Whipped Tofu & Greens Toast

I keep meaning to post recipes. In the time between this post and the last (TWO YEARS!), I've made some delicious things, often followed by "I should post this on my blog!" And yet, here we are. I would love to say that I'll keep posting things here, but my best intentions aren't quite paying off. 

Also since my last post, I've lived a lot of life! Nicole and I have done some amazing travel, I've taken students on a research trip, I've met new friends and said goodbye as other friends have moved elsewhere, lost two kitty cats, I sold my house and Nicole and I bought a new house, and so much more! 

In the process of making our new house a home, we've spent some good time cooking together. However, we've also done a lot of home projects, in addition to our full time jobs, so sometimes we just need a quick and healthy dinner with foods we have on hand. Enter this whipped tofu and greens on toast recipe. We had some greens from CSA that needed to be used soon, but both wanted more than just greens. With a bit of back and forth, we landed on this experiment, which wowed us both and has returned multiple times. It's a surprisingly satisfying dinner, doesn't really heat up the kitchen the summer, and uses things we keep on hand. I hope you'll like it just as much as we do! 

Maggie's Lazy Dinner Air Fryer Tofu Poppers

Almost two years since my last post here. Two years of life, love, work, growth, travel, and a whole lot of cooking! Here's a super brief summary of the past two years: I finalized my divorce after almost one year of separation, I finished up my role as interim dean and returned to teaching full time, and I've been dating my wonderful partner, Nicole. 

Meanwhile, I've been cooking a ton and hope to put more of those recipes here. Nicole has such a fun palate and loves to play with flavors and try new foods. Nicole isn't a cook, but is an amazing sous chef and has encouraged me to experiment with new flavors and recipes. Despite that, this first post back is not a great example of all the amazing new things I've been cooking. 

This post is an example that Lazy Dinners still happen and new tools open new avenues for them. Through Nicole, I have a new tool in my kitchen, an air fryer! Nicole had a large one and a small one, so brought the larger one to my place and kept the smaller one at home. These air fried tofu poppers were a "hmmm, let's see if this tastes good" idea that turned into an easy meal in regular rotation. Serve them with any dipping sauce you like - my favorite is a vegan sriracha mayo!

Crockpot Teriyaki Tofu with Veggies

It feels odd to be posting new recipe during a global pandemic. This feels especially true I last went to the grocery store over a week ago and don't plan to go again for at least another week. However, I did a good job planning when going to the store last week AND we did a good job planning dinners around how long each veggie will last. This teriyaki tofu dinner (based on a recipe from The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook) was just perfect, using up the last of our bell peppers and half of our kale. The rest of the kale will be used tomorrow in white bean and kale soup. Plus, I made a great teriyaki sauce from ingredients in my pantry - though feel free to buy one instead!

While I do like the flexibility of cooking at home without having to plan around classes, meetings, events, and more, I miss my students and colleagues and friends so much that this flexibility pales in comparison. sigh. At least we're eating well?

I hope you're eating well, too! If not, try this recipe?

Maggie's Asian Salad with Sesame Dressing

Last summer I kept looking for new ways to eat food that also involved the least amount of heating in my kitchen I could handle. For me, the obvious solution was meal-sized salads, but I had to do a bit of Shana convincing... When I got a begrudging approval for a salad as dinner, I knew it had to be a good one. Luckily, I found a winner with this salad, filled with beautiful colors, lots of texture, and Asian-inspired flavors.

The recent hot streak we experienced this summer was the perfect impetus to see if this salad was still a dinner time success. It still was! Mix and match ingredients to your own tastes, buy a pre-made salad dressing if you find one you like, or do whatever - this salad will still be delicious.

Maggie's Savory Vegan Kugel

A few years ago, I was so excited to have successfully made a vegan version of Shana's Mommom's sweet kugel. Here's the problem: as delicious as it is, Shana kept saying that she didn't want to eat it for dinner because of its sweetness. But the comforting casserole texture kept coming to mind, until I finally decided I wanted to attempt a savory version.

