Tofu

Ah, the dreaded tofu. Unless you're a foodie or a vegetarian/vegan, chances are you cringe at the mention of the word. It's because you've never actually had it, or the time you did, you tried eating it plain. Am I right? (It's ok, I thought it was gross too until I made a drastic change in my eating habits!)

Well, I'm here to change your perception! I'm trying out vegetarianism, simply to see if it helps my awkward stomach. But I still crave meat, specifically BBQ (nom!) so I went out to find a BBQ recipe that was vegetarian and satisfied my need for delicious BBQ. Enter, tofu. Below is a recipe for what I like to call Crispy BBQ Tofu! BE ADVISED - the tofu will need to freeze overnight, so plan on two days for this recipe!

Ingredients
16 oz extra firm tofu (one package)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 egg white
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
1 cup AP flour
1 cup BBQ sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

-Drain tofu and slice into strips (the size of the strips can be to your discretion). Place strips into freezer friendly bag, and freeze overnight.

-Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. In a small bowl, mix egg white and BBQ sauce together. This will serve as your egg wash. In another bowl, mix the flour with salt and pepper.  

-Dip the tofu into the egg wash, then into the flour, then place into the hot pan to fry. Make sure to only load the skillet with a few slices to make it easier to flip. Fry each slice for about a minute on each side, and then put onto paper towels to drain.

-Preheat your oven's broiler. Brush tofu slices with more BBQ sauce. Place slices on broiler pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Be sure to watch the slices as they can easily burn! 

Feel free to use the rest of the BBQ sauce as dipping sauce! I found these to look kind of weird, but taste awesome! Unfortunately for me, my stomach can't really handle straight up soy foods, so this may be one of my last tofu recipes. But I'll still be looking for ways to incorporate the ingredient into everyday foods, whether my stomach likes it or not!

Blackberry Bread

Well hey there! It's been awhile, and I'm sorry. I know in my last post I made excuses as to why I haven't been blogging - work, life, blah blah.. Well, I'm not here to make excuses, just to make delicious bread.


I was perusing through the store the other day and I stumbled upon some blackberries, on sale none-the-less! It brought me back to my childhood, picking the wild blackberries that grew around my yard and eating them with milk (don't question it, it's good!). So obviously I had to buy some!

But... what do I make with these? I could eat them by themselves... or put them in a smoothie! But, I wanted to share the blackberry goodness that I love so much. So, I put it in a bread. Using a banana bread base, I added blackberries to the mix (and of course, vegan chocolate chips!) and away I went!

Ingredients
2 cups of flour (I used wheat)
1/3 cup sugar (or honey/agave syrup)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup canola oil
3 bananas
3/4 cup (one small package) blackberries, mashed
1 tbsp applesauce
1/4 cup milk (I used almond milk)
Vegan chocolate chips (use however many you'd like!)

Directions
It's pretty much the same as any other bread. Mix all the wet ingredients in one bowl, mix all the dry ingredients in another bowl, and then mix the two mixtures together.

Add the chocolate chips last. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

The batter, and therefore the bread, will be blue/green. That's because of the mashed blackberries! But believe me, it's so delicious.

Carb Overload

This past weekend, my friend Mike and I ran a 5K. The race was on Saturday morning, so Friday we decided, along with our friend Sharon, to have a pasta dinner. We used the recipe our friend Casey came up with, very simple and very delicious!

The ingredient list is short: Farfalle pasta, broccoli, sun-dried tomato, and olive oil.

Cook the pasta as usual. While the pasta is cooking, steam the broccoli. If you don't have a steamer, place the broccoli in shallow pan with enough water to half-way cover the veggie. Turn the heat up to medium, place a cover on the pan, and voila, homemade steamer! When pasta is done cooking, drain and add the olive oil (just enough to coat the pasta), steamed broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes. And you're done! For topping, we used either Parmesan or feta cheese... yum yum!

For dessert we "got crispy" with apple crisp (with local NH Macintosh apples of course!)! We used this recipe and doubled the crisp part. Very delicious!

Hi Mike!!

I'm a coco..nut!

Remember these? These are the reason why I hated and swore off coconut until just recently. They taste awful, are terrible for you, and are a poor representation of what coconut actually tastes like. Luckily for me, Malibu exists, and it got me on the coconut train once again (yum yum!).

I love coconut now. There was a smoothie place in Manchester that had the best coconut smoothie. Pineapple, coconut, and kale... so delicious! Unfortunately, they have since closed, and I'm forced to make delicious coconut items on my own. Luckily for you, as I'm apt to share these recipes!

Last night I baked a banana coconut chocolate chip bread. It's truly vegan this time (I realize that using honey, while better than white sugar, is not vegan... bees are animals too!) and truly delicious. Try it for yourself!

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Bread (adapted from here)

Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda 
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil 
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoon applesauce (separate from above)
- 1 cup mashed bananas
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, shredded

Directions
- Stir together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt)
- Blend oil, 1/4 cup applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla. Once combined, add the 2 tablespoons of applesauce
- Add bananas to the wet ingredients. Make sure to mash bananas before adding them to the mix!
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Alternate from adding the wet ingredients and the hot water. (I know it sounds weird, but I always stick to the recipe... hasn't failed me yet!)
**Do not over stir the batter. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet, give it one to two more stirs and stop. Otherwise, the batter will become too stiff. Should look like the picture below!

-Fold in chocolate chips and coconut
-Pour into bread pan (or muffin tin) and bake at 325 degrees for 60-65 minutes. Let it cool for 20-25 minutes and then store in the fridge (this keeps the bread moist).

I hope you enjoy this bread as much as my coworkers and I did! I know I've been slacking lately on updating this blog, and I hope to update more often! Enjoy!