We spent Father’s Day with my family in Sacramento and I made these yummy kabobs, which were sort of a take on the eggplant/basil/tofu Thai dish Eggplant Kee Mao (my absolute favorite Thai dish. Ever.). For these, I skewered some firm tofu with some chopped eggplant, basil leaves, red onion, zucchini and cremini mushrooms. I marinated them for a day in a mixture of tamari, veggie broth, chopped basil, chopped green onions, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, toasted sesame oil and red chili flakes.



My dad was very thoughtful with his grill: he preheated it to like 5 million degrees to singe off any meat remnants for me. Then he was so nice to let me grill them myself– a job that I thoroughly enjoyed and am now putting a gas BBQ on the top of my wish list. I loved it and it made all the difference with these babies. If you don’t have a BBQ, you can still make these. Just preheat your broiler and cook them under it until they are charred in some spots and cooked through. These are definitely a crowd pleaser and not that expensive to make either. I think the most expensive component was the tofu at $3.50 for the pack. I’ll definitely be making these again.

Well hello there, dear readers! As of this last Monday, we are moved into our new house. I love it here!! My kitchen is enormous compared to my last one and we’re just so happy here. Yay for finally being moved! Now that the move is over and we are somewhat settled, I hope to have more time to cook and more recipes to post.

Matt has been working late all week and I haven’t really prepared and elaborate meals. Last night, though, I wanted to cook up a kabocha squash that I bought yesterday and I really, really wanted to make a Thai yellow curry sauce to go over it. Why? I don’t know. It just sounded like a good combo.

First, the squash:

Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Place cut-side down onto a lightly greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the inside is very soft.

Next, the sauce:

I followed my yellow coconut curry soup recipe as the base, but I let it reduce down a lot. This intensified the flavors and made it so good. Like, seriously so good that I was eating spoonfuls of it out of the pot– you know, just to make sure it was perfect *wink, wink*.

Thai Yellow Curry Sauce

1 TB olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (about 1/2-1 tsp once chopped)
2 tsp Thai Red Curry Paste
2 tsp turmeric
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup veggie stock
2 TB brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 TB Tamari*

In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil over low heat and saute the onions, garlic and ginger. Once softened, after about 5 minutes of cooking, add the curry paste and turmeric. Saute for another minute or so, then add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine then simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half. Using an immersion blender, blender or food processor, puree the sauce until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or Sriracha if desired.

*I use Tamari here to keep it gluten-free. If you don’t care about that, go ahead and use soy sauce instead. (Did you know that soy sauce contains wheat?)

I was all out of brown sugar, so I used regular sugar and a small drop of blackstrap molasses. It worked fine. Also, I think this would have been even better with a little lime squeezed in at the end. I’ll be sure to do that next time.

I served our squash with some red quinoa and simple sauteed spinach. For the spinach, I heated a tiny bit of olive oil in a skillet, put the baby spinach in and lightly sauteed until just wilted. Then I put some salt and pepper on it.

What’s this? A new recipe??! Wow!

I actually cooked something last night… from scratch! I know, shocking! Ever since I started baking a ton, I haven’t been cooking too often. Yesterday was my munchkin’s 4th birthday and for her special birthday dinner, she requested tofu (plain), rice and artichokes. She got her wish, but I felt I needed to jazz it up a bit for my husband and I. We also had steamed artichokes and rice, but I decided to glaze our tofu with teriyaki sauce. It turned out really good… and because I didn’t have any bottled teriyaki sauce, I had to make my own. It’s so easy too! I don’t think I’ll ever buy a bottle of it ever again.

