Baked Tofu in a Peanut Sauce

I have been making an awful lot of scrambled tofu lately, and while that quickly soared to the top of my Vegan Comfort Foods list, I was looking to do something a bit different from the pan-fried or scrambled tofu dishes.

I love a good savory peanut dish, and thought that it would go nicely with slabs of baked tofu. I had this for dinner last night in wraps made from large leaves of green leaf lettuce along with some spaghetti squash. I couldn't resist and spooned some extra peanut sauce on top. Lovely.

Unfortunately, I scarfed this down before taking a picture. Yes. It was that good.

Baked Tofu with Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

• tofu
• peanut sauce, jarred or homemade*
  

Directions:

1. Take a block of tofu and slice it into uniform 1/2-inch thick slabs.
   


2. Press the excess water out by placing the tofu pieces on a flat surface lined with a double thickness of paper towel. Cover with more paper towels and place something heavy on top, like a cast iron skillet. Let sit for 3 hours.
   


3. Pour some of the peanut sauce in a container. Add the tofu and cover with more of the sauce. Be generous. Cover and put in the fridge and let marinate for a good 6 hours.
   


4. Preheat the oven to 350.
   


5. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying with cooking spray or brushing it with olive oil.
   


6. Lay the slices of marinated tofu on the sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray.
   


7. Bake for 20 minutes. Take out the sheet and flip over the pieces, hitting them again with the cooking spray and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until golden brown and delicious. The longer you bake it, the denser and chewier it will be.
   


8. Serve over noodles, rice, or in a wrap.
   


9. Optional: Garnish with chopped peanuts, lime and cilantro.
   

Spicy Peanut Marinade

Ingredients:

• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 T soy sauce – I used Bragg’s liquid Aminos
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 t agave nectar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small hot chili pepper, minced - add more to taste if you like it spicy
  

Directions:

1. Mix the liquid ingredients together.
   


2. Add the minced chili and garlic.
   


3. Add the peanut butter and stir well with a whisk until the mixture is well-combined.

Notes:

• I saw an ad for the Tofu Express, which looks intriguing, though really I can do the same thing with a plate, a bunch of paper towels and a cast iron skillet, and it doesn't cost me $40.
  
  I have to wonder, though, looking at it: Where does the excess water go? Is there a channel for it to run off and away from the tofu?

Spicy Peanut Noodles

I absolutely love peanut butter. I prefer natural varieties. My current favorite is Smucker's Naturals, chunky, of course. I haven't bought the standard sugar and salt-laden pb in so long that when I had some a few months ago at someone else's house, I was shocked at how cloyingly sweet it was. Plus, for some reason, the texture struck me as unnatural and kind of icky.

Food confession: I love peanut butter so much that I will sometimes eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon and call that a snack or a mini-meal. Now, I don't particularly care for peanut butter paired with sweet foods, except when combined with chocolate of course; I generally prefer peanut butter with savory foods. When I crave a peanut butter sandwich, I am more likely to add wheat germ and sunflower seeds instead of jam or jelly.

A nice spicy peanut sauce will really make my taste buds happy. Pair it with chicken, or tofu like I did today, toss in some noodles, and we're in business.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil (peanut or canola)
• Red pepper flakes
• 1/2 onion, halved and then sliced into thin strips
• 1/4 cup carrot, cut into matchsticks
  
• the whites of 2 green onions, chopped
  
• Minced fresh ginger
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1/4 package of tofu, pressed of water and cut into strips
• Noodles, vermicelli, spaghetti, Chinese noodles, whichever you prefer - today I used a block of ramen noodles
• 1/3 cup peanut sauce, jarred or homemade*
• Sesame oil
  
• Chopped peanuts
• Green onions, chopped (optional)
• Toasted sesame seeds (optional)
  

Directions:

1. Pour some oil into a large skillet, and sprinkle with red pepper flakes and let sit.
   


2. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Drain the noodles, put them in a bowl and toss them with 1 T of sesame oil. Let sit and cool.
   


3. Over high heat, sauté the onions, ginger until onions are just starting to brown.


4. Add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Toss in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
   


5. Add the strips of tofu and cook until golden brown.
   


6. Add the peanut sauce to the skillet, stirring to coat well. Taste frequently and adjust seasonings to your liking. Add more of the sauce if you like.
   


7. Toss the drained noodles into the skillet, mixing everything well.
   


8. Garnish with chopped peanuts, green onion and sesame seeds.
   

*Homemade peanut sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves of garlic.
• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
  
• 2 T honey or agave nectar
  
• 2 T rice vinegar
  
• 2 T. chili oil
  
• 1 chopped hot chili

Directions:

1. Put the garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.


2. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.
   


