Seasoned Tofu and Veggie Wontons

During the month of November, Hubbs and I had the amazing opportunity of running a pop-up organic, vegan cafe inside of an amazing bar called The Little Fleet in downtown Traverse City, Michigan.  It was called Koko's Cafe Pop-Up.  I worked for the owner of the bar during the summer season, running his food truck, and he decided to bring his food truck inside during the winter to be able to serve his customers delicious food and allow entrepreneurs to test the market with their new products.  We had an amazing month and feel very blessed to have been able to do that.  We had many great customers - a lot of whom cannot wait until we open our physical location.  And neither can we!  We are shooting for late spring to early summer.

At the end of the month we made a delicious homemade wonton soup stuffed with tofu, veggies and some awesome seasonings.  It sold very well and people were raving about how tasty it was.  It's something I have been making for a couple years at home.  I'm so glad people loved it the same way I do.

I can't give out the recipe since it will be used for our business, but I can say what the ingredients were (all being organic): tofu, green local cabbage, scallions, bok choy, carrots, tamari, toasted sesame oil, black pepper).  Check out the process below

One batch of many of the tasty wontons.

Close-up of the delicious filling.  Yum!

The finished wontons, before freezing

Koko

Vegan Chop't Salad

My birthday is coming up at the end of this month.  Yay!  Hubbs and I have always gone out to dinner and most times a movie afterwards to celebrate.  When we lived in NY we could go anywhere, have an amazing meal then walk over to one of the many theaters.  What a blast!  Now that we've moved to Michigan, the options are slimmer, but still great.  

Hubbs and I were talking yesterday about where we would go for my bday this year, and I'm still deciding.  You see, even though everything I put on this blog is vegan, I have not been vegan for several years.  I have been vegetarian for almost 13 years, but I haven't been vegan for a while.  So, eating out was quite easy.  Now that I have decided to be vegan again (about two weeks ago), the pickings will be slimmer, which is even more motivation for us to get our vegan cafe up and running next year!!  

Several years ago for my bday dinner we went to this place in Union Square in Manhattan where the Hubbs' cousin worked, called Chop't Creative Salad Company.  That place is awesome! They have a giant line of literally hundreds of items you can put in a salad to make it all your own.  Seriously delicious!  And a vegan salad can be made literally hundreds of different ways.  Check out their menu!  First, you start off with the size of the salad (we got the biggest size), then choose your base: romaine, iceberg, arugula, kale or mixed greens (we chose mixed greens).  And you choose from tons and tons of additions.  Then they put everything in their big bowl onto a fresh cutting board (every customers order goes onto a fresh, clean board), use these huge knives and chop away.  Once it is chopped to your desire, they put it in your bowl and send you off.  It's a bit expensive though - for two salads and two waters, it was over $25.  Thank goodness Hubbs' cousin worked there and we were able to use his discount - it ended up being about $13!

Hubbs and I raved about the salads we ate for a long time afterwards, so I decided to start making them at home, using any and everything I had in my fridge to make it even more interesting and tasty.  

Koko's Chop't Salad:

So tasty!

Place the following ingredients into a large mixing bowl:

several handfuls mixed greens
shelled edamame
diced tomato
sliced red onion
diced smoked tofu
chopped carrots
chopped cucumber
Diced cooked beets
couple tablespoons dried fruit and nuts
handful diced seitan or other vegan protein
diced apple or other fresh fruit

Add a hefty amount of vegan chipotle ranch dressing and toss together with your hands (I never bother with chopping up the salad - it's delicious as is).  That's it!  Change up the ingredients and dressing and you'll have a new salad every time!


Koko

Vegan Breakfast Sandwich: Tofu Egg Hollandaise

It is definitely no secret now that my Hubby and I plan to open our own vegan cafe here in Michigan.  We are working hard on it everyday it seems like.  In theory it doesn't seem so hard or involved - people open restaurants and other food businesses everyday.  But do they do it well?  Do they open simply because they like to eat?  Or because they see themselves as good cooks?  It definitely takes more than that to open a food establishment!  I have known since I was a teenager that I wanted to open up my own place.  It has certainly evolved over the years in regards to the theme.  I didn't always want to open up something vegan.  But I definitely know what I want now and have been working so hard over the last 10+ years to build experience and make it happen. 

 

 

I test recipes pretty much everyday.  Some days that means baking and decorating like 6 whole cakes, 10 different kinds of cookies, 5 different sandwiches, etc.  Some days that means only testing a smoothie or soup recipe.  Some are very involved, some are pretty simple and straightforward.  This is a recipe I tested recently.  As simple as it may look, it took quite a bit of time because each component was homemade.  And it was very tasty.  Hubbs and I had our own critiques, but both thought it was a great idea and definitely warranted further testing.  After I finish this post, it's time to work on the business some more.  Phew!  A lot of work, but it is going to be so worth it once we are open!  Can't wait!!

