Pink Tofu + Cranberry Salad

For the dry fried tofu: cube & press a brick of tofu.  Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat.  Fry the tofu in a dry pan, pressing on it gently, until a nice firm crust develops.

For the cranberry sauce: This recipe, using stevia (chunky version)

Heat the fried tofu with cranberry sauce and a drizzle of maple syrup.  Serve over lettuce, with diced avocado and pecans.

Adapted from HHL

Quickie Quesadilla

Ok, this recipe looked too weird not to try, so I made it the other night... Yes.  Yeeeeees.  It was good!

Spread a tortilla with cranberry sauce (made with stevia, chunky kind), pistachios, vegan goat cheese, and grilled onion + broccoli.  Simple, but it really has that OMG WOWZA factor!

Adapted from That Was Vegan

Oatmeal ATTTTAAAAAAAACK!

So, here's what I did... made a quadruple batch of Bottomless Oatmeal, and just reheated the stuff every day, with a different flavour each day!  It worked out great, and oatmeal tasted normal.  Saved sooo much time too!  I also added a splash of almond milk when reheating, to loosen it up a bit.

 

#1: Pina Colada.
Pineapple, cinnamon, stevia, reduced fat shredded coconut, sunflower seeds

#2: Mocha
Instant coffee powder, cocoa powder, banana (roughly mashed), vanilla extract, low fat shredded coconut

#3: Loaded PB and J
Granola (actually leftover oatmeal cookie crumbs!), frozen banana, frozen strawberry, peanut butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sugar free strawberry jelly, peanuts

#4: Banana Split
Frozen banana, frozen strawberry, fresh pinapple, cinnamon, stevia, dark cocoa powder, vanilla extract

#5: Peach Pie
Cinnamon, nutmeg, frozen peach, mashed banana, cinnamon, walnuts, sugar free maply syrup, butter extract

#6: Banana Peanut butter
Banana, peanut butter, vanilla extract, dark cocoa powder, stevia

#7: Chai
Instant coffee powder, mashed banana, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla extract, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon

#8: Orange
Chopped glow orange, walnuts, maple syrup, vanilla extract

#9: Sweet Potato and Cranberry
Mashed sweet potato, dried cranberries, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar free maple syrup

#10: PB and J
Strawberries, banana, peanut butter, sugar free maple syrup, vanilla extract

#11: Blueberry and Chia
Frozen blueberries, chia seeds, walnuts, cinnamon, flax seeds, dried goji berries, sugar free maple syrup

Lentil Loaf

Erm.. sorry about the weird font stuff going on in this post...

Loaf adapted from here.

Ok, so this one is rather complex… soak and cook 1 cup dried green lentils, then mash.  Toast ¼ cup chopped walnuts.  Sauté 1 cup chopped onion, garlic, a couple green onions, and 1 medium grated carrot.  Mix together 1 tbsp ground flax seed with ½ cup warm water.  Then all of these things get mixed in a pan, along with vegetarian chicken bullion, 1/3 cup applesauce, ¼ cup raisins, ½ cup cranberries, lots of dried thyme, 1/3 cup oat flour, and ¾ cup breadcrumbs.  All of this went in a loaf pan and was baked at 350 for 45 minutes.  The sauce on top was a mixture of ketchup, syrup, and balsamic vinegar.

I have to say that the first night I had this, it was not that great.  But I didn't bake it for the full 45 minutes - so that's esential to success.  Secondly, I like the outside bits the best because they were the crispiest, so I would maybe try spreading out the loaf in a thinner layer to get more crust and less inside. I'm pretty sure with these changes, this would be really yum.

Cranberry and Tofu Wrap

Yeah, so I figured it was about time to use up the cranberry sauce I made a while ago (I won't say how long ago...) .  So I pulled out this recipe.

For the cranberry sauce, saute I used this recipe, only subbed orange juice for the grape juice, no zest, no salt, and no optional things... and I reduced the sugar by half.
Marinade thin slabs of tofu in soy sauce, mirin, and maple syrup.  Grill on a panini press. 
Grill a few slices of onion as well.
Cube 1/4 avacado per wrap.
Shred some carrots.

So, to assemble: tofu, onion, carrot, cranberry sauce, avacado.  Whew!  Lots of little pieces... but totally worth it! 

Delish Pasta Salad

This is a fun little pasta salad that I thought stood out from the monotonous crowd of pasta salads.  Yes, it does indeed have mayo.  Yes, it has carrots and bell pepper and pasta (I should hope a pasta salad has pasta).  And, yes, it's really really good.  But, the common things stop there.  Cranberries lend bursts of sweetness, and the broccoli adds a different bit of texture when you get a piece.  I always jump at the chance to use sunflowerseeds in cooking, and here was my chance, so I jumped... And so, I ended up with a very flavourful and colourful pasta salad, that also traveled very well in my lunches.  I killed two... pieces of tofu with one stone!

Snazzy Pasta Salad

Adapted from Melomeals

Serves 6-8

1 cup whole wheat elbow pasta, cooked until al dente

1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup diced bell pepper
1 cup broccoli florets
½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup sunflower seeds

1 cup cilantro, chopped

 

½ cup fat free mayo

4 leaves or so stevia, chopped (sub any sweet thing like sugar, honey, or agave)
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp curry Powder

1 tsp garlic powder

A few dashes ginger

Parmesan cheese, to top (opt)

Mix together the pasta through cilantro in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together the mayo through ginger, and whisk well. Pour over the pasta mixture, and then chill until ready to serve. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired. 

Cranberry Risotto

As I was putting this together, I had a fear of it being bland, because, as I scanned the ingredients, there were no spices whatsoever.  I started to pull out different spices until they looked sufficient- actually, the whole small counter space was covered with herbs... but I think this risotto was my best one yet- which isn't saying much because I have only made three.  But still- the cranberries added a nice sweetness, and the flecks of onion were delicious.  Not to mention all the herbs that went in.  Another plus was that it needed about 15 minutes of prep work, and it was done.

Baked Cranberry Risotto


Adapted from Oceanspray.com

Serves 6-8

4 cloves garlic, pressed

1 onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

3/4 cup risotto rice

2 cups water, plus vegetarian chicken bullion

Scant 1 tbsp thyme

Scant 1 tbsp oregano

3/4 cup dried cranberries

Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 425.

 In a deep frying pan or Dutch oven, heat a bit of water, and add the onions. Sauté for 2 minutes and add in the garlic.  Sauté for 2 more minutes and add the bell pepper, and sauté until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except the cheese and stir well. Pour into a casserole dish and cook for 30 minutes. When the liquid is gone, take out of the oven and top with a few tbsp of parmesan cheese. Serve.