Coconut Lime Tofu

I am not ashamed to admit that cooking tofu kind of scares me. The only way I really cooked it for a long time was by frying it in oil with my favorite seasonings and putting it in a sandwitch with tons of veggies, so the taste of the tofu was never showcased. I started to reduce my use of oil a while back so that meant I stopped my fried tofu thing I had going.
But lately, a desire to learn how to prepare a delicious plate of tofu developed. I stumbled across a recipe in the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook today called coconut lime tofu. I just had cooked a curry cauliflour soup (see below) earlier today so I decided it was fate because I had the perfect amount of coconut milk left! So my journey to bake a tasty tofu plate began. And guess what?? It worked! I absolutely loved the outcome. The tofu tastes great with rice mixed with the soup from earlier. Below is the recipe I used to bake the tofu, it differs from Vegan Yum Yum's recipe but it still tastes great:)

Ingredients

• 1/3 coconut milk
• 1 tsp stevia (or sugar)
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1/8 c soy sauce
• 8 oz firm tofu (drained and pressed)
• Japenese style break crumbs (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 450
Cut tofu into 8 equal sizes pieces and place in a baking dish. Make sure not have any of the tofu pieces overlapping
Blend the coconut milk, stevia, lime juice, and soy sauce. Once blended, pour over tofu pieces.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Take baking dish out of oven and flip each piece over. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on the top of each piece (this will just adds a little crunchiness)
Put the dish back in the oven and leave in for 15 minutes.
The dish will be ready soon after, just let it cool so you dont burn your tastebuds!

Curried Cauliflour Soup

If you are a fan of the taste of curry, this soup will warm your heart<3 I personally have never been a big fan of the taste of curry, but this soup was still tasty to me. A little spicy but nothing unbearable.

Ingredients

• 1 chopped onion
• 1 head of cauliflour (steamed cooked)
• 3 c water
• 1tbsp dried ginger
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 c coconut milk
• salt and pepper

Directions
In a medium sauceman, mix onions, water, ginger, salt, and pepper. Boil, cover, then lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes so that the onion can get tender.
Add the cauliflour and curry into the pot and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Pour mixture in a large blender.
Add coconut milk.
Blend until smooth.
Serve!

If you arnt in the mood for soup, this would also taste great drizzled on top of warm rice.

However you choose to eat it, I hope you enjoy it:)

Portabella Mushroom Sandwitch

I have had many portabella mushroom sandwitches in the past at restaurants and have always had a good experience with them, so I decided to make my own! It is hard to go wrong with tasty sauteed veggies and some warm bread!

Serves 4-5

Ingredients 

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• Vegetable Broth
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 3 Red Bell Peppers
• 4 Portabella Mushrooms
• 4/5 Sweet Onion Ciabatta Bread (sold at Raley's Supermarket)
• 1/4 c. Pesto (w/o cheese)

Preperation

First things first, wash your veggies! Exspecially if you are not buying organic. I soaked my bell peppers in water while I prepared my portabella mushrooms to ensure no pesticides were lurking on my pretty peppers. To prepare the mushrooms, wet a paper towel and squeeze any excess water from it. Wipe the portabella mushrooms with the towel gently. Dirt should lift off the mushrooms easily. Next, dice the bell peppers, onion, and portabella mushrooms.

As you chop the vegetables, warm a large skillet and a wok on your stove.

When finished chopping, add Vegetable Broth to your large skillet (enough to cover 3/4 bottom).

Add onions to skillet and cover for 2-3 minutes.

Add 1 tbsp Olive Oil to wok and then add minced garlic cloves. Once garlic is browned add the portabella mushrooms. Mix in remaining olive oil to wok and stir the mushrooms around on medium-low heat. Add salt to taste

Add the chopped bell peppers to large skillet with the onions. Stir then cover on medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Add salt to taste.

The ciabatta bread needs to be sliced in half. To get a nice, warm, and slightly crunchy texture to the bread, drizzle a little olive oil over the slices and place them in the oven on broil. Keep watch of the bread to make sure they do not burn. 

When you are ready to serve, spread pesto on one half of the bread, scoop bell peppers, onion, and mushrooms onto bread and you sandwitch is ready!

I completed the meal with a cup of Amy's Vegetable Lentil Soup, which made my tummy very satisfied!



 When cooking, remember to follow your instincts. If the vegetables look a little dry, add a little more olive oil or vegetable broth. Add salt or other seasoning if you find that the flavors are not popping as much as you would like.

Also, any kind of bread would work for this sandwitch so if you cannot find sweet onion ciabatta bread, experiement with another type of bread!

I hope you enjoy:)

Chocolate Mousse Pie

One word, YUM! This dessert has a simple recipe, but is still packed full of flavors. I found the recipe for just the chocolate mousse in a vegetarian/vegan magazine and added some ingredients to make it more flavorful. The idea to make it into a pie just flowed together and it turned out to be a great dessert.
Ingredients

• 1 cup melted chocolate (look at ingredients label to avoid milk in chocolate)
• 1 package silken tofu
• 1 premade graham cracker pie crust
• 2 packets stevia (That wonderful no-calorie all natural sweetner!)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• small handfull chocolate chips for topping
• shredded coconut for topping

Preperation
Blend the tofu until smooth in a blender or magic bullet.
Add the melted chocolate, stevia, and cinnamon to blender and mix until smooth creamy texture is made. Pour the mousse into the pie crust.
Decorate with chocolate chips, shredded coconut, or any other toppings that you enjoy!
The only hard part of this recipe is the wait. The next step for this pie is letting it sit in the freezer overnight.
Take the pie out of the freezer and let it sit in refridgerator for at least 4 hours.

