Tomato Sauce with Onion and "Butter"

I came across a delightful little recipe for a super simple tomato sauce that made its way around the internet some time ago: Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter by Marcella Hazan. I was intrigued that it only has 3 main ingredients (tomatoes, onion and butter) and received rave reviews from everyone. So of course I had to make a vegan version.

You'll find the original recipe in the link above. Basically you take 1 large 28 oz tin of good tomatoes (don't settle for crappy cheap tomatoes*) smooshed up with the juice along with about 5 tbsp of your favourite vegan margarine (Earth Balance) and an onion** cut in half and throw that in a sauce pan. You can use unsalted vegan margarine and then salt to taste but I found that the salted margarine wasn't too salty for this. Anyway, bring the mixture to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 45 mins, stirring occasionally. Then you take out the onion and serve over pasta.

Sounds too simple to be that good right? Wrong. It's incredible. Really! The combination of margarine, slowly cooked onion and tomatoes works so well that I wanted to just eat the sauce as is. I did deviate from the original in that I did throw in some roughly minced garlic. I also cut the onion into 8 wedges and left that in the final sauce. Next time I'll try it like the original — no garlic and take out the onion.

I served the sauce over thick homemade wheat pasta with basil since I was out of packaged pasta (and no semolina flour). Just 2 cups white flour with 1/4 cup soy flour, salt, basil, olive oil and about 3/4 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until smooth, cover and let sit for 30 mins. Then simply roll out, cut and let dry for a few minutes and then cook in boiling salted water until done. It's super easy and yummy, but it is a bit time consuming. Sometimes it's worth it though and the homemade pasta was awesome with this sauce.

And there you have it. A 3 ingredient sauce that folks all over rave about. I think that this sauce is going to become my go-to sauce around here since I always have those ingredients on hand. Now, this is NOT a low-fat sauce by any means but it's really good, and for me, worth the calories and fat. Give it a try!


* If all you have are cheaper mediocre canned tomatoes, you might want to add a sprinkle of sugar to the sauce when simmering.

** I was reading that quite a few chefs swear by not sauteeing onion or garlic in tomato sauces and letting it cook in the sauce itself for the best flavour. I think they're on to something because this tasted way better than any tomato sauce I've made with sauteed onions and garlic.

Recipe Round-Up

I know I haven't made anything for this blog in some time but my January was crazy busy. Things are a little calmer now. I have been making things for the group blog so I thought I would post a round-up of recent recipes.

Some dishes since the new year:

• Falafel Sandwiches and Classic Tabbouleh
• Spaghetti and T-Balls with Marinara Sauce
• Korean Noodle Stir-Fry with Soy-Glazed Tofu
• Tempeh Tantrum Burgers
• Macaroni Salad
• EBAP (Everything But Animal Products) Pizza
• Pecan Pie (... but with walnuts)

I swear I'll do something interesting for this blog soon. Maybe with my pasta machine which is still in the box! :p I don't have a lot of readers but my sister is my biggest fan and supporter, and I'm sure she'd appreciate some new posts here! *waves to big sis* :)

Angel Biscuits / Yeast Biscuits

Everyone has their own preferences for biscuits and apparently, my preference are angel / yeast biscuits.

I had been looking for a good biscuit recipe that wasn't dry and crumbly, but light and fluffy — not just for me, but also for the Mr. since that is what he grew up with. I remember bookmarking a few that used yeast but didn't get around to making them until yesterday because I finally got a pastry cutter.

The biscuits are only slightly more involved than regular biscuits, but they're worth it. The result is like a cross between a biscuit and a roll. All the taste of a biscuit with a more tender texture and no crumbling.

I used this recipe and substituted with soy milk and vinegar to replace the buttermilk. Give it a go!

Happy New Year (and late Festivus dinner photos)

      
           Seitan "Ham" with Onion & Garlic Chutney                                              Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower

      
              Balsamic Glazed Portobello Mushrooms                                                               Freshly Baked Bread

Happy New Year! 2009 sucked on so many levels for a lot of people so I am really hoping that 2010 will be better for everyone.

