The best tofu scramble recipe!

On Monday, the Pensacola Vegan Association put together a workshop at the Bear Levin Studer Family YMCA to answer any questions that people might have about going plant-based or practicing a vegan lifestyle.  First of all, I have never been in the YMCA and it is crazy!  There's a water slide! Second, we had a great turnout of like sixty people.  Perhaps they were lured in by our free food, but I talked to a pretty decent amount of people about vegan cooking and how you really don't need ANYTHING derived from an animal to make delicious food.  

One of the food items that I brought was my tofu scramble, which I have perfected over the course of a few years, trying out every tofu scramble recipe that I could find online and in cookbooks.  This is the result!  I hope you like it!

Ingredients: 

1 block of extra firm tofu

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 yellow or red onion, diced 

1/2 bell pepper, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced 

2 cremini mushroom, diced 

1/2 cup baby spinach, chopped

paprika, cumin, chili powder

2 tbsp hummus 

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp soy sauce 

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp kala namak (black salt with a sulfuric flavor) 

1/4 tsp turmeric (anti-inflammatory and yellow color!)

Salt 

Press the tofu really well!  I have a tofu press, and I wrap the tofu in paper towels or a dishcloth, and press it down as far as it can go.  Usually when you are pressing tofu, you want to make sure it kind of stays together, but since you are crumbling this up anyways, it doesn't really matter.  If you don't have a tofu press, you can put it on a plate and stack other plates on top or some heavy books.  This part is really important to get the right texture, so if you think it's done, just keep pressing it for another five minutes or so.  

In the mean time, heat the oil in a large pan over medium-heat.  Add the onions and a pinch of salt and sauté until translucent.  Then add the garlic and sauté for another minute.  It should smell really good.  I usually add a little bit of salt as I go.  Then add the peppers and mushrooms.  If you like spicy stuff, you can always add a jalapeño pepper at this stage as well.  While the veggies are cooking, add a good pinch each of cumin, paprika, chili powder, and black pepper.  

Mix the ingredients from hummus until turmeric in a mug.  I know it sounds kind of weird, but just trust me.  Depending on how thick your hummus is, you might want to add a little water, because you want it to pour easily.  

Push the cooked veggies to the side of the pan.  Once the tofu is done pressing, you can crumble it with your hands straight into the pan.  Turn up the heat a little bit and cook the tofu for about three minutes, then mix it up (but not the veggies yet) and cook another three minutes, mix it up.  It should get a little brown.  Pour the hummus mixture over the tofu, mix it up and let it cook for about another three minutes.  Finally, you can mix up the whole pan!  Lower the heat a little and let the mixture cook until some of the liquid has evaporated it looks drier than it was.  Mix in the baby spinach and serve when it has wilted! 

Don't forget to salt and taste as you go!  You can add in whatever veggies you have on hand.  Sometimes I add some chopped seitan in as well.  Goes really well in a burrito with some hash browns!

Here are some bonus pics of the workshop!  We had a section on cruelty-free beauty, baking, the environment, factory farming.  Kris Howell was there as our resident vegan health coach, spreading that nutritional knowledge! It was seriously such a wealth of information and I loved being able to share it with the community.  I think we are going to plan another one, so if you missed the first one, come to the second! 

I finally got a chance to show off my cookbook collection

Courtney Northington seriously laid down the cruelty-free beauty knowledge

Vegan queen

Thanks for reading!  Let me know if you try my recipe! Ciao ciao :) 

Balsamic Tofu Burgers and Gardening

I feel like it's finally fall here in Penacola.  The air has a coolness to it, and it isn't so humid that every inhale feels like you're drinking a glass of water.  I have a recipe for this week!  Most days, I just make up meals but I never take pictures or write down the ingredients, so I can't post about it.

It's been so long since I posted something that I actually made up, so I figured I should be proactive and document my cooking experience.  I made my own veggie burgers last week, and I saw a pin for a tofu burger on Pinterest, so I thought, Why not?  Here's what I came up with...

Balsamic Tofu Burgers
1 block of firm tofu
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1 teaspoon honey
Squirt of barbecue sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon basil
salt and pepper to taste.

Press your tofu to get the water out.  I use the Tofu EZPress.  A really good investment if you eat a lot of tofu! See it on Amazon HERE.  Cut your tofu into desired burger size and shape.  I used one block and made four burgers.

Mix together everything else in a bowl. Pour it on your tofu and let the tofu marinate in the refrigerator for at least two or three hours. I flipped them over in the marinade halfway through.

