Avocados and Ales

Tofu Ricotta Stuffed Shells

I’ve secretly decided that stuffed shells are the lazy person’s ravioli and I’m not upset by that. I honestly love all forms of carbohydrates with some form of delicious filling; dumplings, ravioli, pierogi, etc. Especially if that filling is as delicious as this tofu & spinach ricotta! This is another recipe that I am thrilled to have Mori-Nu Silken Tofu on hand for-the fact that it’s shelf stable means I can whip this up on a moments notice and have a protein filled meal on the table in less than an hour.

I used a jar of homemade marinara that I canned over the summer-I recommend a sauce with a touch of sweetness to contrast with the salty ricotta. We’re going to be adding a bunch of ingredients to the tofu to give it an authentic ricotta flavor. I’m using lactic acid, which I highly recommend over lemon juice, since its a little more authentic “dairy” flavor. If it’s not something in your pantry for plant based vegan cheeses, you can make the substitute for lemon juice.

Each shell is stuffed with this tofu ricotta mixture, then drizzled with more sauce, and topped with vegan cheese. While I love making my own cheeses, I used a store-bought cheese for this. I recommend Follow Your Heart or Violife products if you have access to them. My favorite tip is to drizzle the cheese you are using with a bit of oil and press into the sauce to enable it to melt better.

After baking, I served with a side salad. This dish can totally stand as a meal on its own, but a salad and garlic bread really pulls it together. It’s even better as leftovers! Click Read More if you’d like the recipe!

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Tags: italian, morinu, Morinupartner, Morinutofu, pasta, plantbased, Shelfstable, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories american, Italian, pasta, vegan

Tofu Omelet

8 Aug

Every time I’m at a hotel, I wish there was a totally vegan breakfast buffet. Does this exist somewhere? My favorite thing is the folded omelets in the steamer trays. Something about the perfectly sized bits of yellow is so enticing. I’ve been spending a lot of time cooking up breakfasts on weekends and these omelets have become one of my favorites, since it’s so quick to throw together and very little clean up!

I’ve been obsessed with the recipe for tofu eggs from Post Punk Kitchen, which is what inspired this omelet recipe. This is such an easy breakfast with some pantry ingredients-you can absolutely put anything you want in it. My favorite options include spinach, tomatoes, peppers, black beans, any variety of vegan cheeses, or zucchini.

This recipe starts with blending all the “egg” ingredients in the blender. As I said in my previous post, I’m particular about how my pantry is stocked, but one thing I always have is a case of Mori-Nu Tofu. Not only is it shelf stable, I can use it in multiple dishes, like mapo tofu, baked tofu, or in place of the chickpeas in my popular chickwheat shreds. You first need to drain the Mori-Nu Silken Tofu Extra Firm.

Add all the rest of the ingredients and blend until completely smooth. It will seem like a pale yellow, but it brightens up a lot once cooked!

The next step is to preheat the oven and grease two pie pans. You could also use cast iron skillets or metal cake pans. Any shallow bakeware will work, but glass seems to let the omelets release the easiest.

After they’re in the oven, prepare the inner ingredients. Since they won’t spend much time in the oven, they will need to be heated thoroughly beforehand. I chose chicken of the woods mushrooms for these, because I happened to come across them while foraging, but any store bought mushroom will do.

You’ll be able to tell that the omelets are done after the tops firm up. The color will be much more yellow and vibrant.

After topping with cheese, veggies, and whatever else you’d like, you should put it back in the oven to melt the cheese. I highly recommend serving these with everything you would find at a breakfast buffet-hashbrowns, waffles, toast, bagels, vegan sausages, and lots of orange juice.

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Tags: american, breakfast, food, Morinupartner, Morinutofu, Shelfstable, tofu, vegan, vegan egg, veganuary, vegetarian, what vegans eat

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Categories american, breakfast, gluten-free, vegan

Chocolate Silken Tofu Thin Mint Pie

16 May

Are you like me and have held on to your last few boxes of Mori-Nu Silken Tofu and Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies in case of emergency? Well, I think we’ve hit that emergency threshold with the current state of events.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been craving lots of sweets, carbs, and creamy, comfort foods. I usually make this recipe for summer cookouts or potlucks, but with none of those on the horizon, I’m unfortunately going to have to polish off this whole pie plate by myself.