Now on to the food. The Mr. and I had a couple friends over for a Festivus dinner on the 26th. I really didn't manage to get enough photos and the seitan was taken the next day. It's hard to take photos when you've got guests waiting!

Here was the full menu:

• seitan "ham" with a pineapple chipotle glaze
• roasted cauliflower & broccoli
• mashed potatoes (not shown)
  
• mushroom gravy (not shown)
  
• green bean casserole (not shown)
  
• thyme scented onion and roasted garlic chutney
  
• balsamic glazed portobello mushrooms
  
• freshly baked bread
  

The seitan "ham" was modified from Bryanna's recipe and the glaze was modified from a Recipezaar recipe (warning, the original recipe is NOT vegan). Aside from those two, everything was my own recipe/concoction. The glaze was amazing with the "ham" and the onion chutney was a perfect accompaniment.

I thought everything turned out well and I hope our friends enjoyed the meal as much as I enjoyed cooking it! I think I'm done with holiday menus until Easter. Next dinner I think I'll do a cuisine that is generally not vegan friendly like Thai or Vietnamese or Korean.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

P.S. If you're not already vegan, go vegan and stay vegan!

Lasagna and Roasted Garlic Breadsticks

The lovely Divine Miss V's recent lasagna post reminded me that I hadn't made lasagna in months. I used to make it about once every two weeks but just sort of stopped I think because with CSA shares, I have been a bit scattered with meal planning (we shop before we know what our share will contain). I decided after reading her post that it was high time I put together a pan of lasagna (and buy that cool lasagna pan!), so here it is.

I am fairly picky about lasagna and am not too keen on the super vegetable-heavy healthy ones. I do like the heavy "meaty" ones but I really need to be in the right mood for those. My preferred lasagna is fairly simple — a spinach tofu ricotta one with a tomato basil sauce and simply sprinkled with nutritional yeast (no other vegan cheeses.

I make the tofu ricotta by blending drained tofu with salt, pepper, herbs & spices, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dollop of vegenaise and sometimes a sprinkle of sugar all to taste. Then I simply hand mix in some chopped spinach, assemble with medium-cooked noodles and jarred tomato basil sauce and top with some nutritional yeast and sometimes sliced mushrooms and bake for about 45 minute at about 375F. That's it.

When the lasagna was in the oven, I whipped up some dough for breadsticks. I used the no-rise recipe. scored it and sprinkled with olive oil, roasted garlic and salt and pepper. The recipe cooks at a higher temperature but it cooked up fine with the lasagna and took about 30 minutes.

While this is my normal go-to lasagna, I really do love a "sausage" and bechamel sauce one for special occasions (have no made in ages). Sometimes I'll do lazy lasagna roll-ups with just mashed seasoned white beans for the filling. The great thing about lasagna or any pasta is that you can customise it to your tastes.

Whatever kind of lasagna you prefer, it is super easy and super satisfying and an excellent dish to serve to vegans or omnis because who doesn't like lasagna?

Thanksgiving 2009

Glazed carrots, Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze, mushroom gravy, broccoli casserole, roasted brussel sprouts, bread dressing and mashed potatoes.



Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze, broccoli casserole, bread dressing, roasted brussel sprouts, freshly baked bread, cornichons, dill cream "cheese", Tartex vegan pate. Not shown: Mushroom gravy, chickpea gravy, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes and brought by our guests, a salad, apple pie and ice cream.

I love cooking for people and back home I used to always have people over for Thanksgiving. In RVA however, I didn't have any friends there so there were no dinner guests. Not this year though! I was determined to feed some friends and I was delighted to be able to cook a big dinner for more people than just me and the Mr. In the food frenzy, I only took a few flash pics which didn't turn out great (second set of photos) so the next day I took a pic of my leftovers (top photo).