 

 





Crazy delicious!  And awesomely messy!
On a fresh baked vegan biscuit.



Fresh Baked Biscuit - it ended up being a bit too big for the sandwich.



Biscuit cut in half  - it looks so fresh!
And a juicy sliced tomato.



Tofu Egg cooking.



Almost done - just needs the sauce!  So pretty!

Hope you enjoyed the pics of the tasty sandwich!

Koko

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Steamed Peas, Baked Glazed Tofu

Do you ever have those days when you really need to go to the grocery store, but for whatever reason, you can't?  I'm having one of those weeks!  Since moving back to Michigan, Hubbs and I have had to buy a car to get around, which has definitely been an investment (but such a freeing one!), so we have only been able to afford one for the time being.  It has worked very well for us, especially since both of my parents and my younger brother work within a couple miles of each other downtown, so it's easy to get a ride.  For one reason or another this week, it has not worked out that I am able to take the car and go shopping.  Hubbs has never liked grocery shopping, so I always go.  Which is totally fine since I always have fun shopping.  Needless to say, since we haven't been shopping in a couple weeks (just getting a couple random ingredients from the coop here and there), we just have a couple fresh ingredients, though lots of pantry and frozen items.  That is how this meal came about.  I baked a package of firm tofu, boiled some potatoes, made a nutritional yeast gravy, tossed the baked tofu in some spicy bbq sauce and served it with some steamed frozen peas.  It was simple and tasty.  Now we basically just have a half of a head of green and red cabbage and a couple other random fresh ingredients.  I think I'll make a tasty stir-fry with edamame (frozen) and some black sesame seeds.  Yum!

 

 

 

Simple tasty dinner!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Koko

Testing Recipes: Country Fried Seitan Caesar Salad & Smoked Tofu Sandwich

Now that Hubbs and I have broken our fast and gotten back into eating (yay!), I have been testing recipes maniacally.  Even if it means I only take a small bite of whatever it is.  I am definitely staying away from more refined sugars and trying to use more local maple syrup and agave as sweeteners, plus dates, when that works for the recipe.  I am also trying not to eat anything fried, or at least a very small portion.  Just really trying to keep things healthier. 

 

I was going through a bunch of photos and recipes I have saved as drafts for this blog and have found a ton that need finishing, which I will publish soon.  It's funny how many of them have fried foods and tons of carbs.  I'm not saying that's bad - it's damn tasty, but just how different it is from how I'm trying to eat now.  I also found a ton of photos of recipes I've tested over the years, especially gluten free.  I'm going to do a post soon with all the pictures of the gluten free items I've tested but don't necessarily have a recipe for.  It either got lost along the way or wasn't exactly great, but the pictures are always fun to look at. 

 

 

Here's two recipes I've been working on over the last several days.  One is for a Seitan Caesar Salad and the other for a Smoked Tofu Sandwich.  I liked the Caesar, I just wasn't crazy for the dressing.  I have researched and made tons of vegan Caesar-type dressings, but none of them have been nearly as tasty as I recall a "true" Caesar dressing tasting.  So I've still got to work on that.  The Smoked Tofu Sandwich tasted great, but was too hard to eat with that bread.  It was a locally made organic baguette that was just too crispy and hard to eat.  I ended up with a sore mouth afterwards!  But definitely easy to fix - I'll have to find another, less crispy local baguette and problem solved!  Testing these both another time, but that's the fun part, right?! We'll get to sample them all over again!

 

 

 

Vegan Caesar Salad with Country Fried Seitan

Smoked Tofu Baguette on Local, Organic Baguette



Closer view on that beautiful sandwich!

Enjoy!

Koko

Spinach Pie with Parsley & Artichoke Pasta

My hubby and I have decided to go on a 7-day juice fast.  In the middle of this freezing cold winter.  It seemed like a good idea a week ago when temperatures were warmer.  Our fridge is completely filled with fresh fruits and veggies, awaiting being juiced.  Even though we have officially gotten started on our cleanse today, I figured I would post a recipe I made last week.  Drool over the pictures and the memory a little bit.  I think we usually eat pretty well, although generally too many carbs - but we definitely will do well with a cleanse, especially after the holidays.  Enjoy this recipe and hopefully I'll post some pretty juice pictures and recipes in the next week or so, depending on how I feel.  I've been told by day three I'll be super cranky, but I'm going to be optimistic and think that each day will be great!

The spinach pie served with a simple parsley, artichoke pasta.

1 10 oz. box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed mostly dry

mock vegan feta cheese

2 teaspoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, small diced

sea salt and black pepper to taste

couple pinches cayenne pepper

1/2 package silken tofu, blended

Filo dough

4 oz. earth balance, melted

1.  Place the thawed spinach and and handful of crumbled vegan feta in a large mixing bowl.  Set aside.

2.  Place a saute pan over medium heat and allow it to become hot.  Once it is hot, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until both have cooked through.  Season with a small amount of sea salt and black pepper.  Add into the bowl with the spinach and feta.

