Mushroom Herb Sauce & Tofu over Whole Wheat Rice

I'm home! Now that I am back living in Modesto my sister and I will get to cook together for the few months we'll have until she goes off to college and thats just what we did tonight. 


Ingredients: 
Serves 4 

1/4 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread 'Olive Oil'

1/4 cup Herb Infused Olive Oil or EVOO
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup diced onion

1 Tsp Thyme

1 Tsp Rosemary

1 Tbsp Dried Basil

1 Tbsp Drired Parsley

Sea Salt and Freshly Cracked Pepper to taste

1/4 cup Unsweetened Soy Milk or any other unsweetened/unflavored milk
2 Tbsp Whole Wheat Flour or White Flour
1 cup cooked Whole Wheat Rice
Sliced and pressed firm Tofu


On low heat simmer combine Buttery Spread, Olive Oil, minced garlic, mushrooms, onion, thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, and a pinch of salt & pepper. Let the vegetables to sweat out and get tender, about 10 minutes. Add milk let reduce and combine for about 5 minutes then add flour and mix together for 5 additional minutes.
During your wait time for the mushroom sauce you can start preparing your rice and your tofu. I seasoned my tofu with a bit of "McCormick Roasted Garlic & Herb" seasoning. It helps give it a little crunch and extra flavor. 
Ashley made artichoke's to go along side this dish, I just drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt and ate. 
Plate up and serve! I added some fresh slices of basil on top for garnish and freshness. 

My yummy Tofu!

 Benny's Chicken

Tips & Subtitutions:

• Chicken rather than tofu would be best here, you can also use the same seasoning, thats what we did for my brother!
• McCormick Roasted Garlic & Herb seasoning. I've talked about these seasonings before and they are a great way to quickly prepare tofu or chicken.
• Wheat flour or white flour? You can really use either, I am used to using white myself, however, my sister has apparently made sure we have only wheat flour in this house, so I tried and it worked!
• Herb Infused Olive Oil! Awwh this little baby is the best, and you have to go get it. Promise it will change your life, I drizzle just this on broccoli and other veggies and eat raw, mmMmmm :)

ANDI score

This post isn't going to be about a recipe, but it is about food! I stumbled across a little thing called the "ANDI Score" when I shopped at Whole Foods Market. ANDI stands for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index. Foods with high ANDI Scores have the highest nutrients per calorie. The system is amazing and can really help anyone navigate around the grocery store and pick the foods with the most abundant nutrients. Like Dr. Oz says, "Your body craves nutrients, not calories" !
Below I posted the food pyramid, determinded by the ANDI score, as well as the website which gives tons of information about the system.
I encourage you to look into it and start adapting it to your lifestyle!

http://andiscores.com/

Bruschetta & Bruschetta Sandwich

I'm going to let you know right now, you may fall in love with this recipe to the point where you will crave it day in and day out. The great thing is that it is soo simple you'll have hardly reason not to! So without further ado I present to you the famous Bruschetta Sandwich!

Bruschetta & Bruschetta Sandwich:

Ingredients 

Bruschetta:

French Baguette

Pesto:

8oz. Organic Basil

1/4 cup Pine Nuts

3 cloves Garlic

1/2 cup Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Tomato Pesto:

3 Roma Tomatoes or 1-2 cans Organic Diced Tomatoes

Pesto 

Bruschetta Sandwich:

French Baguette 

4oz Pressed Firm Tofu* (cut into 1/4 in. thick strips)

Chicken seasoning 

Pesto

Tomato Pesto (or sliced tomatoes)

*See below for other options!

Start with putting basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and salt&pepper to taste in Cuisinart. Mix and blend until your pesto looks about like the photo here. Et Voila! Your Pesto is finished!! 

Now when you take out the pesto it is okay to leave some of the pesto in, don't worry about getting everything off the sides of the Cuisinart or the blade because this will be used in the next step (and makes for easy clean up later!). Put the pesto in a separate container and refrigerate until use. In the Cuisinart now add your tomatoes, if using whole roma tomatoes, peel and dice before hand, otherwise strain the can of tomatoes before you add. Add a bit of Salt & Pepper and pulse just until blended. Strain the mixture until it is a similar consistency to the pesto you made prior. Transfer to separate container, store in refrigerator until use.