I’d like to think I’m up to that challenge.
If you’d like to join me, you can find the recipe by clicking more below.

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Tags: chocolate, dessert, food, morinu, Morinupartner, Morinutofu, pie, recipe, Shelfstable, Silkentofu, sweets, thinmint, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories american, desserts, vegan

Chickwheat Cordon Bleu

8 Feb

It’s a blustery winter day here and my oven is begging to be used. It’s actually been in and out of functional use all week, but today it thankfully decided to cooperate. With Valentine’s day quickly approaching, it’s nice to be able to serve something a little more upscale for a nice candlelit meal. We have two kids now, so we won’t be having a candlelit meal, but the thought is nice I guess. We prefer to snuggle in bed and enjoy a pizza and movie together, with maybe a strong drink. We’ve been doing this for years now and it’s still something I look forward to.

This recipe requires a bit of preparation ahead of time, but it’s relatively intuitive. Chicken cordon bleu was never something I had prior to going vegan 8 years ago, but I feel like this is a pretty close replication. Please click through the links for my recommendations for alternatives and for prior recipes!

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Tags: american, cheese, cooking, diy, food, vegan, vegan cheese, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories american, casseroles, grains, meat alternative, vegan

TTLA Sandwich

4 May

Summer has suddenly descended on the Midwest, which means I basically want to spend zero time in the kitchen with the oven on. My Instant Pot has become my best friend for any cooking I would normally do on my stove top and while I’m still a salad-hating vegan, I’m rediscovering an old fondness for sandwiches.

Conveniently, Lightlife Foods offered me the opportunity to try their tempeh bacon on the newly popular tempeh, tomato, lettuce and avocado sandwich. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you might have noticed we spent the weekend in Indianapolis, where we stopped at Whole Foods for several meals, and some Fakin Bacon Tempeh Strips.

See my spin on the classic #TTLA recipe below! Continue reading →

Tags: american, appetizer, avocado, blt, bread, cooking, copycat recipe, cruelty free, dairy free, dinner, food, homemade, Lightlife, mayonnaise, meat alternative, meat alternatives, meat substitute, meatless, Midwest, tempeh, TTLA, whole foods, whole foods market

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Categories american, grains, meat alternative, review, vegan

Thai Red Curry by Chloe

7 Mar

I’ve been a big fan of Chloe Coscarelli since my early vegan years; she’s been a big inspiration in her photography and her success in the restaurant and food publishing industries. This is why I’m so thrilled to be bringing you a recipe from her new cookbook Chloe Flavor.

If you haven’t already tried her recipe for vegan hostess cupcakes, you need to stop reading right now and go make them. They are always hit with my two little ones and I bake them to bring a vegan treat for birthday parties. I knew my kids would love her recipe for red curry. I love to make red curry every few weeks, especially during the cold months, it’s great for warming up. My daughter especially loves tofu and bell peppers and this was devoured instantly!

I’m loving how easy and colorful the recipes are in Chloe Flavor. Vegan food has never been bland or boring, but I find a lot of people have a hard time transitioning into plant based eating because the recipes seem intimidating. Simple, easy to find ingredients, and easy directions with vivid photography make this cookbook a great addition to any kitchen.

I highly recommend using Nasoya tofu for this recipe, I think the texture is the best for a rich spicy sauce like this.

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Categories thai, vegan

Pulled Phauxrk

6 Feb

Move over jackfruit, there’s a new vegan pulled pork in town and it’s pronounced like fork.

This recipe is bean based, like my previous Chickwheat Shreds and like Blackbeet Beef it calls for cooked mushrooms for flavor. You can either roast or pan fry them, either will cook off the extra liquid and make them more flavorful. Use any white beans you can find navy beans, great Northern beans, it shouldn’t impact the end result.