The full menu was:

• Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze
• roasted brussel sprouts
• bread dressing/stuffing
• mashed potatoes with scallions
• mushroom gravy
• chickpea gravy
• glazed carrots
• broccoli casserole (like green bean casserole but with broccoli)
• fresh bread with some sides of Tartex brand pate, dill cream "cheese", cornichons

Now I know that a bunch of you are going to ask, "how was the seitan 'turkey'"? How did I know that? Well, that recipe has been floating around for some time and is fairly involved so a lot of people don't try it but it always sounds amazing. Before I made it, I read mixed reviews which some said the texture was too soft or too spongey. Those were the main gripes. I was a little worried but well, Bryanna is the seitan queen and everyone's favourite vegan grandmother, so I put my trust in her. Boy, am I ever glad I did. That was by far the best textured seitan I've ever made. Taste-wise it could have used more sodium (I like salt) but the addition of gravy took care of that.

Bryanna's description of the roast is spot on: "tender, not rubbery, and which slices easily". All I have to say for those folks that had sub-par texture results is to try it again and follow the recipe to a "T". When it says 12 oz of tofu, shave approximately 2 oz from your 14 oz block. Don't try and over compensate by adding in more gluten flour because you might mess up. The texture of this dough when you first mix it is very different than your usual seitan dough. Also when she says to knead it in a bread machine or mixer with dough hook for 10 minutes, rest for 1 hour and then knead for 10 minutes more, she means it. The dough will indeed be shiny and uniform in texture after the extensive kneading — something that is very difficult to do by hand. This step is really important for the proper texture. In addition, when she says to bake it until the liquid is absorbed, do it. If you follow all her instructions AND cook a day before, cool in fridge and reheat the next day (I glazed mine for the reheating), you will be rewarded with one of the best textured seitan "turkey" recipes you'll ever make. It takes some planning to make this but the results are worth it. Trust me. This is definitely going to be my "go to" holiday seitan recipe.

Let's see, what else. Well, everything else was my own concoction (I cook by taste so I generally don't have anything written down so no recipes). The broccoli casserole was like green bean casserole but I used porcini mushrooms and homemade french fried onions. Everything was made from scratch (even the bread for the stuffing/dressing) except for the pate and the cream "cheese". I wish I had better pictures of the sides but oh well, next time. I had several other dishes planned but after seeing the amount of food that I already made I had to scale down the menu.

All in all, I was really pleased with how things turned out. Good food and good friends. A perfect way to spend a holiday.

Pad See Ew

Ah, Pad See Ew. It is probably the Thai dish I order most often and it only just dawned on me the other day (after reading about it) that "see ew" means soy sauce. Big "dur!" moment for me since "see ew" (various pronouciations depending on dialect) is also soy sauce in Chinese. Even though I like Pad See Ew a lot, I don't actually like it over Pad Thai. I order it but because I know I can actually get it vegan easily without worrying. The main ingredients in the sauce are simply sweet thick soy sauce. For omnis, a dash of fish sauce is thrown in but the key thing is that the soy sauce and fish sauce are not pre-mixed.

Call me paranoid, but since I found out a couple of years ago that many (almost all?) Thai restaurants pre-mix their Pad Thai seasoning (same also goes for most curries), I don't order it. See, the seasoning is pre-mixed in most cases because it would take too long, and would be inconsistent in taste to add the ingredients one by one while stirfrying the noodles. If it takes too long, the noodles turn to mush. Even street vendors in Thailand pre-mix their sauces. Almost every Pad Thai recipe also specifies to pre-mix the sauce. I don't know why it didn't dawn on me earlier. A waitress at a restaurant I used to frequent told me that the Pad Thai sauce is always pre-mixed there despite the fact that I would specify "no fish sauce" on previous visits (Thai Diner 2 in RVA if anyone is interested — Pad Thai is not vegan. Tara Thai in Short Pump mall though can be made vegan). I appreciated her honestly and it is possible that the other wait staff weren't even aware of how it's cooked. Anyway after that I pretty much stopped ordering Pad Thai. I'm sure not all restaurants pre-mix but I'd be willing to bet that most do. The waitress did tell me that Pad See Ew (which I also love) can easily have the fish sauce omitted and judging from other recipes I found, she's right.

