I made tofu and I liked it!

Tonight's forray was in to the world of tofu.  I have eaten it once since I stopped eating meat.  It  was General Tso's tofu and was very tasty.  The tofu was a little chewy/spongy, but I chalked that up to the fact that it was sitting in a hot table buffet at Wegman's.    That General Tso's tofu helped me conquer my fear of tofu.  Yes, I had a very real fear of tofu.  I scoffed at the thought of eating it.  When my son asked me what the sofritos were at Chipotle, I said "ew, it's tofu.  You'll never catch me eating that."   So now I eat my words, and  tofu!

I present - Roasted brussel sprouts and crispy baked tofu with honey- sesame glaze.  This is not my recipe, just click on the link to get the recipe and more pics.    

Ingredients for the glaze

The tofu cooked up nicely in the oven.  Tossing it with the arrowroot powder, olive oil/tamari and baking it really crisped up the edges as if it had been pan "fried".   My brussel sprouts looked like they were getting a little too roasty well before the time was up, so I removed them from the oven.    

I didn't let my glaze reduce enough so it was more of a sauce.  But, the sauce/glaze was still AMAZING, and the star of the show.   Seriously, I want to marry this glaze.   It is sweet, salty, spicy, everything I've dreamed of in a glaze!   

The recipe calls for 1-3 tsps of chili garlic sauce/sriracha. I used two teaspoons of sriracha, and was going to add a third, but the sauce/glaze had not reduced so I stopped knowing the flavors would just concentrate more, and they did.   For me, two teaspoons was perfect,   The first taste you get the salty tamari, then some sweet from the honey, and it finishes off with a nice touch of heat from the sriracha(I didn't know til this moment that was spelled SRiracha.  I thought it was Siracha.) I used to love things HOT HOT HOT, but my mouth can't take it anymore.  Sometimes it is difficult to get that heat without it being too hot.  This was really well balanced, and customizable if you do like it hot.  

If you aren't up for/not interested in the tofu, I bet this glaze would be great over some chicken with the brussel sprouts and rice.  



  

The key to making this work for me (and a recipe!)

Familiarity has been absolutely critical to me being able to change from a pretty much daily meat eater to a vegetarian.  Trying new things is great and exciting, but finding/changing recipes for meals that are favorites of mine to veggie based is paramount to me.  Also important to are mushrooms.  They have been my saving grace in this transition.  Mushrooms are a tough thing for some people.  If you are one of those people, look away - no not really you can sub out the mushrooms keep reading.  :) Shepherd's pie is not something I eat weekly.  Maybe once a month/every couple months.  Though with Fall coming, and the changes I made to my recipe, it may be more often!    Before changing my existing shepherd's pie recipe I tried one that I found on Pinterest.  It was shepherd's pie in that it had a mashed potato topped "filling" baked in a casserole dish. It was good, but it was not the flavor profile I was used to.  There were black beans, parsnips, and tomato paste.  There were no peas, it was little dry, and just didnt' hit the spot.  Please note a few things, this is only a two serving recipe.  My youngster is picky and wouldn't go veg, so I scaled down recipes so I don't have leftovers like crazy. The potatoes and cauliflower  are mashed together for the topping. I'm not a fan of the texture of straight mashed cauliflower, but when you mash it with the potato you get the starchy potato texture with the added nutritional value of added veggie.  The quantity of potato and cauliflower are guesstimated, you may want to use more (depending on the size of your potatoes).  Better to have extra mashed potatoes than not enough.  I make extra and give some to the kiddo with dinner and put the rest on the shepherd's pie. In the pic below I put too much of the potato mash.  So for the recipe I increased the amount of veggies and mushrooms used.  Oh, and I like to use purple potatoes.  Purple is my favorite color and I love making purple mashed potatoes! Finally, I suggest thawing the frozen mixed veggies and cauliflower so they don't lower the cooking temp of the water/skillet when they are added. Oh and the how to do it without mushrooms is I would just increase the vegetables. Ingredients 1 lb, Baby Bella Mushrooms rough chop 2 Cups Frozen mixed vegetables-thawed (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)    0.25 cup, chopped, Onions, raw 1 clove, Garlic minced 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp organic cane sugar 1 tbsp, Sauce, Worcestershire - Vegetarian .25 cup, Organic Vegetable Broth 2 potatoes 4 ounces Frozen Cauliflower thawed  1% Organic Milk - for mashed potatoes 1.00 tsp butter  for mashed potatoes .25 cup shredded cheese.  Directions: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Wash potatoes and cut into quarters. Boil the potatoes until they begin to get soft.  Add the cauliflower boil until both are soft enough to mash.  Once done mash the potatoes and cauliflower with a potato masher or mixer.  Add milk to get desired consistency.  Add butter, salt and pepper to taste.  While the potatoes are boiling add a little olive oil to a skillet and heat over medium high heat.  Add mushrooms and onions.  Cook over med-high heat stirring often until onions become translucent and mushrooms begin to soften and darken about 3 - 5 minutes.  Add the mixed vegetables and thoroughly combine with mushrooms and onions.  Add the garlic, thyme, sugar, Worcestershire, and broth.  Lower heat to med-low and simmer for a couple of minutes.  If the mixture seems too liquidy you can add a cornstarch slurry to thicken it.  Make the slurry by combining one tablespoon of cornstarch and one tablespoon of vegetable broth.  Combine in a bowl and add 1/2 to the skillet.  Turn heat to medium stirring occasionally.  If it doesn't thicken enough in a couple of minutes add the other half.  Once thickened add the vegetable mixture to the casserole dish. Top with the mashed potatoes spreading them over the top of the mixture using  a fork.  Top with cheese and put in the oven for about 20 minutes - until it is bubbly and the cheese is melted. Nutrition Facts
Servings 2.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 396
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 12 g	18 %
Saturated Fat 8 g	38 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 36 mg	12 %
Sodium 417 mg	17 %
Potassium 1390 mg	40 %
Total Carbohydrate 36 g	12 %
Dietary Fiber 9 g	37 %
Sugars 5 g
Protein 18 g	36 %
Vitamin A	43 %
Vitamin C	100 %
Calcium	26 %
Iron	20 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

