIVE tonight! Lol… Um yeah, he’s really not so little Hahahaah!)

Do tell if you’ve had success with this – or any similar thing you’ve ‘veganized’! I love to hear other peoples ideas and get inspired!!!

Finally, I have to postpone talkin’ about my experiment on this … mine isn’t ready! I tried it this morning and decided to let it go one more day to see what (if anything) happens… so maybe tomorrow?

That’s all for now blog friends, I’m beat! Was up early with the little man so he’d go for a nap early so I could wake him from it early so I could take him to school early so I could be at work early for the potluck! *breathes* Lol… it’s been a long day ;)

Goodnight all!! Good Day all!

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Everyday Stuff

November 9, 2010

Susie Who?

By psyckoprincess

“Susie Homemaker” says my mother, but I say … Who? Lol.. This mommy wears so many hats I usually can’t even remember which one I’m wearing at any given moment, let alone give her a name! lol :)

This weekend was SO busy! I ended up quite proud of myself and wanted to share some of my accomplishments…Im’ not nearly always so productive lol.  There’s cooking, baking, cleaning… dusting fan blades.. What? Yeah I have to (sheepishly!) admit I dusted the freaking fan blades.  (I may have gone a tad overboard on Sunday lol!) So here’s a look at my weekend moments… maybe something here will inspire you!

I repotted my patio plants, and my lil Bodhi tree who lives in my kitchen :) They’re SO much happier now!  Sorry I didn’t take pics of the outdoor ones!

Happy Bodhi :)

Rearranged my living room.. I get that when you have a toddler, there’s bound to be some amount of ‘mess’ at any given time… but it seriously annoys me. I hate feeling like my place is a constant disaster!

Yep, there’s a skull on my wall :)

So… I cleaned top to bottom, vacuumed and rearranged. I think I’ll be able to keep this new layout tidier. I think. I hope. (I tell myself this.)

I was such a maniac this weekend, had to get the cooking & cleaning done AND get some food-things ready for when lil man came home… (he was at the Other house this weekend *sad mommy!*) And, of course, I had to sleep in a LOT (and forgot about Dalight Saving Time so it was even later than I meant to!)

We’ve been on a budget cutting back flat broke lately, but having little means to go buy some things has led me to some kitchen creativity that I’m actually kind of happy about, so… is that the silver lining in this cloud? ;) Methinks it is.

So I made two loaves of bread – I’m experimenting with sugar-free loaves…sweetened alternatively.  One I made with agave instead of sugar and then the second one I tried with brown rice syrup.  I haven’t tasted them yet, but they do both smell divine and the Beebits loved them!! I’ll let you know how my tasting goes when get into them. :)

This is loaf #1 set to rise.  I used a bread machine for the dough cycle, then ‘loaf it’ and let it rise and bake in the oven.  Since I was doing 2 loaves with limited time, I let the second loaf go the whole distance in the machine. :)

My recipe is modified from my mom‘s 9-Grain loaf, modified a tiny bit for ingredients I didn’t have lol…and listed in the order I put them in my machine :)

  • 1 1/4 c. water
  • 3 Tbsp sugar (agave, rice syrup, etc- just so long as you feed your yeast!)
  • 1Tbsp raw millet
  • 1 Tbsp flaxseed (whole or flaxmeal)
  • 1-2 Tbsp quick cook oats
  • 1 Tbps sunflower seeds
  • 2 Tbsp oil (I generally use EVOO, this time I used safflower as I’m out of olive!)
  • 2 c. whole wheat flour
  • 1 c. bread flour
  • 1/4 c. cracked wheat cereal (or a good 7 or 9-grain is awesome too!)
  • 2 1/4 tsp yeast (if you have them, it’s 1 ‘packet’)

Turn on the bread machine and let ‘er rip! This stuff is so good. And full of whole grain-y goodness! Mmmmmm, toasted with some coconut butter… Mmmm. ;)

Speaking of coconut butter… This is my FAVORITE breakfast lately, a lil bowlful (nice full 1/2 c cooked) of steel cut oats with a dollop of coconut butter on top! Of course I mix it together before I eat it … usually… And coconut oil works too if you have it, it’s just not as creamy. The flavor is AWESOME too!  Try it, really, you’ll see!

The Beebits saw this and says “Ice Cream Mommy!” Nope.. but still good!