3.  Place half of the package of silken tofu into the bowl of a blender and blend until completely smooth.  Add to the mixture in the bowl, plus additional sea salt and black pepper.  Season to taste.

4.  Oil an 8"x8" baking pan with the melted earth balance.

5.  Take several sheets of the filo dough out of the package, together.  Brush the top sheet generously with the earth balance, fold in half, and place in the bottom of the pan.

6.  Place the seasoned spinach mixture on top of the filo, pressing firmly down.

7.  Take another 4-6 sheets, brush generously with the earth balance, carefully turn over, and brush the other side.  Fold in half and place firmly overtop of the spinach.

8.  Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and cook for about 35-40 minutes, or until the spinach mixture is holding together and the top sheet of phyllo is nicely browned. 

9.  Allow it to cool for several minutes before serving, or it will not hold together.

The top is nicely browned!



Simple, tasty filling.  Yum!

Enjoy!


Koko

Vegan Broccoli Cheese Quiche

Quiche is something I used to love eating when I was simply vegetarian.  And it was always something that took a little bit more time, but was so worth it and such a great thing to make with guests.  I have made quiche several times since becoming vegan, but they have never really turned out so great before.  I think a lot of it had to do with the crust always being too health-foody.  I found a recipe for a quiche on the Oh She Glow's blog (I am a huge fan!) and decided to try it.  It was certainly the best vegan quiche I have made before, but it needed a little something extra.  So the next time around I made it, changing and adding a couple things, and it came out amazingly!  So delicious!  And who doesn't love broccoli and cheese? Yum!

 



 

 

Isn't this the most gorgeous thing ever?

Omg, I wish I could eat this again, after looking at the picture!

Base recipe from Oh She Glows website with the following changes:

-used homemade "buttery" crust
-blanched the tofu before blending - and blending it while warm
-used yellow onion
-didn't use: mushrooms, chives, basil, sundried tomatotes, spinach
-added an extra 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
-used 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-added 2 tablespoons cashew butter to make creamy
-added 1/2 teaspoon vegan boullion powder
-used 1/2 bunch of broccoli, blanched and cut into small pieces, folded into the mixture after it thoroughly blended
-added 1 cup of shredded mozzarella-stlye daiya
-baked for 45 minutes - anything less resulted in a too-soft texture

That's it - and it came out crazy good!


Enjoy!

Koko

Rice, Bean & Veggie Saute, Chopped Salad with "Feta", Tostones & Guacamole

Looking at these pictures, I cannot tell you how much this dinner hit the spot.  It was so delicious and had all of the flavor and textural elements: crispy, creamy, crunchy, tangy, spicy, salty.  Yum.  It seems like such a hodge podge of items, which usually means that the hubby has made several strange requests, but this time he hit it right on the head.  We had several avocados and since I hadn't made  guacamole in quite a while, he suggested that, along with the tostones to dip in it of course.  Then we naturally needed a salad, which was my contribution.  And of course the main course of the rice and beans.  That was damn tasty!  Once I make something, write down the recipe and type it up, I don't usually revisit the recipes, because I am always thinking of more and more things to make, but I may just revisit this recipe.  Yum. 

 

For the salad, I was looking to replicate a kind of Greek-ish salad with the feta.  I used to love feta so much.  I would put it in salads, on pizzas, even eat small slices as is for the salty tanginess.  I made this feta with super pressed tofu.  It was easily pressing for a couple of hours.  I have made several different kinds of mock feta, most unfortunately being pretty hideous.  This was pretty good, almost there, especially texture-wise.  I am not going to post the recipe because it still needs a little tweaking, but I marinated it in olive oil, a couple vinegars, a few dried herbs, quite a bit of sea salt

Chopped Salad with Vegan Feta, Tostones,
Guacamole, Rice & Bean Saute

Tostones, Prepared

 

 

Yellow Rice & Bean Saute:

2 tablespoons garlic olive oil (minced garlic sauteed in olive oil)

2 small carrots, small diced, about 1/2 cup

1/2 orange pepper, small diced, about 1/2 cup

1/2 small green pepper, small diced, about 1/4 cup

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced, about 1/2 cup

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 cup snow peas, tough ends removed

2 cups cooked yellow rice (white rice cooked with 2 tablespoons annatto oil)

1 cup cooked pinto beans

2 teaspoons vegetable boullion powder

1 1/2 teaspoons tamari

1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

 

 

Chopped Vegetable Salad:

1/2 cup medium diced green bell pepper

1/2 cup medium diced orange bell pepper

1/4 cup medium diced red onion

1/2 cup mock feta, small diced

1/4 cup medium diced Roma tomato

1 1/2 tablespoons prepared Italian Dressing

Pinch black pepper

 

 

Guacamole:

1 extra large avocado, seeded and mashed

2 tablespoon minced red onion

2 tablespoons minced tomato

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 pinches cayenne pepper

 

 

1.  Prepare the chopped veggie salad first - the flavors are much better after marinating for a while.  Place all the chopped veggies and the feta in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir well.  Add the Italian Dressing and black pepper and toss to coat.  Cover and place in the refrigerator while preparing the rest of the meal.

