back in the swing of things

It has certainly been a helluva month. Moving is a total pain. Compound that with the fact that our apartment still is not technically finished and that they are renovating our whole building... Well, lets face it: it sucks. Not only does it just generally suck, but it sucks the lifeforce out of you. So yes, when we first moved in, I was motivated to make dinners such as this:

tofu-stuffed swiss chard packets with sauteed rainbow stems and couscous

Or this:

crispy baked tofu with fresh salsa (and yeah, more couscous)

Then our meals declined into eating out. Which isn't that exciting in this town, for a vegan. Lots of veggie subs, pizzas, Mexican food, and a helluva lot of beer got us through this month. In the meantime, our dining room table was looking like this quite often:

one simple farmers market trip...

And I was keeping myself busy doing insane crap like this:

peeling and seeding around 6 dozen tomatoes for marinara

So that I could end up with lots of these:

my august project (like the new banner?)

For when veggies and fruit start to get expensive again. Yes, canning has become a new obsession of mine. It makes the kitchen hotter than hell and takes me pretty much a full day to get a single turn finished, but my goodness is it ever satisfying. My parents let me borrow their old pressure canner, and I think I've been making pretty good use of it.

Anyway, eventually we had to go to the grocery store because we ran out of tofu and tempeh. And I decided I was tired of milling around the kitchen every evening without a plan or a clue. When you're tired from work (or from dealing with ridiculous landlord/maintenance people situations), going into the kitchen without a plan is a recipe for nothing but picking up the phone and calling your nearest pizza place. So, with the help of a few newly purchased cookbooks (Greek and Jewish vegetarian [blah, but whatever] cooking! a tofu cookery! a book on how to cook every single vegetable ever!...there was a booksale this past weekend.) and an old favorite (Eat, Drink, & be Vegan), I made a grocery list, and a plan. So far so good, I might add, even with a little improvisation.

At the farmers market on Saturday, these people convinced Michael to buy 3 eggplants. Imagine my complete and total dismay, since we both allegedly hate eggplant and neither of us can figure out how to cook it so that it's not completely disgusting. The farmer and his wife were very devious though, luring him in with fairy-tale visions of layered eggplant parmesan and luscious textures and...ooey, gooey cheese? Well, good thing I went to the grocery store, at least, so I could get a package of Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella for this (in my opinion, doomed) venture. Well, when it came out of the oven, it did smell awfully good.

what lies beneath the layer of breadcrumbs?

We tasted cautiously. To our delighted surprise, it was absolutely, perfectly wonderful! The eggplant was simply velvety. It was smooth and tasted like nothing either of us had ever had. And I get to take most of the credit here, since I learned about salting the eggplant before Michael ever showed up to help me layer the casserole. Salting the eggplant is key, obviously. I let those forkers sit for an hour in a crapload of salt and then we rinsed, squeezed, and patted out all the extra moisture. We got 2 layers of eggplant with 3 eggplants (small ones, though, really). In between were sauce, the FYH cheese and some vegan parmesan, a sprinkling of Italian parsley and basil, and a layer of garlic (also layered all that on top again). Finished with a coating of whole wheat breadcrumbs and baked at 350F for about one hour.

like how we went old-school shoney's with the kale garnish?

Ok, so it isn't too pretty. Guess what? Most of the totally awesomest food we make and enjoy isn't. That didn't stop us from eating the entire pan in one sitting. (It's all we had for dinner though, so that might be excusable.)

Next up on my list for dinners was the Palak Soyabina Panira from ED&BV. With a little prep time, it came together in an absolute snap and was delicious to boot.

green mound of glory

I was impressed with myself for two reasons here. Actually 3.

1) I didn't burn down the house when I fried the tofu. I also didn't burn the tofu.

2) I didn't mess with the recipe, except to leave out the cloves (allspice already has cloves in it, and we are clove-phobic around here).

3) I had the brilliant idea of serving this with quinoa instead of rice.