Next Hummus! The wee Beebits usually helps me make the hummus but this time I did it all by myself! Yay mommy! *rolls eyes*  Really, once you have toddlers you’ll understand the value of “by myself“. Being able to do something on your own (cook, vacuum, shower, pee…) becomes total nirvana.  So here’s my “All By Myself” Hummus:

  • 425 grams cooked beans (My fav mix is about 2/3 chickpea, 1/3 kidney bean)
  • 1-2 tsp garlic granules (if you have fresh more power to ya, use 4-6 cloves, or more to taste!)
  • 1 tsp salt (I use himalaya or sea salt)
  • 1 tsp cumin (usually end up adding a bit more of this but to 1 tsp is good to start)
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 2/3 c water
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil

Get your beans nicely ground in the food processor (garlic first if you’re using fresh or it won’t get ground up as finely), add water and olive oil, then spices. And scrape the sides down periodically so it all gets blended well. :)

The Beebits and I eat this on crackers, with potato or rice, with chips, with spoons…. Is a great protein!

This next bad boy rates two pictures! Only because I snapped one before and one after ;)   They’re taken from Isa’s recipe, but again, tweaked for ingredients I didn’t have… and for less sugar. They’re awesome! The Beebits and I made them together last time, but again, since he wasn’t home… All By Myself!! *giggle*

Here’s to Homemade Teddy Grahams (or whatever shape you like!)

  • 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 c date sugar (you can use regular sugar here, but I found that the date sugar 1. cuts back the total sugar content – duh! – and 2. gives it a fun dark flavor!)
  • 1/2 -1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 c oil
  • 1/4 c non-dairy milk (I used soy cause it’s what we got ;)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 T dark agave syrup
Rolled and cut!

You can follow the directions from Isa’s recipe they’re the same, basically mix all your dry, add in your wet, mix til it’s well blended and a tiny bit crumbly. Roll it out on a flat surface to about 1/8″ thickness and cut!  You can just cut into rectangles for simplicity or use cookie cutters (more fun for a 2 yr old!).

And… cooling! Delish!

Using the cutter will make the whole process take a LOT longer, lemme warn you, because you’ll have to keep re-balling the dough and rolling it out again to make more shapes. Just so you know. :)   Doesn’t mean it’s not worth it!

I also made, but without pictures, Susan’s Irish Faux-sages, to which I modify only by adding 1 tsp of ground fennel (tastes more like sausage to me with fennel in it!) but otherwise the recipe is as Susan wrote it. It’s my go-to ‘meat’, it’s easy to make and SO good and SO versatile!  I actually cut up a faux-sage and pan frid it with a red potato for dinner but I forgot to take a picture til I was done. Lol. It didn’t last long! AND the lil man loves these too ;) I’m aspiring to a modification for apple-sage and chipotle, since those are two awesome flavors by Field Roast… we’ll see!

AND, because I’m an awesome mommy… and told the child we could have waffles today… I got up this morning and made waffles first thing. Yay for keeping our word, even to the mini-people!  I usually use the ‘No-Fuss Pancakes‘ recipe from the Compassionate Cooks, but apparently you can’t find it on the site.. I must have gotten this from my mom? I make both pancakes and waffles with this same recipe, they’re rockin! AND because it calls for a fruit juice for sweetener, you can have subtly different tasting batter each time depending on what you use. I have tried pineapple and apple and they’re both awesome.

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to post their recipe, because they sell them as ‘cookbooks’ but you can find it here if you want it!

OH, since mom mentioned it here, and also since I just made a new jar today, here’s the skinny on tofu scramble seasoning ;) I have modified the recipe mom gave me, so now is it my recipe? No idea, but I’ll still share it with you :)

  • 1/3 c. onion powder
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp turmeric (more if you like it very yellow)
  • 2-3tsp sea/himalaya salt (use the higher amount if you like it salty!)
  • 2-3 tsp kala namak (or, black salt) for an ‘eggy’ flavor

Combine all ingredients in a dry blender until very well mixed and then add 1 c. ‘nooch’ (nutritional yeast) and blend again until well mixed. Sprinkle over your tofu for a ‘scramble’, anytime the mood strikes you!

Finally, a post just wouldn’t be complete without an update about the Beebits!

Since Halloween was the last big something, I’ll put up some pics from our Halloween. I made Jr an “Itsy Bitsy Spider” for a costume :) What fun!

He decorated it himself!

Mommy and Jr with our Pumpkin!

Out trick-or-treating

Visiting mommy’s office after Halloween to get another use of the costume ;) (And to visit the fountain, lol!)

You know what’s the absolute best?? Getting ready for work today and having my SO SWEET little 2 year old say “Mommy cute!” Awwwww! Made. My. Day. !!!! I love my little man! And he loves me! :)

What a weekend! What a day! I’m tired just reliving it for you :) Until next time….

What’s something someone said to you recently that made your day?

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2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Everyday Stuff

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