Cook them! They're best on the grill but I just pan-fried them the other day.  Super easy.  Three or four minutes each side.

Should have used a grill pan but I don't have one

Keep in mind that my measurements are just recommendations.  I literally just threw in random amounts of random stuff until I came up with something that I liked.  I think some rosemary would be good in there too.

Also keep in mind that these are TOFU BURGERS.  Tofu gets a bad reputation for being plain, but marinating it helps.  But it all comes down to them being made out of tofu.  So I add a bunch of toppings.  I usually make my burger like this (in order from bottom to top): whole wheat bun, baby spinach, tofu burger, smear of barbecue sauce, some vegetables, ketchup, whole wheat bun.  My favorite topping is a mixture of sauteed onions and mushrooms.  Here's the recipe for how I make them!

Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions
1/2 a white or yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
Five good sized white mushrooms
Tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Splash of white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat up a saucepan.  Add the olive oil and the garlic.  Once the garlic is fragrant, add the onions and then a little while after add the mushrooms.  Add the white wine and the balsamic and let it cook on medium heat until the majority of the moisture has evaporated.  Then eat it alone or put it on something.  Whatevs you want.

mmmmmm

Moving on... I've decided to make a garden and I've become kind of obsessed with the idea of having a raised garden bed.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you can see my garden board here.  I'm pretty sure that half of my pins are just links to raised garden beds.  Peter and I went through a phase where we were going to make one from random wood in the backyard, then where we were going to buy the wood from Home Depot and then finally we were like, let's just buy one.  Turns out those things are like $100.  After I had resigned myself to the fact that I was either not going to have a raised garden bed or I was going to have to make it myself, the neighborhood had a yard sale.

One of the girls that had lived here before me left behind an old book case and the shelves were falling off, so we took out the shelves.  Peter and I looked at each other like they do in the movies and I was like, "Wait.... this is a raised garden bed."  I felt like a genius.

Not sure where we are going to put it yet!

So now I have a few containers and a bed that needs to be filled.  I planted arugula, onions, garlic, peas, carrots and daffodils.  I have no idea how this is going to turn out.  I've never really tried that hard to grow something before so I'm excited.

Because I am a very impatient person, I needed the instant gratification that planting flowers provides.  I can't wait for the months while my seeds grow, I needed something to be proud of now.  So I made hanging planters.  By "made" I mean I bought the hanging things and picked out some flowers and put the flowers in the hanging things.  I put one on each side of the porch.  I'm kind of proud of them.  Also, in case you didn't know Lowe's has a military discount.  Sadly my ID expires on October 28th so I have to use it while I can.  

In other news, I have a few new books.  I'm 75% done with Ken Follett's Edge of Eternity which has 1,120 pages.  It's the finale of his Century trilogy and I'm kind of depressed that it's over.  It is an epic multi-generational historical fiction saga.  I know more about the characters in this book than I know about my own relatives.  Read more about it HERE. I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes historical fiction and European and American history.

I also have the two most recent Phillipa Gregory novels in her Cousin's War series that somehow I just missed that they came out!  This is the fault of the bookstore in Naples who stopped carrying books and magazines because their supplier went out of business.  I'm catching up slowly but surely.

That's all for now! If you have any gardening tips, suggestions for what I should plant or book suggestions, let me know!

xo Katelyn

Pad Thai Grilled Tofu/Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day from Wine and Vegan Cheese! Today my mother got the wonderful gift of my sister coming home from college to spend the summer here.  I mean, she already has me living at home as a 22 year old and she does all of my laundry, so I feel like I am just the gift that keeps on giving.  Just in case that isn't enough, I also got her this cute little chicken pitcher from Deruta, Italy.   

My family (aka actually my Dad) also got her a swing because our old one was a little decrepit and she likes to sit outside in the sun and read.  I really wish that my mother would give me the Mother's Day gift of telling me where my bottle of Pinot Grigio is because I need it.  (update: there is no wine left, she drank it all)

New swing!

 The weather has finally been nice for more than 3 days at a time!  I have the next three days off and I am looking forward to sitting in the sun in my bathing suit and reading The Fall of Giants by Kenneth Follett.  His books are addicting.  I already preordered the third book in the trilogy and I am so psyched, even if it doesn't come out for a few months.

The only place I want to be until I leave Naples

In other news, tonight my family is grilling.  I never eat dinner with them but Tara is back and it's Mother's Day so I though, why not?  They're grilling steaks or ribs or something.  I scoured Pinterest for a good grilled tofu recipe because I have a few blocks in my fridge and I've never done it before.  I was feeling wild, so I whipped up this tofu! It's inspiration was Pad Thai!