So even though you may be dying to dig right in, I promise you the texture it forms from sitting in the freezer is great. It also develops most of its flavors while it freezes. If you know you are having company a few nights in advance, make this pie beforehand and it will be ready to enjoy when you need it.
I hope this chocolate mousse pie delights your senses :)

Garlic & Pepper Tofu over Lime Greens

Hello, this is Kristin, whenever you see blue that's me! 
The recipe that I am sharing today I stumbled upon the other day completely by mistake- but sometimes you create your best dishes that way! At first it was a play on 'steak and mushrooms', then I figured, 'oh I can just add my greens to the mushrooms, I can separate later if I need to.' add some random ingredients and Wham! A totally amazing and healthy dish you'll want to enjoy night after night! 


Garlic & Pepper Tofu over Lime Greens
Serves 1-2
What you will need:

• 5 oz Garlic & Pepper Steak Tofu cut to your preference and pressed
• 3 Tbsp Extra Light Olive Oil or preferred cooking oil
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance original 
• 4-5 Button Mushrooms
• 1 c Broccilini (about a hand full if you have a large bunch) chopped into 1inch strips 
• 1 c Fresh or Frozen Green Beans chopped into 1 inch strips
• 1 cup Cooked Jasmine Rice 
• 2 Lime
• 2 Cloves of Garlic minced
• Pinch of Basil seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large skillet on low heat warm 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp Earth Balance, garlic, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. You want to let the garlic infuse into the oil/butter to give you a real richness, plus it smells amazing. At this time you can start pressing your tofu and preparing your rice. 

After 5 minutes and the garlic is tender (please be sure not to cook it on too high of heat as the garlic will burn) add the mushrooms and let them satay for about 3-5 minutes getting tender before putting in the broccolini and green beans. After the greens are wilted a bit add a pinch more salt, pepper and basil. Let cook down and develop flavor for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, cooking on medium to low heat. During the last few minutes of cooking juice half a lime onto greens.

While the greens are cooking your tofu should be finished pressing. At this time warm a smaller skillet on medium heat and add 1Tbsp olive oil. Add the tofu to the skillet and sear on both sides. The olive oil will ensure a nice crisp to the tofu giving it texture. 

When the rice is complete add 1 juice of one lime and pepper to taste, being sure to mix throughout. You may use any extra lime to garnish. 

Everything should be done around the same time, so it's easy to just plate and Mangia!

Tips, Tricks, Substitutes and Options:

 If you are unable to find the Garlic & Pepper Tofu Steak in your local grocery store use either your own favorite rub or seasoning on your regular Firm Tofu, mine being McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning (not to worry it is vegan) OR and other option is to create your own rub of garlic and black pepper. Both very easy and wont take but minutes!

For my butter spread I used Earth Balance original. It is a great way to add richness to any dish without using actual butter. However, if you cannot find a vegan butter you can use the same amount of olive oil to cook your greens.  

Good green beans are hard to come by and there is no way you want to taint your dish with the canned kind. If green beans are out of season head on over to your local Trader Joe's and look for Trader Joe's Frozen French Green Beans. They are so crisp and taste like they came fresh!


For the non-veg if you are looking to substitute the tofu I would go with Chicken on this one. The dish has a refreshing flavor to it and I think that the chicken would go best. A mild fish could go just as well, such as Tilapia, or even Salmon. Also if you have time marinate your chicken for at least 30 minutes in Olive oil, basil, 2-3 lime, 3 cloves minced garlic and about 1 tsp or salt and 1 tsp of pepper. (Please let me know how it turns out! I can cook it I just don't eat it hah!)

Limes- believe it or not, especially if you are not a frequent user of lime, there are many times where your lime will not juice. Some times you just get a bad lime- but no fear because in this dish you can at least use it as a garnish! I wanted to share this information with you because when there is ever a recipe that calls for lime be sure to grab a couple more, just incase! 

Rice- Don't have the time (or patience) to cook rice from scratch? No worries neither do I most of the time! My go-to rice is Trader Joe's Organic Jasmine Rice. You will find it in the frozen foods section and it takes only three minutes in the microwave! Oh it's a lifesaver I tell ya!

I hope these substitutes and tricks have helped you, if there are any questions please comment, email, facebook or anything to let me know what you'd like to hear. Thank you and enjoy!

Sugar Free Applesauce!

Hello everyone! This is Ashley, whenever you see purple font, it will be me writing!
For my first post, I wanted to write about something simple, but delicious! Yesterday I made homemade apple sauce for the first time. It was such a sucess so I have to share the recipe.

Homemade Sugar Free Apple Sauce
Serves 2
What you need:

• 2 apples
• 3 packets of Stevia
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (more to taste)
• 2/3 cup water
• small pot
• blender (magic bullet works amazing!)

The preperation is easy. Skin the apples and chop them up into small cubes.
Pour water and apples into small pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Boil apples for 15-20 mintues so that they are tender.
Once the apples are tender, drain half of the water out from pot. Pour the rest of the water and the apples into your blender/magic bullet. Add stevia(you can buy stevia packets at Raley's by other sweetners) and and cinnamon. Blend ingredients, and enjoy warm or cool overnight!
You will not be dissapointed:)

P.S. stevia is a zero calorie, all natural sweetner. Great for you tastebuds and wasteline!