Green Bean-Tofu Stir Fry w/ Rice Noodles

I was inspired to cook tofu again! I had a few ingredients I needed to use up in my kitchen and I wanted something simple and tasty that I could make from them all. I found half of a chopped onion, half a bag of frozen green beans, a block of extra-firm tofu and a large bag of rice noodles. A little chopping, sauteing and mixing along with a few spices and sauces and voila! I created this wonderful meal:

Green Bean-Tofu Stir fry with Rice Noodles

It was mighty tasty if I do say so myself! I gobbled it all up.

I must say that I'm really enjoying cooking with tofu. It used to intimidate and scare me but the more I attempt to incorporate it, the more I find it super simple and so versatile! I love that it can complement just about anything you mix it with because it absorbs the flavors of the foods around it. Yum!

What are some of your favorite ways to cook tofu?

"Pepperoni" Pizza Scones with Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce

So I finally got around to making the vegan pizza scones that I mentioned a few weeks ago. And boy let me tell you: these did NOT disappoint. The final recipe is truly a hodge-podge of various scone recipes adapted and bastardized into this lovely form:


I have never baked my own scones before and I have to say that they are a lot easier than I had anticipated. I will admit that time is a factor when making these but the rewards are completely worth it. Yum!

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Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Scones with Spicy Tomato dipping sauce:
Yields 8 large slices

3 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup chilled nondairy butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups shredded nondairy cheese (I used Daiya mozzarella)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegan pepperoni, diced
3/4 cup Vegan Buttermilk + 1/4 cup (recipe below)
Vegan Egg-wash (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Gradually add the cold butter and mix until the texture starts to feel crumbly.

Add the pepperoni, onions and 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Mix the dough by hand while adding a as much of the extra buttermilk as needed 1 tablespoon at a time or until the dough is pliable. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it will become light and tender when you bake it.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and pat into a ball. Roll the dough into an 8 inch circle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 8 sections.

Place the slices onto on ungreased baking sheet and lightly brush the tops of each with the egg wash mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges become brown and the center is no longer wet. Remove from the oven and let the scones cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Serve immediately with Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce.

Vegan Buttermilk

1 tbs lemon juice
1 cup nondairy milk (I used almond milk)

In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients. It should curdle just slightly. Allow mixture to sit for 10 minutes before using.

Vegan Egg-wash

1/2 tsp cornstarch
water

In a small microwaveable bowl, mix the cornstarch with a small amount of water until it thickens. Add 1/2 cup water and whisk briefly.

Place bowl in the microwave for roughly 1 minute.

Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce

15 oz Organic Tomato Sauce (or 1 can)
1 tbsp Basil Olive Oil (regular olive oil works too, but I *heart* the flavor of Basil Olive Oil)
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup vegan pepperoni, diced

In a small saucepan, briefly heat the tomato sauce and olive oil while gradually incorporating the spices.

Add the pepperoni just before you remove the sauce from the heat.

Serve immediately.

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I just love how scones are so totally portable! They are a grab and go lunch and the possibilities for both savory and sweet scones are boundless. I will definitely be trying my hand at some other variations in the near future. Any suggestions?

Tofu Spring Rolls

Tofu Spring Rolls

I love spring rolls! They are such a light but filling treat. The idea for spring rolls had manifested in my mind weeks ago. And the other night, I was sitting at home doing homework when I was suddenly overcome by the sudden urge to cook. (SHOCKER!) Knowing that I had ample supplies with which to work from (I had just gone shopping), I immediately set up my workspace in the kitchen to whip up a few of these babies.

My workspace included: A large, shallow bowl for dipping the rice paper rolls into, a pot of water for the rice noodles, and a pan for sauteing the tofu block that I had already pressed. The rice noodles take only minutes to prepare. They only cook for about 6 minutes in the boiling water and then you can just drain the water out and set them aside until you're ready to use them. Next up: the tofu: Into the pan went a marinade mixture of soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil, a pinch of ground ginger and a splash of EVOO. The tofu, which I had already sliced into long, thin strips, was next in the pot. A few minutes on each side and then into a dish with a paper towel to drain off the excess liquid.

As for the rice paper rolls, all you need to do is make sure you have a dish that is large enough to hold whatever size your wrappers are. I happened to use a glass pie dish with about a 1/4 inch of water. The sheets of rice paper only need to sit in the water for about 45 seconds to a minute. Careful though: If they sit too long they will become mush! After you soak the wrapper, you should remove it from the water and lay it onto a flat surface. Now you're ready to add the stuffing and roll it up.

The insides of a spring roll are entirely up to the chef making them and also whatever happens to be at his or her disposal. In my case, I happened to have a bag of shredded broccoli, red cabbage and carrots, as well as a small head of lettuce. Into the spring roll it went with a few strips of the marinated tofu, a small handful of the rice noodles and a few pieces of lettuce. I rolled it all up and that was it! SUPER simple!

