Smoked, Slammin' Pasta

Long time, no see, blog!

I typically don't purchase seasoned or baked tofu because it's much more expensive for an easy thing I can do at home, but every time I see this product (Pete's Smoked Tofu from Canada) for a decent price, I buy several packages.

It's super firm, chewy and has the best savory smoky flavor, it's really good sliced thin with crackers.

One day I was making pasta and and nibbling on this smoked tofu when....POOF! I had an idea! Creamy smoked salmon pasta was one of my favorite dishes before I was vegan...so that was what I was aiming for here.


Just a warning, I made this up as I went so the amounts were estimated afterwards.

If you don't have smoked tofu, you might be able to use a baked one with a drop or two of liquid smoke...but you'll have to experiment.
The milk I used was homemade with a blender and straining so that could add some variation to your recipe...please adjust and taste as you go, I hope it turns out if anybody trys it!



SMOKED, SLAMMIN' PASTA

Ingredients:
12 oz Fettucini Noodles (3/4 lb)
3 3/4 cups cold cashew milk (mine was homemade, but I'm sure you could use a store bought alternative as long as it's unsweetened!)
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp vegan margarine
1 red bell pepper
1/2 medium yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2-3/4 cup diced Smoked Tofu
cooking oil spray
salt and pepper to taste (depends on your tofu brand)

-Start boiling the water for your pasta, 3 quarts water should do the trick.
-Heat the broiler of your oven.
-Slice the red bell pepper lengthwise into strips, spray with cooking oil and place on a cookie sheet under your broiler for a few minutes. Keep an eye on them , they will roast quickly.
-After the pasta water is boiling, add a pinch of salt and the fettucini noodles
-When the peppers have a few black roasted spots, remove them from the oven to cool. I don't normally remove the skins if I'm just going to blend them up..but you burnt the bejeezus out of them, slice the really charred stuff off.

-In a saucepan (one with tall enough sides to accommodate the pasta and sauce) sautee the chopped onion with a spritz of cooking spray over medium heat for a few minutes then add the garlic for the last minute.
-Whisk the cold milk and cornstarch together and add to a blender
-Process the milk mixture with the cooked bell pepper until mostly blended but not completely...a few chunks of pepper are tasty in the finished sauce
-When the onion and garlic are cooked, stir in the margarine and add the milk and pepper mixture, the dill, onion powder and nutritional yeast.
-Bring to a boil for just a moment and then lower to a simmer. The sauce should thicken up.

-Add the diced tofu and season to taste with salt and black pepper.
-When the pasta is finished, drain it and add to the the sauce. Taste for salt and pepper again and serve.


The leftovers were yummy with capers added too!

Back on the web!

Well, after an unplanned lack of internet service, here I am again!
I've missed out on the cookbook challenges that have been going on, but I'm hoping I can jump right back into it. This week's cookbook is American Vegan Kitchen, which looks great! It seems to be full of classic comfort and diner style foods. I will pick out a few recipes and hopefully get cookin' this week...

To tide you over here are some pizza pictures! I'm using the 1000 Vegan Recipes basic pizza dough recipe, which I really like.

I saw some close-to-expiring Daiya on sale so I caved and bought one bag. The boyfriend loves it so.

This pizza is his, it's a BBQ seitan with onions and Daiya.

You know I snuck a bite ;)

My pizza ( I just wasn't in the mood for Daiya) had truffle oil, mushrooms, basil, onion and some leftover tofu ricotta.

Yummmmmmy!


Hmmm, now I want pizza again!

Thai Tofu, "Cheese-steak", Breakfast Wraps

Continuing on the cookbook challenge theme...tonight I made another recipe from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

RED THAI TOFU




What I liked:
It was quick with no extra steps. I like recipes that do not require pre-marinating the tofu. Also, it was fairly pantry friendly.

What I disliked:
I'm not sure what to say, I didn't absolutely love it. It seemed to be lacking something, but I don't know what. Maybe depth of flavor? I'm not sure. It could have something to do with the fact that I didn't have all of the red pepper it called for, I suppose. It could have also been that I didn't like the brand of curry paste I used. It was okay, but if I was served this in a restaurant I would be disappointed.

What I substituted:
I realized I didn't have a whole red bell pepper when I was already done frying the tofu, so I used what I had (about 1/4 cup) and added some mushrooms.
I also substituted a home made sugar syrup for the agave.

Recipe notes:
After frying the tofu with a small amount of non-stick spray and removing it from the pan the recipe says to add the shallots, garlic, ginger and bell pepper to the oil. I didn't have any oil in my pan at all and I checked the recipe to make sure I wasn't supposed to be adding some, haha. I just added about a tsp of oil.

My man's opinion:
He thought it was good, but not great. He said there was a little too much ginger for his taste. He ate it though.

