Tofu Scramble

Okay... I know what some of you are thinking... Tofu?  Gross.  And believe me, I used to think the same way!  It wasn't until my husband decided one day to make "Tofu Scramble" for breakfast that I fell in love with tofu.  It's incredibly versatile, taking on whatever flavors you add to it!  It's also very easy to find, even in Small Town!



My mom is addicted to eggs, scrambled eggs to be exact.  Any time she is hungry and doesn't want to cook or go out, she makes eggs.  So I knew that getting her to like "Tofu Scramble" was going to be a challenge.  In the words of Barney Stinson, "Challenge Accepted"!!

This is another recipe that can be easily modified to use up whatever veggies are in your fridge.  I love adding Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage Vegan Sausages, again something I bought while in "The City" and brought it back with me.  These can be frozen and will save quite a while.



The first thing you want to do when making anything with tofu is to press it.  At home, I use a handy-dandy tofu press.  But here, I just used two plates and something heavy.  Unwrap your tofu, drain out all the liquid and place it between two plates.  Put it in the fridge with something heavy on it to further drain and press it.  I left it in the fridge like this overnight.

This step is very important when making tofu.  If you don't press it, then your tofu will be mushy.

Tofu Scramble 2 servings

1 pound extra-firm tofu

1/2 onion, diced

mushrooms, broccoli, peppers or other veggies

1 "link" Field Roast sausage (or any vegan sausage or bacon), cut into bite-sized pieces

3 TBS nutritional yeast

1 TBS dijon mustard

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cumin

pinch of salt

This is best made in a cast iron skillet, but any skillet will work.  If using a stainless steel skillet or the like, start with a pinch of salt in the bottom of the pan.  Heat the pan and add a bit of olive oil to create a "non-stick" surface.

Start by sauteing the onion in a bit of olive oil or vegan margarine.  If adding potatoes, do this now. Cut up your pressed tofu into bite-sized pieces (it will crumble more as it cooks).  Once your onions are transparent, add sausage pieces and tofu.  Cook over medium heat, breaking tofu up even more, for about 5 minutes.  Add any other veggies you'd like and cook for another couple of minutes.



Add nutritional yeast, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, and cumin.  You can also add a bit of black pepper.  (Don't add more salt if you did this in the beginning).  If you can find it, add a little Indian Black Salt or kala namak.  It has a bit of a sulfur taste, adding that "egg" flavor.  We also like adding a bit of Italian seasoning.



Cook for about 3 minutes.  Serve with whole wheat toast, if desired.





Did I "beat" the challenge? ... YES!  My mom loved it!  Whether she liked it enough to stop eating eggs remains to be seen. =)

Lunch: Fajita Bowl

Today I decided to have a fajita bowl for lunch!!  Bowls are some of the easiest, quickest, and healthiest meals a vegan can choose to have.  This bowl is just something I usually throw together at the last minute when I'm hungry and in a hurry.  It does help to have a few things prepped already though.

A little about me:  I love cooking...but I can also be super lazy.  Not exactly a great combination.  Because of this, on the days that I'm really feeling up to cooking, I take full advantage.  I will chop, dice, boil, saute, and store anything that can possibly be prepped ahead of time for a meal.  Doing this means I am ready for those lazy, yet hungry days.  I also own an amazing rice cooker, which makes it unbelievably easy to make rice, quinoa, steam veggies, etc.  I love that the rice cooker has a "delay" button on it.  I can measure out rice and water, then delay the cooking for up to 15 hours! Because I am at my parents' house for the next week or so, I do not have a rice cooker.  (Although, I think I'm gonna make my mother buy herself one!)  Having rice prepared in advance, wasn't as easy here.  I like to make extra rice and then store it in mason jars in the refrigerator until I'm ready to use it.