Pad Thai Inspired Grilled Peanut Butter/Lime Tofu

1 block of tofu
1/2 cup of lime juice (the original recipe says use fresh, but I'm not made of limes so I used store bought)
1/3 cup of agave nectar
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
2 heaping tablespoons of smooth peanut butter (I had to use chunky because it was all that I had)
3 tablespoons Sriracha (I think I ended up adding more)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro (set aside)

Press your tofu.  I use the tofu EZPress but you can always just use paper towels.  Cut it into strips and lay it in a tupperware container or baking dish so it is all laying flat in one layer.

Mix together all of the ingredients.  Pour the sauce over the tofu and cover.  Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least four hours.  I put some cilantro on top.
 
When you're ready to grill, take it out and put it on an oiled grill.  Ten minutes each side!  Make sure you watch it though just in case because I'm sure times will vary.  Serve hot and pour the rest of the sauce over it if you'd like! Garnish with the cilantro!

The tofu ready to marinate!

This was really tasty.  Grilling the tofu gives it a smoky flavor but because it's marinated in lime juice, it also tastes really smoky.  It's sweet because of the agave but it's salty because of the soy sauce.  Overall this was a really great dish.  

Unfortunately there was a miscommunication in the kitchen and my mother threw away my leftover sauce so I couldn't eat the finished product with it, but honestly, it didn't even need it because it was that flavorful!  

 I sat in the sun for a few hours in my bathing suit, and I just examined my body and I am still the exact same shade of porcelain as I was before.  I'm determined to at least get a little tan before the summer is over.  

Overall, a really great day off! 

ciao ciao! -Katelyn

Spring Cleaning

So it is spring in Naples! Since the weather is mostly chilly and rainy, you really wouldn't be able to tell if it weren't for my itchy swollen eyes, runny nose and full body rash that I get every time spring time comes to Naples.  With spring, comes spring cleaning.  Anyone who knows me and has seen my car, or my room or my work locker knows that I'm not big on cleaning.  If it's going to take me longer than five minutes, my  attention span drops to zero and you can find me reading a book or watching TV, or cooking, or trying to learn a new language... literally anything other than cleaning.

However, this year it's going to be different.  I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that I own.  I wear maybe 5% of my clothing on a regular basis.  I have so many things that are purely decorative.  I took part in a community flea market on Saturday with my boyfriend and while we unloaded a lot of things, it's still ridiculous what I have that I am NEVER going to wear.  Why don't you just get rid of it? you ask.  Well, the truthful answer to that is I have no idea.  On one hand, it makes me a little angry that I purchased this item and I didn't wear it and will probably never wear it so I essentially just wasted my money.

The beginning of my "good-bye" pile

 On the other hand, I am a little bit emotionally attached to all of my things and I just need to let it go and grow up!  There are people that travel the world with just a backpack!  I'd like to think that I  could do that.  But for as long as I can remember, I have been personifying inanimate objects.  Like, I feel bad when I have to throw away Mr. Toothbrush because he is more than 2 months old and then I feel bad for Mr. Corkscrew because I called him a POS.

 Yesterday at the flea market, I realized that I probably wasn't going to sell all of my stuff, so I gave some of it to the women that were selling things to benefit TNR which is a local organization that assists the local stray population by Trapping, Neutering and Releasing them.   It's kind of killing me that I didn't get any pictures of the flea market but it is what it is.

Glad to get all of that gunk off of my brushes.ewwwww

 Today I cleaned my makeup brushes out the way I usually do because it has been TOOO long, I could probably just apply my makeup using the residue on my brushes:
-1 part water
-1 part hyrdrogen peroxide
-few squirts of soap.
 
This time I used Dr. Bronner's Hemp Lavender Pure-Castile soap because I was curious about it.  Have you ever read the label on that thing? It's like a cult handbook.  Kind of creepy.  But it worked really well in my brush washing and now my brushes smell like lavender. 

Also, something terrible has happened to me.  I ran out of/can't find my Vital Wheat Gluten so I can't make any seitan and I am very upset about it.  I ordered more but who knows when it's going to get here.  I don't have anything that I want to put in wraps or on salads and it is not a good time :(

So I've been compensating by making baked tofu bites marinated in balsamic vinegar.  Here's the gist of it in a recipe but I usually just wing it.