Keeping the basic idea (tofu & noodles in a casserole), I played around with flavors and veggies until I found something amazing. The thin strips of veggies provide some subtle textural contrast, but it's the blend of spices - most notably the roasted garlic - that provide warmth and depth to this version of kugel. Hearty, savory, and comforting all at once, this kugel is a clear winner.

Having this tonight, before the whirlwind of our semesters starts in earnest, was just the comfort we both needed.

Maggie's Vegan Massaman Curry

I love Thai food. When Shana and I have something to celebrate, or have people in town visiting, or just a craving for an amazing dinner, we head to Thai 9 in Dayton. In the past two months, we've gone 3 times. Once when my family came to visit, once when Shana's family came to visit, and once to celebrate that I'd been awarded tenure!

While everything there is delicious (we think they must have a wall of avocados because they are always ripe), there's one dish they can't make vegan for me: massaman curry. Their recipe includes half & half and fish sauce. After feeling sad about missing out on massaman curry, I figured I would try to make my own.

In my explorations of possible recipes online, so many had ingredient lists full of things I knew I couldn't get in my town. I started feeling a bit hopeless. But then, one of the recipes I saw had an aside about a really good pre-made curry paste that was also vegan! I jumped on the chance to have massaman curry in my own kitchen and purchased two cans from Amazon. I didn't need to make this more than once; I ordered more the next day. Now I can have massaman curry whenever the mood strikes.

Vegan Teriyaki Boats

On summer nights, I can't bring myself to heat up my kitchen. But as hot days and warm nights stretch on, I also get sick of grilling dinners and Shana wouldn't be satisfied with continuous salads. This means a recipe that can satisfy the requirements of not heating the kitchen, not using the grill, and not being a salad is a huge win for our summer eating.

This particular recipe was in a special recipe collection called "Best Vegan Recipes" published by Vegetarian Times magazine (which now exists in an altered state under the title Vegetarian Today; I no longer subscribe). Shana and I had been standing in line at a grocery store and saw this special collection. While waiting to check out, I perused it and found so many recipes I wanted to make that we ended up purchasing it.

These teriyaki boats are ridiculously fast and easy - so much so that Shana has made them - and they are delicious and healthy. Everyone we've served them to has enjoyed them and I can see them being quite flexible, if you wanted to add/remove ingredients.  Serve them as a lunch, a light dinner, or even as an appetizer (see Helpful Hints).

Maggie's Stir Fry Sauce

The first day of fall has come and gone, but it sure doesn't feel like it's fall in Indiana. We've had temperatures in the mid to upper 80s all this past week. So while I've been staring longingly at all of the soups and stews I cook in the fall, it's just not happening for a while. Instead, we have been cooking like it's summer, using all sorts of fresh veggies and flavors.

Since I've been so ready for fall, I couldn't keep making the same summer dishes. Instead, building on Shana's love of Asian flavors, we had an excellent stir fry tonight! With a ton of veggies and light and flavorful sauce, we enjoyed it immensely tonight. This is something we'll be sure to eat again, plus the recipe is a great base for all sorts of experimentation.

Dilly-Ranch Pasta Salad

The summer temperatures have arrived in Indiana! As I said last summer, summer temps and humidity make me not want to eat anything. Since not eating for an entire season is not a healthy option, it helps to have a collection of cold foods to eat that won't heat up the house. This is especially important when hosting a large gathering of people, as all those extra bodies create enough excess heat.

This semester's minions

I had just this situation occur a few weeks ago. I hosted my semi-annual Minion Dinner, but had an especially large group with 11 minions this semester. I was worried about unpredictable May weather and how to feed 13 people delicious vegan food with one gluten-free minion and one who doesn't like onions. The final decision was a soup/salad/bread buffet (with cake & cookies for dessert). I had all sorts of ideas for soups (I mean, have you seen this blog?!), but while I had a few good ideas for salads, I wanted something new. I mean, what's not to like about making a brand new recipe with 12 taste-testers ready and willing to offer commentary? 

To complement the other dishes already on the menu, I opted for a pasta salad. Pasta salads are great for parties because they are best when made ahead of time, as the resting gives the flavors a change to meld together. This particular pasta salad is also great because it has the creaminess of heavier mayo-based versions but uses silken tofu for a protein-packed punch. Above all, my minions were complimentary of it and I've been dreaming about it since. 