The quinoa added a nice crunch and some extra protein (to make up for our lack of protein from the eggplant parm night). Plus, quinoa is a lot faster to whip up than brown rice when you realize you forgot to make anything to serve with your spinach goo. The recipe was awfully nice though. Slightly spicy and not the typical curry flavor. And easy. Yet another ED&BV recipe that was a hit in our house.

When I was grocery shopping, I tried not to impulse buy too much (which, I'm sure, is why I ended up coming home with 2 pints of ice cream, soy pudding, and a variety of Cliff, Luna, and Bumble bars...sheesh), but I could not pass up two packages of oyster mushrooms for the low, low price of $1.85 each. They're usually almost $4, so I snatched them both up in the hopes of finding some clever use for them. Michael took care of that with the idea of a Manhattan clam(less) chowder. Lighter than my winter-time favorite of New England chowder, and finding that we already had all the ingredients except for crushed tomatoes, I was all for it.

yes, we are still eating soup in august

Nice and tomato-ey with lots of hearty veggies in a surprisingly tasty broth (we used the recipe from the idiot cookbook [you remember...that one with the stupidly long name, but lots of simple and yummy recipes in it]), we thoroughly enjoyed eating bowls of this throughout the evening as we hung out with friends and had a few beers. Prefaced by a simple ceasar salad (recipe from the uncheese cookbook), it was another easy and delicious summertime meal.

Yes, I realize that cooking from cookbooks isn't always the most creative way to go in the kitchen. But honestly, sometimes it is just so much easier to go in with a plan. Michael and I have the list of recipes (headed by each cookbook) magnetted to the freezer door. We cross them off as we go and have assigned recipes to certain days, depending on who will be home to cook them and what time each of us gets off work that evening. There are some more involved meals (which are going to be made on days one of us isn't working and has more time in the kitchen) and some super fast and easy meals for nights that we both work until 9 or later. That way, we are garaunteed a nutritious, homecooked meal every night. Just look on the fridge and see what's for dinner. What could be more simple, delicious, cost effective, and healthy?

an artful arrangement of our veggies and fruit, by Michael

Continue enjoying your summers, everyone. And if you're pretty much sick of the heat (like me), don't worry. Fall casserole weather is right around the corner. Pretty soon you'll be wondering what on earth to do with all that butternut (instead of summer) squash.

simple dimples and famers market and other things

I really do mean to post more often...  but things have been a bit crazy around here.  Michael found a new job (yay!) and I put in my two weeks notice at mine (also yay!).  Still, it's been stressful, and though I think about blogging every day, I only seem to have the time on weekend mornings.  So...  you're getting the best I can do for right now, friends.  Explanations aside, lets discuss some more interesting things.

We went to the farmers market this morning for the first time this year!

the basics

And there was only one seller and we bought mostly everything they had!  Well, one basket of everything, anyway.  And it wasn't as cheap as usual...  but the real deal farmers market starts officially June 27, so you bet your bottom dollar we'll be there for that.  I was a little disappointed that there were no greens...  But I can make do.  I'm always a fan of little red new potatoes.  And those tomatoes don't look completely ripe, but I'll make it work.  I'm most excited about the beans and zucchini though...  Mmm.  Spent $9.25.  We've been discount shopping like crazy lately because of our tentative job situations, and cheap produce is perfect right now.  

Have you been wondering about our garden?  Well, it's been a tad stunted because the light on the porch has been dwindling since the trees outside got more leafy, but...  progress!  Look!

teeny tiny pea pod

Our babies are growing!  So far, this is the only sign of actual items producing veggies, but it means there is hope.  And hope is damned fine for me, thanks.

What with it getting warmer (though it's been raining here all week, go figure), I've been craving raw veggies like nobody's business.  Thankfully, I remembered this, and have been making my own rendition.

i may never cook kale again.

I didn't even watch the video again before making the salad, I just remembered seeing it once and decided to wing it.  Basically, you just wash and tear your kale into bite sized pieces and massage olive oil and salt and lemon juice into it until it looks nice and wilty.  Then add in an avocado and mush it around so it coats the leaves (I do whole bunches of kale at once, so that's one whole lemon's worth of juice and an entire avocado...I do skimp on the olive oil though).  Then just add cracked pepper and whatever other veggies you like.  I put radishes and strips of summer squash in this version...and I've learned that I also love raw squash.  And zucchini.  

