Simple Tofu Scramble

Before I became vegan, on my days off work I would often wake up late, naturally, and then make myself a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, cheese, vegetables, and sour cream all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. I don't miss those breakfast burritos, actually, because I've found something I enjoy even more: Tofu Scramble Breakfast Burritos! Really. Eggs were the last thing I "gave up" upon deciding to go vegan, not really on purpose but that's just how it happened. It really seems like a strange thing to eat, though now....

Anywho, a friend on Facebook asked for this recipe and I suppose it was time, although it changes often dependent upon what's in my fridge. I'll give you a general idea, though. :)

Here's a close-up:

And a few other variations. What? I told you I loved a good tofu scramble! ;)

Okay, so since it's pretty much just me eating breakfast everyday, the amount of this scramble are really just for one but it's totally easy to add more to make more. 

The following are just rough estimates, since I don't really measure things in this case. 

Simple Tofu Scramble

1/3 block Extra Firm Tofu, pressed & cubed

1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped into 1/4" pieces

1/4 cup zucchini, chopped

1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped

1 leaf Curly Kale, ripped into pieces

Daiya Cheddar cheese shreds

Tofutti sour cream

1 flour or whole wheat tortilla

Avocado

Salsa

Green tabasco sauce

Since I don't have a fancy tofu press, I usually just pile some books on top of a cutting board to squish the tofu with some folded up paper towels to soak up the liquid. ;) After that, I just cube up the tofu after all the veggies are chopped and toss it in a hot pan with some canola oil and sauté it all until browned and crispy and yummy. Then I sprinkle some Daiya Cheddar cheese shreds and let them melt. While that happens, I like to microwave my tortilla for about 10 seconds so they're nice and foldable. Next it's time to assemble! I spread some Tofutti sour cream on the tortilla itself in the middle, scoop the tofu scramble out of the pan onto the sour cream, and then top with whatever I feel like: salsa, avocado, taco sauce, green tabasco, tempeh bacon, etc. Fold into a burrito and enjoy! 

Cream Cheese Corn Enchiladas

Enchiladas! Sort of. This is more of a cross between enchiladas and a burrito casserole. And it's awesome. I had a craving yesterday, so it became dinner! Super easy to throw together and then 20 minutes in the oven. Boom! : ) Hardest thing is making sure you have all the ingredients. Which I try to make sure is always. ; )

Ooey Gooey Cheesy!!

I veganized this recipe and it was awesome before, but now it ROCKS. And the absence of dairy-based cheese means I'm not all phlegmy and glued up inside after eating it. Gross, right? Well, it happens. Or used to. Ha. But no more! Here goes.

Cream Cheese Corn Enchiladas

adapted from Cassie Craves

  5 ounces Tofutti cream cheese, softened 

  1/4 cup Tofutti sour cream

  2 cups prepared salsa, divided

  1 cup shredded Daiya cheddar cheese, divided

  1 cup shredded Daiya pepper-jack cheese, divided

  1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

  1/2 teaspoon chili powder

  1/4 teaspoon cumin

  Salt and pepper

  4 scallions, thinly sliced ( I never have these so I use regular onion if I'm so inclined)

  8 8-inch flour tortillas

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup salsa, 1/2 cup of each type of cheese. Toss in the corn, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and half of the scallion and stir to combine. 

3. Spread about 1/2 cup salsa in the bottom of a baking dish. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup filling on a tortilla, roll up and tuck in the sides, then put in dish seam side down. Repeat process for remaining tortillas.

4. Pour remaining salsa over enchiladas, spreading to coat all of them. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

5. Transfer to preheated oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with the remaining scallions and serve warm.

I've kinda gotten to the point where I can just eyeball amounts and throw everything in a bowl and roll it all up in a tortilla super quick. It's great. Since it's generally just for me, I half the recipe, hence the 8"x8" pan, which is perfect. The full recipe fits perfectly in a 9"x13". The Tofutti cream cheese and sour cream that I use are awesome. They are tofu-based, have the same textures and tastes of the "real thing", and mix and melt just great. I get them at Whole Foods or my local Sprouts health food store. They can be pricey, so I use them sparingly, but it's worth it! I hope you'll enjoy these enchilada/burrito/delicious things. : )

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Cheezy Alfredo Sauce

This meal was totally last minute, but turned out to be AWESOME. My awesome mom gave me half of a baked butternut squash when I was there one day and I am so grateful! I was able to use that instead of roasting chunks of squash, which is what the recipe calls for. In fact, I'll give you the recipe but I honestly just glanced at it. I didn't really follow it. Oops. ; ) I just mixed the squash in a bowl with some AP flour and salt & pepper and then rolled it into ropes on a floured counter. It was still sticky, so I think I'll try a different method next time. I worked in a restaurant where we had butternut squash gnocchi and I watched the line cooks make it many times. They mixed the squash and flour with seasoning and then scooped it into a pastry bag. Over a pot of water, they would squeeze the bag and snip chunks of gnocchi off using kitchen scissors. The gnocchi floats to the top of the pot when done. I really should've tried this first, but sometimes you have to get it wrong before you can get it right. : ) 

So for the Alfredo sauce, I did actually use a recipe. It does call for a few ingredients that may be unusual, but they're totally worth picking up and having in stock. Like nutritional yeast (weird name, totally awesome stuff), raw cashews (which can be pricey, but worth it), tahini (which is paste made from toasted sesame seeds) and tamari ( I just used Shoyu brand soy sauce). I always have Earth Balance vegan butter on hand, too, cause it's great stuff. You can use it for basically anything you would use butter for. And now that I discovered this sauce I will be using all these items A LOT more. I actually made a half batch of the sauce and I had enough for 3 meals (2 with gnocchi and 1 with pasta. Yum!)