Okay I'm totally rambling. Above is Pad See Ew that I made using this recipe (not vegan but easily made vegan) as a blueprint*. I didn't have any sweet soy so I boiled down some soy sauce with sugar. I threw in some onion, garlic, broccoli and tatsoi. I absolutely love Chinese broccoli (gai lan) and would have used it instead of regular broccoli but didn't have any on hand. I also fried up some strips of seitan I had on hand in the fridge and added that in.

Even though I have made Pad Thai lots of times (similar steps, this is the last one I made), her instructions are great for the new cook. It was delicious and definitely worth the effort. It may seem daunting at first to do things separately but once you get the hang of it, it'll be a piece of cake. Give it a try!


*Pim also has an excellent blueprint for Pad Thai as well (also not vegan but easily made vegan). Going to try it her way next time.

Pseudo Ethiopian Dinner

Due to a few people talking about Ethiopian food for the past day or so (looking at you Lisa), I really wanted it for dinner tonight. A slight problem though: a) we weren't going out to get it (too lazy); and b) I didn't have the key ingredients of berbere or teff (or injera). Regardless, I was determined to cobble something together. I poked around the kitchen cabinets, pantry, fridge and CSA box and after 2.5 hours in the kitchen, the following was served:

• Pseudo Injera (white flour, water, vinegar and baking powder)
• Tikil Gomen (cabbage, potatoes, carrots, cumin, turmeric and I threw in some radish greens)
• Kik Alicha (yellow split peas, onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric)
• Pseudo Doro Wat (soy curls, onions, dark seasoned chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dash of cloves)

So how was it? Pretty good but of course not very authentic. I ran out of pans so I baked the fake injera batter which of course didn't bubble like it would in the pan. Actually I shouldn't really call it "fake" injera since injera can be made with other flours for different occasions. Teff injera is the most common (and super yummy).

Anyway, the meal did manage to satisfy my cravings but I need to stock up on real Ethiopian spices and mixes and I need some good Ethiopian food very soon. Until then, I'm going to gorge on the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

"Weekly" Round-Up (November 8, 2009)

Yeah, I know I said I was going to make something for this blog but I've been super busy. So here's my posts from the other blog with one photo from the list.



Since my last post I've made:

• Southwestern Spice Rubbed Tofu
• Corn Relish
• Basic Brown Sauce
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts
• Stuffed Baked Seitan Roast
• Smooth and Savory Mushroom Pâté
• Whole Wheat Sesame Crackers
• Country-Fried Tofu With Golden Gravy

I'm going to really try and break out the pasta maker this week. Hopefully I'll do that and be able to post about awesome homemade pasta!

Weekly Round-Up - October 25, 2009

Oh I know that I haven't posted a dish since the farfalle last month. I do honestly have things planned (homemade pasta!) but have been busy this week with Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes. I figure that if I'm slacking here, I may as well link to my entries once a week.

Okay here's the weekly round-up:

• Tempeh Satay
• Pad Thai
• Caramelized Onion and Walnut Focaccia
• Corn Fritters
• Soy-Tan Dream Cutlets
• Mushroom Sauce
• Barley Pilaf with Carrots, Walnuts & Golden Raisins

Really though, I do have non-cookbook stuff planned. Have a great Sunday!

New Project!

I just started a new group blog with five other awesome vegans. It's called Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes and we're basically going to cook and blog about recipes in Robin Robertson's latest book, 1,000 Vegan Recipes. It's a HUGE book that I think every vegan should get since it spans so many different cuisines and is chock full of information.

I thought about cross-posting entries here but I think that's a little repetitive. I'll still be cooking other stuff which will of course be posted here. Speaking of which, I just bought a pasta maker/roller thingy so expect some pasta posts in the next few days.

So check out the new blog!

Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes

Okay here's a teaser of the first thing I cooked from the book. Tempeh Satay. Go read about it!

Farfalle with Roasted Rapini, Tomatoes and Garlic

A seemingly simple dish of farfalle tossed with margarine, salt & pepper and roasted rapini, cherry tomatoes and garlic. The vegetables were tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper and then oven roasted at 450F for about 25 mins.

Although it appears super simple, this dish was a little more complicated with subtle extras in the flavour profile.

