This recipe for baked tofu is one of the first things I made when we switched to a plant-based diet. I found the recipe in Dreena Burton’s Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, which has great recipes. I made a few adjustments but Dreena gets all the credit for the dish.
Recipe ideas come to me at odd moments, usually when I’m not even thinking about food (which, if I’m being honest, isn’t all that often). The idea for this one came to me on an airplane in the middle of reading a novel. Pretty random considering the story took place in 1940 Nazi Germany. Anyway, it occurred to me I’d never seen or heard of a recipe for twice baked SWEET potatoes, only russet. I’ve since done some searching and found many recipes (can’t believe I’d never seen any before) but most of them have more fat than a cheeseburger, with ingredients that just didn’t sound appealing to me (I will never understand adding brown sugar to sweet potatoes, especially when consuming them as an entree not a dessert. Hello!?! They’re already sweet!).
This recipe has the right combination of sweet, savory, tangy, spicy and salty. Honestly, it turned out better than I could have hoped. I was so excited for leftovers today. It’s a more time consuming meal since baking of the potatoes is required before anything else, but it’s not difficult by any means; just takes some planning ahead. Note: I prefer the lighter colored sweet potatoes as opposed to orange yams. I will be making this again VERY soon!
If you’re thinking “BBQ, and lentils – in a taco!? Weird!”, think again. It’s delicious. Of course, if you aren’t a fan of BBQ, you won’t like it because it has a strong BBQ flavor. Personally, I’d like the lentil mixture without the sauce just as much, but the BBQ is yummy. These are easy to make and so flavorful. We enjoy them topped with my homemade non-dairy sour cream (see in Recipes on this site for Sour Un-Cream), raw cabbage and lime.
Note: this recipe is gluten-free only if you use a BBQ sauce that is gluten-free.
I used to LOVE sour cream. It was my favorite part about mexican dishes (other than the cheese, of course). I’ve learned to live without since the store-bought vegan brands are highly processed and fattening, with added oil and junk. And quite frankly, I don’t think they taste a thing like sour cream! This recipe is much closer to the real thing, in my opinion. Is it exactly like it? No, but it’s a nice, healthy substitute. And considering it’s got about 16 calories and 1 gram of fat per tablespoon, you can’t go wrong! We enjoyed it on our BBQ Lentil Tacos or with Chili (see Recipes).
Even though I have a gazillion vegan/vegetarian cookbooks, I don’t refer to them too often. I have this thing about feeling like I have to create the recipes myself. Whatever. Anyway, last night I made my minestrone (I guess I should post that recipe too), but I wanted a pesto to top it off. Prepared pestos and recipes for them contain lots of olive oil, cheese and nuts. Well, this recipe, created by Del Sroufe – author of the Forks Over Knives Cookbook – ROCKS! No oil, no cheese, and fewer pine nuts than traditional recipes. It came out so creamy, so rich, you would NEVER know it didn’t have the traditional ingredients. I haven’t tried it but you can leave the nuts out, and use lite silken tofu, to make it even lower in fat. I seriously licked the blade of the food processor like I’d just made cookies. Ridiculous. If you like pesto, try this recipe!! You won’t be sorry!
I was inspired to create these tasty muffins as I was preparing for a 5 hour flight for which I would be leaving my house at 5 a.m. I knew it would be too early for my usual breakfast smoothie, and I was already planning on packing a PB&J sandwich for later in the day….what would I eat for breakfast?? God knows there wouldn’t be options on the plane. Sure, I could have brought Starbuck’s oatmeal or McDougall’s instant oatmeal (great for travel) on with me but I wanted something different; something substantial, not too sweet, and didn’t need to be warmed. Thus, these Cinnamon-Raisin Oatmeal Muffins were born!
For any followers out there who don’t love pumpkin, I do apologize. I realize this is my 3rd pumpkin recipe…so far. 🙂 I told you – I love pumpkin. And I’m going to utlilze it as much as I can this fall. The picture shows a loaf made with a combo of dried cranberries and chocolate chips. You can use one, both, or neither – it’s yummy either way!
So, if you like pumpkin, bust out the baking supplies and enjoy this tasty Pumpkin Loaf. It’s easy to make and really satisfying.
I realize hummus recipes are a dime a dozen, and store-bought versions are widely available. However, the one thing they all have in common is a lot of fat. The average prepared hummus contains 4 grams of fat for 2 tablespoons. I don’t know about you, but I could eat that much in a few bites! Most varieties contain oil, which as I’ve said before, is not a health-promoting food. It’s concentrated fat and calories (14 g of fat for just a tablespoon), and truly unnecessary in a dish like this. Prepared hummus also contains tahini, or sesame seed paste. My recipe does too, but only 1-2 tablespoons for the whole batch, which is much less than other recipes or store-bought versions. Use 1 if you want a really low-fat version, or 2 for a little more fat. You’ll see I list truffle oil as an optional addition. You don’t need it but it adds wonderful flavor. I like mine on the lemony side so I use 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Also, the amount of water you add is dependent upon how thick/thin you want the hummus. I always have a batch made up and ready to go. Recently, I spread about 2 TBS on a piece of whole grain bread, laid sliced tomatoes and sweet onion on top, drizzled with balsamic, and sprinkled with basil and pepper. I broiled it for 6-7 minutes. DELISH! See photo below.
2/21/13 UPDATE: I’ve always known cooking your own beans, as opposed to using canned, was a nutritionally superior way to go but I didn’t fully grasp how much better a dish would taste!! Oh my. I recently got a pressure cooker (best. thing. ever.), and after soaking my chickpeas during the day (8 hours), I cooked them with water in the PC for 14 minutes. Then I made my hummus. SO creamy and flavorful. I really had no idea there would be such a marked difference. You don’t need a PC to make your own beans, but you do need to plan ahead. The forethought and time is worth it, trust me. If you use your own beans, use about 2 cups cooked for this hummus.
This recipe is from Dreena Burton’s Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, an excellent book, written by a great lady. I omit the oil when I make this dish because I just don’t think it needs it. We’ve been making these for years and it’s become a standard snack in our house. So good!!
When I was on Maui last week, we ate at a cool restaurant called Monkey Pod. They had an interesting menu filled with varieties of different foods, all using sustainable, local ingredients. I was super excited when I saw Potato Tacos on the menu. I wasn’t super excited to see, when the server brought them to the table, that they were made with french fries. Yikes! As you can imagine, they were very greasy (don’t worry, I didn’t finish them, and I picked out many of the potato pieces). The wheels immediately began turning in my head as I thought about how best to recreate a healthy version of the dish. Here’s the recipe! It was delicious, even made without french fries. See what you think!