Teriyaki Glazed Tofu and Green Beans

1 lb. tofu (or other plant protein of your choice), cubed

2 cups green beans, either fresh or frozen

1 recipe teriyaki sauce (you will have some leftover)

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish, optional

In a large skillet, preheat a few tablespoons of canola, vegetable or peanut oil over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the tofu making sure it is completely dry before adding to the hot oil.  Cook on one or two sides until golden brown then remove from pan.  If there is a lot of oil leftover from cooking the tofu, wash out your pan.  Add the green beans and a few tablespoons of water.  Cover and let them steam for a few minutes.  When cooked, drain any remaining water and add the tofu back to the pan.  Glaze with the teriyaki and cook a minute or so longer.  Garnish with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

Yellow curry is my absolute favorite Thai dish.  I was in the middle of making some the other night when I discovered that I was out of turmeric.  Of all the things to be out of…  So, without the turmeric to make my curry yellow, my dish turned into a red curry instead.

This time, I used some super firm tofu, sweet potato, carrots, broccoli, onion and frozen peas.  The basic curry recipe is here, but only use 1 cup of stock, 1 cup of coconut milk and don’t add the turmeric to keep it red.  It was really quite good and came together really fast.  You could even precook your jasmine rice and pre-chop all of your veggies to make it even easier on yourself after a day at work.  I really, really liked the addition of the sweet potato– it gave it a really interesting flavor.

Yesterday was Emma’s birthday party and man, was it hot!  Perfect weather, actually, since there was a bit of a breeze.  She seemed to enjoy herself; although, every time I ask her if she had fun, she tells me that it was too tiring.  I agree.  Next year, she seems down for a trip somewhere in lieu of a big party.  The theme was garden/spring/bugs.

I bet you’re all wondering what was on the menu so without further delay, here you go:

Fruit:  pineapple, watermelon, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe and blueberries (and a special thanks to Nana Sally for contributing the best tasting blueberries I’ve had all year– blueberries are one of Emma’s favorite foods).  I used the top half of a pineapple as the centerpiece of the fruit tray.  Then I cut some melon flowers and put them on skewers into the pineapple.  I used green leaf lettuce around the edge for a little something extra.  Turned out cute.

Snack Tray #1:  cherry tomatoes, edamame, spring rolls with Quick Peanut Sauce from Vegan Lunch Box.

Snack Tray #2:  mini pitas, crackers, baby carrots, bell pepper slices, cucumber slices and falafel.

For the kiddos:  PB&J flowers.  Centers are strawberry and grape halves secured with a toothpick.

Cake:

A cupcake tower of strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate mint, lemon and coconut.  The cupcakes were topped with fondant ladybugs, butterflies, caterpillars, and flowers.  On top of the tower was a “cake” with a candle for Emma to blow out.  I didn’t have time to make an actual cake, so I used styrofoam and covered it with homemade chocolate fondant.  The decor at the top is all made from gum paste and fondant.  Extra embellishments– i.e. the ladybug spots, etc.– are all done with a vegan royal icing (sub Ener-G Egg Replacer for egg white).

I know all of this looks like it took a long time to prepare, and it did, but the great thing about it is that a lot of it can be done ahead of time.  The faux “cake” I made about two weeks ahead of time.  The fondant decorations for the cupcakes were done about a month ago, as with the decorations for the faux “cake.”  All of the cupcakes have been leftovers from the various batches I’ve made over the last month, except for the chocolate and vanilla ones.  I cut up and arranged all the fruit the day before.  The falafel was cooked the day before and reheated the day of.  Yes, it was a lot of work, but breaking it up into more manageable parts made it much easier.

A few weeks ago, we went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant that we had never tried before.  The food was super good, especially the salad dressing.  It was a mayo based dressing and, even though I knew it wasn’t vegan, I ate it anyway because (1) it was THAT good and (2) I figured if I kept eating it, I could find a way to veganize it (and probably lighten it up a bit) at home.  So voila!  Here is my veganized and lightened up version of Kobe’s salad dressing:

Creamy Japanesey Salad Dressing

(click here for a printer friendly version)

1 green onion, chopped

3 TB rice vinegar

1 1/2 TB soy sauce

2 TB vegenaise

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp toasted sesame seeds (or up to 1 tsp toasted sesame oil)

1/4 tsp agave nectar

1 clove garlic, grated or minced

S&P to taste

Combine and pour over salad.