I liked it so much that I ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day.  Then went home and used the other bunch of kale I had to make another raw kale salad.  I am a woman obsessed. 

ok, not fully raw, but we do what we can here.

To this one I added thinly sliced zucchini (you really must try raw zucchini if you haven't...it's amazing.  So much better than cucumbers.) and scallions and radishes and also a few splashes of red wine vinegar.  Michael made some seitan and we topped our salads with it, and it was freaking amazing.  I ate the leftovers for lunch, then went out that evening and got more kale and lemons and avocados, and plan to make more salad today.  It's been like 3 days.  I miss it.  Yeah, it's got a lot of fat in it, but it's healthy fat, so suck it up and go make this.  Because it's awesome.

More on budget meals that are also quick and/or relatively easy:  Thai tempeh with veggies and rice noodles.

this was amazing.  i impress myself sometimes.

We've had a lot of tempeh floating about since Michael's mom brought us 3 packages of it, and we had 2 already in the fridge.  And we're out of tofu, and seitan sometimes takes longer than my poor hungry (aka grouchy) belly can handle.  Anyway, I got all this coconut milk at Aldi for like 90 cents a can, and a bunch of zucchini and frozen broccoli...  We had all the other stuff on hand: scallions, frozen peas, carrots, tempeh, rice noodles, ginger, limes, soy sauce, etc.  I steamed the tempeh and while that was going on, made a marinade of coconut milk, ginger, lime zest and juice, a little cumin and coriander, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes.  Drain tempeh, marinate for about a half hour, scoop out with slotted spoon and pan fry...  While that was going on, I sauteed the veggies and cooked the rice noodles.  Add tempeh to veggies, add marinade on top of that to act as the sauce, heat through, and bam!  Dinner's ready.  That might seem like a lot of steps, but if you're good at multi-tasking, it's not so bad.  

Ok, so I just noticed that the next 4 pictures are really strange looking...because there was a lot of yellow in the meals and I took them in sort of bad lighting, so pardon.  I always forget about the white balance button on my camera because I'm hungry when I'm photographing the food.  And I color corrected the best I could without making them look like food from Mars.  I will try harder, haha...

Anyway, here's some more tempeh and discount meal stuff:

maple dijon tempeh is the best thing on this planet...and it wasn't my idea.

So, at the market down the block they have discount veggies sometimes, which I love, obviously.  This time I got a pack of leeks, some sweet potatoes, and some roma tomatoes.  They all went into this carb-filled meal.  The tempeh was simmered in some broth, and then Michael pan fried it and made this amazing sauce out of maple syrup, dijon mustard, hot sauce, and water.  It was so creamy and fabulous and decadent...I can't even think about it.  It makes my mouth water.  We also roasted the sweet potatoes with some red potatoes we already had and a bunch of whole garlic cloves (amazing!), and I made a risotto with the leeks and tomatoes.  This was all relatively easy, except for my stirring for half an hour.  It was kind of a chilly evening, so the oven being on wasn't a big deal.  Anyway, it was all delicious!

Next is a weird bean and millet salad we concocted one night when it was really hot and we were being lazy.

creamy beany

It's just two cans of beans, some millet, avocado, celery, and Nayonaise.  I actually kind of had an aversion to this because I've somehow become like, incredibly over sensitive to the taste of soy mayonaise and I officially hate it.  I mean, I never really liked it, but I could tolerate it in salads and sauces.  Now, it's on my black list, which sucks because I used it a lot in those things.  Maybe I need a new brand.  But I digress...  This salad was good though, in theory.  I added a bunch of nutritional yeast and lemon juice to my portion, which made it way better.