As for a dipping sauce, I simply seasoned some Hoisin sauce with some chili oil until it was just spicy enough and I was good to go. Seriously it was THAT easy.

Alright folks, that's all I have for you for now. Stay tuned...more vegan goodies to come!

In which I learn to cook tofu

So I had fun in the kitchen again...Yay! Summer is nearly over and I'm about to embark on an intense 5 semester-long graduate/internship program along with working part time in a 1st grade classroom. I worry that this program will completely consume my life so I'm scrambling around trying to cook as many of the "Big Deal things that I've dog-eared in my cookbooks" as I can while I still have a bit of free time to work with. When I say Big Deal, I'm referring to recipes that might take a bit longer in time to make but I know that I want to try my hand at. Since I have the time to tackle some of these now, I figured I should have a go because I may not have as much free time in the coming months.

This week I decided I wanted to find a recipe for cooking tofu. Having been a vegan for just about 3 years and a vegetarian for almost 8 before that, it is almost unbelievable that I have never cooked my own tofu! Don't get me wrong, I do like tofu, but I just never took it upon myself to actually cook it for myself. I would order tofu from restaurants or settle for putting them in baking recipes and ricotta recipes. I figured it was high time to attempt a recipe where the tofu truly shines. I found just that when I consulted Lauren Ulm's Sweet & Sour Almond Broccoli Tofu with Wild Rice in her Vegan Yum Yum cookbook.

Broccoli Almond Sweet-&-Sour Tofu with Wild Rice

Boy! She wasn't kidding about the Yum Yum part. This dish was amazing! Since I had never fried my own tofu, I was careful and went about the whole cooking process very slowly. I was in the kitchen for well over an hour and a half before I could sit down and enjoy this. No regrets though because it was well worth the wait.

For the rice I used Lundberg's Wild Rice Blend. This stuff is great because it has such a nutty and rich flavor. Not to mention that it makes the house smell wonderful as it cooks! Seriously, if you haven't tried this stuff, leave your house right now and go buy some. You won't regret it.

I must say that cooking tofu was really easy and I can't believe I haven't done more of it over the years. I simply can't wait to try other tofu recipes of my own!

Back to my roots...recreating the Ecuadorian Empanada

Empanada: it is a Spanish pastry filled with all sorts of delicious fillings that are either baked or deep fried to perfection. Empanadas are made in many countries and each country has their own special fillings, doughs, etc... Most commonly enjoyed with a sprinkling of sugar on top or a special dipping sauce, they are simply divine. I have recently been on a quest to recreate my family's non-vegan Ecuadorian empanadas and can quite happily say that I have finally succeeded! My family has only ever made meat and cheese stuffed ones, (though I hear people get a lot more creative with fillings these days) and I figured that it's high time, I try veganizing the family recipe so that I too can enjoy their deliciousness once again!


I still remember many long Saturdays of my youth spent in the kitchen slaving away with my family. When your living in a house with 4 other siblings, in which everything needs to be categorized in a "fair-share" manner, the only solution for preventing petty arguments over the empanadas is to make sure you cook more than enough! Indeed we did. It was often a whole day affair but worth every minute of our time. You'd think with all of the extra hands in the kitchen it would be a quick task, but for us, making empanadas was a labor of love that required supervision at every step of the way. Someone to help cook the fillings, someone to help mix the dough, someone to roll out and press the dough in the tortilla maker, someone to fill each pastry, someone to seal each one (in the special way that only my mother and grandmother could do), and then of course someone to cook the empanadas. It goes without saying that there were always enough hands and mouths to help eat, no wait, devour the empanadas once they were finally cooled. Yum!

In our various family adventures in making empanadas we have baked and deep fried them. Both are delicious cooking methods, though not surprisingly the latter offers an unrivaled crispy crust flavor with the drawbacks of higher calories. Once in a while though, everyone deserves a deep fried treat. ;) Today, I decided to stick to baking for the sheer fact that I think it is a heck of a lot easier to simply put a large tray in the oven rather than to heat oil and dip the pies into it only a few at a time.

As for the fillings, I decided to go with two very different flavors. The first being a vegan recreation of the traditional beef filling that included a medley of vegetables and beans with some veggie crumbles. (Um, so can I just let you know that I definitely spent a few minutes just eating this stuffing right out of the bowl after I cooked it. Yes it was THAT good. Want to know another secret? Apparently, so did my omnivore sister! If that's not proof to the deliciousness of this filling, then I don't know what is! Haha.) The second filling I created was a vegan spinach, onion and ricotta mixture. Also very tasty!