For the Bruschetta, slice the French Baguette in 1/2 inch wide slides, broil on both sides until golden brown. Don't forget to save some of the baguette for your sandwich or be sure to get an additional baguette. Spoon the Tomato Pesto first then the Pesto on top and you are ready to serve up an amazing appetizer, people will be begging for more!

My favorite seasoning to use for my Tofu and especially for this recipe is the McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Chicken seasoning (it's vegan, no actual chicken harmed!) But it works perfect with tofu and even gives it a great texture. Gently press the seasoning on both sides of the pressed firm tofu and fry in a pan with a small amount of olive oil on medium heat until crisp on both sides.

To serve, cut the French Baguette into sandwich size lengths, pop in the oven broil on high until golden brown. Place cooked tofu, pesto, tomato pesto or sliced tomatoes into sandwich and Mangia Mangia!

Substitutes & Options:

Pesto- If you are making pesto for your pasta you will want to add more olive oil and blend for a longer period of time. This will make for a smoother pesto that will work best with pastas! You may also add the pesto to a saucepan with Parmesan cheese and milk/cream for a creamy pesto (or mix it with your alfredo sauce).

Substitute for Tofu- Chicken will be best with this sandwich. Use the same seasoning on Chicken breast, cook and eat!

Bread- As far as the Bruschetta I would keep with a French Baguette, however for the sandwich you can use whatever your heart desires! My favorites have been, Ciabatta, salted Fococcia & Fococcia with herbs.  

The Healthy Cinnamon Roll ;)

I love cinnamon rolls! I was inspired to make a healthier version of a cinnamon roll because the other day my parents brought home a weakness of mine, Cinnabon! I did my best to stay away from them, reminding myself of the all the sugar, fat, animal cruelty, ect that contributed to the making of one of those whopping 800 calorie cinnamon rolls!
Soon after I started to wonder what it would take to make a cinnamon roll without all the guilt yet still maintaining delicious texture and flavor to it.. And this wonderful cinnamon roll is what I came up with!

Bread Ingredients
(serves 8-9)

• 1/4 oz yeast packet
• 1 tbsp stevia (about 6 packets)
• 1/4 c lukewarm water
• 2 c whole wheat flour
• 2 c all purpose flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c cool water

Filling Ingredients

• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• agave nectar
• chopped toasted almonds

Topping Ingredients (enough for to cooked cinnamon rolls)

• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tbsp vanilla soy milk
• 1 small chunk of dark chocolate

Directions
First, dissolve yeast and stevia in the lukewarm water.
Mix whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, and cinnamon. Add yeast mixture, and 1 c cool water. Mix. Add remaining water.
Knead bread mixture and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Oil a large glass bowl and place the bread inside (flip once so that the bread is covered with oil on the top and  bottom) Cover with saran wrap.
Place in warm area and let rise fo 2-21/2 hours.
When the dough has risen, spread out the dough on a flat surface so it is a large, flat rectangle.
Add a thin layer of agave nectar to the dough. Then sprinkle the cinnamon, brown sugar, and almonds to your liking.
Roll the dough to form a large spiral.
Cut 1 to 3/2 inch until you have 8-9 uncooked cinnamon rolls
Place rolls on dark circular pans so that the sides of the rolls slightly touch, or don't touch at all.
Place in 325 degree oven for 30 minutes.
While the cinnamon rolls cook, you can make the topping. In a small bowl microwave almond butter, chocolate, and soy milk until chocolate is melted. Stir well and drizzle on cinnamon rolls when they are finished cooking.

Vegan "Tuna" Sandwitch filling

This recipie is inspired by Vegan Planet Cookbook, but of course I made it my own by using ingredients that I had on hand. I have never been a big fan of the taste of tuna, so I was not dissapointed when this recipe didn't taste exactly like fish. But it will make for a great sandwitch filler or also could be enjoyed on crackers! I hope you find it enjoyable as I did:)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c Great Northern Beans
• 1/2 c blanched, slivered almonds
• Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1tbsp & 1 tsp chopped shallots
• 1/3 c chopped celery
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1/4 c vegenaise (aka vegan mayonnaise)
• 1 1/2 tsp whole grain dijon mustard

Directions
In a food processor, blend Great Northern Beans and Almonds
It is okay for some of the almonds or beans to remain whole, just aim for an overall "mush" texture.
Transfer beans and almonds into a large bowl and add all remaining ingredients( lemon juice, shallots, celery, green onion, vegenaise, mustard)
Mix ingredients well.
Refridgerate for 30 or more minutes and serve!

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:)