2.  Begin the Rice, Bean and Veggie Saute.  Place a large wok on the stove over medium-high heat and add the garlic olive oil.  Allow it to become hot and add the carrots, orange, green and jalapeno peppers, onion and snow peas.  Saute for several minutes, stirring frequently, until veggies are crisp-tender.  Add the cooked rice and beans and stir to coat with the veggies.  Add the boullion powder, black pepper and tamari and toss to coat with all ingredients.  Season to taste.  Turn off the heat and cover.

3.  Prepare the guacamole:  in a medium bowl, add the mashed avocado and the remaining ingredients.  Stir well until ingredients are well mixed.  Season to taste. 

4.  To serve, portion amount of each the sauteed rice, beans and veggies, chopped salad, tostones and guacamole. 

 

 

Enjoy!

Koko

Last Hurrah in NYC with my Besties

Two days before I moved, I was very fortunate to have a last amazing, delicious vegan lunch and dinner with two of my besties, Kumiko and Eileen.  I have had the pleasure of knowing these beautiful, intelligent women for over  five years, and even though we were not always able to get together because of the ridiculously busy NY lifestyle, whenever we were able to get together, we had a blast.  And we would always be eating the tastiest vegan food!   Kumiko took me to a very classy, expensive Japanese restaurant in Manhattan called Kajitsu, which was "on her husband" - meaning we could spend as much as we wanted (love those two!).  We ate an amazing, gourmet meal.  It was such a different culinary experience for me, but also such a blast.  It is a kind of restaurant Kumiko has never been to.  She says that even Japanese people only go to a restaurant like that one or twice in their lives, so I was honored to share the experience with her.

After we ate, we walked around and around and around Manhattan, with me soaking up every little detail and trying to memorize everything.  We went to May Wah on Hester Street in Chinatown - the first time for Kumiko and likely the last time in a while for me (sad sad!).  I got a couple things that will hopefully last me a couple months into living in my new city and remind me of the city I'm leaving behind.  We parted ways very sadly, but with both of us promising to visit each other.

I had dinner with Eileen at Peacefood Cafe - Union Square.  Dinner was tasty, but not exactly picture-worthy, and we were too busy blabbing and blabbing to take the time out.  The cafe was mad busy and we had a great time.  It wasn't as homemade oriented as Kajitsu, but definitely tasty and a nice send off.  Enjoy the pictures of my last vegan meal in NYC.  I'll bring my awesome vegan tasty treats with me to Michigan and introduce everyone here to the tastiness!






Tomato and Bell Pepper "Tofu" in a delicious broth with
Basil Tempura.

 

All of the tastiness together - with Miso Tofu Skin Soup, Rice, etc.



The entree: zucchini in a yuzu broth with all kinds of delicious,
unfamiliar ingredients and herbs.    



Dessert: Mochi with Adzuki Bean Filling. Tasty!

The dessert out of the banana leaf.  Served with super strong
Green Matcha Tea.

We walked around and found a gf bakery. 
Not too impressed, sorry to say.



Blueberry Muffin, Spinach Sundried Tomato Muffin,
Vanilla Cupcake, Date Crumb Bar - all gf



Enjoy!

Koko

I've Officially Moved to Michigan!

Hello everyone!  After quite a while away, I'm back!  I survived the huge, long move to Michigan and am trying to get settled into life here, although it has admittedly been more difficult than I was expecting.  We have officially been back for about three weeks and these past few weeks have definitely been full - no time left to sit around.  My mom took off several days from work and was running us around like maniacs.  Have I mentioned that we now have to purchase and drive vehicles to get to where we want to go to on a daily basis?  No mass transit?  This is the strangest feeling and such a transition!

I feel like I should be working right now, not sitting in my parents' quiet, massive house on the computer.  It is beautiful out right now and so damn quiet!  I should go do some laundry to hang on the clothes line out back or go explore the garden some more. See if there are any veggies ready to be picked.  Hmmm.  Or maybe I'll just sit out in the sun for a little bit.  I've already got more color in these past few weeks than I have in the last 6 years living in NYC!  I've got to try to chill out and enjoy the peace while it lasts!

And after taking my own advice and going through the garden, I discovered these:



After moving from NY, this is the biggest blessing I have
experienced in a long time - picking my own food and eating it.



And I made a delicious tofu scramble for breakfast, which I did not take a picture of, because Hubby started inhaling it before it was even set completely in front of him!  Love this fresh food and beautiful weather!

Until next time,

Koko

Monday, Not Sunday Brunch

It's Brunch Time!  This was from the Brunch I made for Hubbs and I on Monday - the only day I don't have to be to work at 5 am. 