TJ's Hearty Grains Dinner

It's been far too long since my last post! I've made a number of delicious things in my absence from the blog, so there should be some good new posts coming. I've got one tonight, I'm hopeful to have one later this week (I'm making something delicious for our monthly vegan potluck), and have some fun new recipes coming in the next few ways.

Anyway, this recipe is something that our awesome friends Max and Sara made for us ages ago. The four of us eat together at least three times a month, generally alternating who does the cooking. When they cook, they sometimes choose to cook something from my blog, but other times they feed us delicious new foods that fit our veganness and Shana's food idiosyncrasies. This dish was one of those delicious options. Max and Sara lived close to a Trader Joe's, so they have been able to use some great foods we haven't been able to access (although there are Trader Joe's in many places we used to live, they weren't there when we were living there). If you don't have a Trader Joe's near you, don't worry, you can order a number of Trader Joe's products online. Anyway, without access to a TJs, I didn't know this awesome grain blend existed. With a few added ingredients, it makes an amazing dinner.

Maggie's Vegan Kugel

It's funny how sometimes you just don't realize how impactful some element of your life actually is. For example, my wife didn't realize how much growing up in a predominantly Jewish community affected her world view, including the foods she eats. Although I've written about making foods that honor Shana's Jewish heritage, such as frisket and matzo ball soup, there was one food we lamented that I'd never be able to make: a sweet noodle kugel.

Shana used to love her Mommom's sweet kugel, which was built around egg noodles, cottage cheese, and apricot preserves. Not a lot there that is vegan-friendly. Although I've been thinking about kugel for years, I kept getting stuck on cottage cheese, as there's no vegan equivalent. But then, when looking around the internet for recipes for a Shabbot dinner we were invited to* with some of Earlham's Jewish students, I found a recipe for kugel that looked like it might work for my purposes! Using a combination of sour cream and mashed tofu, I was hoping for a cottage cheese like texture. After a couple of attempts, where every time Shana would get excited and nostalgic all at one, I finally stumbled upon a recipe that replicates Shana's Mommom's sweet kugel.

Vegan Stuffed Shells

This semester has started off at a run and I'm not sure I'm catching up. Thus, I haven't had a lot of time to make new meals. Well, that's not quite true. I've made two, both of which were delicious, I just haven't had time to post them. This particular dinner we ate weeks ago. And wow, was it good! The mellow flavor of the garlic is just wonderful and the texture of the tofu mixture is perfect. Shana also thought that flavor developed even more in leftovers.

I will say that this is not a meal you can make in a hurry. There are a lot of different parts that need to come together and you use a ton of dishes. But for a dinner party or something like that, this would a great option! It's something that non-vegans would find familiar, but not necessary miss the cheese due to the consistency of the tofu and the roundness of the flavors from garlic, miso, and nutritional yeast.

Maggie's Grilled Tofu

It's summer. I love summer for a number of reasons: Shana loves summer, the world is full of beautiful colors, and the foods planted in the spring are ripening like magic. Our CSA is in full swing, so we are reaping the bounty of summer foods. This week, we got green beans, a head of lettuce, two cucumbers, a zucchini, fingerling potatoes, onions, garlic, and two kinds of tomatoes.

Here's the problem. I hate humidity paired with any temp much above 70, which pretty much captures midwestern summers perfectly. For me, what ends up happening is that I don't want to eat or cook anything. Combining this tendency with our travels, we haven't eaten anything new or noteworthy in weeks. Feeling ready for something new, tonight's dinner on our weekly meal plan simply said "new." Such dinners work well when I plan what I'd like to cook early in the week, but I neglected to do that this week. Luckily, my lack of planning led to a thrown-together dinner highlighting summer's bounty. We had a simple green salad (CSA lettuce, carrots, celery, and cucumber, with peppers and toasted almonds) with vegan ranch dressing, CSA green beans, sweet corn from another local farm (which we grilled to perfection), and grilled tofu (which is simple enough that I feel silly calling it a recipe). Altogether, this dinner was amazing and the quintessential vegan summer meal.

