Sweet and Sour Tofu Skewers

My poor husband has been working like a dog this week. He's been up and out the door before dawn every morning, and home late into the night many nights. The girls have hardly seen him, and the extent of my seeing him has been nudging him in the ribs when the alarm goes off at 4:30 am and pushing him out of bed so as not to have the alarm sound again in 9 minutes.

We were assured that he would arrive home early this evening and we were all very excited. Mairin asked me all day "Mommy, what time will it be evening?". The long hours working has resulted in very little eating for him, and when he has eaten, it's surely been less than healthy. Tonight I wanted to fix him something fun and tasty for his arrival home. I'd planned on grilling tofu skewers, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, and broke out in storms this afternoon, so my skewers got grilled indoors.

These skewers consisted of cubed tofu (marinaded in half a can of crushed pineapple and juice, 3-4 Tbs of brown sugar, and a dash of Tamari), fresh pineapple chunks, onions, zucchini and summer squash (both from this weeks CSA basket). I served the skewers on a bed of romaine (also from the CSA) and with a side of Coconut Basmati rice. The skewers were a big hit, and I was very pleased to see Rob enjoying a nice, healthy meal.

For the girls, I cooked up a small batch of Vegan Dad's Baked Tofu For Kids. Stella really liked the baked tofu, but surprisingly she liked the sweet and sour tofu even more. Mairin, who typically likes tofu, was in a rather obstinate mood tonight, and decided that she didn't like anything I made and opted for cereal instead!!

Lindsay's Apple Blossom

For Mother's Day Mairin made me a lovely cook book at her preschool. Each kid had to bring in their favorite recipe and the teacher laminated and bound them all with a picture of your child dressed as a chef on the front. It's such a cute little keepsake, but it unfortunately won't get used much here. Our recipe (lentil tacos) is of course one of only two vegan recipes in the book (and I'm quite sure the other is just vegan by coincidence). Some are easily veganizable, but most are so heavy on the animal products that there's no way I could even begin to veganize them.

Mairin's friend Lindsay brought in the only other vegan recipe, and today we decided to give it a try for snack time. It's diced apples cooked inside a tortilla. It's a clever little snack, but would make a fantastic dessert paired with some non-dairy vanilla ice cream, when you need something quick and simple.

Lindsay's Apple Blossom

1 small apple, diced

sugar (I used unrefined)

cinnamon

tortilla

Place diced apple along center of tortilla. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Wrap burrito style and microwave for 1 min. 30 sec. Let cool a little, and serve.

An Old Favorite (and a new one too!!)

Tonight I made an old favorite of ours. This simple pasta dish is perfect for busy nights, and light enough for a hot evening. The temperatures have been soaring out of control this past week, and we haven't felt like eating much.....which works to my advantage, since I haven't felt like cooking much!! Anyway, I decided it was time to get some real food on the table, but again, the heat really drains the cooking energy, ya know.

This pasta couldn't be easier. Start by cooking your pasta as directed. I recommend penne rigate for this recipe, but any short pasta would do. When your pasta is nearly finished heat 3 Tbs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Mince 6 cloves of garlic and drop them in the hot oil, along with about 10 whole basil leaves. Cook for a few seconds until garlic and basil begin to sizzle. Be careful not to burn garlic. Add one 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes with about half of their juice. Add cooked pasta and simmer until heated through. Serve drizzled with good extra virgin olive oil.

I served the pasta with a simple side of baby spinach drizzled with olive oil as well, along with a baguette from Blue Dog Bakery. The girls devoured this pasta. They either really, really liked it, or they were extremely happy that mommy started cooking again!


For dessert I made another version of my "nice" cream (remember: my name for cruelty free ice cream!!). Tonight I made Mint Chocolate Chip. This is a new favorite!! This flavor got lots of praise from everyone. The peppermint flavor was just right, and was not overpowered by additional sweeteners. I intended to make the finished product green, but they wanted $16.99 for a box of 4 small natural food colorings at the store, so I opted to leave the ice-cream white!!

Mint Chocolate Chip "Nice" Cream

1/2 of a 12 oz package of firm silken tofu (I use Mori Nu brand)

1 cup Silk soy creamer

1/2 cup Soy Dream Vanilla soy milk

1 tsp Peppermint Extract

2 Tbs Brown Rice Syrup

Green food coloring (optional)

1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

In a food processor combine all ingredients up to chocolate chips and pulse until tofu is smooth. Refrigerate for several hours to chill. Freeze in ice cream freezer following manufacturers directions. When ice cream is nearly frozen add chocolate chips while paddles are still churning.

Vegan Pound Cake

In anticipation of more strawberries from the CSA today, I decided I wanted to make shortcakes for dessert. So I set about looking for pound cake recipes. Most that I found called for silken tofu which I just used the last of in a smoothie the other day, so that was out. Most also called for lemon extract, which again I did not have. What to do, what to do?? Improvise!!

Working from several recipes and ingredients I had on hand I devised my only little recipe for

Orange Tofu Pound Cake:

1/3 cup softened Earth Balance
3/4 cup unrefined sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 package firm tofu
juice of 1 orange (plus 1 1/2 tsp orange zest)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350. In your food processor or blender process tofu with orange juice until smooth. In bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand held mixer) cream together Earth Balance and sugar (unrefined sugar doesn't cream as well as white granulated sugar, but it was all I had). With machine running add baking powder, vanilla, tofu mixture, orange zest and water. Slowly sift in flour until batter forms. Lightly oil 5x6 baking dish and fill with batter. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, until top is golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean.

Thankfully the CSA came through with 4 pints of strawberries this week!! After washing them I sprinkled them with unrefined sugar and allowed them to macerate while we at dinner. Then I served them over slices of Orange Tofu Pound Cake. The creamy topping you see on them is just the other half of the tofu from the pound cake processed in the food processor with 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 1 Tbs powdered sugar.

Yum yum, strawberry shortcake is a sure sign that summer is on it's way!!!