Tofu Florentine

Pregan, I loved Eggs Florentine. But, honestly, this one is better. Way better. Turns out, it’s short-listed as one of my favorite evening meals. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s healthy, and it contains several food groups in one lump. You can even make the hollandaise ahead of time and use it later. Just heat it up when you’re ready and pour it on. But, seriously, the entire meal, including the hollandaise, takes about 30-40 minutes to prepare, especially if you’re willing to multi-task. I’ve listed everything sequentially, but you can always take care of multiple pieces at the same time. Just practice.

Tofu Florentine (serves 2*)

2 English Muffins, halved
8 oz. firm or extra-firm tofu
24 oz. fresh baby spinach
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2-3 c. water
Hollandaise sauce (recipe below)
2 green onions, sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prepare Hollandaise according to directions below.

While hollandaise is still warm (or warming on low), cut tofu into four small rectangles.

Heat olive oil in grill pan or skillet on medium-high heat. When oil is hot, sear tofu on each side until brown and lightly crispy (about 5 minutes each side, pressing with a spatula every now and then). Turn heat to low to keep warm.

Add water to large pot and boil. Place steamer inside pot and begin steaming spinach in batches until all spinach is cooked. While spinach is steaming, toast English muffins.

To assemble: Place two muffin halves on each plate. To each muffin half, add a slice of tofu, a mound of steamed spinach, and drizzle with one quarter of the hollandaise sauce. Add sliced green onions, salt, and pepper to taste.

Hollandaise Sauce (source: Vegetarian Times)
1/2 cup or 4 oz. silken tofu
2 Tbs. lemon juice**
1 Tbs. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. turmeric
2 Tbs. corn oil

Heat tofu on plate in microwave 30 to 45 seconds, or until warmed through. Transfer to food processor, and purée until smooth. Add lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt, cayenne, and turmeric; pulse until well combined. With food processor running, add oil in steady stream to finish sauce.

*The Vegetarian Times recipe claims the hollandaise is enough to serve 6. I don’t like being skimpy with sauces, so I use about 1/4 of the sauce on each 1/2 muffin, tofu, spinach combination.

**I thought that for this dish, the hollandaise sauce was far too lemony as it was written. It overpowered everything else. So I reduced the lemon juice to 1 Tbsp. and added 1 Tbsp. water to make up the remaining liquid.

Creamy, Southern Potato Salad

I’m a snot. I admit it. In fact, I’ve admitted it more than once just today. Being a snot means that I frown on recipes that take the easy way out (”egg replacer for one egg”). C’mon, gimme a meaningful substitution. Or several. Subs that are so subtle, my un-culinary self doesn’t even know what they’re doing, or how they work, or which part of the recipe is a substitute for the properties I’m omitting. Like the binding agent, the fluffing mechanism. Keep me guessing, because “one egg replacer” isn’t gonna make me guess at all. It makes me 100% certain you were a lazy bum. C’mon.

So after almost two years of being a substitution snot, I decided to veganize one of my favorite recipes. And guess what? There is just one, simple, easy substitution – that’s right, just one – that takes this fave-o-mine straight to vegan-licious.

Now I’m thinking, in all fairness, I probably have to take all that snobbery right back. Or. Do. I?

Creamy, Southern Potato Salad* (PotSal**)

8 redskin potatoes, boiled and cut into chunks
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 c. dill pickle relish
3/4 c. mayonnaise substitute (I used Vegenaise)
3-4 tsp. mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 c. sliced green olives, optional
paprika, optional

Mash potatoes in large bowl until desired consistency. Add onion, bell pepper, dill pickle relish, mayo substitute, mustard, and salt/pepper. Mix until combined. Smooth and layer top with green olives and/or sprinkle with paprika. Both are optional and both are delicious either alone or in combination. (For a more tangy PotSal, add more mustard; creamier, add more vegan mayo.)

*Recipe altered from high school BFF’s sister’s recipe
**I call Potato Salad, “PotSal”, because it’s fun and makes people take a second look.

Birthday-like cupcakes for the Severed Unicorn Head Superstore art opening

When my friends hired me (read: they asked; I said yes) to make cupcakes for their art opening, this is the guidance they gave, “It’s a birthday party. So something birthday is good.”

So I did some math. Severed unicorn heads + birthday parties = colors. Lots of colors. So that’s what I went with.

Ingredients for colorful, birthday-looking cupcakes for a Severed Unicorn Head Superstore party

Basic vanilla cupcakes from VCTOTW
Basic chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW
Vanilla buttercream frosting from VCTOTW
Natural food dye for pink coloring
Sprinkles
Trader Joe’s Fruit Gels, halved

Iced Fudge Brownie Cookies

Yippee, I have the best after-work job ever! I get to test cookie recipes for Garrick and Kelly. COOKIES! I’m downright gleeful with this gig. Anyway, what you see above is part of the first batch I tested for them. As you might guess, my friends and I didn’t last long with the finished product; we give these babies, 5 big, giant, dough balls!

Texture: soft, moist, crumble-free, ever-so-slight crunch on the exterior

Taste: rich, chocolate, brownie-like

Rating: 5 dough balls