Would I make it again?
I probably would if I was low on produce because it is quite pantry friendly, except I would tweak it a little. I tried my hardest to stay true to the recipe this first time so I could review it.
Also, I might try a different red curry paste when this one runs out (Thai Kitchen).

I made the SANCTUARY DRESSING recipe also, but I made a measuring mistake on that one, whoops!
I halved it (due to how much silken tofu I had) and accidentally used the full amount of garlic powder. I know that recipe will be good next time I make it. It was so creamy! I used it up though. Here's a salad with it:


*******

I've made a few other things in the last couple of days that definitely fall into the "cheap" category.

First up is poor man's version of the CHEESE-STEAK SANDWICH! A man's wich!






This is just a toasted hoagie roll with homemade seitan, grilled peppers and onion topped with a homemade cheezy sauce.
(Try something like this: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7057.0 for the sauce. )

Simple, cheap and possibly quick if you already have seitan in the fridge!
*******

Not sure what to have for breakfast? Got 20 minutes? Breakfast wraps are here to wipe your tears away!
Tofu scramble wrapped in a tortilla, so easy! I love it because I can make the tofu and veggies and from there change the spices and sauces for my boyfriend and me. (we like different things sometimes!)

His has a mexican vibe goin' on...tofu scramble, veggies, salsa, 'queso' with chili powder, jalepenos.


Mine has curry powder, extra veggies and the watered down queso with peanut butter added for a sauce (sounds weird, but it's good!)



Yep, still eating pretty good on a budget! Tomorrow I plan to make more recipes from Appetite for Reduction...yum yum yum.

I'm not really hungry, but I wanna eat that cheesesteak again...

"Whole lotta bakin' goin' on!"

I will be out of town for a few days, so I made a ton of food for my partner to eat. Mostly I did this so he doesn't have to spend money on eating out ;)

I decided a pan of veggie filled lasagna was in order. (sorry for the poor pictures, at night my camera gives everything a nice seventies glow)




No recipe here... just cooked lasagna noodles, tomato sauce spiked with extra garlic, tofu ricotta from Veganomicon, sauteed veggies (spinach, onion, zucchini, broccoli, green peppers) and topped with some nutritional yeast.

I made more blueberry muffins (same as the ones in the last post!)


I used this vegweb recipe (www.vegweb.com) :

Very Simple Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup nondairy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin pan (optional).
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in nondairy milk and oil.
Fold in blueberries. Pour into baking cups and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Makes: about 8 muffins

I generally use water instead of milk and they still come out yummy.

Next I made a couple of breakfast burritos:


Pinto beans, tofu scramble, avocado, salsa, homemade cheezy sauce.

For dinners I also made a huge batch of fried rice and sesame broccoli:


Cashew fried rice with seitan and tofu 'egg', broccoli with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.

Since I'm visiting my parents for the holidays but not staying for xmas celebrations, I will be bringing a little gift for their table: pumpkin walnut bread with dried cran-cherries


I got the recipe from here:
http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/11/vegan-pumpkin-walnut-bread/

It's easy, yummy and very pantry friendly too!

And some seitan sandwiches for lunches:

These have seitan seasoned with steak sauce, grilled onion, vegan mayo and dijon horseradish mustard.

Phew!

Off to the Olympic Peninsula tomorrow bright and early, hopefully I will find some decent food!

Mofo 12- BRUNCH!

OMELETS! I make the Vegan Brunch recipe at least 3 times a month, they are so good! I don't find them difficult or time-consuming at all. I throw my potatoes in the oven to roast and start flipping! I even cook the filling usually in the same pan. Here's a cooking action shot!


And here is my BF's finished brekkie plate:

He nearly always wants the same mexi-style omelet. This one has seitan, red peppers, onion, daiya, salsa, sour cream and jalapenos.



For me, omelets mean mushrooms! My BF absolutely HATES mushrooms (heathen!!!!)for some odd reason, so I always make us seperate omelet fillings.
Here's mine, it has mushrooms, onion, kale and since there was only enough Daiya for his omelet, I went with some horseradish dijon mustard...and it was good!!! I also put the last few potatoes inside cause I ate most of them while waiting for my omelet to cook.

Come to mama....mmmm...the carnage!

This stuff is amazing!


Now for coffee and digestion.(Yes I ate brunch at 2 in the afternoon...what?!)

Vegan Mofo Day 5

Yeah I'm so excited I went grocery shopping today! It's a good feeling when the fridge is full :)

I made an old standby in our house...
STUFFED SHELLS!




It's just Tofu Ricotta from Veganomicon, pasta shells, basil and jarred tomato sauce. DELISH!

Also I tried to make chocolate chip cookies from a VegWeb recipe I thought I had used before...and it was awful! I salvaged them a little by adding peanut butter to the second batch, but I was pretty bummed.

Anybody got a good chocolate chip cookie recipe they wanna share? ;)