Basic Marinated Baked Tofu

I had the pleasure of trying a really simple looking tofu recipe today.....Basic Marinated & Baked Tofu, posted on recipezaar. It turned out very well, suprisingly well considering it only uses 4 pretty standard ingredients. I like the idea of baking tofu, something different and even less work than with my trusty old cast iron frying pan.

Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake

In a word - wow - I love this recipe from Veganomicon. Most of the baking from this book really works for me. I used spelt flour instead of regular all-purpose, so the end result was probably a little heavier, but really moist and dense. You use an entire tin of coconut milk making it, so not surprising. It was difficult to get all the batter in the bundt pan because it was so delicious!

Anything Goes Muffins - HIAV

These Anythings Goes muffins from How it all Vegan really live up to their name. I used a complete mix of flours (mainly out of laziness, they were closest...!), buckwheat, barley and brown rice flours. And for the fruit some blackberries and strawberries. Putting earth balance on the one half was completely unnecessary, but deliciously decadent.

Garden of Vegan....

I'm a big fan of How it all Vegan and have thought about purchasing the two books that followed it (Garden of Vegan & La Dolce Vegan). By chance found a copy of Garden of Vegan at our local library (one of the, oh wait, the ONLY vegan book on the shelves....either very popular, or they need some more). It's one of those cookbooks you want to curl up on the couch with and have a good long read.

First thing out of the book was the Curry Sauce recipe. Just a simple versatile sauce with curry powder and coconut milk. Quickly sauteed with veggies and leftover whole wheat spaghettini. It was really really good!! I've only got 2 weeks with this copy from the library, better make the most of it!! (something tells me I'll just have to buy it...)

Dry Fry Tofu

I'm not one of those people who has to do a lot to tofu in order to like it...I just like the stuff! Other diners in my world aren't normally quite so keen. I was introduced to this new 'dry fry' method by a recipezaar friend which I thought might appeal to the kinders....How to Cook Tofu Like the Pros

Tried it out the other day and it really works. Takes a bit of time on the back burner, and then you've got to marinate it. It was extra extra firm, could have used some more time in the marinade, a pretty dry texture inside. I was thinking I could make up a batch and freeze it right in the marinade. ?? Wonder if that would work.

Sllllowwwww Frying...


Marinating


Finished Product...

Veggie Rice Burger

I'm not a huge fan of veggie burgers per se, but I do on occassion enjoy a veggie patty, sans bun. I've tried some bean version over the years, a few tofu and tonight I tried Veggie Rice Burgers from How it All Vegan.

It's the first recipe from the book that didn't really work out for me. Say it ain't so!! The recipe warns you that they are fragile...fragile indeed, I couldn't get them to hold together whatsoever. I was able to salvage the mixture with a few flax "eggs". The taste was pretty good, so maybe the perfect burger will involve similar ingredients. Kids thought they were OK, they liked the crispy bits at least.

Looks like it's back to the veggie burger drawing board.

Seitan - Take I

15 or more years ago in England I ordered a "mock" something dish in a food court that was less than great. That, and a few questionable seitan dishes in Chinatown, pretty much put me off mock meats for the better part of a decade.

About time to turn over a new seitan leaf especially since it looks so easy and delicious in How it All Vegan and Vegan-a-Go-Go.

The dough recipe in Vegan a Go Go is very pretty simple, 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten to 1/2 cup water. I found you need a little more flour than that, but it really comes together easily and like she says, very elastic (think play do). I went for the "beef" (?) option and it simmered away in a tasty broth for about 45 minutes.

So the dough is, you could say, odd looking...


I thought it would all stick together, but it doesn't...


Tonight I used half the seitan in "Belgian Style Seitan Stew with Dark Beer". It's really tasty and served over some basic mashed potatoes, it was pure comfort! It's from Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet. I added some peas and then spinach at the last minute.

http://www.globalvegankitchen.com/SampleRecipes_VP.html