I utilised two methods that I read about recently on the blog Ideas in Food (warning, blog is not vegan): roasting dry pasta and rehydrating the pasta in cold flavoured liquid prior to cooking. After I read these, I was intrigued and had to try it myself.

The idea behind the roasting is to give the plain pasta more flavour -- a subtle hint of roasty goodness. I don't know why this isn't more popular. After all, we pan toast Israeli couscous before using it and it's technically pasta.

Here I've roasted plain farfalle (not whole wheat) in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350F. I checked it every 5 mins and tossed it around for roasting. I probably could have roasted for 20 minutes but didn't want to burn it because once it starts roasting, it gets roasted pretty fast. Keep reading!



I let the pasta cool for a few minutes and prepared a simple hydrating liquid. I took a can of quality whole tomatoes, mashed it up a bit and strained the juice. I added salt and enough cold water for the amount of pasta needed. The idea behind hydrating is to enable someone to cook the pasta much faster later (soaked pasta only takes a few minutes to cook) which would be great for a restaurant or even a home pasta party. I was less interested in the cooking method and more interested in the flavour infusion. The neat thing is that with cold water, the pasta does not stick since the starches aren't released until heat is added.

Anyway, I let the pasta soak in the cold liquid for about 1.5 hours. This is how it looked like after soaking. Keep reading!



I drained the pasta and cooked it in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Then tossed it with margarine, salt, pepper and my roasted vegetables.

The verdict? I could taste the roasted flavours as well as tomato infused in the pasta but it was very subtle. At first I was a bit disappointed because I guess I expected more flavour. HOWEVER, the more I ate, the better it tasted and the more addictive it became.

Even though there are a few extra steps and this takes some planning, I will definitely do the roast & soak pasta methods again and play around more with deeper roasting and other soaking liquids.

Vegan Burgers... That Don't Fall Apart!

There are two types of vegan burgers. The healthy beans/grains/seeds/vegetable kind and then there's the junkie solid patty kind. I prefer the latter.

Most vegans, regardless of burger preference, are always on the hunt for a burger recipe that doesn't fall apart and holds up to the grill or a pan. Some time ago I stopped buying store-bought burgers and buns (and bread) because of the cost, ingredients and taste. I've tried several burger recipes, but this one so far is the best (recipe for patties and buns follows). Here's a cross-section so you can see how compact the patty is -- almost like the commercial brands.



The recipe is not mine. I found it on this blog but it is credited to Bryanna Clark Grogan with, I assume, permission to repost (if I'm mistaken, please let me know) . So I am reposting with my own directions and commentary to (hopefully) make it easier to follow, with the credit to this blog and Bryanna Clark Grogan. It is a good base recipe and provides lots of room to customise to your tastes.

If you are going to make this, go ahead and double it and make 8 decent-sized patties. You can freeze them for later use. Also, it is a good idea to make these a day before you want to grill them. Because they need to cool completely before frying or grilling, it is a bit of a hassle to make the same day and then play the waiting game. If you are sensitive to sodium, cut the soy sauce in the cooking liquid. It really seems to permeate the outside of the patties.

Vegan Burger Patties

(Original recipe found here with credit to Bryanna Clark Grogan)

Dry Mix

2/3 cup vital wheat gluten
1/3 cup soy or chickpea flour (I used chickpea flour)
4 tbsp oatmeal / rolled oats
1 tsp dry marjoram
1 tsp onion powder

Wet Mix

2 tbsp soy sauce (I used Japanese soy sauce)
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp sesame seed oil (optional, I used dark toasted sesame oil)
cold water (enough to make 7/8 cup mixed with the soy sauce, sesame oil & ketchup)
1/2 cup dry TVP crumbles rehydrated in 1/3 cup boiling water and then cooled completely

Cooking Broth

1 cup hot water
3 tbsp soy sauce (cut back a bit if you are sensitive to sodium)
1/2 tbsp sesame seed oil (optional)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
   
   
2. Mix the dry mix ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
   
   
3. Mix the wet mix ingredients in a separate bowl. Before you mix with the dry ingredients, make sure everything in your wet mix is cold or room temperature, especially the rehydrated TVP. If it is not cold or room temperature, then your final dough/mix will be stringy and unappealing.
   
