Thanksgiving Soy Curls and Gravy

A couple of weeks ago I won a package of Butler soy curls from Somer over at Vedged Out.  I love soy curls.  They are versatile and cooperative to work with.  This time I needed them to step up in a big way.  Let me explain….

Yesterday I made the weekly trek to the health food store.  On my list was our Thanksgiving entree.  We’re reading labels more carefully these days than ever before due to increased allergies.  (Hubby and I really should avoid wheat and my sil cannot get a hold of anything from the cruciferous family or the sunflower/safflower seed/oil family.)  It was time to really check out every single ingredient in the roll we buy once a year.  Now, mind you, this single time out of the year we have been known to wink at some egg whites for this particular tradition.  (GASP!)  However, not only did our traditional long-looked-forward-to entree have eggs in it, but now it had non-fat milk, too.  Oh, and did I mention that vital wheat gluten plays a major roll in its creation, as well?  *sigh and ugh*  I called hubby to get his opinion on what to do.  This was, after all, just about his only tradition that matters to him (that and frosted sugar cookies at Christmas) and he has not wanted to give it up in the past.  He told me, “Hon, I trust your creative powers to whip up something great to replace it, either with soy curls, or something else.  We can try it out this week and if we really aren’t excited by it, then we’ll visit the possibility of buying the roll of fake stuff.”

How can a girl not take up such an encouraging challenge?  🙂  I bought some portabella mushrooms and headed for home.

The jury was divided on this dish.  Out of 5 of us, 2 loved it, 2 thought it was okay, and 1 said that with extra salt it was pretty good (this from the guy who salts everything before he tastes even it.)  One of the guys asked if I could do half this way and half BBQ!  lol

I think when I make this on Thanksgiving, I will tweak it a little bit more.  I am going to add an extra tablespoon of chicken-style seasoning into the soy curls (already included below), and toss in a little bit of minced garlic.  Perhaps one of your favorite dried herbs could make an appearance in it, if you wish.  If you experiment, please let me know what you do.

Thanksgiving Soy Curls

• 2 c. water
• 2-4 T. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, depending on how salty you want it to be
• 4+ T. chicken-style seasoning
• 1 tsp. rubbed sage
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 6 c. soy curls
• 8 oz. portabella mushrooms, diced
• 2 large onions, chopped
• extra virgin olive oil

In a very large frying pan or a Dutch oven, combine water, Bragg’s, and seasonings and heat on high.  Add soy curls and toss.  When it comes to a boil, turn the heat off and continue turning the soy curls over and over until all of the water is absorbed.  Scrape into a bowl and set aside.  In the same frying pan, saute the mushrooms and onions in the olive oil until softened.  Transfer the soy curls back to the frying pan and mix everything together.  Continue heating everything until the soy curls are toasty warm again.  Serve with gravy.

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This gravy recipe is mildly adapted from a cookbook called Vegetarian For Life (although I believe all the recipes in it are actually vegan.)

“Chicken” Gravy

• 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 c. brown rice or barley flour (I recommend the barley flour if you are not gluten intolerant.  In a pinch, you could use whole wheat, but the flavor pales in comparison.)
• 3 T. chicken-like seasoning
• 2 T. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 4 c. water

In a 2-quart saucepan, mix the oil with the flour and chicken seasoning.  Stir in the Bragg’s.  Gradually stir in the first 2 cups of water until it is smooth and getting thin; then add all of the last 2 cups.  Heat, stirring often, and finally stirring constantly as it begins to thicken.  When it boils, turn the heat down and simmer to desired thickness.

This can be made a day ahead ~ just be aware that it will thicken upon standing, so you won’t want to simmer it very long.  It will thicken some as you reheat it.

Beefy Vegan Soup

After all the fun of the Virtual Vegan Potluck I was inspired to create something new the very next day.  I wanted to make a soup to feed my family (plus a potential 1-2 others), but none of my regular recipes were resounding with my mental tastebuds.  What did sound good was some kind of beefy stew.  I peeked into my cupboards and fridge to see if I had the supplies to pull something like this off.  Next I recruited my son, J, to help me.  (Not only is he good with ideas, but he peels a mean carrot or potato!  lol)  Here is what we came up with ~ a good solid “beef” soup!