I mentioned in the last post that I still want to keep this blog going even though I have not had a ton of time to work on it lately.  What I had intended when I first started it was to take pictures of everything I cook and bake, write and post the corresponding recipe.  Most of the time I do take all of the pictures and write all of the recipes down.  Sometimes, somehow, I do not write down the recipe due to timing issues, or Hubbs inadvertently throwing it away, or some other mishap, but I still have all the pictures that I would like to share.  It makes me sad going through the thousands of food pictures I have taken over the last couple years and think of not being able to share them, simply because it would not follow the initial purpose I had of creating this blog, by not also posting a recipe.  So perhaps from now on, I may be posting some/more blog posts without recipes, but with more pictures.  Besides, food pictures are always fun to look at right?  So, here are all the lovely pics of the brunch we had, which was delicious!  I could barely get the pictures taken because the Hubbs was standing over my shoulder with his fork, declaring how "starving" he was.  So they were taken pretty quickly.

Monday Brunch!





The plate all loaded with delicious food: homemade vegan
sausage, diner potatoes, tofu scramble, pancakes.




Tofu Scramble.


 

Pancakes!





Diner-Style Potatoes.

 

The whole spread before it was dished up.  Beautiful!

Enjoy!



Koko

Brunch: Roasted Potatoes, Black Bean Tofu Scramble, Fried Squash

 I must admit my mind is elsewhere right now.  My grandmother on my mom's side is in the hospital and has been all last week.  Her health is declining and although everyone is trying to be positive, I think we have to be realistic too.  She has been in poor health for a while now, with diabetes, open heart surgery back when I was in college and now dementia.  She is unfortunately in congestive heart failure and is so upset to be in the hospital.  She hates being away from home and is worried because she had a bird at home that she is never away from.  I really do appreciate and am thankful for being in New York, but at times like this it really makes me want to drop everything and move back home to be with my family.  All of my 8 aunts and uncles (my mom is included in that number) are at the hospital now talking to the doctor to see what he feels.  My mom left me a voicemail as I was leaving work saying that my Grandma is terminal.  Please keep her any my family in your thoughts.  As of last night Grandma wasn't eating or drinking anything, talking about how she had a great life and wanted to be cremated and buried.  As soon as I hear back from my mom, I'm going to decide what to do.  I have to see my Grandma again.  This is making me get teary-eyed now just typing this up.  It also brings me back to the death of my sister-in-law Kenia not even a year ago - in May from cancer.  It makes me really reevaluate my life, what I am doing, where I am and what my goals are. 

This is just a heads up that I may not be blogging for a while, depending upon how things go.  In the meantime, enjoy what my Hubby and I had for brunch yesterday, our day off together.  I had some leftover cooked black beans in the fridge that needed using up, as well as a package of tofu, so I thought of doing a Spanish-style scramble, with some roasted potatoes (I am always getting organic potatoes for free from work.  Today I got some really cool organic purple potatoes and I am debating making mashed potatoes with them just because I think it is going to look so crazy on our dinner plate!) and fried up some squash I got from work.  It was tasty and came together pretty quickly, which was great - I was able to spend more time with my Hubby!

Roasted Potatoes, Black Bean Tofu Scramble, Fried Squash:



So delicious!  Wish there was some left!

Tofu Scramble:
1 lb. extra firm tofu, drained well and pressed
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 roma tomato, diced
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2-2/3 cup cooked black beans
tamari, as desired

1.  In the base of a large wok or saute pan, add the oil over medium-high heat.  Allow to become hot.
2.  Once the oil is hot, add the onions, green, red and jalapeno peppers and garlic.  Saute for a couple minutes, or until beginning to soften. 
3.  Crumble the tofu to desired size directly into the pot.  Keep stirring the mixture.  Add the spices: nutritional yeast, turmeric, cumin, sea salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.  Stir very well into the vegetables and tofu mixture until tofu is completely yellow in color. 
4.  The amount of time you cook the scramble from here is up to you.  I like the tofu to be pretty firm with a more "dry" texture, otherwise it reminds me of undercooked eggs.  Gag.
5.  Add the diced tomato, black beans and tamari to taste.  Stir and cook until all ingredients are heated through. 
6.  Serve with the remaining components.

Enjoy!

Koko

Spicy Lime Tofu with Roasted Mushroom Risotto, Green Peas & Salad

Hello everyone out there.  Hope everyone is doing well.  I have been insanely busy with my new job - it's taking up the vast majority of my time, and what little time I have left is taken by the Hubby either by cooking dinner for him (well, us really), working on our cafe plans together or trying to have enough time to go on a date.  This unfortunately leaves me little time left to blog about all of the tasty things I am still making on basically a daily basis.  I definitely still want to share the delicious things I am doing, and I hope you are still wanting to see them, however, there is no way with the way things are currently going, that I will be able to write as thorough of posts as I have in the past.  I am thinking of doing something similar to the blog What The Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway, in that I would share menus and pictures, and when time, recipes and stories.  I think that is what is going to work the best for now, but it could always evolve from there and maybe eventually go back to a recipe for each post.  We'll see.  Until then, thanks for checking out my blog and enjoy through pictures the tasty things I am making for the Hubbs and I, or what I am preparing professionally or privately.



