TofuXpress

So who would like to donate $40 to our blog to get us a TofuXpress??

A huge reason why people don't like cooking with tofu is because it is such a royal pain to press and drain. I have tried a ton of methods and it is just so wasteful, messy, and time consuming. For $40 + shipping you can get this bad boy to do all of the work for you. Seems to be a decent deal considering you probably waste well over $40 worth of paper towels and other supplies trying to get all of the water out of tofu! 

I asked for one for Valentine's Day so we will see if I get one :) I am not counting on it since I asked for this bad boy for Christmas and I have yet to see it...

Delicious Liquid Brat Diet

Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast - Everyone is familiar with this timeless recipe for a feel better solution. Growing up, I hated anything that had to do with the brat diet while being sick. It was full of blah foods that never went well together. Ever since having my daughter, we realized that the traditional brat diet wasn't going to cut it. We came up with a liquid solution that actually tastes really good! 

If you're lucky enough to live near a place that carries this, then you can skip this recipe, although I think ours tastes much better ! 

You'll need

One banana

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup of whole wheat baby cereal

1/2 cup of rice baby cereal

Clear Pedialyte

Strawberry banana juice

Combine everything, using as much liquid as you need to get it to a comfortable consistency. We used equal parts of Pedialyte and juice, which you can also mix these two together and freeze into a delicious ice pop! This brat recipe is great for kids and adults. It tastes like a strawberry banana smoothie! 

Brought to you by our very recent hospital visit....

Draining Tofu

Here is a little tip I learned recently in terms of draining tofu. Normally I press it with a paper towel until there is no moisture left, but google recently introduced me to a new method.

Microwaving!

I haven't perfected it, but I wanted to put it out there to see if anyone had any input on it. It was a bit difficult but did work. Basically it heats the tofu up and releases all of the water - which works great if you have something for the water to drain into. I've heard of people using coffee filters but it just seems like there is too much water for that to work. I put the tofu in for 2 minutes, then 30 seconds until most of it was drained. I had to keep pressing it in between because I didn't have a good drainage system set up.

I was also a bit concerned with the microwave taking out any essential nutrients since we tend to avoid cooking in them. Microwaves tend to kill certain vitamins (which is why you shouldn't microwave vegetables). I don't know how that works in terms of tofu, but I'm just putting it out there. 

How do YOU drain your tofu? Press it? Let it sit under a plate? Microwave? 

Snacks Part 2

In addition to the first snack post (which you can view here), I decided to do a part 2/what we are snacking on lately.

Broccoli,  Green beans, Peas, not too much of mushrooms tho

Veggie Straws - Our favorite

Rice Cakes

Bananas - must always have bananas in this house!

This is her new favorite - Peanut butter on toast. I can't complain! 

Original Chex Mix - an occasional snack

Chickpeas - delicious just by themselves!

Cucumbers - she loves them

 Blueberry bagels

 Strawberry Banana Orange Juice Soy Milk Smoothie (sometimes with tofu)

Wheat thins - I prefer the low fat ones! 

Silk Almond Milk

We recently switched over to almond milk due to everyone having a sensitive stomach (okay, just me and the baby). She seems to be tolerating this a little better than the others. We tried everything from soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, coconut milk - and in the process I found out I was allergic to coconut as well! 

Normally I don't like Silk because their milks are too sweet, but I highly recommend Silk's vanilla almond milk. It tastes sweet, almost like a milkshake. This goes really well with smoothies! Add a banana, strawberries, orange juice, and almond milk for a delicious drink!

Also, if you sign up on Silk's site, they email you a 75c coupon asap and email you even more later on!

Vegan Garlic Roasted Potatoes

This is one of my favorite additions to any dinner, although for health reasons we try not to include it in every meal :) It takes about a half hour to make, which is just enough time to make the rest of the meal! 

 You will need

3-4 potatoes

Earth Balance Vegan Butter

Chopped Garlic

Italian Seasoning

Salt

Vegetable Oil

How to make

Preheat the oven to 400F. Coat the pan with just enough oil to spread an even layer on the bottom. Slice your potatoes about a 1/2 inch thick. I like to keep the skin on them but you can remove it if you want. They tend to fall apart easier if you remove the skin. After you slice them, lay them in the pan on their side. You will be flipping them halfway through so don't worry about them cooking unevenly. 

The amount of butter you use will depend on how you like your potatoes. I tend to like them with a little bit extra butter flavor. You can use anywhere between 1/2 a cup to 1 cup of melted butter. Remember that the butter will not only give flavoring, but also help your potatoes to not stick to the bottom. I use about 3/4 of a cup of butter in mine, sometimes more if I am making a larger amount. I like to mix my spices into the butter before I pour it over the potatoes to spread it evenly. (You can cheat and use the pre-mixed mashed potato seasoning if you wish!) Feel free to add vegetables into the pan with the potatoes, if you have room, to give them a delicious buttery-garlic flavor.

Set the lid on it and cook for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and flip them. It doesn't matter if you flip them neatly - they all usually cook evenly. If you want 'harder' potatoes, leave the lid off when you insert them back into the oven. I usually put the lid back on to keep the moisture in and so I don't have a mess of oil and butter left in the stove. This would also be the time to add in vegetables, Cook for another 15 minutes or until tender and enjoy!! 

They were finger-lickin-good! 

Tofurky Roast with Stuffing and Vegetables

I'll be the first to admit that I always side-eyed the Tofurky roasts in the store. I tried one years ago and it tasted awful, so I never tried it again....until now. It was absolutely delicious and I would definitely recommend to EVERYONE! Even my meat-eater boyfriend chose to eat this over real turkey. It lasted us a week and still tasted great! 

What you'll need

Tofurkey Roast (please read the ingredients - not all of them are vegan)

Vegetables of your choice

 

(The one I bought didn't have the brownie included)

How to Make

 It looks really weird right out of the box, but trust me, it is worth it. Be careful taking it out of the package.

This was so simple. It takes about an hour or so to cook. Follow the directions on the box carefully! You need to cook the roast for about a half hour first by itself with half of the gravy they gave you, then another half hour with all of the gravy and whatever vegetables you want. The gravy is absolutely delicious and they give you more than enough so you won't need to make your own! 

I would definitely make this again, even when it isn't a holiday. Its so tender and the stuffing is really good! The whole box was around $10.99 and totally worth it!

Pizza Pizza!

One of my favorite foods to make is pizza! This is a very easy, cheap recipe for vegan pizza.

You will need

Daiya cheese (or any vegan cheese)

Pizza or pasta sauce

Crust

Seasonings

How to make

The crust that I use contains honey. This is a personal preference. Some find it vegan while others don't. If you are uncomfortable eating honey, then I recommend looking at the ingredients of different crusts or making your own. This crust contains very very little honey. My daughter is allergic to honey but can still eat this crust without any issues. It comes in three different sizes! This one fits into the toaster oven no problem :)

 

Preheat a toaster oven or regular oven to 300/350F. I like my pizza to be softer, so if you like it crunchy, preheat to 350F. 

Pour sauce onto the crust, add seasonings (I like garlic powder), add cheese, and cook! Let cook for 10-15 minutes and enjoy!

My little helper! She enjoys the pizza more than I do!