This makes an 8-quart stock-pot just about full.

Beefy Vegan Soup

• 3 c. sliced/diced carrots
• 1 1/2 c. sliced celery
• 3 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 5 c. diced potato
• 6 c. chopped cabbage
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 10 c. water
• 1/2 c. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
• 1 T. Marmite or Vegex
• 3 T. chicken-style seasoning
• 1 tsp. celery salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1 T. Spike
• 2 bay leaves
• a touch of sweetener – maybe 1-3 tsp. (believe it or not, this makes a difference)
• 4 c. Soy Curls, roughly broken/crushed into 1-2″ pieces

Place everything except the soy curls into a large 8-quart stock pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.  Allow to simmer 30 minutes or so, until the vegetables are tender.  (I like to get the potatoes to the point they will almost melt in your mouth.  Then they remind me of my mother’s crock-pot roast, potatoes, and carrots that she used to make when I was a kid and still eating meat.)  Toss in the Soy Curls and stir thoroughly.  Remove from heat.

Serve this as soon as it’s not so hot it will burn your mouth.  Better yet, let it sit off the heat for an hour or so and warm it back up.  Soups always taste better if they can sit for a while and be reheated so that the flavors meld well.  I love leftovers the next day ~ they’re always better!  🙂

Sweet and Sour Bok Choy and Tofu

I love sweet and sour stir-fries.  Half of my children do, too.  The other half and hubby, however, do not…or should I say DO NOT.  If I’m going to make it, I do it for lunch for myself and anybody who might be interested.

This week I found some organic bok choy and knew it was time to experiment.  This is just a simple little dish, but it makes a very satisfying lunch.  I didn’t have time to cook any rice and had none leftover, either, so we ate it plain for a late “noon” meal.  It was delicious.  I would have liked more of the greens from the bok choy for eye-appeal, though.  Some sweet red pepper pieces would have helped with the colorfulness, too.  For a better view of the picture below, click on it.  It looks tastier that way.  🙂

Sweet and Sour Bok Choy and Tofu

• approximately 2-3 T. virgin coconut oil, decrease if desired
• 1 small onion, quartered and sliced
• 1 small bunch bok choy, chopped into separate pieces of stem and leaves
• 1/4 lb. of frozen diced pineapple pieces, or to taste
• 1 T. minced ginger, or more
• 1 lb. extra-firm tofu, diced
• 1 1/2 T. chicken-style seasoning
• Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 1/4 c. demerara sugar, or brown sugar
• 1 T. (loose) cornstarch
• 2 T. water

Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet.  Toss in onion, bok choy stem pieces, pineapple, ginger, and tofu.  Squirt Bragg’s back and forth over pan, stirring to distribute.  Begin cooking on medium high heat.  Sprinkle the chicken-style seasoning over all and stir well.  Cook for 5 minutes or so.  Add bok choy leafy pieces and demerara or brown sugar.  Cook until bok choy is as tender as desired.  Stir together cornstarch and water and pour it into the skillet, stirring constantly.  Add more Bragg’s as desired for flavor and saltiness.  Serve plain or over rice.

Variations:  Add sliced/diced mushrooms, celery, and/or bell peppers.  You may need to increase ginger, seasonings, and sweeteners, depending on how much you add.

General Tso’s Sauce

What do you do when you can’t find an inexpensive bottle or two of General Tso’s Sauce for your supper plans?  Well, either you go without, or spend the big bucks, right?  *BEEP*  Wrong answer.  ;D  You go to the website of your favorite brand of sauce and look at the ingredients list…and then use it to approximate amounts to create your own!  Or…at least…that’s what I did last night.  It was either that or use the veggies I had already purchased to make a very mundane stir fry instead.

My only fear came when I tasted the sauce.  MAN!!…was it salty!!!  But since I had never actually tasted the purchased sauce straight out of the bottle, I really didn’t have anything to go by.  My tofu had nothing flavoring it except the coconut oil in which I sauteed it and my veggies had no salt on them.  I took the risk.  I poured it over the tofu to marinate since it was finished first.  Once the veggies finished cooking I tossed it all together.