Dinner Tonight: Roasted Mushroom Risotto, Spicy Lime Tofu,
Mixed Green Salad and Green Peas.  Tasty and simple,
though the risotto was definitely time consuming!



Tofu with a Tahini Sauce, Rice, Brazilian Braised Kale, Hominy

This is certainly not the prettiest of dishes I have ever made, but damn was it tasty!  I am by no means a Southerner.  I am from pretty much as high north as you can go in Michigan.  Therefore, I have never eaten Southern food, nor have I ever really felt the need to eat any kinds of Southern looking foods in the past.  This has changed recently once I started working with B, a lovely intern from the Natural Gourmet Institute, the culinary school I graduated from in NYC.  She happens to be from Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the sweetest person ever!  She also helped disabuse me of all of my preconceived notions I hadn't even realized I had about Southern people.  Weird, right?  Anyway, she was always telling me about foods her mother would prepare for her and things that are typically Southern.  Keep in mind though that she is a culinary graduate living in NYC, so she certainly has creative, delicious ideas, but still talks about the foods she ate.  So this was my tribute to her in a not-really Southern way, but a Southern-inspired way, with the greens and hominy.  I'm not even sure where I came up with the idea for the tahini baked tofu, but there it is, and it was a tasty meal. 

Tofu with a Tahini Sauce, Rice, Brazilian Braised Kale, Hominy

Yields enough to coat 1 lb. tofu

Tahini Sauce:
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon tamari
1 teaspoon agave
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 pinches black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
pinch cayenne, or to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly oil a baking tray with spray oil and set aside until ready to use.
2.  Remove the tofu from the package, carefully squeezing out some of the water and being sure not to break the tofu.  Cut in half the hamburger way, then cut each half into 4 slices. Lay each slice on the prepared sheet tray and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
3.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the top has browned.  Use a spatula to flip over the tofu.  Sprinkle with additional sea salt and black pepper and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. 
4.  While the tofu is continuing to bake, prepare the tahini sauce. 
5.  In a medium saucepan, add all of the ingredients except for the water and tahini.  Mix together the water and tahini in a separate small bowl until smooth and the tahini has thinned.
6.  Add the thinned tahini to the rest of the ingredients in the pan.  Whisk everything together and turn the heat to medium-low.  You only want to heat the sauce.  Be sure to stir the contents continuously. 
7.  Once the sauce is simmering, add the tofu into the pot, flipping each piece to coat. 
8.  Serve with additional sauce on top. 

Enjoy!

-Koko



Baked Tofu with Wine, Lemon & Caper Sauce with Dirty RIce

This dinner was all about cooking quickly and getting to eat quickly.  Hubby and I were both very hungry, and I was able to get this dish from start to finish, on the table in an hour.  Pretty good.  Sometimes when I'm feeling more like testing and trying new things, I could spend several hours in the kitchen preparing one meal.  Organization is what really allowed me to get this bad boy into our bellies really quickly.  Since I didn't have any seitan prepared and know that it can take a while to make something with tempeh (I like to bake it in a flavorful sauce for at least 45 minutes covered, uncover and bake another 15-20 minutes - way too long for our hungry bellies!), I decided on tofu, because you can bake that in the oven, forget about it, make the sauce and everything else at the same time, then the tofu is done and just needs to simmer for a little while in the sauce.  Done.  Easy. 

The idea for this sauce came from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook which I am slowly making my way thorough, and as I am sure I have said before, the recipes are great bases, but generally need some reworking to suit the Hubby and my tastes.  But hey, it makes it so that dinner is never boring and there is always something different on the table.  This dinner turned out very well, so much so that between the Hubby and I (and I only ate 2 slices of tofu and less than a cup of the rice), it was literally all gone!   ALL of it!  Hubby was disappointed, because since he ate it all, there was none left for him to take to work the next day, so he had to settle on something uninteresting to take with him.  Serves him right for almost eating a whole pound of tofu by himself!   

