Tofu Scramble

I have learned that I love tofu scrambles. There's very few that I don't like. Given that I keep adding potential scrambles to this page, I should probably break them out into individual ones, but the thing about tofu scrambles is you can do a little of this and a little of that. You never have to follow exactly any given recipe. 

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion or 3 scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 bell pepper (red, yellow, orange, or green), finely diced
One 16-ounce package extra-firm tofu (previously frozen and thawed), drained and rinsed
1 cup loosely packed spinach leaves, rinsed and patted dry
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until the onion and peppers are tender and turning a little brown.
2. Meanwhile, using your hands, crumble the tofu into a bowl to create the consistency of coarse bread crumbs. Add to the saute pan and stir to combine.
3. Add the spinach, brown rice, turmeric, cumin, paprika, and nutritional yeast, and saute for about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tofu is a bright yellow color (from the turmeric) and thoroughly heated.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

• Yields 2-4 servings
• Great use for leftover rice
• You can add mushrooms (crimini)
• Adapted from the book the 30 Day Vegan Challenge (book).
• Make Mexican Scramble by adding 1 cup of salsa after the tofu is cooked, and allowing it to heat through. Put into a breakfast burrito by wrapping the scramble in a tortilla and serving with tortilla chips, avocado.
• For an Italian twist, add fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, and/or parsley.
• Adapted from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor, you can also do a Kale Scramble (shown right): 7.5 oz extra-firm tofu, 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 0.5 tsp garlic powder, 0.5 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, pinch turmeric, handful of kale. Follow directions above starting at step 2, adding everything except kale. Add in kale at the end, and cook down. Serves 1.
• Adapted from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor, you can do another Italian Scramble (shown below): 1-4 garlic cloves minced, 1 diced roma tomato, 15-oz extra firm tofu (drained), 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric. Saute garlic and tomato until mostly dry, add in tofu and all the seasonings, cooking over medium until warm and well combined. Serves 2. 

Contest Photos

I entered a food photography contest where I made six recipes and photographed them. I did not win on any of them, and despite an announcement three weeks ago about the new photos being revealed, I can't find the winning photos where they are supposed to be.

Part of entering the contest required we not reproduce the recipes in any way. Two of the recipes I did really like and have made the unpublished Codex. The other four were not quite up to par for the Codex. And one of those four I already had a recipe that I liked better.

Obviously, with the contest, I worked harder at setting up the photos and striving for a story. What I've decided is that I need a higher calibre camera and I am going to be more careful with the food photos on my blog. Hopefully you'll find higher quality photos from now on out.

Without further ado, here are the photos.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Coconut Red Lentil Dal

Lentil Mushroom Barley Stew

Mexican Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Frosting

No Bake Apple Crumble

Tofu Scramble

Pumpkin Butter

I saw vegansaurus post about pumpkin butter and I thought it sounded delicious. I had no idea what I would use it for, but that doesn't matter. Turns out pumpkin butter is like peanut butter - you can use it for anything you might use peanut butter for: sandwiches, dipping fruit, spreading on waffles or pancakes, etc. It is really easy to make.

Ingredients:
Sugar pumpkin
brown sugar (1/4 cup per 2 pounds of sugar pumpkin)
spices of your choosing: ex. pumpkin pie spice; cinnamon; cloves; all spice; garam masala; ginger; nutmeg; whiskey; vanilla; agave

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Line a baking dish with parchment paper - it must have sides.
3. Cut sugar pumpkin in half and gut it. Place halves of pumpkin meat side down on the parchment in the dish.
4. Bake for about an hour until the flesh scrapes out nicely.
5. Allow to cool.
6. Scrape out the insides and place in a food processor. Process until smooth-ish.
7. Throw in appropriate amount of brown sugar. Process until well mixed.
8. Throw in your selected spices to taste and process until well mixed and smooth.
9. Transfer to a pot. Bring to a boil, then cover with a mesh splatter screen, turn flame to low and allow to simmer down until desired consistency.

Other Notes:

• Original Recipe 
• I had put mine in the fridge between cooking and scraping due to time constraints. It sat there for a couple days. However, I pretty much skipped the cook down part because it blended to the consistency I like. Not sure if this is a good method or if I just got lucky.