Orange-Glazed Crispy Tofu

I love oranges and I love tofu so why wouldn’t I try this recipe out?

Between the orange juice in the sauce and the orange zest, you can definitely taste the orange in this ! As far as crispiness goes, I didn’t get a crispiness but I did enjoy the texture that got added to the tofu. I don’t think the sesame seeds really added anything but the green onions did add color, a different texture and a nice sharp flavor to the dish.

This recipe came from Make It Vegan by Ashley Hankins, you can get the cookbook on Amazon and Barnes and Noble at least.

I was not paid in any form to mention the cookbook, recipe, Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Take care y’all !

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Kung Pao-Style Crispy Tofu

I had to go to Savannah for some car repair and while the car was worked on, mommy and me hung out at Barnes & Noble and we just couldn’t help ourselves and ended up getting some new vegan cookbooks !

This recipe is great for both people who love spicy foods and want more of a mild dish. You definitely get flavor and texture in the meal but until you bite into a chile de arbol, you really don’t get any spiciness but once you do take that bite, oh man did it bring the heat ! I knew I’d be passing off my bell pepper pieces to mommy so I doubled the 1-inch green onion segments and there was still plenty of sauce to coat everything. You have to make up a batch of their Crispy Baked Tofu for this recipe and the tofu does live up to its name, it is crunchy… until it gets coated in the sauce. While it does lose the crunch factor, it doesn’t feel soggy or mushy and in fact actually has a bit of meaty texture to it. Mommy and me loved this and I hope y’all will too !

I got this recipe from Make It Vegan by Ashley Hankins (you can get it from Barnes & Noble but it’s also available through Amazon).

I wasn’t paid in any form to promote this recipe, the cookbook, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

Take care y’all !

Creamy Spinach Enchiladas

This is something that’s been in my family’s collection of favorite recipes for years !

Depending how long you go between shopping trips, this is great for fixing near the end of that time. The only real perishable item are the green onions otherwise it’s sour cream, frozen spinach (thawed and broken up), pepperjack cheese, corn tortillas, canned enchilada sauce (we used to use hot enchilada sauce but they stopped selling that here so now we used medium) and ricotta cheese ! Since there’s only 3 of us, this recipe will last us two days which is nice when you want to have a day off from cooking. I really wish I could remember where we got this recipe from so y’all could make this as well but it’s been so long and we never wrote the source down.

Take care y’all, especially to those suffering from the effects of the fires in the western United States, Hurricane Ida and those living in Afghanistan that don’t want to be there.

Impossible Tacos

I know the Impossible meat is great as a burger but I wondered how it’d be as a taco.

This was awesome ! Even though the meat wasn’t as firm as actual ground beef, it still absorbed and worked with the flavors of the taco seasoning blend (I use Lawry’s taco seasoning but it is a vegetarian seasoning mix just so you know). The Impossible meat was just as tasty with lettuce, shredded cheese and sour cream in a crunchy taco shell as the beef version was and I’m so happy that it does, ’cause it makes it that much easier to stick with being vegetarian !

I was not paid in any way to mention Lawry’s or Impossible meat.

Take care y’all !

Ultimate Snickerdoodles

If you’ve ever heard the name but never had one before, snickerdoodles to me are basically cinnamon sugar cookies !

I left these on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes just to make sure they wouldn’t fall apart when it came time to take them off and it caused them to have a nice crispy crust on the bottom but still be really soft on top. You definitely taste the cinnamon thanks to to the cinnamon in the cookie dough plus the cinnamon sugar blend each cookie dough ball got rolled in but the flavor was never overpowering (you certainly won’t feel like you’re doing some new version of the cinnamon challenge). On a different note, don’t be surprised if you end up with more cookies than what the recipe says. This recipe is supposed to yield 13 cookies but somehow I got 19 !

I got this recipe from delish Insane Sweets (available through Amazon, delish website has a link, etc.) but if you go onto the delish website, and just search “snickerdoodle cookies” then you’ll find the same recipe with an even more detailed set of directions.

I was not paid in any form to mention delish, Amazon or this recipe.

Take care y’all !

Impossible Jalapeno Burgers

This might be the best meat substitute burger I’ve ever had !