Oh, this one's old, but was really yummy:

vwav alfreda

I got some orriechette, which is my absolute favorite pasta shape and wanted to use it in some kind of creamy sauce with broccoli.  Never having tried the alfreda from Vegan with a Vengeance, I decided to give it a go.  And...wow.  This sauce is seriously the best creamy sauce ever.  It calls for a lot of nutritional yeast, but somehow doesn't taste noochy.  We added some sausage style tempeh (basically the tempeh sausage crumbles from the same book, but I didn't look at the recipe and just winged it).  Fabulous.  I don't often call things fabulous, unless they really truly are.  And this is.  Ok, so I called the maple dijon tempeh fabulous as well, but it was.

With quick and easy meals, sometimes it's not worth taking a picture.  Like the beans and rice we had last night.  Or the pesto we put on pasta a week or so ago.  But sometimes the leftovers from those meals become something totally photo-worthy.

if i could only get a decent photo when the time comes!

The leftover pesto went onto a pizza crust...  toppings were onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, black olives and vegan parmesan (all of which we just had one hand!).  I don't often like a pizza without a tomato sauce, but this one was perfect.  And easy.  And quick.

Lastly for today, I leave with with deliciousness and a good photo.

spinach artichoke dip!

Yes, that does deserve an exclamation point.  I used to luuuurve spinach artichoke dip.  I made a vegan version once before and it was horrible.  It called for all this soy sour cream and cream cheese...and it tasted just like those.  Of which I am not a fan, by themselves.  This recipe came from the idiot cookbook.  And it was...I'm running out of synonyms for delicious again.  But it was all of those synonyms put together into one giant flavor explosion of happiness.  We liked it, in other words.  Plus, it was easy peasy and didn't call for any specialty ingredients except for nutritional yeast, which is only specialty for some people (like me, who have to drive a bit to get it).  Michael and I devoured this with crostinis (discount bread, hell yes) and the Greek salad that I blogged about last time.  I'm loving this idiot cookbook, by the way.  At first, the recipes seemed too simple to bother making, but it turns out that simple is good when you're in a hurry (duh) or it's hot out (duh) or the flavor combinations just plain old work (double duh).  

So simplify your life.  And enjoy your weekend!

old favorites...they live!

Sometimes a girl just wants spaghetti and meatballs (without the meat).  It's hard though, isn't it, to find a decent vegan meatball?  Store bought ones are...ok, but they lack oomph, plus they're full of stuff I can't pronounce.  A lot of the ones I've made at home either fall apart or are incredibly mushy (sorry, Vcon), or just don't have a good flavor.  However, I've finally come across an incredible vegan meatball, by way of our buddy Jessy over at Happy Veganface.  Actually, her hubby Dan created these balls of awesomeness.  I give you...  Dan's tempeh meatless balls!

little beauties

And seriously?  So easy to make.  And they didn't fall apart, once they were browned.  They have the best flavor of any meatball I've had, ever actually.  I can see why Jessy and Dan chose to eat theirs over some rice, as the flavor would really shine that way.  Still, our goal was spaghetti and meatballs, so I just paired them with a plain, but tasty, sauce and some angel hair.

could not stop eating this.

We decided not to simmer the meatlessballs in the sauce for fear that they would fall apart with all that liquid, but I don't think we needed to worry, as they held up really well, even once I mixed all that spaghetti together.  Oh, yes, and that is garlic bread you spy perched atop my plate.  Michael made the most crazydelicious garlic bread on the planet.  It's rosemary ciabatta bread that he spread with melted butter (vegan of course), loads of garlic powder, and parsley.  Possibly other things.  I wasn't in the kitchen when he made it.  But hot damn, this was the best garlic bread I've had in a very, very long time.  I highly reccommend that you go make some rockin' spaghetti with these amazing meatlessballs, though.  You will not regret it!

Yesterday I told Michael that I would make him whatever he wanted for dinner and dessert, as he was a sweetie to me when I felt like shit on Friday (tummy bug, blegh).  He opted for biscuits and gravy, with toaster hash browns and greens.

nothin' like some soysage gravy, now is there?