SUCCESS!  Best tasting General Tso’s yet!  Now that I realize just how much sweetener goes into it, I think that I will have to play around to make it more savory and less sweet just for health’s sake.  But for wow factor, this is the way to go.  😀

For comparison, here is the ingredients list from Iron Chef’s General Tso’s Sauce:  Sugar, soy sauce, water, vinegar, food starch, tomato paste, fresh garlic, dried garlic, red peppers, soybean oil, dried minced onion.

I made some substitutions and added some minced ginger.  I made a triple batch of this for my crew (and the teens were circling the empty serving dishes whining wishing for more.)  That’s why the measurements sometimes seem a bit odd.  It’s tough to split 1/2 tsp. into thirds!  Just for the sake of those of you who like to make large batches as I do, I’ll put the large batch’s measurements in parentheses after each ingredient.

General Tso’s Sauce

• 1/4 c. evaporated cane juice crystals (or sugar) (3/4 c.)
• 1-1 1/2 tsp. honey (1/4 c.)
• 1/4 c. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (3/4 c.)
• 1/4 c. + 2-3 T. water (1 1/4 c.)
• 1 T. fresh organic lemon juice (3 T. – 1 small lemon)
• 2 tsp. cornstarch (2 T.)
• 4 tsp. organic tomato paste (4 T.)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced (6 cloves; 4 T.)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (3/4 tsp.)
• 1/8 tsp. (rounded measure) dried red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp.)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil (1 tsp.)
• 1/4 tsp. dried minced onion (3/4 tsp.)
• scant 1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced (scant 1 T.)

Measure 2-3 T. water, mix in the cornstarch, and set it aside.  Place all other ingredients in a saucepan (making sure the tomato paste is thoroughly “dissolved”) and heat to just boiling.  Add the cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly until it loses it slightly milky color and begins to thicken.  Remove from heat and set aside until stir fry is complete and ready for sauce.

Makes approximately 1-1 1/4 c. of sauce.

Southwestern Skillet

If you are a new vegan, you may not have heard the question very often, “Where do you get your protein?”  (Well, just wait…you will.  For some reason, folks think if you don’t chew on an animal part or drink cow’s milk that there is no protein available to you.  Unfortunately, they forget that cows, pigs, and, yes, even gigantic elephants get their protein from…wait for it…plant food.)

As I was throwing this and that into this dish, I realized that it was going to be stacked with protein.  I was tempted to call it “Southwestern So-Where-Do-You-Get-Your-Protein Skillet,” but that seemed a bit cumbersome.  ;D  While I have pictured this served over rice, if you instead served it over quinoa, you would ramp up the protein even more (and it would be more authentic to the Southwest, for that matter.)  But seriously, it isn’t necessary to do that.  There’s plenty here without it.

This is a great dish to make when you get home from the grocery store and realize that either you missed just how ripe those tomatoes were that you bought, or the bag-boy/girl packed them in the bag next to the canned goods and they are smooshed and must be used right now, or be thrown away.  (Not that I’m bitter…)

I also noticed as I was putting this together that it appeared I was writing a commercial for Trader Joe’s!  It wasn’t meant that way, it just happened.  Since not everyone has access to one of those marvelous stores, I wrote the recipe non-brand-specific, but mentioned some of the products that I used.

This is also very tasty without the beans, but they really add a nice note to the dish.  If you are not a spicy-food fan, I would suggest cutting the chorizo in half.  If you like burn-your-mouth-off spicy, then cut down on the tofu.  If you don’t have some of the veggies on hand, throw in a jar of salsa instead – it won’t be quite as tasty, but in a pinch, sometimes you have to make due.  Also, if at all possible, use organic products for the best flavor.

Southwestern Skillet

• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 8 oz. of frozen tri-colored bell pepper pieces/strips (half of the Trader Joe’s bag)
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 oz. soy chorizo (Trader Joe’s has a brand of this, and Tofurkey just brought one out, though I haven’t tried it yet)
• 1 pkg. 14-16 oz. extra-firm water-packed tofu, rinsed, drained, and gently squeezed out
• Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 1/4-1/3 of a pound-bag of frozen sweet corn (Trader Joe’s white sweet corn is unparalleled for flavor)
• 2 small or medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can black beans, drained

Place the onion and peppers in a large skillet with some olive oil to saute.  Open the chorizo (there is no good way to do this, except maybe slit the casing up the entire side and scoop it out) and add it to the skillet.  When the onions are softening a little, crumble the tofu into the pan and squirt it in a few zig-zags of Bragg’s over it.  Stir.  When everything is bubbling, stir in the corn, tomatoes, and beans.  Cook just long enough to warm the last few ingredients.