Baked Tofu with Wine, Lemon & Caper Sauce:



Steamed Broccoli, Tofu over Rice, Simple Salad


Serves 2-3

1 lb. tofu, drained, sliced into 6-10 slabs
olive oil, to drizzle
sea salt and black pepper

Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 lemon, ends removed and sliced into 4, seeds removed
1 cup filtered water mixed with 1 teaspoon Better than boullion
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
sea salt and black pepper to taste
Parsley, minced, to serve

Dirty Rice:
2 cups cooked white rice
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup small diced onion
1/4 cup small diced celery
1/4 cup small diced green pepper
1 green onion, minced
2-3 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, preferably homemade

1.  Start with the tofu - it is going to take the longest because it needs to bake.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the tray, lay the tofu on the sheet, drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle each piece of tofu with sea salt and black pepper.  Place in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes.  Turn over, sprinkle with a small amount of olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.  Return to oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tofu is firm.  Remove from baking tray and place on a plate, so the tofu doesn't continue to cook.
2.  Prepare the sauce.  In a large saute pan over medium-heat, add the olive oil and allow it to become hot.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook until softened and fragrant.  Add the wine and allow it to evaporate about halfway.  Add the water and boullion and stir mixture.  Add the lemon slices, being careful not to move them too much or they will break.  Add the capers, sea salt and black pepper and taste.  Wait to adjust seasonings unless it clearly needs more salt.  Once the sauce mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and stir periodically. 
3.  Place the baked tofu in the simmering sauce, turning the heat down even more.


Tofu Simmering in the Sauce.  Beautiful isn't it?


4.  Now you can get started on the rice, but keep an eye on the tofu in the sauce.  After the tofu has been simmering for about ten minutes, turn it over so that the other slice can have an equal amount of time absorbing the deliciousness! 
5.  Back to the rice:  place the olive oil in a wok over medium-high heat and allow the pan to become hot.  Once the pan and oil are hot, add the onion, celery and green pepper.  Saute for several minutes, stirring periodically.  Add the cooked rice and stir pretty frequently - you don't want it to stick to the bottom of the wok.  Once the rice has cooked and separated, add the white part of the scallion and stir into the rice mixture. 
6.  You can turn the heat down now to medium.  Add the Cajun seasoning, being sure it coats each individual piece of rice.  Taste the rice and add more of the Cajun seasoning if you would like.  Add the green part of the scallion just before serving. 
7.  To serve, place a couple pieces of the baked tofu on your plate and generously add the sauce.  Place a nice helping of the rice on the plate as well.  You can do what my hubby did - lean the tofu pieces against his pile of rice and drizzle the entire thing with the sauce.  So delicious!  It's nice to have tofu with a fresh, light sauce for a change.  I will definitely make this again!




A Close-Up of the Tofu with the Wine, Lemon & Caper Sauce


Enjoy!

-Koko

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with a Chocolate Cookie Crust

Whenever I am out for lunch or dinner at a veg restaurant, I pretty much always have to order two things:  seitan and cheesecake.  I am always curious about whether or not the restaurant makes either the seitan or the cheesecake in house.  Most vegan places in the city order from Vegan Treats, which is ok, but not very interesting for me because it makes me think the place isn't super creative, and I feel like once you've tried one of Vegan Treats' items, you have tried them all.  They are also super refined and way too sweet for my tastes!  Anyway, I tried a vegan cheesecake at Blossom about a year ago on Hubby and my Anniversary dinner and wasn't super excited about it.  The cheesecake part of it was super dense and didn't have a lot of flavor.  And instead of a traditional crust on the bottom, it had a dry cake base.  Ugh.  The seitan I also ate there was not homemade, I could tell.  Not to say that it wasn't tasty, because it was, but I was a little disappointed to know that they get it out of a giant 5 gallon bucket, just like firm tofu comes in within a restaurant.  Believe me, it is the strangest thing in the world to stick your entire arm into a gigantic bucket of icy cold water, searching for a chunk of tofu.  Creepy and gross feeling! 

Anyway, I have a base recipe for a cheesecake that I like.  It's nice and creamy, not too dense, and doesn't have that sometimes very artificial tofutti cream cheese flavor.  I would still like to make some changes to it, but I also like it as it is, after I have already made several changes to it.  I also just bought the book from Isa and Terry "Vegan Pie in the Sky", and saw a recipe for a vegan cheesecake that does not call for tofutti cream cheese, which is great!  I'll have to try it!  However, I initially made this recipe when I was interviewing for the position at Vegan Divas as Executive Pastry Chef.  I tested several items, including a carrot cake, chocolate icing (tofu based) and this cheesecake.  I brought them in to the owner of Vegan Divas' husband, Francois Payard to sample.  Now, being a classically trained French Chef, I felt it was a little strange for him to be tasting vegan baked goods, especially a "cheesecake", because I know that it does not taste anything like a "real" dairy cheesecake.  He is also so used to the flavor of dairy, eggs and tons of butter and heavy cream.  He did not particularly like the creaminess of the cheesecake, but afterwards, I brought several pieces to several of my veg friends (what was I to do with the remnants of a gigantic cheesecake with just the Hubby and I at home??), and they absolutely loved it.  Just goes to show what I fully expected to happen.  Anyway, we ultimately placed this recipe into the rotation at Vegan Divas and it sold quite well if I do say so myself!  The crust is a little complicated, so you can just make a cookie crumb based crust if you like, but this is what we did at Vegan Divas.