First off, I used my mom's whole wheat biscuit recipe (scroll down for the recipe).  Then I crumbled up some GimmeLean sausage in the cast iron skillet to brown.  Then in went some flour and butter.  Then soymilk, and seasonings.  The only problem with making gravy from storebought soymilk is all the freaking sugar they put in that stuff.  I never notice it (and hence, forget) until I try to make something savory like gravy with the stuff.  Still, with the help of poultry seasoning and loads of salt, we counteracted the sweet.  Next time, I'll remember, and start off with veggie broth, and add soymilk at the end for a little creaminess.  Anyway, it was still totally rad.

The greens are collards, which I have not had success with before last night.  These turned out really great though!  I sauteed some garlic and an onion, then added the chopped greens and some apple cider vinegar and let them steam, covered, for about 15 minutes.  I finally learned that the longer they cook, the less bitter they are (but I feel like they lose some nutritional value when I cook them that long...oh well, I guess).  Anyway, once they were nicely soft, I added a few dashes of liquid smoke, some more vinegar, salt, and a pinch or two of cayenne.  They were so yummy!  I'm not scared of collard greens anymore.  Now I just have to master turnip and mustard greens.  Le sigh.  

Michael opted for toaster hash browns from our friendly neighborhood freezer section, as they're his favorite anyway, and I'm not really to be trusted when it comes to making something like that from scratch.  All in all, it was a hit!

As for his cookies, Michael asked for "chocolate macadamia cashew cookies" to which I added white chocolate chips.  Voila!

omg.

I adapted this recipe from Dreena Burton's Double Carob Cashew Cookies in Eat, Drink and be Vegan.  I've never actually made this recipe as it's stated, as I have no need for carob anything when I can have chocolate, plus they call for spelt flour, which I've never seen anywhere here.  Still, the recipe lends very well to adaptation, which just goes to show you what a genius she is.  Here's my version of her cookies.

Chocolate Macadamia Cashew Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

1 cup AP flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup unrefined sugar (I used sucanat)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup white chocolate chips (or regular would be good too, if you don't have white)

1/8 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1/8 cup chopped cashews (both nuts should be unsalted)

6 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp almond butter

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup + 1 tsp canola oil

Preheat over to 350F.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and powder, and cocoa powder; mix well.  Add in cinnamon, sugar, and salt; mix again, then stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  In a smaller bowl, combine the maple syrup, almond butter, and vanilla and stir until well combined.  Stir in the oil, then add the wet mixture to the dry mixture.  Mix until just combined.  If needed, add a splash of soymilk for added moisture, if it doesn't come together quickly (we had to do this).  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, then form 12 cookies out of your dough, flattening each one (they'll be about 1.5 inches across this way).  Pop in the oven for exactly 11 minutes.  Take them out and leave them on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

These cookies are not for the faint of heart, by the way.  They are fudgey and moist and incredibly rich.  The nuts add just enough crunch to mix things up a bit.  However, they are ridiculously easy to make for such a dangerous cookie.  From mixing to baking, they're done in about 20 minutes.  Bake with care.  We finished the entire dozen in about 15 minutes (with the help of a friend).  By the way, omni approved.  As were the collard greens.  Go me.

So yeah, it's been a pretty decadent weekend so far.  Hope yours has been just as lovely.

I need...

...to go grocery shopping.  The food you are about to see was eaten before this dilemna.  On Friday, we ordered pizza (gift card, thank goodness).  Saturday?  Spaghetti.  Oh, and Sunday...nachos.  Nothing special.  Still, here's a couple of dins that weren't quite so heinous.

soup n springrolls

That's the Hot and Sour Soup from Vcon with leeks and green cabbage subbed in for the cabbage it calls for...can't remember if it asks for napa cabbage or baby bok choy (which is sort of like cabbage, right?).  Anyway, it was yummy.  I had an inspiration for some spring rolls, since we finally had carrots, lettuce, scallions, and mint in the house at the same time.  To round them out, I made some tempeh to go in them from this recipe on Vegan Dad.  It was the perfect addition. 