   
4. Mix the wet mix into the dry mix and knead for a few minutes until the mixture starts to firm up. The more you knead, the firmer it will get since you are developing the gluten. The firmer the dough is, the less likely it will fall apart during cooking.
   
   
5. Form the dough into 4 equal sized patties and put them in an oiled baking dish that is big enough for them to remain one layer and high enough to accommodate the cooking liquid. If you have doubled the recipe, a little overlap is okay. I was able to fit 8 patties with a slight overlap in an extra larger glass lasagna pan.
   
   
6. Mix the cooking liquid ingredients and pour over the patties in the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. Take them out and flip the patties (be gentle because they are really delicate when half cooked), re-cover with foil and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. The cooked patties out of the oven should feel a bit firm in the middle but kind of sludgey on the outside because of the cooking liquid. If they still feel a bit doughy and gummy in the middle, throw it back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Even though they are firmer than when they were raw, they are still pretty delicate until they've gone through the cooling stage.
   
   
7. Set the patties on a plate or pan and COOL COMPLETELY in the refrigerator until cold, preferably overnight. They will be super firm when they are cold.
   
   
8. FINALLY, take your cold patties and fry them or oil them slightly and grill them.
   

Whew. That was a lot of steps, eh? Trust me, if you're into burger patties like Yves or Boca, this recipe is worth the trouble.

Oh right, I also promised you a bun recipe. The recipe I use for buns is my own combination of a bread recipe in this book and this bun recipe. I'll save my combo recipe for another day. For now, use the bun recipe and split the dough into 8 pieces for 8 buns.

Enjoy!

Grilled and Marinated Tofu Tacos

Marinated and grilled tofu on top of homemade flour tortillas and topped with pico de gallo and a side of rice and corn. I know that corn tortillas are more authentic but I have a hell of a time working with masa harina.

The tofu was from my previous post and was marinated in a chipotle adobo citrus marinade and then grilled. The marinade was inspired by the Mexican Smoked Chile Marinade on Recipezaar with very minor changes. I used chipotles in adobo sauce (the recipe doesn't state in adobo but I assumed it was and also used about 8 chiles or so), no orange zest, and added in a few tablespoons of agave nectar for some extra sweetness because I was too impatient to reduce the citrus juices.

The tortillas were basically just 2 cups (white) flour mixed with some salt and 3/4 cup boiling water, kneaded and then formed into a ball and covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Then it was split into 6 portions, rolled or pressed thin and then fried in a dry pan on medium until both sides are cooked and have some brown spots. This only takes a minute or so, depending on how hot your pan is. I didn't bother putting in any oil since we were eating them all in one sitting and not storing any. If you want a softer tortilla and will make extra for the next day, then definitely put in a little oil or vegetable shortening (1 to 2 tbsps should do the trick). Anyway, this wheat flour dough is a really basic dough that can be used for several different things like scallion pancakes, dumpling wrappers or even wheat noodles. Super easy, inexpensive and made with ingredients that pretty much everyone has on hand.

The pico de gallo is something I've been making regularly for the past month to take advantage of all the lovely CSA summer produce. It's just diced onion, tomatoes, red pepper, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of sugar. I would have put in cilantro but the boy doesn't really like it and we didn't have any on hand. Also, I generally go light on the jalapenos so that the heat doesn't overpower the sweetness of the other ingredients. So lovely and fresh that I sometimes just eat it straight out of a bowl like a salad.

This meal really tasted like summer. Such a shame that it's already September! Oh well, what can you do?

Lastly, here's a bonus photo of Smuckers. :)

TofuXpress!

Look that lovely tofu. Nicely pressed and compacted with help from the TofuXpress. The result is firm and creamy without all that excess liquid.