For this meal, I got lucky that my sister came home this weekend from "The Big City".  I had her bring me home some yummy seitan.  I realize that this doesn't necessarily fall under the "small town" groceries.  But, I also realize that most people from small towns tend to go into "The City" from time to time.  If/when you do this, be sure to stock up on a few great items you can't get at home.  Seitan is definitely one of those items for me.  (If you are unfamiliar with seitan, it is a "wheat meat".  A yummy meat alternative made out of wheat gluten.)   You could also order Vital Wheat Gluten online and make your own seitan.

Here's the "recipe" I threw together today:

Fajita Bowls makes approx. 2 servings

sea salt (I suggest Pink Himalayan)
a bit of Earth Balance or olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2/3 cup brown rice, cooked
1 pkg seitan (I used Sweet Earth Chipotle Style Seitan)
1 cup corn
garlic powder, to taste
1/2 lime
a couple of handfuls of baby kale/arugula salad mix
avocado
salsa
any other toppings you like on fajitas

This recipe is really about using anything you have on hand.  There is no exact science to a bowl.

First sprinkle some sea salt onto your medium/large saute pan over low/medium heat.  Add a little bit of Earth Balance or olive oil and let it warm.  This will help create a better non-stick surface.  If you have a cast iron skillet, you can skip this step entirely.  (I love cast iron!)

Toss onions in pan and saute for about 5-7 minutes.  Add in the seitan and saute for another 5 minutes.  Lastly, add corn and any other veggies you may have, mushrooms, peppers, etc.  Sprinkle garlic powder, to taste.  Squeeze lime over everything.

Once cooked thoroughly, build your bowl.  Start with the cooked rice in the bottom.  Add your greens, I used a baby kale/baby arugula mix.  Top with the seitan and veggie mix.  I drizzled leftover cheezy sauce from the Bacon Cheezburger Potato Pie.  Top with avocado, salsa, and any other fajita toppings you like.  Unfortunately, the avocado I had went bad. =(  But the bowl was awesome anyway!!

Vegan Cheezburger Potato Pie

I made Vegan Cheezburger Potato Pie for dinner tonight.  I got this delicious recipe from "Betty Goes Vegan".  This is a great book written by Annie & Dan Shannon.  These two write an amazing vegan blog called "Meet the Shannons".  I did make a few of my own adjustments to the recipe to account for some ingredients I couldn't get here in Small Town, Missouri.  Both of my parents ate this and loved it!  My dad, who is a hard core meat and potatoes guy, even had seconds!  I hope you all enjoy it too!!

Vegan Cheezburger Potato Pie (the modified version) makes 4 to 6 servings

1 pkg vegan ground beef (I could only find Yves Meatless Ground at Wal-Mart)
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (I made my own)
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 cup A1 sauce
2 tsp yellow mustard
1 tsp Bragg's liquid aminos
Dash of liquid smoke
2-3 large potatoes (enough to make 2 cups mashed)
3 TBS Earth Balance
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBS alternative milk (I used almond)
1 TBS nutritional yeast
1-2 TBS vegan bacon bits

Toppings
1/2 recipe of Cheezy Sauce (recipe follows)
1 small tomato (sliced or diced)
2 green onions, chopped

If you are making your own mashed potatoes, get your water boiling now.  Once it is boiling, add your potatoes.  I cut my potatoes into about 8-12 smaller pieces so that they are ready for mashing quicker.  Preheat the oven to 375°F.  In a medium bowl, mix the vegan beef, bread crumbs, onion, steak sauce, mustard, Bragg's, and liquid smoke.  Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie plate, like a pie crust.  Bake for 5 minutes.

"Pie crust"

In a large pot, mashed the potatoes and add the margarine, garlic, alternative milk, and nutritional yeast.  Heat over medium heat while continually stirring with a large spoon.  Remove from heat.  Stir in the vegan bacon bits.

Remove the "crust" from the oven.  Spoon the mashed potatoes into the crust.  Use a spatula to smooth out the top and make it even.  Bake for about 10 minutes, or until heated through.

Remove the pie from the oven.  Top with tomato, green onions, cheezy sauce, and any other toppings you may like (pickles could be yummy).  Let cool some before serving.