I love mint in spring rolls...not only does it taste fabulous and fresh, but it reminds me of New York and the spring rolls Michael and I got at Saigon 88.  I can't find a website for them (which doesn't really surprise me), but it's yumtastic Vietnamese food at a decent price with a good sprinkling of vegan options (basil tofu steak what!).  So anyway, here's the story with MY spring rolls:  they fell apart because I insisted on cooking them potsticker-style.  Dumb.  They disentegrated pretty much immediately.  Whatever, though, so I had to eat them with a fork.  They tasted damn good.

beetabulous

That's a terrible photo.  I have to show it to you though, because that side dish was amazing.  First off, that's a nature burger (fantastic brand) in the background.  It was good, but unremarkable.  The star of this show was that lovely mound of roasted beets and carrots with caramelized red onions and steamed beet greens.  Oh yes.  OH.  YES.  You may have the recipe, but it's pretty simple.

Roasted Beets n Greens with Carrots and Red Onions  (title too long?)

3 large beets, with greens

3 carrots

1/2 red onion, sliced into thin half-moons

olive oil

2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar (or more, to taste)

lots of salt

Preheat your oven to 450F.  Wash the beets and trim off the greens (set greens aside).  Cut the carrots in half, and put both the carrots and the beets on a rimmed cookie sheet with a half inch or so of water.  Put the whole shebang in the oven and leave it for a good 45-50 minutes.  While that's going on, cut the greens into thin ribbons (about 1 inch wide) and prep the onions.  Wash the greens very well and don't dry them.  Once the beets are done, you can go ahead and try peeling them by hand (something I've never been able to accomplish) or cut the skins off with a giant knife (my preferred method).  Once you get the skins off, slice them into thin circles.  Cut up the carrots too, lengthwise, so you have nice long slices.  Heat up your olive oil in a medium-large skillet and start sauteeing the onions (med-low heat), until they get brownish.  Be patient.  The  brownish-er they get, the sweeter they will be.  Anywho, when you think they're brown enough, add your beets and carrots and the vinegar.  Stir to combine.  Add the greens and cover the pan (the water left on the greens should be enough to steam them).  After about 5 minutes, stir them in.  Once they are nicely wilted, add salt to taste (I added a bunch, because I think it tastes better that way with the vineger - think salt n vinegar chips here).  That's it.  Enjoy!

So rooty and sweet and vinegary (in a good way).  The greens, especially, were delightful.  Delightful?  Sure.  Why not.  So...that's it until I either have a stroke of some genius or I get paid and go shopping.  I've been trying really hard to not go shopping in between shopping trips and have succeeded well enough that I don't really have any produce left in the house.  

Back to watching The Devil Wears Prada!

journeys and adventures!

That is, a journey to my health food store and adventures in new recipes.

On Saturday, after blogging and watching it snow and generally laying about, I made a trek to the Healthy Life Market.  Healthy Life Market is code for overpriced stuff that's good for you.  Seriously, I only go here once every month or so, for two reasons:  it takes 20 minutes to get there and it's fucking expensive.  Sometimes, though, a girl needs to splurge on stuff that she can only find at the health food store.  And don't think those jerks don't know that they have a monopoly on the local healthy person market.  Jeez.  Sorry, but the prices really are ludicrous at this place.  I'm getting all worked up just thinking about it again.  Now it's time for you to tell me that what I got was worth the price and the drive.  No, I'm not going to tell you how much I spent.  Suffice to say that it's probably more than you think it is.

chickn nuggets, tofutti pizza, FYH mozzarella, organic tofu, ezekial bread, EB sticks, and some fake pepperoni

ww pastry flour, beet sugar, ww couscous, nutritional yeast*, green lentils, cumin, chile powder, cayenne

coconut milk, almond butter, d-mannose, wild rice blend, nature burger mix, quinoa pasta

So I guess I had a decent haul.  The nuggets and pizza and part of the pepperoni are already gone (also, the most expensive food things, of course...one does pay for convenience).  This morning I had that sprouted bread as toast with some almond butter.  I've never had either of these before, and must say that they're pretty good.  The bread is very earthy with all the seeds and sprouts in it and the almond butter is...well, it's good, ok, but not nearly worth the price.  Seriously, that tiny jar was $5.  What?  Why?  I mean, I get that almonds are more expensive than peanuts...  but I think...  I might...  like peanut butter better.  I'm sure some of you are gasping in horror right about now, but, eh!  Call me crazy if you must.