I never really thought I would ever buy a tofu press since I really never pressed tofu when I would use it. I would just slice and drain and maybe squeeze out a little liquid and that's it. Then I spotted this post recently by everyone's favourite (and super hip) vegan grandmother, Bryanna Clark Grogan. Bryanna sang her praises for the TofuXpress and I knew I had to have one. It may seem a little pricey but if you eat a lot of tofu, it's worth it. You can't tell by the photos but the unit is well made and very sturdy.

I bought it on the website and a few days later it arrived. Here's a few photos.

Fresh out of the box.




With 1 package of Nasoya extra firm tofu. If you've had that brand, you know it's really not that firm.




After a few hours of pressing. Look at all the liquid!




Sliced and then sitting in marinade (see my next post). The container comes with a lid that you can slap on when you marinate or store in the fridge.




Anyway, it's a fantastic gadget that is well worth the money and is also very compact to store. If you're looking for a tofu press, this one definitely delivers. I can definitely see myself using it for pressing different things like TVP chunks, soy curls or pieces of seitan. If you're tired of pressing tofu the old fashioned way with plates and weights or paper towels or tea towels, do yourself a favour and get one of these!

For the record, I was not asked to review this nor did I get this for free. I bought and paid for it -- I'm just a happy customer. :)

Pizza!

Sometimes you just don't feel like thinking about cooking and sometimes you need to clean out the fridge. Yesterday was a bit of both.

I had some sauce leftover, 1/2 a package of Cheezly. jalapenos and tomatoes that were super ripe and a few pieces of seitan. So, what better way to use it than to make pizza?

The pizza dough recipe is the No Rise Crust recipe from Recipezaar. I prefer a wetter dough so I cut back on the flour a little bit. Sure, it doesn't have a developed taste like long rising/fermenting doughs but it is quick, easy and pretty good.

So there you have it, a clean-out-the-fridge Sunday dinner. Fast, easy, tasty and so much cheaper (and tastier) than delivery.

Macaroni in a Cashew / Almond "Cheese" Sauce

Macaroni in a cashew / almond "cheese" sauce with a side of sauteed beet greens.

I've been making a lot of cashew-based sauces lately and I think this is my favourite so far. It's a more delicate taste than your traditional heavy nutritional yeast sauces (I still like those). The reason why it doesn't look creamy is because this is a photo of the macaroni the next day after all the sauce has soaked in. The day of, it was beautifully creamy.

Anyway, here's the recipe I concocted. I'm not reinventing the wheel as there are so many cashew sauces out there and they are all pretty simple.

Notes: If you want a smooth sauce, pre-soak the nuts for a few hours, then drain.

For step two, if you have a large blender, then throw everything in. If you have a food processor though, ad the water gradually as I mentioned.

You can use just cashews if you want and you could probably cut the amount of nuts down too to a total of 1 or 1.5 cups since raw nuts aren't cheap.

Macaroni in a Cashew / Almond "Cheese" Sauce

1 lb macaroni, uncooked
yellow mustard (to coat cooked macaroni)

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and celery seed (to taste)
1 small red pepper, cooked until soft (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil (optional)
2-4 tbsps lemon juice (to taste)
4 cups water

1. Cook your pasta until al dente. Drain and toss with enough yellow mustard to lightly coat each piece and then set aside.
   
   
2. Put all the dry ingredients into your blender or food processor and process until it is a fine powder. For the seasonings, start with 1 tsp of everything except salt. For the salt, start with 1/2 tsp or go with 1 tsp if you like salt. 1/2 tsp probably isn't near enough but it's better to start undersalted and then adjust accordingly. You can adjust the seasonings later when it is simmering in the pot. When everything is processed, add in the optional red pepper, lemon juice and oil and process until the mixture is uniform.
   
   
3. With the motor running, slowly pour in the water, a little at a time and process until nice and smooth. Stop if your blender or food processor is getting too full (you can always add the rest of the water in the pot). Taste and adjust seasonings.
   
   
4. Put the entire sauce mixture in a large saucepan and heat on medium-high while whisking constantly. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Let the sauce cook until mixture is thickened
   
   
5. Mix the macaroni into the sauce and serve as is OR put into a greased casserole dish, top with breadcrumbs and bake at 350F until bubbly (15 to 30 mins depending on how you like your baked mac & cheese).

