Your Vegan Mom

Crunchy Baked Tofu Sticks and Post-Easter Food Trauma

I am so done with Easter.

And we had such a nice day on Sunday too.  As predicted, we had brunch at my mom's, followed by an egg hunt in the backyard.  And then a long walk for most and a long nap for some.  We played on the beach and then had dinner at my dad's.  There was an egg hunt at his house too.  With lots more candy.  

There were actually four egg hunts with loads of candy over the course of the week.  And it should have been five - we missed one.

Did you read that article on sugar in the New York Times magazine a couple weeks ago?  I may have mentioned it at the park surrounded by Desmond's classmates who were happily scarfing down the spilled contents of plastic eggs scattered across picnic blankets at the park.  Every single mom and dad for blankets around may have gone quiet at the mention of the word toxin.  I may not be particularly socially savvy.  Also, the (toxic) jelly beans may have been from me.  

We had enough.  Way too much actually.  And I am now ready to banish all leftover Easter candy from our house, and get back to our normal way of eating.  I am going to have to work hard though to entice these boys away from their memories of intense sugar.  (On Sunday night, sleeping over at my mom's house, Felix woke up in the middle of the night to demand more cake - did I mention there was also a birthday celebration in the middle of all those jelly bean-filled plastic eggs?)  

So, here's a pretty healthy recipe that I know they love.  I do up a whole block of tofu in this fashion and the leftovers keep well in the fridge.  Re-crisped in the oven, they're maybe even better the next day.  They travel well for dinner on the go if necessary and they meet the super important dippable requirement for a successful kid dinner.  If you serve them with your house's favorite roasted vegetable (asparagus here at the moment) and oven fries, then the whole dinner cooks itself in the oven while you do the dishes or coax your kids down from their sugar high.

Making cornflake crumbs.

Crunchy Baked Tofu Sticks

• 1 pound super firm tofu, marinated overnight or at least 4 hours
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups corn flakes, smashed to crumbs
• 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• pinch of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Get out 3 medium bowls for dipping tofu.  In one, whisk together the flour and seasonings.  In the second whisk together the flax meal and water.  And in the third, mix together the rest of the ingredients with a fork.  

If you haven't already,cut the marinated tofu into sticks.  Then dip each stick in the seasoned flour, tossing around to coat.  From there, dunk it in the goopy flax (give that flax another stir just before your first dunk).  And finally press the tofu into the crumbs.  

Place all your coated tofu sticks on a cookie sheet.  Heat the oven to 375, while you let your tofu just hang out for a bit to get everything nice and stuck together.  When the oven is hot, bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and crunchy.  

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

House Tofu

Have I told you this already?  Desmond has gotten picky.  I suppose it was inevitable - he is a child.  But even so, it seems bad.  For example, here's a conversation that he had with his pal in the sandbox on Friday:

Mauro: I'm cooking rice and peas.

Desmond: I don't like peas.

Mauro: I won't put peas in yours.  I'll make you rice and corn.

Desmond: I don't like corn.

Mauro: Okay, you can cook your own.

Seriously, if the other almost four-year-old has already given up on him, how am I supposed to get a varied diet into this little body?  Yesterday, on the way home from the store, when he and I were discussing what we were eating for dinner.  (Barbecued seitan sandwiches with cole slaw.)  And I waited for his predictable response, wondering whether he was going to go with, "I don't like seitan," or "I don't like cole slaw," he surprised me.  He didn't say either of those things.

His response?  "I don't like barbecue sauce."

I had to laugh.  And ask him what he does like.  Apparently at this point in his career, the boy likes peanut butter and jelly, and tofu.  Here's how we eat it most often -

House Tofu
This is the basic way that I prepare tofu to use in sandwiches or serve with rice, and greens, and savory sauce.

• 1 pound extra firm tofu
• 3 tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (that's the juice of your average lemon)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled

Slice tofu into cubes or slabs for sandwiches.  Whisk together the remaining ingredients.  Pour over tofu.  Toss to somewhat evenly coat and set aside to marinate for an hour or two or even better, overnight.  Heat a cast iron skillet over medium, and cook the tofu for about three minutes on each side until lightly browned.

Peanut Butter Fondue Party

Everything that I have been cooking, and eating, and thinking about is all wrong.  I have no pumpkin for you.  No sweet potatoes.  No cranberries.  Not even a green bean casserole.  

I have peanut sauce.  But here’s what makes it special, here’s what elevates it to worthy of the week of Thanksgiving: the fondue pot.  Simply pouring the rich spicy sauce into that crazy apparatus from the back of your cupboard transforms an otherwise humble and shockingly simple mid-week meal into a gathering, a way to involve your kids or your pals in dinner, a party.    