Vegan Blueberry Tart

Earlier this week I asked Shana to go to the store to pick up an ingredient we'd forgotten for that night's dinner. While she was there, I called and asked if she would bring home some blueberries (I planned to make some overnight oats). Shortly thereafter, Shana walks into the kitchen carrying a giant 5 pound box of blueberries! Since 5 pounds was just a bit more than I'd been anticipating. I had to figure out how to use all of those blueberries.

As I thought, I kept popping blueberries into my mouth. As ideas began to form, I looked down, certain I'd eaten at least a pound of them already. HA - not even close. Here's what I've done so far. We gave some to our neighbors. We ate some. I made a blueberry buckle. Then I decided I wanted to make a tart. I've never made a tart before, so I was nervous. However, I invited some friends over and the seven of us polished it off. It was delicious!

This recipe wasn't particularly hard, but it has multiple steps and is a production. You need to plan ahead, as many of the steps take multiple hours (or overnight). But don't let the steps and planning deter you! The result was awesome. My friends literally licked their plates clean!

Maggie's Vegan Pad Thai

It's finals week. I'm trying to wrap up what has been, almost certainly, the most difficult semester of my life (just in time to start a new course for May Term, a summer of personal and professional travel, and a whole bunch of work to prepare for this next year). In the mean time, I'm procrastinating by working on a new recipe: vegan Pad Thai.

I'm not sure how Shana started eating Pad Thai. I do know that when I met Shana, she ate taquitos and beer; she's come a long way. Surely somewhere in our past I convinced her that Thai food was a relative of her beloved Chinese food and wore her down enough to try a Thai restaurant. Now that she recognizes the awesomeness that is Thai food, it was only natural that I try to figure out how to make my own version of her favorite dish at home. The problem with a lot of Pad Thai recipes is that the sauce includes fish, making it unsuitable for vegetarians and vegans alike.  

The beauty of Pad Thai is that there are about a many versions of it as there are people who cook it, so I was certain I could come up with something just as delicious but without any fish! Success!

Unfortunately, in order to succeed, I've used some "specialty" ingredients that may be hard to get at your local grocery store, such as tamarind. But if you're serious about making your own Pad Thai, tamarind is a cornerstone in the flavor profile you'll want. Thus, it might be worth searching for some (see Helpful Hints). 

Lazy Dinner Fancy Ramen

I am just finishing up what has been one of the most overwhelming semesters I've ever had. Answering a friend the other day who inquired about how I was feeling, I responded with "ultrawhelmed." (And to be honest, I'm not really done, but next week is finals week and prepping for other things, so I have new/different tasks in which to engage.) This semester is the main reason for my major absence from this blog. To be honest, we've not even been sticking to out meal plan as much as we would normally, as there have been a number of nights where I've just been too busy or tired or both to cook (and Shana gets home too late usually).

In addition to this semester, Shana and I drove home from Chicago today after a 40-hour visit (I was there for a conference) and we had to clean up our house because tomorrow night is the semi-annual Minion Dinner. We've got 7 students coming over tomorrow night for a dinner of soups, salads, and breads (and cookies!!). So, when we got home, we had to clean and go grocery shopping to prepare for tomorrow, which didn't leave a lot of time for dinner. 

Because of all of that, tonight's dinner was another perfect lazy dinner: fancy ramen. The only reason we call this "fancy" ramen is because we put something other than just the ramen noodles in the pot. Because it's ramen, this dinner is SUPER fast and easy, plus it's pretty cheap even with the added ingredients. As I've talked about before (see the Helpful Hints), there is only one easily obtainable brand and flavor of ramen that has a vegan flavor packet.

Maggie's Tofu Scramble

We're back from our lovely holiday travels and enjoying that last weekend of break before everything starts up again. When talking about having a fun weekend breakfast, I mentioned tofu scramble to Shana, who was enthusiastic. Having a tofu scramble for breakfast is noteworthy for two reasons. First, it's a departure from our regular fun weekend breakfasts of waffles or pancakes (though we couldn't resist). Second, I'm not sure that anyone who has known Shana would have ever expected her to think a tofu scramble sounds like a delicious food, no matter when it's served. On the other hand, I order them almost everywhere I can find them served.