Cheezy Sauce The best I've ever had!  makes 6 to 8 servings
(half this recipe for Vegan Bacon Cheezburger Potato Pie)

1/2 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine, preferably non-hydrogenated)
3 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp crushed pink Himalayan salt
2 TBS Bragg's liquid aminos
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
a couple of dashes of liquid smoke
Pinch of turmeric
Paprika and crushed black peppercorns to taste
1 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

Bring water to a boil.  In a separate saucepan, melt the margarine over low heat.  Once completely melted, whisk in flour.  Continue whisking over medium heat until smooth and bubbly.

Next, whisk in the boiling water, salt, Bragg's, garlic powder, onion powder, liquid smoke, and turmeric.  Add paprika and pepper to taste.

Continue whisking until dissolved.  Once thick and bubbling, whisk in the nutritional yeast until your sauce is creamy.  If it gets too thick, add more water.



I hope you all try this recipe!  I thought it was delicious!  If you try it out, let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Monica

Grocery Shopping

I went grocery shopping today.  Unfortunately, that included going to Wal-Mart.  I haven't been inside of a Wal-Mart in years! It's not my favorite store.  But, small towns equals few choices.

I went shopping for two recipes today.  We will be having "Vegan Bacon Cheezburger Potato Pie" from Betty Goes Vegan and "Rustic Pasta" from The Kind Diet over the next couple of days.  I will post the recipes in a separate post.

Because my mom rarely cooks, I also had to buy a few staple items.  Knowing this, I did prepare and buy a few things in advance from Amazon.  There were a few things that I just knew Wal-Mart and the local grocery store wouldn't have.  This is why I would suggest anyone who lives in a small town, with few choices, to plan ahead and purchase some items from Amazon.  If you have an Amazon Prime account (which I think is the best way to go), then you get free 2 day shipping on a lot of items.

Here is the ingredient list for the two recipes:

vegan ground beef
plain bread crumbs
onions
A1 sauce
yellow mustard
Bragg's liquid aminos
liquid smoke
potatoes
vegetable broth
vegan margarine (Earth Balance is the best)
garlic
soy milk
nutritional yeast
vegan bacon bits
vegan cheddar cheese
tomato
green onions
pasta (I bought Quinoa pasta, it's much healthier!)
olive oil
celery
shoyu
sea salt (I bought Himalayan Pink Sea Salt)
garlic powder
green cabbage
marinara sauce

Surprisingly, I found quite a few of the items I needed at the stores today.  I didn't have to buy A1 sauce, yellow mustard, or soy milk.  I'm using almond milk instead of soy milk because my mom already uses it in her morning coffee.  Nutritional yeast and Bragg's liquid aminos are two of the items I purchased a week ago through Amazon.  Be sure to get the nutritional yeast with add B-12. You'll want a large amount, it'll become your favorite thing!  I also did not purchase bread crumbs.  Every single kind of bread crumb in both stores had added high fructose corn syrup, same thing for marinara sauce.  I instead bought two demi baguettes and organic tomato sauce.  Other items I couldn't find in either store: vegetable broth (shocked me), vegan cheddar cheese, and shoyu.

For now, I am just using water in place of the vegetable broth, the Bragg's liquid aminos in place of the shoyu, and I am making a delicious vegan cheese sauce instead of the vegan cheddar.

I spent a total of $45 at the stores today and $22 on Amazon last week.  It may seem like a lot for only 2 meals, but remember a lot of these items are staple pantry items I had to stock up on.

All these ingredients just for plain bread crumbs??

No vegetable stock??

I'm happily surprised that both stores had Earth Balance!!

I also wanted to try the new cashew milk!! Yum!!

Come back tomorrow! I'll be making Vegan Bacon Cheezburger Potato Pie (with a few modifications).  I'll post the recipe tomorrow too!

Forks Over Knives & My Parents

First full day of being at my parents house...
My goals while I'm here are not only for myself.  My parents both suffer from cardiovascular problems, diabetes, weight issues, and a lack of energy.  I am hoping that my time here will help them to learn to eat a more balanced, whole foods, plant-based diet.

