Vegan Yum Yum... - Coconut Lime Tofu (p. 136-137)

THE RECIPE (Courtesy of Above Referenced Book)
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1 brick of tofu, drained and well pressed
2/3 c. coconut milk
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 half lime
2 tsp. sugar
Zest of 1 lime

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. It's getting hot in herrre.
2) Cut tofu. The book recommends cutting fancy "bricks", I just did my usual "strips".
3) Add every ingredient save the tofu into a food processor and blend well. This is where my Magic Bullet came into handy, though the roomie does own a fancy food processor I am getting excited to try out sometime soon.
4) Add the tofu to a casserole dish and pour sauce over it. Bake for 25 minutes. Flip tofu, then bake additional 10 minutes until the vast majority of sauce has been absorbed and evaporated. Remove from oven and let dish cool a bit before (photographing) and eating.

Low-Down on the recipe:

For starters, I halved the entire recipe since I am cooking for one and did not want ridiculous amounts of leftovers, like my last experiment. My sauce used tamari, instead of soy sauce, and I found the taste to be on the salty side. (Tamari vs. Soy: What's the diff?: http://ideas.thenest.com/dinner-recipes/cooking-advice/qa/cooking-q-a-tamari-vs-soy-sauce.aspx)

Next bottle, I'll definitely buy low-sodium. Despite the saltiness though, the taste was good / on the exotic side!

This was also my first attempt at using frozen tofu. Freezing tofu definitely changes the texture - freezing it gives the tofu a light and spongy density.

Speaking of firsts, another first of mine was using a zester. Pretty cool tool!

Also, my brown basmati rice was an appropriate side. Next time, I'll reserve some sauce to add over the rice and finished tofu product.

Afterthoughts II on Snickerdoodles

MAKE LESS CINNAMON SUGAR! HALVE THE RECIPE! The leftover cinnasugar was insanely addictive - I added it to popcorn, my morning oatmeal, hell, I even ate some straight. Note to self: Avoid future cavities and make less next time!

Suggestion From a Friend

JL recommended that I post recipes online. That was my original intention, but then I decided against it in case that the recipes were protected by copyright. As a result of JL's feedback, I am posting recipes and hopefully providing adequate credit to the respective authors. In the event that I am infringing on any copyrights or laws, I am more than happy to remove recipes.

Afterthoughts on Snickerdoodles

The cookies are EXTREMELY CRIPSY (rock hard!) On the plus side, the greasiness is not as noticeable one day later. They are great cookies for dunking in hot tea, which I found out today at work. Next time, I plan on reducing oven time - perhaps that will give the cookies a more palatable texture.

Hurry Up Alfredo - Vegan Yum Yum...(p. 196)

This is a pretty good dish! Following the recipe, I used 3 c. of any small pasta shape - I chose elbows. The recipe yields 2 or 3 servings - they come out to be very largeeee servings. Next time, I plan on halving the recipe, and anticipate having more than plenty pasta.

The cashews did not grind smoothly - but rather left an interesting texture for the dish.

There is small "kick" to the sauce - I would not call it a substitute for Alfredo sauce... it tastes different, but quite delicious!

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THE RECIPE (Courtesy of Above Referenced Book):

3 c. any shaped small pasta
1 c. soy milk
1/3 c. rounded raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 c. nutritional yeast
3 TBL. low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
2 TBL. Earth Balance Marg
1 TBL. tahini
1 TBL. lemon juice
2 tsp. Dijon or stone ground mustard
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch salt
Black Pepper, to taste
2-4 garlic cloves

1) Boil water; pasta until tender, not mushy.
2) Mix soy milk, cashews, yeast, tamari (or soy sauce), marg., tahini, lemon juice, garlic in a blender on high until smooth.
3)Drain noodles, pour sauce over, and combine.

Snickerdoodles - Vegan Yum Yum: Decadent (But Doable) Animal-Free Recipes for Entertaining & Everyday (p. 246)

This is my first documented experiment in vegan fare! The recipe calls for cinnamon sugar - I found a recipe online, as follows: 1/2 c. sugar + 1 TBS. cinnamon. Finished cookies were on the hard/ cripsy side. The second batch came out better than the first - they were a little softer. As with my other vegan baking experiences, I found the finished product to be on the greasy side. Need to start experimenting with different types of vegan "butter" - for this recipe, I used Earth Balance Original, in a circular tub. Similarly, as with other vegan baked goods, the cookies were a tad salty. Pretty good snickerdoodles, nonetheless.

Thoughts for next time:
+ experiement with different "butter"
+ cook for less time

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THE RECIPE (COURTESY OF ABOVE REFERENCED BOOK):

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. Earth Balance marg.
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 tesp. Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 TBL. hot water
1.5 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. cream of tartarrrr
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Cinnamon sugar (see recipe above)

1) Cream sugar, marg, and vanilla extract in a med. size bowl
2) In small bowl, whisk egg replacer and water until foamy. Add it to the marg. and sugar mixture, then whip all together until its light and fluffy (In Scattergories, perhaps a term of endearment)
3) In a separate bowk, mix flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Add portions of the dry ingredients to the wet, whipped mixture then whip until combined. Alternately add dry, wet ingredients. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
4) Preheat oven to 375.
5) Using a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, use 1TBL. measuring spoon to measure out dough. Roll into balls and roll each ball into cinna-sugar.
6) Using fork, lightly flatten cookie.
7) "Bake for 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 minutes for cruchy ones." Remove from oven and let them sit for 30 sec. Gently remove cookes and cool on wire rack. --> As discussed, next time I'd reduce the baking time to 8 minutes to see if that improves the cookies texture.