I've made tofu scrambles a few times at home, but I'd never quite gotten the spices and moisture content quite right. I'd make one that was too wet (per Shana's standards), too bland, too spicy, or just not quite right. This morning, after looking over my notes from my most recent attempt, cross-referencing with a recipe from one of the figureheads of vegan cooking (Isa Chandra Moskowitz over at the PPK), and doing a little mental recalculation, I arrived at a winner of a tofu scramble! We devoured all of it, along with some mini pancakes and a couple of slices of vegan bacon.

Maggie's Vegan Quiche

Now that I'm back from my trip to Jordan, I feel like my summer is actually starting. I spent the past few days organizing little bits of things from the end of the semester (though I've more work to do) and even got some good "summer work" done today (data analysis and manuscript writing).

However, what makes it really feel like summer is that my mind is whirring with plans for all the things I want to try to cook! As of right now, my dining room table is covered with cookbooks and I've got a running list going. For example, there are couple of Peruvian recipes from World Vegan Feast I've been eyeing, I got a couple of ingredients that are hard to find here when we were gone over Memorial Day weekend some fun recipes I haven't made in a while (vegan whoopie pies, anyone?), and just today I got a new cookbook in the mail (Let Them Eat Vegan) that I won in a giveaway.

With all that said, tonight I opted for a tried and true recipe. Shana stayed in Indy tonight for a "meet the new families" school function, which meant that I could do what I wanted for dinner. I opted for vegan quiche, because Shana keeps trying to tell herself she doesn't like it (even though the last time I made she ate 1/4 of it herself). The beauty of this recipe is that it can be made with veggies you likely have hanging out in your fridge. My preference is green things (broccoli, spinach, etc.), but veggies like mushrooms or peppers would also be delicious. Regardless of what you put in it, this recipe will get eaten up whenever you make it. I've taken it to brunches and served it to guests for breakfast and dinner, and it always disappears.

Maggie's Vegan Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those dishes that I never ate a lot as a child (like spaghettios), but started craving as an adult. However, since I'd never really made it, I had to do some investigation. In addition, I started thinking about lasagna in the early days of my veganism, when there wasn't nearly the veg*n presence on the web,  nor the relative abundance of veg*n-friendly products in grocery stores. I found some recipes filled with meats and cheeses and figured I'd just change things up a bit while keeping the basic recipes intact.

My first attempts at lasagna failed miserably. Since these attempts were more than 10 years ago, one would think I would have forgotten them by now...no dice. I couldn't figure out the right blend of ingredients, couldn't make the floppy noodles do what I wanted, and the layers never remained as layers. After a few times of feeling like I had the culinary equivalent of two black thumbs, I started asking for input. My mom suggested attempting a lasagna without boiling the noodles, one friend suggested ignoring all veg*n cheeses (which were awful at the time!), and another friend suggested that I just throw things I liked to eat in between noodles and call it lasagna. I took some of all of that to heart, eventually landing on the delicious recipe below.

Look at the beautiful layers. 

I almost forgot to take a picture again!

Vegan Moo Shu Vegetables

I've mentioned before how much Shana loves Chinese food. It really is her automatic go-to choice for dinner. Thus, when I was showing her some of the new recipes I wanted to try, this recipe for vegetable moo shu wraps jumped out at her. Since they sounded good and looked reasonably do-able, I agreed. Plus, they were an excuse to buy one new ingredient and test out the slicing blade on my food processor. This second time around they were as delicious as the first time and I figured out how to make the tofu work.

If you've never had moo shu wraps, they are basically shredded veggies that are stir fried, sauced, and then wrapped in a thin pancake. I would assume that they are infinitely adaptable ("gee, I should really use up this bell pepper in my fridge"), but I've not tested it out. A word of warning though: if you do not have a food processor with a slicing (and shredding) blade, the prep time on this would be tedious! But, with a food processor, you'll be ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.