Balsamic Baked Tofu Bites
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Press your tofu.  I use the EZ Tofu Press.  Then cut it into cubes or triangles or however you'd like, but I have realized that the smaller the pieces are, the better it is because the pieces are more seasoned, here are what my pieces looked like.

Not very aesthetically pleasing, but so tasty!

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl that can be covered and sealed and then add the tofu.  Cover the bowl and shake it up.  Let sit for a bit.  The longer you let it marinate (with occasional shaking) the more flavorful the pieces will be.  I usually let mine sit for like 30-45 minutes.

Then place them on the baking sheet and cook at 350 degrees F for 30 mins, flipping over halfway through.

I really like them to add flavor and protein to salad or wraps.  I tried to make it as a copy cat of the balsamic tofu that you can find in Whole Foods' salad bar, but I haven't had that in so long because I've been overseas and this recipe has evolved so much, it's probably not similar at all. 

I'm sorry I don't have a finished picture of the batch, but they basically look like what I posted above just a little crispier.

Also a few nights ago I made THE BESTTTT dinner ever.  I used the basil tofu that I picked up at Mondo Bio in Sorrento, sauteed it with some garlic and then added it to some Newman's Own tomato sauce to make a kind of "meat" sauce.  I served it over the vegan raviolis I picked up there too.  So good.  Even my omnivore boyfriend loved it!  

The ravioli, not sure what was in it but is says Vegan!

The basil tofu tomato sauce

Anyways, pretty uneventful week for me, but I really enjoyed it because who doesn't love to relax? and also I got to spend basically 24/7 with my boyfriend, so that was magical. Now I have to get back to adding to my pile of things I do not need or want anymore!

ciao ciao! -xo Katelyn

ps. My friend and hairstylist Brittany did my hair and it's awesome. I did ombre again but there are highlights too.  Honestly I have no idea what she did to it, but it looks fantastic and really natural.  Also there was the bonus of a puppy being present for my appointment (she does hair out of her house).

No makeup and I still look good

Not sure what they decided to name her, but I called her Banshee

Recipe Thursdays - Not actually spicy Peanut Butter Tofu

I hate eating peanuts.  Roasted, honey roasted, plain, I am just burned out on peanuts.  Not. A. Fan.  However, I am a fan of things that have peanuts in them.  Like pad thai and peanut butter and recently the peanut butter and chocolate Pro Bar.

I found THIS recipe on Pinterest (of course, where else?) from Kalyn's Kitchen and I knew I had to make it.  Usually I just browse through and pin stuff, but with this one, I knew I had to make it because 1) it looked ridiculously easy 2) peanut butter 3) soy sauce 4) tofu.

I tweaked it a little bit to fit my own tastes/also I didn't have all of the ingredients I needed.  Enjoy!  I made if a few days ago, and I really cannot wait to make it again!

Vegan Asian Peanut Butter Tofu
Tofu: 
1 block of extra firm tofu sliced into diagonal pieces
1 tablespoon of peanut oil
3 cloves of garlic sliced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Sauce:
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable stock
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter (the recipe stressed to use natural peanut butter but all I had was jif.  Sorry I'm not sorry haha.)
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 tablespoons of Sriracha or rooster sauce

Press your tofu to get rid of all of the excess water.  For a while I was pretty ghetto and I would just wrap my tofu in paper towels and place it in between two plates with some books on top.  Now I have my Tofu EZPress that I got from Amazon and it saves me a lot of time and paper towels.  I highly recommend it!!

Mix together all of the sauce ingredients!  Put in as much Sriracha as you would like!  I surprised myself and kept adding the rooster sauce until I was satisfied with the spiciness.  It took me a while to work up to medium salsa so this was not expected.  

Heat up a pan.  Throw the oil in there, then let it heat up a bit.  Then throw that garlic in there.  Let the garlic stay in the pan until it smells really strong.  Then take it out and set aside or throw away.  I personally set it aside to reuse in my next recipe because I felt bad throwing it away.

Now put the tofu in the oil. Cook until it is lightly browned on each side.  Then put the pan on low heat and add the sauce.  Cook until the tofu is coated and the sauce is getting a little thick.

Place the tofu on a plate and pour the sauce over it.  Garnish with green onions if you have them! I didn't think I had any but apparently my family has tons in the garden! I didn't find this out until after I ate it though.  Sooooo not cool.