Back in our first married apartment, sitting at my grandma’s stylish-again dining table, Paul and I huddled over the tiny flame underneath our new white ceramic pot filled with warm peanut sauce, and talked about what a fun meal this would make for kids.  While not many of the starry-eyed ideals one has about parenting really work in the brutal world of parking lot tantrums and emergency snacks that you never imagined would pass your precious child’s lips, this one was spot on.  The peanut butter fondue party does in fact make a great family meal.  

Peanut Sauce for Fondue Pot

If you are using unsalted peanut butter, you will probably want a touch more soy sauce.  I measured and wrote this down for you.  I never measure when I make a sauce like this - you just want a balance of salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and that warm savory flavor that the peanut butter and sesame oil adds to the game.  So adjust to your liking, if it's too salty, add more sweet and/ or sour and vice versa.  If it's too spicy, add a little more everything, so it's really much easier to start with little bits of spicy.  On a similar note, if you don't have these exact ingredients, this sauce is endlessly malleable.  Sometimes I use lime juice instead of vinegar and fresh chiles instead of the paste, and coconut milk instead of sesame oil, and sugar instead of agave nectar.  I just always think of those 5 essential flavors.  This is really just a rough outline for you to play with.  Have fun.  

1/4 c. salted crunchy peanut butter
1 T. soy sauce
2 T. rice vinegar
1/2 t. chile garlic paste
1 T. agave nectar
1 t. sesame oil

2 T. hot water

Place all ingredients in a smallish bowl or glass measuring cup and stir until smooth.  Pour in fondue pot.

Serve with quick pan seared broccoli and tofu and bowls of brown rice, or whatever would be improved by a dip in peanut sauce, and really what wouldn't?  

Yield: This makes enough sauce for our little family of two grownups and one momentarily (crosses fingers) finicky toddler.   Speaking of which, if you're making this for children, you might want to cut down or omit the spicy.    

Pulled Tofu Sandwiches

With just over a week left in Louisiana, I am making every effort to get out and enjoy this state as much as possible. Most days, as the sun gets low, I have been packing up my family and a super simple dinner and taking it to one of Shreveport's many gorgeous parks. It may seem as if all of my easy dinners are one handed affairs, and while that's not entirely true, a meal sandwich sure does come in handy when you're dining outside in the Bayou State. It's good to have a hand free to bat away the mosquitoes. 

This sandwich consists of: 

big crusty rolls 

1 package firm tofu, frozen and defrosted 

about 1/2 cup barbecue sauce 

about 1/2 cup water 

kale slaw 

vegenaise 

As you probably know, when you freeze and defrost tofu it changes the texture. You can squeeze the excess water right out of it with your hands. It gets more spongey and rugged - making it a good candidate for shaving thin and soaking up barbecue sauce. It becomes chewier and a bit heartier. I quickly browned this shaved tofu in a bit of oil before adding some diluted barbecue sauce (about a cup I'd say, but enough to cover the tofu in a medium sized skillet). Simmer the tofu in the sauce until most of the liquid is absorbed/ evaporated, about 10 minutes over medium-low. While the tofu is simmering, toast your rolls and make your slaw (though you could also make the slaw as far ahead as yesterday.) 

For each sandwich, I shredded a leaf of kale and half a carrot. Then I moistened the vege with some vegenaise and chow chow (I love all of the pickles and preserves you find here.). With this sweet spicy relish from the farmers market here, I found that my slaw didn't need anything else, but by all means, please, taste it. Add salt, or perhaps hot sauce if it needs more zing. Or if you don't have chow chow, use any ol' slaw you desire. 

To assemble the sandwiches: butter your rolls with vegenaise and cram in as much barbecue and slaw as you can comfortably fit.  There were enough fixins for 3 large sandwiches.  Please bring vinegary Louisiana-style hot sauce for garnish.  

Happy, happy summer, my friends.

Home Again, with Bread, and Not Much Else

I had a bad day. Desmond woke up early and crabby, then fell asleep in the car on the way to the farmers' market, meaning that I did not get my midday me time to do things like eat lunch, and cook and write and fold laundry. And I left my lemons and oranges and avocados at the market.

Yeah, I know, no one died. Nothing really terrible happened, but I'm tired and cranky and I don't have my lemons. Fortunately I had a really good sandwich at the end of the day to almost make up for it.

When he was out of the sourdough that I had come for, the man at the Manhattan Bread Company (as in Manhattan Beach to any of you that aren't from round these parts) gave me a big fat focaccia roll to take home and try instead. And it was just what my marinated grilled tofu and pesto needed.

The Pesto
1 large handful (about a cup) fresh basil
1 large handful (about a cup) fresh spinach
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
a small handful (a scant quarter cup) of pistachios (or whatever nuts you have on hand)
a few generous shakes (a tablespoon or two) of soymage
about 1/4 c. olive oil

Whir all that in the food processor until it's a consistency that pleases you. I like it pretty creamy.

Good night.