Kneading in the food processor is what gives it the characteristic shredded texture, so be sure not to skip this step or cut it short. If you don’t have a dough hook, you can use your regular blade to knead. If you don’t have an instant pot, this can also be steamed in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time.

I prefer to weigh the ingredients in this recipe, as I think it yields the most consistent results, but I have included volume measurements for most of the ingredients if you don’t have a kitchen scale.

If you make this recipe, please use the tag #phauxrk on Instagram or public Facebook posts! I’d love to see your creations!!

Many thanks to Somer at Vedged Out and Chloe at Vegan or Not for assisting in the recipe testing!

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Tags: american, beans, cooking, cruelty free, dinner, easy, gluten, lunch, meal, meat alternatives, meat substitute, meatless, seitan, snack, soy, testing recipes, traditional american recipes, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat, wheat

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Categories american, meat alternative, vegan

Faux King Crab

24 Jan

I could tell a pretty embarrassing story about crab here. I’ll spare you the details and just share this recipe for faux King crab instead. If you say it three times fast, you’ll laugh just as much as you would have at my embarrassing story.

Algal oil is pretty essential for the ocean flavor of this recipe. I don’t really recommend skipping it and it will give you a good DHA boost for the day, but in a pinch you could use a similar amount of kelp powder. It can be found in the Amazon link below or at your local natural food store in the supplement section as vegan DHA or Omega-3. Please see my notes below the recipe regarding tofu/agar.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, I recommend steaming on the stove or in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time. A stove top pressure cooker could also be used.

If you make this recipe, be sure to use the hashtag #fauxkingcrab on Instagram or Facebook, I would love to see your results!

Many, many thanks to Somer McGowan of Vedged Out for assisting in recipe testing for this recipe.

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Tags: american, asian, cooking, copycat recipe, cruelty free, dairy free, dinner, homemade, instant pot, meat alternative, meat substitute, meatless, plant based diet, plant based recipe, plant-based, recipe, seitan, sushi, tofu, vegan, veganuary, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories asian, meat alternative, vegan

Vegan Calamari

18 Jan

A few months ago I made the Vegan Oxtail recipe by Korenn’s Vegan World of Food and was very impressed by the texture of the oyster mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are kind of an old card in the vegan world, they work excellent as scallops or pulled barbecue on sandwiches. I thought it would be fun to use their shreddy texture for vegan calamari, and I was not disappointed. The mushrooms take a little oceany flavor on during a bit of marinating time, and get battered in a simple flour mixture. Feel free to use a more advanced batter recipe if you prefer. You can usually find large oyster mushrooms at bigger grocers and international markets. If you can’t find large ones, smaller ones will work just as well, but the calamari rings will be smaller.

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Tags: appetizer, cruelty free, dairy free, dinner, easy, finger food, food, fried food, italian, meat alternative, meatless, mushroom, plant based recipe, plant-based, recipe, vegan, veganuary, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories greek, Italian, meat alternative, vegan

Tofu Pad Kee Mao

13 Jan

By popular request on my Facebook page, I am sharing my recipe for tofu pad kee mao. I had posted this recipe for pad see ew years ago, which also calls for the same flat fresh noodles. Our store carries them in two pound packages in sheets which I cut into smaller portions. If you can’t find fresh noodles, you can absolutely use dried wide rice noodles.

Traditionally this recipe is made with Thai birds eye chili peppers. I’m currently catering to palates that don’t appreciate spice, so I choose to omit the peppers. If you want to use them, add about 5 or 6 during the cooking step with the other vegetables.

I love using Beyond Meat crumbles for this dish, but they’re not a necessity. Feel free to omit or substitute with your favorite seitan recipe.

Algal oil adds a similar fishy flavor that fish sauce usually adds to the recipe. Flax or hemp oil can totally be substituted for a similar flavor, or you can add your favorite vegan fish sauce.

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