3. Add water to thin the consistency if you find it necessary.
   


4. Refrigerate any unused sauce in a tightly-lidded container.
   


5. You may use more or less chili pepper to suit your taste for spiciness.
   

Notes:

• I might start a series of recipes titled "Things to Do With Ramen Noodles."
  

Day 32: June 18th

Today is the 8th anniversary of my son's birth and death and I'll be going to the cemetery later on, so this will be short and sweet.

It's rainy, cold and gloomy out, a fitting parallel of my mood. I needed a hearty breakfast this morning, and decided to veganize one of my comfort food breakfasts: Scrambled Eggs with Onion & Tomato.

Scrambled Tofu with Onion and Tomato

Ingredients:

• 2 T olive oil*
• 1/2 block of extra firm tofu (I like nasoya organic tofu best)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 t onion powder
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 2 T nutritional yeast
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put the olive oil in a pan and turn the heat to medium-high.


2. Drain the tofu and blot it with a paper towel.


3. Crumble the tofu into the pan and saute until it's nicely golden-brown.


4. Push the tofu to the sides of the pan and add the chopped onion and saute until translucent.


5. Add the tomato and stir the mixture together.


6. Stir in the onion powder, garlic powder and turmeric and mix well.


7. Fold in the nutritional yeast, making sure that everything is well coated. Let it cook for about a minute more, then plate.


8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*Unlike Rachael Ray, you'll never see me prance around the kitchen calling it EVOO.


Notes:

• It looks amazingly like the real deal scrambled eggs, thanks to the turmeric and nutritional yeast.
  


• I always preferred my eggs on the dry side which is why I did not opt for any additional moisture, but if you like yours creamier, you can whisk your nutritional yeast into some warm soy milk or soy creamer first and then add it to the tofu and vegetable mixture.
  


• I may try something like this in my quest to make the perfect vegan omelette. Omelettes were my favorite egg-based dish. If I coudl recreate their essence with tofu I would be very happy indeed.
  

Day 24: A Green Smoothie Addict

I can't get enough of these green smoothies. For the past 3 days I have had what I've been calling "Monster Green Smoothies" for two meals. They're "monster" because they're big and green: 24 oz of tasty greenness.

I know I ought to seek out new recipes so that I don't get tired of drinking exactly the same smoothie every morning, and I do mix it up a bit, but I stick to a base of banana and spinach. I have come to like Michael's Super Defense Food Powder quite a lot. I have some soy yogurt which I could use as a base once I run out of bananas. I think I'll hunt down some new smoothie recipes today.

Breakfast:

1 Monster Green Smoothie:

• 2 bananas
• 1/4 of a fresh pineapple
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of pineapple juice
• 1 oz of baby spinach
• 1 scoop (2 teaspoons) of Michael's Super Defense Food powder

1 glass of water
1 multivitamin, 1 flax seed oil, 1 evening primrose oil

Lunch:

Potato-veggie Tofu Scramble*
1 glass of water

Afternoon Snack:

2 glasses of water (lunch was very filling)

Dinner

1 avocado
1 tomato
3 T tomatillo salsa

ok, yes, basically, I ate a bowl of guacamole for dinner, but my GOD was it good! The ingredients were organic, and all so fresh that it didn't need the enhancement of tortilla chips (no, not even Guiltless Gourmet or my homemade ones) or tortillas. I was eating this with a spoon until I thought better of it, got up and sliced up a red bell pepper.

1 red bell pepper
2 glasses of water

Note: I didn't even eat the whole bell pepper or the entire bowl of guac.

Potato veggie Tofu Scramble

Ingredients:

• 2 medium red potatoes, diced
• 1 vidalia onion, diced
• 5 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 block of firm tofu, diced
• 1/2 oz of shredded soy cheese
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 heaping t of smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Saute potatoes and onions in a skillet that's been coated with cooking spray over high heat.


2. Cover tightly so the steam helps cook the potatoes.


3. Cook 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms, stir to coat and cover again, but stirring from time to time.


4. Once the mushrooms have released much of their liquid, add the red bell peppers, stir and cover.


5. Mix the tofu, shredded soy cheese, tomato, garlic and spices together in a bowl. Toss well.


6. When the potato has cooked through, add the tofu-cheese mixture.


7. Stir well, heating through, and serve hot.
   

Makes 2-3 servings