Pizza with Vegeroni, Olives, and Sundried Tomatoes, and Mushrooms

And Daiya! And homemade crust! This is for you, fuckyeahveganpizza. Fuckyeah!

Peanut Butter Tofu with Red Bell Peppers

1.5 pounds firm, sprouted tofu (one and half packages of Trader Joe’s sprouted tofu)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1 TBL agave
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBL Siracha
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TBL Braggs or lite soy sauce
1 red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 TBL vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice the tofu into 9 slabs. Heat oil in a pan and fry until golden brown on both sides (about 3 minutes per side). Remove from heat and cool. Cut into bite sized pieces. Place tofu in a baking dish (we used a large cake pan) and toss with 1 TBL Braggs.

Blend the other ingredients together and pour over tofu. Make sure all the pieces are well coated. Bake about 30-40 minutes until most of the liquid has absorbed and the tofu is firm. If it starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil. The longer you cook it, the firmer the tofu will become.

Heat a frying pan and sautee the bell pepper with the cayenne and vinegar. Cook until tender, but not mushy.

Serve tofu and peppers over vegetable fried rice.

Adapted from this recipe for Javanese Roasted Tofu.

Baked Potato with Chili

Oh yeah, this.

Bake small Yukon potatoes at 400 for about 40 minutes (longer if they’re a bit larger). Let the potatoes sit in the oven for 5-10 minutes, then slice open and mash with Earth Balance, salt, and pepper. Top with family-secret chili, pepper-jack Daiya, and green onions.

More, please!

New Year’s Eve “Fish” Tacos

We’re celebrating with our tempeh “fish” tacos. Topped with slaw, guacamole, radishes, tomatoes, jalapenos, and some fresh lime juice.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Behold, the five minute dinner!

1 cup leftover brown rice
2 carrots, chopped into tiny pieces
1 cup green peas
1 cup broccoli
1/2 TBL minced garlic
1/2 cup green onions, diced
1/2 tsp Braggs or light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp olive or other neutral cooking oil
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp white pepper

Prep all your vegetables then heat the olive oil in a pan (or the dutch oven that lives atop your stove). Saute the garlic for a minute, then add the carrots, peas, and broccoli. Cook until carrots are almost tender, then add the green onions, two soy sauces, sesame oil, pepper, and rice. Cook 2-3 minutes until everything is nice and hot.

Family-Secret Chili

Full disclosure, we’re still catching up on blog posts. Stef isn’t here right now, and I didn’t actually make this chili (but I ate a lot of it), so if there are errors, I will correct them when she’s back.

Topped with Daiya. Or DAAAAMMMMNNN as we call it around here.

This is Stef’s family recipe adapted for the modern gal.

1 package Gimme Lean Sausage, crumbled and sauteed
1 onion diced
1 green peppper, diced
3 15 oz cans whole tomatoes (break up with hands)
3 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 heaping TBL vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 TBL chili powder (we used unsalted)
1 heaping tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
3-6 bay leaves
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15 oz can pinto beans
1 15 oz can white beans

In a 8 qt stock pot (or 5 qt will just fit if you are careful), saute gimme lean, then add the onion and pepper and cook until soft. Add the remaining ingredients in the order listed.

Stir and cover. Simmer for 2 hours (minimum).

The longer it cooks, the more flavorful it becomes. Ideally make it the night before, or make it, freeze, and thaw it again. Goes well with cornbread.

Vegan Pozole (or posole if you prefer)

What could be better on a cold night than savory pozole topped with tons of goodies and fresh squeezed lime juice? Nothing, actually. That’s why I made 8 quarts of this stuff.

1 29 oz can hominy
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
3 16 oz packages firm tofu, chopped into small pieces
6 quarts low-sodium stock (try half “beef” and half vegetable)
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 TBL Bragg
2 large white onions, finely chopped
8 medium (4 ounces total) dried chiles, stemmed and seeded. (ancho would be great, but we used New Mexico)
Juice of 6 limes (about 1/2 cup)
Salt

For garnishing:
lime wedges
Cabbage or lettuce, thinly sliced
Radishes, thinly sliced
Mexican oregano
Smoked paprika
Guacamole or avocado slices
Chili flakes
Tostadas, cut into strips
Diced tomatoes
Diced onions

Adapted from Rick Bayless’s Pozole Rojo.

First, chop the tofu and onions, cook with a little olive oil, Braggs, and liquid smoke until onions are very soft, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, hydrate the chilis with enough hot water to cover.

In an 8 quart stock pot, bring to a boil the 6 quarts of stock, chopped garlic, and hominy (do not drain). Then reduce heat to simmer.

When the chilis are ready (about 20 minutes), blend them with the liquid until they form a paste. You can use a food processor for this, but I recommend a large cup and an immersion blender. Press the chili paste through a mesh sieve into the stock pot. Add the tofu and onion mixture with the all the liquid. Stir well and add a little salt. Simmer on medium heat 1 hour. Add lime juice and cook 1 more hour. Taste again for seasoning.

Serve pozole loaded with garnishes. You may want to prepare the vegetable garnishes and allow them to come to room temperature so they do not cool off the soup too quickly.

Greek Casserole

This is a good casserole for breakfast or anytime. It’s easy to throw together on Sunday night and eat it for lunch all week!

1 package frozen spinach
1 pound potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 16 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sliced olives (Kalamata)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 TBL parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for greasing the baking dish

Preheat oven to 400 F. Boil chopped potatoes (or cook in the microwave) until tender. Drain and set aside.
While the potatoes are cooking, saute the red onion and garlic with the spinach. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mix together the yogurt and lemon juice.

Prepare a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with a little olive oil. Layer half of the ingredients in this order: (drained) potatoes, spinach mixture, chickpeas, yogurt, and olives. Repeat the layering and finish with tomatoes and the parsley. Cover with foil and bake 30-45 minutes.

Cornbread and Black Bean Soup

No recipes today, sorry. Use this recipe for vegan cornbread and the Cuban Black Bean soup in Viva Vegan! The only thing we changed was to use a red bell pepper instead of green (cuz that’s what we had on hand) for the soup. Otherwise, just follow the instructions and feast like a queen (or king, what have you). The cornbread would be great with some Daiya , diced jalapenos, or corn kernals, too.

At Home with Ethiopian Food

We finally made some of the dishes from Kittee’s Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food! Buy this zine. Don’t be stupid. Unfortunately, we never got off our asses to make the injera fakeouts, so we had to serve this over rice. IT WAS STILL AWESOME.

Even though we waited until the last minute to start cooking, we made the berbere paste (delectable spices) and the niter kibbeh (spiced “butter”) which are the most important parts of the dishes. Then we made the greens and the red lentils. With two of us prepping and cooking, it took under 90 minutes to prepare anything. And now we have leftover berbere ready for the next round. OH YEAH.

Full disclosure, the roasted turnips and potatoes were cooked with Bajan seasoning from Caribbean Vegan, but a little fusion meal never hurt anyone.