....and it did....all start for me with a veggie burger....

What all started with a veggie burger?  Me finally, finally, FINALLY quitting meat. 

Several weeks before veggie burger day  I had started eating healthier.  I was cutting out processed foods, buying organic and locally sourced food whenever possible.    On a trip to a local farmer's market store I found they were giving samples  of Jersey City Veggie Burgers .   I tried one and liked it so I picked up a couple of packages.  Their veggie burgers are not  concentrated soy protein burgers like Boca or Morningstar Farms.  These burgers are made with beans, veggies, etc (you can check out the ingredients on their website) and SO YUMMY!   

Now, these are not magical burgers that change you from an carnivore to a vegetarian.  After having the burger I started thinking incorporating more meatless meals. I thought about doing meatless Mondays at first, and gradually working to more.  My staycation week was in another week so I contemplated trying a meatless week that week.  I was all abuzz with excitement about this  new change.  

The next day I had planned to have a grilled chicken cesar salad for dinner.  When it came time, I didn't want to eat the meat.  I haven't looked back since.  Ok, it's only been 32 days, but that is WAY longer than I have ever successfully stopped eating meat.  I tried numerous times back in my early 20's and it was too much of a change and too limiting.  I know now that not eating meat doesn't mean limiting myself to only salads and tofu forever.  My previous attempts were a long long time ago, before there was Pinterest, heck before the internet was a common household item.  

So  you may ask why am I babbling about all this.  Well, I feel like I've been innundating my FaceBook friends with vegetarian food/recipes posts.  I don't mean to, but I have really found a passion for finding and cooking vegetarian recipes and sharing what works for me.  It's a whole new culinary adventure I'm embarking on.  Maybe by sharing meat alternative meals someone else will be inspired to incorporate more meatless meals to their lives, or to go meatless all together.    By blogging about it I don't/ have to post all the recipes on FaceBook.  Now I'll just post my new blog posts! 

By way of a little disclaimer, I'm not at this time vegan.   I may post links/recipes that are vegan,but  most are not.  Many sites that post vegetarian recipes to offer tips to make the recipes vegan.  

...and away we go!