When I was making this, my mother was cooking sausage for my dad right next to me.  Seeing my nice tofu cooking in this light, plant based sauce next to the sausage, which had gone from red to purple (how does that even happen??!) cooking in basically a mixture of water and its own fat was really interesting.  My mom was like, "Oh well I'd eat healthier if it wasn't for your father liking this food."  She also said, "We come from a different generation."  Not sure why being from a different generation is an excuse to eat junk and animal fat, but that's their prerogative.

ewwwwwwwwwwww

 I'm actually really glad that growing up my mother didn't let me eat sugary stuff and provided me with balanced meals before I was able to feed myself and was moderately supportive of my decision to become a vegetarian at the age of 12.  I just wish there was something that I could do that would help my family let go of what I can only assume is an emotional attachment to fake food.  There's some type of chicken product in the freezer right now called "Wyngz".  What? No. Stop.  Right now.  That's not a real word and those are not real things. 

I have a few non-recipe blog posts in the works except I haven't really materialized them yet.  I'm working on it! Haven't been doing much except working and being lame because Peter is in Barcelona but he comes back today yay! Doing spring cleaning today and I cleared out so much stuff that I don't need anymore! 

I'm going to bring it to our community flea market in a few weeks.  That's one of the biggest things I miss about being in the states (other than the number one which is obviously Target), when everyone can just get together and sell stuff in their yard.  In the community here, people either live in apartments on base or out in the Italian economy so it's basically impossible. 

I've been trying to get into some new music because I feel like I have been listening to the same stuff over and over again for the past few weeks.  I can't stop listening to Hozier.  I've been doing a lot of pet sitting and here are two of my new favorite little furry friends, Bella and Daisy.  Their cuddle game is on point. 

Ciao ciao! - x Katelyn

Things That I've Learned - Part Two

If you missed the first installment of "Things That I've Learned" you can read it HERE.

This is mostly a rant in the form of an enlightened post.  My bad.

1) People are annoying.  Sometimes you can't change people's minds.  Example:  I cook delicious food.  I'm not bragging, it's just a fact, my food is amazing.  My father will NOT try my food.  If it even looks a little bit healthy he won't even try it.  Not only will he not try it, but he will also remark that it smells weird or looks weird.  This frustrates the hell out of me.  What also frustrates me is when people tell me that I need to eat meat to survive.  Whoah... I haven't had meat in OVER ELEVEN YEARS and here I am... SURVIVING.  Please don't spout off an unsubstantiated fact that you "know" is true and then completely shut down when I try to provide you (nicely) with actual evidence that I'm going to keep on surviving.  I'm not even the type of person that will give you a dirty look if you're eating meat.  If you want to eat meat, be my guest, I'm not even going to judge you, everyone does it and has been doing it for years but please respect my choice to not eat meat and don't act like I'm some hippie that eats dirt and grass.  No. I get all of the vitamins and minerals that I need because I am informed and I am an intelligent human being.  But you know what? I am going to judge you if you're telling me that I'm not getting enough protein while you eat a fucking twinkie and wash it down with a Coke.  Bye.

Obviously disregard the animal products on the right but the message is clear.

2) A good blender changes EVERYTHING! I used to avoid recipes where i had to blend anything because my blender was a piece of crap and now I go out of my way to blend things.  I got the Ninja Food and Drink Maker.  You can see it HERE.

3) All that I really need is a job that allows me two hours a day of company time to watch my shows because I have to watch them the day after. Okay maybe four hours. Five on Thursdays and Mondays.

ps. here is a bonus recipe that I tried and think should be shared with the masses!

It's basically baked tofu covered in a cilantro pesto.  Read it HERE.

I made it twice.  Once the way that the recipe has listed above and the second time I changed it a little bit to fit my tastes.

All of the ingredients. yum!

Cilantro Pesto Tofu
1 package of extra firm tofu (I used the kind packed in water)
small handful of pine nuts
1 generous bunch of cilantro
3 cloves of garlic
1/8 cup of lime juice
1 heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt

1) Press the tofu using a tofu press or place in between two cutting boards and put something heavy on top of it to get all of the water out of it.
2) After water is removed, cut tofu into cubes and place of a baking sheet covered in tin foil.
3) Bake at 325 F for about 30 mins, flipping over halfway through.  I like to cook it until the outside is firm to the touch.
4) While the tofu is baking, place all of the ingredients except for the tofu in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
5) After tofu is done and relatively cooled, mix together.  Eat hot or cold!

The pesto!

Ciao ciao! -Katelyn

pps. If you need any ideas for vegan recipes go look at my Vegan Recipe Pinterest board HERE!!