Serve over brown rice or quinoa, with optional vegan cheese, soy sour cream, and/or avocado.

Scrambled Tofu

Remember how I told you in the last post that you would see the Chicken Style Seasoning  used often in my recipes?  Well, here is the first example.

This is one of my kids’ favorite foods.  I serve it regularly on Friday evenings for supper.  (Once when I made it on a different night, R came in the door and exclaimed, “Mmmm!  Smells like Friday night!”)  Most of my family likes just plain ol’ scrambled tofu – don’t get cutesy or creative, Mom – and I like it dolled up a bit.  Just in case you like interesting, creative food, I’ll give you some ideas on what to do.  I’ll show you pictures of the plain dish vs. a fancier version, too.

An aside comment ~ every mom, every cook deserves at least ONE good eater in the family who loves just about every dish (flavor and texture) set in front of them and who doesn’t have a long list of food dislikes.  My 6-ft. tall, 17-year-old son is that one for me.  The tofu pictured below with the added extras was for lunch one day when just the two of us were home.  There are rarely leftovers with J at the table!  I think there are 2 solitary foods he doesn’t like – bananas (which he’ll eat in smoothies or banana bread) and asparagus.  What a joy!

Here are the various stages of the cooking process, from just-stirred-in seasonings, to browned and browner.  (You can click on them to see them full-sized.)  My family prefers it a little crispified.  They also like bigger pieces than I used here.

   

Scrambled Tofu

• 1/4-1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1-2 T. olive oil
• 1 lb. extra-firm water-packed tofu
• Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (the one sold in a squirt bottle)
• 1 T. chicken-style seasoning
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. dill weed (please don’t leave this out!)

In a non-stick skillet, saute chopped onion in olive oil until softened.  (Depending on the quality of your skillet, you may need more or less oil.)  As onion is cooking, rinse and drain tofu and break into bite-sized, or smaller, pieces.  Once onion is softened, toss tofu with the onion and oil.  Drizzle Bragg’s in a fairly quick zig-zag motion over the tofu.  Not every piece will get a squirt, but the tofu is relatively porous, so it will transfer to all of the pieces fairly evenly after stirring.  Stir to mix it in.  Continue cooking the tofu over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.  Sprinkle the seasonings over the tofu and stir until well distributed.  Continue cooking to desired texture, stirring occasionally.  It will brown nicely if you are patient.  If you are in a hurry, just heat and eat.

Variations:  You may saute with the onions, or in a separate pan to be tossed in later, a variety of options – peppers, greens, mushrooms, soy meat substitutes such as Tofurkey Italian Sausage-style links – sliced/diced, artichokes, etc.  Use up some left-over cooked grains by serving the vegetables and tofu over it, or spoon some directly into the tofu or vegetables and heat it along with them near the end of the cooking phase.

This picture shows sauteed frozen tri-color pepper strips (a great time-saver and a good option if you don’t have fresh ones on hand), frozen artichoke hearts – broken up with the back of a spoon after cooking a while, mushrooms, fresh baby spinach that wasn’t being eaten quickly enough in salads, and some left-over rice.  I used a hint of olive oil at the beginning with just the peppers and artichokes until they started to thaw enough and “melt,” causing some juices to allow for steaming the greens.  Once these 2 items were well on their way to being cooked, I tossed in the rinsed spinach.  Since I discovered my fresh mushrooms (the reason I was making this recipe in the first place was to use them up – arg!!) had gone bad, I substituted a can of portabello mushroom pieces at this point, too.  Just before throwing in the rice to heat with the veggies, I scooped the excess liquid out of the pan, leaving a bit to flavor the rice.  The tofu was nicely browned by then, so I scraped it into the veggies, too, and lunch was served!