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 !

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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 !

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 !

Saved by Seitan

Recipe title might sound weird but if you read the intro for this recipe, it makes a lot more sense !

So this is supposed to be a beef substitute (it gets used in a few different ways in the cookbook) and they say it should get sliced thin but honestly I love slicing it on the thicker side and using it cold in a sandwich (tasted great with the vegan chipotle mayo) or just snacking on it as is ! As to whether it’ll remind you of beef… not so much for myself but that doesn’t take away from how good this is. The original version wasn’t spicy so we added in a tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes to the dry mixture and really enjoyed the spicy kick it gave.

This recipe came from Vegan Comfort Classics by Lauren Toyota.

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

Take care y’all !

Kung Pao Noodles

Pasta sounded so good to me so when I saw this recipe I was like “hell yeah, I wanna make this” !

Oh man I loved eating this ! The sauce was spicy, salty and a little sour/tangy. The peanuts still had some texture to them and I liked getting a bite with the green onion slices in it. I think this would also be really good with some fried tofu sprinkled on top !

Oh yeah by the way, the recipe calls for chile paste ( I used gochujang) and I decided to use 3 tablespoons of it. I also used 50% reduced-sodium tamari sauce instead of soy sauce to keep it from getting unpleasantly salty.

If you’d like to make the recipe yourself, click here.

I wasn’t paid in any way to promote this recipe.

Take care y’all !

Vegan Chipotle Mayo

I was looking for a different way to add some flavor to my seitan sandwiches and knew I wanted to try this out as soon as I saw it.

This was a pretty easy recipe to fix up ! It was creamy, smoky and a little spicy. I’d be happy to fix it again in the future.

If you’d like to try this recipe out yourself, click here.

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

Take care y’all !

Fried Pickled Jalapeños with Sour Cream Ranch

Happy “Fry-day” y’all ! I’ve had fried jalapeño poppers before but never fried pickled jalapeño slices so when I came across this recipe online I figured I’d give it a try.

Oh these were so good ! Being a fried item, you do need to eat them sooner rather than later after they’re cooked if you want to enjoy the crispy batter. The heat of the jalapeño slices still comes through and it tastes great with that dip ! Mommy and me both agreed that the fried slices can stand on their own but that sour cream/ranch/lime zest and juice blend just added a creamy, cool bright contrast to the fried spicy battered jalapeño slices.

If you want to try making this yourself, just click on the link here.

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

Take care y’all !

Spicy Tofu with Creamy Coconut Sauce

This recipe looked so good I had to try it out !

Other than being just a little salty, this was so freaking good ! I wish I could give you an awesome description of the flavors but after one bite, I just hoovered the whole thing ! If you want to try this out yourself, click here.

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

Take care y’all !

Chipotle-Lime Cauliflower Tacos with Tofeta

My family loves these tacos so much, fights have come close to starting over one thinking the other’s taking more than their share !

The cauliflower and sliced red onions really absorb the chipotle-lime marinade, giving the taco some heat and acidity. The red cabbage gives a nice crunch to the dish and while the original recipe called for crumbled queso fresco or feta cheese, we tried out this recipe for tofeta (tofu feta). It’s been a while since having actual feta so I’m not gonna say this is a 100% replica of feta but it does have a nice level of saltiness to it (doesn’t make you feel like you need to drink something afterwards) and the oil/lemon juice marinade for the tofu gives it a little fatty/bright flavor that pairs really nice with the oregano that’s also in the marinade. Based off the reception we’ve had for this dish, I’d suggest on only expecting this to last 1 day !

We’ve had the taco recipe for so long that I don’t know where it came from other than the fact that it came from a magazine (picture from the magazine was stapled to the copied down version) and the tofeta recipe came from “Vegan on the Cheap” by Robin Robertson.

I wasn’t paid in any form to promote either recipe or the sources that they came from.

Take care y’all !

Penne alla Vodka

This is one of my favorite vegetarian pasta dishes !

Ree Drummond knew what she was doing when she made up this recipe ! The sauce is creamy, you can still taste the tomato in it and because I added a ton of red pepper flakes, it’s also spicy. It really surprised me with how much pepper flakes I had to add in, I didn’t think the heavy whipping cream could temper the spiciness of those flakes like it did. The finely chopped yellow onion does give just a little bit of texture to break up the consistency of the smooth sauce and cooked pasta. Oh yeah, I’m never really sure when the vodka looks “reduced” so I just cook it until I don’t get hit with the smell of vodka anymore.

You can find the recipe on Food Network by clicking here.

I wasn’t paid in any form to promote Ree Drummond, Food Network, or this recipe.

Take care y’all !