Here's a shot of my prep station including: the dough, beef filling, spinach & ricotta filling, and the tortilla press. Now feast your eyes on the finished products:

Vegan Beef Empanadas

Vegan Spinach, Onion & Ricotta Empanadas

All in all, today was definitely a success! I'm happy to say that these tasty treats were enjoyed by vegans and omnivores alike! Definite win! I will certainly revisit the vegan empanada as there are a whole host of other fillings I'd like to try out. Perhaps a fruit flavored filling or maybe even something with chocolate?! I'll keep you posted... =)

This is NOT what I was going to cook today...

In fact, I left work this afternoon with every intention of coming home and creating a recipe for pizza scones! On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up pizza sauce and flour but somehow got a little bit sidetracked when I saw plantains for sale. I do like plantains but I have not eaten them in almost 2 years. This is likely due to the fact that 2 years ago when I was in Nigeria with a friend, many of my vegan food options were limited with the exception of this lovely fruit. Oh the joys of vegan dining in other countries!!! Haha. Truthfully, the trip was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed various vegetable dishes while I was there. But plantains were among the things that were ALWAYS available to me throughout the trip. Needless to say, after a few weeks of eating them at least once a day, they kind of lost their charm. Perhaps that is why it has been so long since I've wanted them. Well, until today that is... So home I went to whip up my own batch!


Fried Plantains:
(serves 2-3)

1 Plantain
Vegetable Oil
Salt or Sugar to season with (whichever you're in the mood for--salty or sweet)

Heat a skillet on medium heat and add the vegetable oil. The oil should be about 1/4 inch deep. While the oil warms, chop the plantain into diagonal slices about 1/2 inch thick. Add these to the oil. Be careful for any potential oil splattering as you do this! Fry the plantains for about a minute on each side. Using the back of a spatula, press down gently onto each plantain slice. Remove from the oil promptly thereafter and transfer to a plate that is covered with a paper towel. The towel should soak up excess oil as they cool. Season the plantains with either a dash of salt or sugar and then let them cool completely before enjoying.

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What better accompaniment to fried plantains than black beans with spinach and a side of rice?! It was a simple thing to throw together and I tried to incorporate a rainbow of colors. What do you think?

Black Beans with Spinach, Avocado, Rice, & Fried Plantains

Black Beans:

1/2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Small Yellow Onion Diced
1/2 Cup of Corn
1 Can of Black Beans
1/4 Cup of Juliened Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Pinch of Italian Seasoning
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
Fresh Baby Spinach Leaves (A couple of handfuls)

Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the onions and saute until they become slightly browned. Add the corn and sun-dried tomatoes and mix evenly. Stir in the black beans. Add the Italian Seasoning and Red Pepper flakes. When beans are almost done, add the spinach leaves and stir for a few minutes. The idea is not to really wilt the spinach but rather to heat it just slightly as you mix it into the beans. This way it will still keep it's color and still taste extra yummy!

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Needless to say, after a meal like this, I was completely stuffed!!! And while I didn't make the pizza scones just yet, have no fear! They are still in my mind and therefore still to come! ;)

Family Style Dinner & A Banana Dessert!

Yesterday afternoon, my family (which included my parents, 2 younger brothers and 1 older sister) and I, along with my aunt, uncle and their 3 sons got together to go to lunch at an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. It's an Italian family-style restaurant that offers anything from your typical sit-down atmosphere. Bizarre (but definitely intriguing) imagery adorns the walls of not only the dining area but also the bathrooms! Red checkered table cloths clash incredulously against the various chotskis and Christmas lights composing the rooms. And here, when they say family-style dining, they mean FAMILY-style. The portion sizes are MAMMOTH. Good thing their food is pretty amazing! Below is a photo of the very tasty selections I was able to order with only minor accommodations needed:
From left to right, you can see a bit of the side salad, a slice of bruschetta (sans the Parmesan cheese) and a heaping pile of spaghetti with marinara sauce. A very classic meal but incredibly delightful nonetheless. The excited expression on my face pretty much sums up my experience at this wonderful restaurant. =)

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After lunch, we all piled back into our vehicles and headed over to my house where I played host and baked a tasty evening treat. Behold the...

Banana Walnut Coffee Cake!

What began as a simple vegan coffee cake, transformed into a heavenly banana dessert when I realized the very ripe banana sitting on the counter practically begging to be used. After a quick mashing, into the batter it went! And what banana dessert couldn't use some chopped walnuts in the batter? Certainly not this one! A quick chop with the food processor and the walnuts were also ready for action!

After a brief wait in the oven and then a bit more on the counter, the dessert was finally ready to go. I sliced it up, served it on little plates and then we dug right in. Boy oh boy was it good! The texture of the bananas, the handful of crunchy walnuts baked inside the soft cake along with the crumbly topping was a perfect combination of flavors. Deee-lish! Not surprisingly, this cake was gobbled up in record time.

Alright, that's all for now.
G'night.