I cooked these in a cast iron skillet and was a little afraid I’d burned them ’cause of how some parts looked but there was no burnt/bitter flavor, just a great crust on the burger ! The recipe calls for vegan chipotle mayo but my town doesn’t offer that so I took 1/2 cup of plain vegan mayonnaise and combined it with close to 2 tablespoons of minced chipotle in adobo sauce. Mommy and me both loved the texture of the toasted potato buns, the crust on the burger patty and bite of the pickled jalapeno slices. I don’t know how much the finely chopped onion, minced garlic, ground cumin or ground coriander mixed into the patty contributed to the deliciousness of the burger but I’m they were in there. The patty mixture was also supposed to have chopped flat-leaf parsley but I forgot to get it when I went grocery shopping. I loved how this turned out too much to try it again with the parsley in fear of it not turning out as good. The smokiness of the chipotle mayo, the spiciness of the pickled jalapenos and the freshness of the tomato slices and shredded lettuce… it makes me salivate just thinking about it ! Another bonus to this, we had some leftover patties that we refrigerated and then microwaved, and the burger tasted just as good as it did fresh out of the skillet !

This recipe came from Impossible The Cookbook.

I wasn’t paid in any form to promote this recipe or the cookbook.

Take care y’all !

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

Happy “Fry-day” y’all ! I don’t go out to restaurants really anymore between COVID-19 and the lack of vegetarian/vegan restaurants in my town but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss me some fried cheese sticks ! This version sounded fairly simple but tasty so I gave it a shot.

So mine didn’t turn out as pretty as what you’d get in a restaurant but they did taste good and I loved how long the mozzarella got stretched out without having the whole thing come out !

If you’d like to try making this yourself (and hopefully have it turn out even prettier), click here.

I wasn’t paid in any form to mention this recipe.

Take care y’all !

Kung Pao Tofu

I had some extra-firm tofu that was close to expiring and had a hankering for something Asian so this recipe sounded perfect to me !

It’s not in the picture but this recipe called for 5 dried red chilies (I used chile de arbol) and I swear y’all, I cooked it for the time listed and I guess the heat was higher than whatever they used (recipe never does say) ’cause the chilies looked black ! I had cut off the stems before they went into the skillet so the dish still got a nice level of heat to it but I refused to bite into any of the actual chili peppers in fear of the level of bitterness they could’ve had. The bell pepper still had some crunch to it even after I was done cooking but I was okay with that since the tofu was seared but not crispy. This was really delicious but next time I think I’ll double this recipe so I can get the portion size I’d really like (it’s supposed to serve 4 but the three of us polished it off no problem).

Oh yeah, the recipe never gives an exact size for cutting the tofu but I went for roughly 3/4-inch sized cubes.

If you want to try this out for yourself, click here.

I wasn’t paid in any form to mention this recipe.

Take care y’all !

Mongolian Mushrooms and Onions

This is supposed to serve 4 but I’d recommend doubling it ’cause it tastes so good you’re not gonna be happy with their serving size !

The recipe gives you some options for what mushroom you can use, as long as it was “meaty” so I went with cremini mushrooms that I cut into thick slices. Anyone who’s cooked mushrooms knows that they shrink in size after getting cooked (almost as bad as spinach) so that’s why I tried cutting them into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick. The recipe says to cook the yellow onion until softened but not necessarily soft so I moved onto the next step while the onion still had some crunch. I also didn’t want the minced garlic to burn so I just added it in near the end of the cook time for the onion. I loved the finished textures of the mushrooms, yellow onion slices and 2-inch green onion segments but the sauce is what really makes you want to eat this and not stop ’til your plate’s empty !

If you want to make this yourself someday, this recipe came from 30-Minute Vegan Dinners by Megan Sadd, you can find it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon and probably some other places as well (between the first two though, Amazon is cheaper).

I was not paid in any form to mention this recipe or the cookbook.

Take care y’all !

Portobello Penne Casserole

If you have a hankering for pasta, this recipe will scratch that itch !

The top of the casserole has a great crust to it, the spinach mixture feels like pesto when you bite into this and the mozzarella still has some gooey pull to it ! Even though the pasta is cooked before it goes into the oven for 30 minutes, the pasta did not feel over-cooked which was a pleasant surprise.

This recipe came from an Allrecipes magazine.

I was not paid in any form to promote this recipe or Allrecipes.

Take care y’all !