This is another easy dish, but it was so flavorful that you wouldn’t guess how quickly it came together.  To make this even easier on yourself, you could chop all your veggies on the weekend (or on a day when you have extra time) so that they’re all ready for you.  For this stir fry, I used tofu, broccoli, frozen peas, carrots, green onions, and cabbage.  Start by boiling your soba noodles according to the directions on the package.  While that is going, heat a big skillet (or wok) and add just a small drizzle of oil.  Throw in the tofu and let it brown up on all sides.  Add your veggies, putting the ones that take the longest to cook in first.  After the noodles have boiled, add them to the pan too.  Then add some minced garlic and ginger (to taste), some soy sauce and a little drizzle of sesame oil.  Voila!  Lunch or dinner is served!

I’ve blogged about how much I LOVE miso soup before, but when you throw in some other fixin’s you’ve got yourself a yummy meal in less than 10 minutes.  Seriously, this stuff is good and it’s my go-to when I don’t know what else to make.  Emma loves it too.  In fact, she had the leftovers from this meal for breakfast yesterday.

If using packaged noodles:

To make this, start by boiling your udon noodles per the directions on the package.  Once cooked, drain them and set aside.  In the same pot, fill with water (the amount depends on how many servings you intend to make, but just eyeball it).  When the water has boiled, turn off the heat and add your miso.  I prefer red miso, but you can use whatever one you like best.  I usually start with 2 good spoonfuls.  Work it in to dissolve it in the water and either add more miso if it’s not to your liking or add more water if the miso flavor is too strong.  Add a few dashes of soy sauce and you’re done!  Add your noodles back into your soup, then throw in some cubed tofu and chopped green onion.  Couldn’t be easier!

If using fresh noodles:

Prepare your soup as directed above, but don’t turn off the heat once the water has boiled.  With the soup bubbling, add the noodles and cook one to two minutes (whatever the package directs).  When cooked, turn off the heat and add the tofu and green onion.

Tempeh:

is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. It is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh’s fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor. Tofu, by contrast, is said to be more versatile in dishes. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue.

Until last Friday, I’m not sure that I had ever eaten it before.  I had picked up a package of it about a month ago and figured I should use it before it expired.  There’s a recipe for teriyaki marinated tempeh in Vegan Planet that sounded good. I whipped up some chow mein to go with it, following my fried rice recipe and subbing cooked chow mein noodles for the rice.

I bet you’re wondering what I thought of it, aren’t you?  Well, I have to say that I prefer the taste and texure of tofu to tempeh.  Tempeh is not at all meaty and chewy like I’d expected it to be.  It’s sort of soft and really has no taste at all.  It wasn’t disgusting and if I were out some place where tempeh was the only vegetarian option, I’d eat it.  But I don’t know that I would ever make it at home again.  No one was really wild about it.  My chow mein was awesome, though.

I really like sushi– like vegetable sushi, not fishy sushi.  My husband, though, could live his whole life without ever eating it again and wouldn’t miss it.  Because of that, I don’t get to eat it often and I certainly don’t take the time to make it if I know he won’t eat it.

Last night was a different story.  After a trip to the Japanese market last week, I had some abura-age “shells” sitting pretty in my fridge.  The process of making the rice to go in them is a little laborious and I wasn’t in the mood to do it until yesterday.  So yesterday afternoon, I pretty much followed this recipe to make my age (but I added some shredded carrots to the sushi rice).  The rice that stuffs these guys is sweeter than regular sushi rice and I had reserved some not-too-sweet rice to make regular sushi rolls with.  My rolls had jicama, carrot and avocado in them and they were yummy!  Totally hit the spot.  Some pan-fried tofu and miso soup rounded out the meal.  To my suprise and delight, my hubby even ate a few pieces of sushi.  It was quite a feast!