I also made good use of the tofu and whole wheat couscous last night.  Ahem.  Look:

you know you're intrigued

That is pesto hummus stuffed tofu.  I got the idea here, but honestly did not even read through the recipe once before making it.  In fact, I saw the title over a week ago and it just popped into my head, and I thought, 'I do not need a recipe for this.  I can make it up as I go.'  And I was right.  I'll post my recipe below.  It may or may not be close to my muse, but again...no clue here.  I suppose I could glance at it before I link it, haha...  But I probably won't.**

Anyway, I used the last of the pesto I had sitting around.  Half of it on the tofu, half of it mixed into my couscous.  I had a couscous overload last night.  It was a bit ridiculous.  You can see this from my picture:

that isn't even half of the couscous i made

Those are turnip greens and sugar snap peas with a nice tahini sauce in the background.  They were good, but I dumbly forgot to wash my greens before steaming them.  There may or may not have been alcohol involved in this silly omission.  The flavor was good though.  That tahini sauce is:  tahini, lemon juice, scallions.  And it was tangy and wonderful.

Here's the recipe for the tofu.  I must warn you, I cut some corners with it, but this dish was really delicious, despite my laziness.

Pesto-Hummus Stuffed Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu (not silken), pressed and cut into 4 large chunks

1/2 cup hummus

2-3 Tbsp basil pesto

a bottle of italian dressing (sigh, yes, i marinated it in italian dressing from a bottle)

Ok, so once you have your four chunks of tofu, slice a slit into one side.  This slit should make a little pocket inside and not go through any of the other sides of the chunk.  I hope that makes sense.  Marinate them in the Italian dressing for about an hour, turning them fairly regularly so that all sides get nice and soaked.  

Preheat your oven to 375F once the hour's up.  Place tofu and marinade in a small glass baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.  Then take it out.  Mix up the hummus (mine was already prepared by my local deli) and the pesto (guh, it came from a tube, honestly).  Then spoon it into a plastic bag, cutting off one corner of the bag to form a makeshift piping instrument.  Pipe a generous amount of the hummus mixture into the slits you cut earlier.  Pop the dish back into the oven for another 30 minutes.  

That's it.  It was embarassingly easy.  And it was delicious.  Make sure you use a tofu that you like the flavor of, since the marinade doesn't really penetrate all the way to the middle in that hour.  I'm sure it would be even better with homemade hummus and pesto.  But isn't it nice to know that it was good with storebought stuff as well?  I think so.

Oh, I was going to do a review of those holiday soy drinks.  Well...  How about, instead:

This stuff:

Tastes infinitely better than this stuff:

I didn't take those photos.  Silk doesn't even have a picture of that pumpkin spice crud on their website.  Even they know it's not good.  As for the Vitasoy?  I can't wait to get back to the store to stock up.  Anything chocolate and mint is basically a no-brainer for me.  It all stems back to the days when my dad would surprise me with a treat of peppermint patties on the occasion that he might pick me up from school.  Oh, how I rued the day that I found out they weren't vegan.  Sad.

*Mom and Dad, if you're reading this, yes I know I just asked you for nutritional yeast from Elkins when you go and then went and bought my own the next day.  Please, still get me some if you go.  I only got that bag because I'm addicted to the stuff and it's only a pound and it costs 9 fricking dollars a pound here, which makes me insane.  I'm sure I'll need/want more by the time I see you in a couple weeks.  (a big huge bag, please!)

**I did look at that recipe and mine is so much easier.  Granted, they made a sauce to put the tofu in, but they didn't think of the idea of making a piping thingamabob instead of somehow trying to put it in with...a knife?  huh?