Vegan Vanilla Bean Cheesecake:

I accidentally used baking powder, not soda, but it was tasty!


Yields 12 Slices

Cookie Crust:
1 1/2 cups white spelt flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/16 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon egg replacer
1/4 cup filtered water
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Cheesecake Filling:
3/4  lb. tofutti cream cheese
1 1/2 pkg. aseptic silken tofu
1/2 pkg. tofutti sour supreme
1 cup turbinado sugar
½ cup + 2 tablespoons soymilk
4 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon agar agar powder
1/2 vanilla bean, seeded


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Generously oil a 9" springform pan and set aside until ready to use.
3. In a medium mixing bowl add the spelt flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and sea salt. Whisk together until well combined.
4. In a separate medium mixing bowl, add the egg replacer and filtered water. Whisk until white, frothy and bubbly. Add the remaining ingredients: the canola oil, turbinado sugar, vanilla and almond extracts. Whisk together until sugar dissolves and a thick mixture has formed.
5. Carefully pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and using a spatula, mix until a soft, shiny dough forms. The dough may have to be finished mixing by hand.  Place into the prepared baking pan and press the crust up the sides.
6.  Now prepare the cheesecake filling.  Place the filling ingredients in food processor  and process until completely smooth and silky - this will take several minutes.  Periodically scrape down the sides of the processor to ensure even processing.
8. Pour the cheesecake filling into the pan and twirl to ensure even baking.
9. Bake for about 45-60 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time.
10. Allow to chill for several hours at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight before slicing.

So Creamy and Delicious!

Enjoy!

-Koko

Gluten Free Wednesday: Korean BBQ Baked Tofu, Beet Salad & Moro

Happy Gluten Free Wednesday!

This was a pretty simple meal - one where I had three pots/pans going at once, and everything was finished at the same time.  I love that.  This just came together based upon the ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry.  It is once again time for a trip to the grocery store, but until then, I was able to make a nice, simple tasty meal.  And Hubby definitely enjoyed it.   He always loves a good beet salad and naturally loves moro.  And the most surprisingly, he actually really enjoys tofu.  Strange I know for a meat-eating, meat-loving Dominican guy that never tasted tofu in his life before he met me, but I love it!

The first time I really ever cooked cooked for him (fancy-style if you get what I mean :), I was doing a practice run for a dinner I was making for 100 people as the guest Chef at one of the Natural Gourmet Institute's Friday Night Dinners.  I invited like 12 people over (I had quite a giant apartment at the time), spent two full days in the kitchen (even tinier than the one I have now, which seems impossible!), cooked and baked my heart out, and served a gourmet three-course vegan meal.  Everyone had a great time and loved everything.  Hubby (just the boyfriend then) loved the tofu the most.  As well as he should have, because that is the most attention I had ever and will ever focus on tofu in my life.  It was pressed, marinated for two days, baked, marinated, grilled then marinated some more.  It was the most delicious thing ever!  It was supposed to be like a salmon-style entree, complete with the pink color and grill marks, and damn if it wasn't absolutely delicious!  And the most beautiful part?  Then entire menu was gluten free and vegan!

This was the menu, but for 100 people:

First Course:

Creamy Green Pea Soup with Spicy Red Pepper Coulis, Frizzled Leeks

Second Course:

Marinated Grilled Tofu with Caper Aioli, Portabella Mushroom Risotto and Herico Verts with Pickled Baby Carrots Garnished with Marinated Radicchio Chiffonnade

Third Course:

Mini Lemon Tart with Brandied Almond Crème and Glazed Strawberries with Vegan Rhubarb Ice Cream

It was seriously ridiculously delicious!

Korean BBQ Baked Tofu, Beet Salad & Moro:

Serves 2-3

Beet Salad

Moro

Korean BBQ Baked Tofu:

1 lb tofu, gently squeezed to remove excess water

Spray olive oil

Prepared Korean BBQ Sauce

Sriracha or Hot sauce, to taste

1.  Follow the instructions on the links to prepare the beet salad and the moro.

2.  To make the tofu, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Lightly spray a baking tray with the olive oil spray and set aside while the oven heats up.  (I don't like to use parchment paper here because I feel like it makes the tofu mushy.  Baking it directly on the pan makes it crisp up nicely.)

3.  Place the tofu on a cutting board and cut into 4-6 small slabs.  Place on the prepared baking tray.  Spray with additional olive spray oil and place in the oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tofu is firm and crispy on the bottom.

4.  Allow the tofu to cool until it can be comfortably handled.  Cut the tofu into small triangles.

5.  Place the tofu in a saute pan and coat with the prepared bbq sauce and hot sauce or sriracha.  Turn the heat on medium, and toss the tofu to coat.  Cook just until the sauce and tofu are heated through.  Season to taste. 

6.  Place a portion of each the beet salad, moro and bbq tofu on a plate and serve!

Enjoy!

-Koko