I realize asking 2 people in their early 50's, both of whom have spent their entire lives living in this small town, to change their lifestyle/diet completely is asking a lot.  I also realize that getting both of them to give up animal products completely is not going to happen.  But maybe, I can at least get them both to see that they can and should cut back on animal products by a lot.

Last night, we watched "Forks Over Knives".  A fantastic movie to enlighten the "Average Joe" on the benefits of eating a whole foods, plant-based diet.  I must admit a little shock on how well both of my parents paid attention to the movie!  Makes me one happy daughter!  I love that this movie includes stories from real people.  More than one person in the movie suffers from diabetes, a disease my mother suffers greatly from.  Also, the emphasis on Rip Esselstyn and his entire crew at the Austin, Texas Engine 2 fire station seemed to keep my dad interested.  He is also a fireman and has been for over 25 years now.

Because I am trying to help my parents as much as possible during this time, my focus will stick to extremely easy recipes that consist of ingredients that are easy to find in the small town grocery store or easily bought online and shipped.  Unlike me, my mother hates cooking labor intensive meals or spending a large amount of time on food in general.  So, with her in mind, these recipes will be ones that can be made with less than an hour of time.

Most of my day today will be spent finding whole foods, plant-based recipes that are heart healthy, easy to make, and even freezer-friendly.  I will be taking my mother shopping tonight to stock up her barren pantry and refrigerator so that tomorrow I can get started on cooking!!

I'm off to do a little yoga and get my meal plans ready! =)

A little about me:
I grew up in a small Midwestern town eating meat, potatoes and lackluster vegetables at almost every meal.  That meat consisted of deer, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and fish.  Most of the time it was some type of meat that my dad had probably hunted and then brought home for my mom to cook.  Our potatoes were usually out of a box, and our veggies were mostly canned.  Occasionally, we would have the "TGIF" family Friday night, which consisted of pizza, soda and my mom, dad, sister and I all curled up on the couch watching Full House, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Boy Meets World and Family Matters. Those were the days!   Don't get me wrong, my parents made sure my sister and I ate well and finished everything on our plates. They fed their kids what most parents in rural Midwestern towns did.  My sister and I were active and healthy.

Fast forward a few years.  A glimpse into my past, I'm 23 and have been married to my high school sweetheart for 4 years. I've gained a good 25-30 lbs since I graduated high school (don't we all...)  I'm working at a Starbucks inside of Target.  One day on my break, I decide to go look at the books.  I see a new book called "Skinny Bitch".  I look on the back cover to find that this book was written by two models.  Thinking to myself, "surely they know the secret to being skinny", I decide to buy the book.  Not far into this new book, I discover that these women are unapologetic in their approach to helping women lose weight and become healthier.  They are advocating a "vegan lifestyle".  I had known a vegetarian or two in college, but had never met a vegan.  I barely even knew the difference between the two things.  But after reading this book, I felt enlightened.  I decided right then and there to become a vegetarian. But, there was no way I'd ever be able to give up cheese!!

After being a vegetarian for about three years, I tried going even healthier.  I decided to eat exclusively vegan at home.  Luckily, for me, I have an extremely supportive husband!!  He was absolutely okay with me declaring our kitchen "animal product free".  So now, I've been eating completely vegan at home, while still indulging in a few cheese and dairy products while out.

Present day... I've been living in Colorado (home to some of the most active and fit people in the US) for almost 2 years.  Although Colorado is one of the "healthiest" states, somehow my husband and I have managed to gain weight while living here... ugh.

I recently quit my job (one that made me quite uphappy).  I am now on a month-long vacation before starting my new job.  During this time, I have decided to get myself back into better shape and eat even better than I have been!  My biggest obstacle during this time??  I'm visiting my family back in Small Town Missouri.  There are no "health food" stores, no beautiful mountains to hike/bike, and very few places, if any, to find a yoga class (my favorite way to work out).  Let's hope it works out well for me!!