Hope you like it! Here's a bonus pic of sweet summer corn from our CSA.

Pasta Pilaf

Is "Pasta Pilaf" even a correct term? Eh, I don't know and I don't care. :p

Anyway, I had a bunch of bits and pieces of produce that I needed to use up. I had originally planned on throwing them into an Aglio e Olio (olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes) spaghetti dish but I kind of wanted something a little different.

I had a box of baby shells that I was going to use for something else but it was perfect for a pilaf-type dish because of its small size. I love making pilaf with rice, couscous or orzo (and sometimes wheat noodles for a "saucy" noodle side dish) and thought that the baby shells would work well in this too.

I sauteed some onion, garlic, zucchini (which you can't really see), carrots and peas in olive oil. Then I added vegetable broth, herbs/spices, splash of Bragg's, chickpeas and threw in the shells until done with almost all the liquid absorbed. I topped it off with the last of our CSA tomatoes and parsley. Surprisingly, I eyeballed the broth and it was the perfect amount for the pasta. You want a little liquid left so that the pasta isn't totally dry. I'm not sure what the proper ratio is but maybe 1:2 pasta to liquid ratio? Something to look up online.

Anyway, it was super fast and easy to put together (about 20 minutes) and only one pot to wash. Really simple but really tasty. Give it a try!

Peach Cobbler

Peaches are my favourite fruit. When I was a kid, my dad would get baskets of Ontario peaches from farmers' stands along the highway and I would eat as many as I could in one sitting. I love love love peaches!

Thankfully, we've been receiving quite a lot of peaches from our CSA and lucky for me, the boy (also known as the Mr. sometimes) doesn't care for peaches. More for me! My favourite way to eat peaches is just sliced when perfectly ripe, but I had about four that needed to be eaten today or cooked in something. While I love peach pie, I am absolutely terrible with pastry dough and I really didn't feel like going to the store to buy a pre-made crust. Also, I really don't ever bake anything aside from bread and never make desserts so I was kind of out of ideas aside from pie or jam. I ended up scouring Recipezaar for peach ideas and decided on peach cobbler.

I don't think I've even had peach cobbler or cobbler anything, but it sounded good and easy to make so I modified this recipe. Basically I doubled the peaches, cut the sugar and margarine and used more coconut milk in the dough/batter. Here's the slightly modified version:

Fresh Peach Cobbler

4 large fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup for the peaches and 1/2 cup for the batter)
1/4 cup vegan margarine, melted
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup coconut milk (you could use 3/4 soy milk)

1. Mix peach slices with half the sugar (1/2 cup) and set aside.
2. Pour the melted margarine into an 8" square or round baking dish.
3. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and remaining sugar (1/2 cup).
4. Stir in the coconut milk until just combined. The consistency should be like a thick muffin batter. Well I don't know if it should be, but that's how mine was. Add more coconut milk if needed.
5. Put the batter over the melted margarine, smoothing out as necessary to cover the bottom of the pan.
6. Top with the peaches including any liquid that has been extracted.
7. Bake at 375F for 45 minutes.

I thought it turned out really well. The only reason why I used coconut milk was because I was out of soy milk. I think it added a nice richness to it and you really couldn't taste the coconut.

I had it both warm and cold and both ways were delicious! The top and sides were nice and crunchy and the middle under the peaches was cakey with some gooey parts due to the peach juice and margarine. It was so easy to put together with ingredients that I always have on hand and it totally tastes like summer.

ETA: You're going to see this blue plate a lot, not just because we're vegan, but because it literally is the only nice plate I own. The rest are cheapo white dishes from Target. :)

Pesto Fettucine & Roasted Eggplant

More CSA produce to use up! We are almost caught up with our shares. All that's left right now are some beets, sweet candy onions, jalapenos and zucchini.

The pesto was made with basil, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, blanched almonds and nutritional yeast and then tossed with fettucine and fresh diced heirloom tomatoes.

On the side is eggplant tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and oven roasted until soft and nicely browned on top.

A simple but delicious dinner and so much healthier than that damn tomato pie from yesterday!