So here you go!

Vegan Butternut Squash Gnocchi    (I just used this as a loose guideline)

from One Taste Rule! 

1 large butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces

salt

fresh black pepper

about 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

about 1/3 cup cake flour

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the squash out on a sheet pan and bake until soft (25-45 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces).

Mix the two flours.

Puree the squash in the food processor (you might have to do it in 2 batches). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Flour your work surface and place the squash on it. Using a bench scraper, start to work the flour into the squash (this ensures that you don't over-mix). You might not need all of the flour. Your dough should be sticky, but workable.

Divide the dough into 6 portions. Roll each one into a rope, about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

And now for the sauce:

Hurry Up Alfredo

from Epicurean Vegan

Sauce:
1 C soy milk ( I used almond milk)
1/3 rounded raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 C nutritional yeast
3 Tbs tamari (or soy sauce)
2 Tbs Earth Balance vegan butter
1 Tbs tahini
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch salt
Black pepper, to taste
2-4 garlic cloves
I added 1/2C Tofutti Sour Cream and used SMOKED paprika and WOW! It was so creamy and flavorful!

DIRECTIONS:

To make sauce, mix all sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth. (What I did is transfer the sauce to a small saucepan and heat–this is also when I added the Tofutti sour cream. Then I just ladled the sauce on a serving of pasta or gnocchi). 

Note: for leftovers, I don’t recommend microwaving them. Keep sauce separate from pasta leftovers and reheat sauce in a pan over the stove and nuke the noodles or gnocchi. Sauce gets too dried out otherwise.

This meal is now one of my absolute favorites and I'm glad I can share it! (once I got around to it. ha.)  I had a side of roasted cauliflower with my gnocchi and it really hit the spot. For the cauliflower, I just chopped a head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces, tossed them in olive oil, sprinkled salt & pepper, and then roasted on a sheet pan at 400F until slightly blackened in places and crispy, stirring every 10 minutes or so. I used to hate cauliflower, but then I just discovered I didn't like steamed, mushy cauliflower. Roasted is amazing. Give it a try, if you've sworn you don't like it, like me. Enjoy!! : )

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos with Avocado Cream

First recipe! Woot! This also happens to be one of my favorites and one of the first I altered to make it vegan. Totally easy. Taking a recipe you already love and just tweaking it a bit might be the best way ease into being vegan or maybe just because you can't handle dairy (like me) or want to cut back on meat. Who knows? It's good to know there are options out there. : )

So! In this case, I just took the original recipe, adapted it for my taste, and used dairy substitutions to make this yumminess happen.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos with Avocado Cream

adapted from Cookie + Kate

Ingredients

Burritos

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika 
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• sea salt and black pepper
• 4 to 6 tortillas
• 1 jar Roasted Red Peppers (I used already sliced only needed about half the jar)
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1+ cup shredded non-dairy cheese (I used Daiya Pepper Jack)

Avocado Cream

•  1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 cup mild salsa, jarred
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh jalapeño, deseeded and roughly chopped (I used jarred slices, actually)
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tablespoon packed cilantro leaves (I didn't have fresh so I used dried)
• up to 2 tablespoons water, to thin as necessary
• sea salt, to taste 

Toppings

• 1 1/2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (optional)
• finely chopped jalapeño (optional)
• non-dairy sour cream (Tofutti brand is awesome)
• salsa

For the burritos, Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and peel the sweet potato. Chop them into large, bite-sized chunks. Toss the sweet potatoes in a bowl and coat with the olive oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Pour the sweet potatoes onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange the sweet potatoes evenly in a single layer. Bake for about 45 minutes, flipping the sweet potato chunks halfway, until they are golden brown around the edges.

Make the avocado sauce: in a food processor or a good blender (I actually just used my Magic Bullet blender since I have neither of those things), combine the avocado flesh, salsa, garlic, jalapeño (skip this if your salsa is spicy) and lime juice. Blend. Add the cilantro and blend again. Add water to thin out the sauce if you want; the sauce should glop easily off a spoon. Taste and blend in some sea salt or add another squeeze of lime if necessary. 

Make sure the oven is still on at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place your tortillas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In the middle of each tortilla, put down a couple strips of roasted red pepper, then pour black beans down the center and top it all with roasted sweet potato chunks. Sprinkle 1/4 cup or more of jack cheese on top. Pull one edge of the tortilla over to the center of the burrito, then pull the opposite edge over to overlap a bit. Gently roll the burrito over. Repeat with remaining burritos. Bake your burritos for about 5 minutes on the middle rack, until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are lightly crisp. I usually get 4 burritos if I'm using 8" tortillas or 6 from 6" tortillas. Either works. 

Transfer a burrito or two onto a plate and spread avocado cream on the top. Garnish with onion, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, or whatever else you have or sounds good. Dig in!! 

These burritos also reheat in the oven incredibly well as long as they don't have the avocado cream or garnishes on it yet. 

If you try this recipe, let me know how you liked it! Comments always welcome.