Tag: vegan

recipes

Easy Zucchini Noodle Pasta

tlkitchen

Hey there foodies! I hope you all had an amazing week! I wanted to share with you guys a quick and easy dinner recipe I put together tonight. I was really inspired to eat something filling, healthy and that would leave me feeling good inside, instead of overly full. This dish is super easy to make and it taste amazing. Hope you enjoy and as always, happy eating!

What you need:

  • 2 Zucchinis (Shaved in thin slices with a peeler or spiralized)
  • 1 jar tomato, basil pasta sauce
  • 1 cart whole mushrooms, minced
  • 2 garlic cloves, mined
  • 1 cup fresh kale, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • Pinch cayenne
  • Optional: nutritional yeast
  • Vegetable or olive oil

Method:

  • After mincing the mushrooms, in a pan with 1 tsp of oil, add mushrooms and allow them to cook down. Mushrooms are full of water, so we want all the water to cook out first. You can add a pinch of salt to help the process along.
  • Once mushrooms are dry, add diced onion, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and saute until onions are tender. Once done, set aside.
  • Use a vegetable peeler or spiralizer to create zucchini “noodles” These will be left raw, so make sure the cuts are thin.
  • In a sauce pan, quickly saute kale with 1 tsp of oil, just until kale withers down.
  • Add pasta sauce, garlic and the remaining seasonings to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes
  • After 5 minutes, add mushroom “meat” and simmer for another 5 minutes.
  • Plate Zucchini and sprinkle 1 tsp of nutritional yeast, give it a toss to make sure each zoodle is covered. (If you are not familiar with nutritional yeast, it has a mild cheesy flavor and is great for a cheese replacement.)
  • Add cooked sauce over zucchini and sprinkle a little more nutritional yeast on top.
  • ENJOY!
recipes

Vegetable Stir Fry with Tofu Dumplings

tlkitchen

Good Morning foodies! Happy weekend to all and I hope you guys had an amazing week.

So how is everyone’s New Year going so far? Mine, pretty great & pretty busy but I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget about you guys! Last week I was playing around with recipes and I put together an amazing, yet simple, Chinese inspired dish. This dish is full of veggies and has some pretty impressive flavor. Try it out and let me know what you think! Happy eating 🙂

What you need:

Stir Fry

  • 1 Yellow, green & red pepper, sliced
  • 1 Medium onion, diced
  • 1 Cup sugar snap peas
  • 2 Cups fresh broccoli
  • 2 Large carrots, peeled
  • 2 Garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Dumplings

  • 1 1/2 Cup red cabbage, chopped (leave 1/2 cup raw)
  • 1 Garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 Block of extra firm tofu, diced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 3 tsp orange sauce
  • 1 Pack wanton wraps (Mixture makes 18-20 dumplings)

**(you will also need Olive oil or vegetable oil)

Method:

Stir Fry

  • In a hot pan with about 2 tsp of olive oil, on medium heat, add garlic and ginger. Move around in the pan until you can start to smell it and then add onions until they become translucent.
  • Now add in the peppers. After about 5 minutes add sugar snap peas and seasonings. Saute for about 5 more minutes and add in broccoli and soy sauce
  • Cook until broccoli is steamed but still crunchy. (Personal preference, as I like to keep my broccoli with a crunch but feel free to cook it down more)
  • You can also add a little more soy sauce it need be and salt & pepper to taste.
  • Cut the heat off the stir fry
  • Using a vegetable peeler. peel skin off of the carrots.
  • With that same peeler, start to peel the flesh of the carrot into thin ribbons until most of the carrot us peeled.
  • Add raw carrot to warm stir fry (stir fry should be off the heat at this point, we don’t want to cook the carrot)

Dumplings

  • In a pan with olive oil add garlic and move around in oil until you smell the garlic.
  • Add pressed and dice tofu and let it sit. It is better to leave tofu be as it is cooking because it take a few moments for it to start to brown.
  • Once tofu start to brown, flip it to cook the other side as well
  • Add in only 1 cup of red cabbage and seasonings. Saute for about 5 or so minutes.
  • Add in orange sauce and simmer for 3 minutes
  • Set a side and let mixture cool off a bit.
  • After a few moment of rest, add in 1/2 cup raw cabbage (This is for texture)
  • Grab a small bowl of water
  • Dip your finger in water and line the outside of the wanton wrap
  • Add about a tsp of mixture in the center
  • Fold wrap in half and start to pinch the sides down. You can scrunch up the sides if you choose to or leave it smooth, whichever is easier for you.
  • In a clean pan add 1 tsp of olive oil
  • When the oil gets hot, place your dumplings, straight up, in the pan. Only the bottom half should be touching the pan. Note: Do not add too many dumplings at one time, you want to give them space to cook.
  • Once the bottom part of the dumpling is brown, you want to add a splash of water to your pan and immediately cover the pan with a top. Lower your heat and let the rest of the dumpling steam.
  • After about 2-3 minutes it should be done!
  • You can dip in soy sauce or add on top of stir fry…or hey, do both! I sure did
  • Most importantly, enjoy!
recipes

Easy Tacos w/ Tofu Crumble and Homemade Guacamole

tlkitchen

Tacos are something that I can eat every day and there are so many ways to enjoy them! Whenever taco night comes around I go all out. Tons of toppings, your choice of salsa, crunchy or soft shell, I even have sliced limes. Lately, I have really been enjoying eating my tacos with tofu crumble. Which is exactly what it sounds like, crumbled up tofu, seasoned and baked. The best thing about this recipe is that is packed with so much flavor, it so easy to make and it is so good. Guaranteed to get a second plate! To make the recipe easier to read, I am going to break down how to prepare each component in sections.

Sections will include:

  • Tofu crumble
  • Seasoned rice
  • Guacamole
  • Building your taco

What you need:

  • 1 Pack of extra firm tofu
  • 1 Pack taco seasoning
  • 1 Cup of white rice
  • 1 Box of Hard taco shells
  • 1 Large red onion, chopped
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 Jalapeno, chopped
  • Cilantro (You can add as much or little cilantro as you want. It is used in the guacamole and rice)
  • Shredded lettuce
  • 3 Avocados
  • 1 Jar of favorite salsa
  • 1 Lime
  • Salt
  • 1/2 TPS paprika
  • 1/2 TPS cumin
  • 1 TPS chili powder
  • 1 TSP garlic powder
  • 1/2 TSP crushed red pepper
  • Olive oil

Method:

Tofu Crumble

  • First drain tofu and wrap in a few paper towels. Gently squeeze to release water from tofu.
  • You can let tofu sit wrapped in paper towel for a few minutes so it can continue to drain
  • Unwrap tofu and using you hands crumble it, just like you see in the picture below.
  • Place in a baking sheet and add pack of taco seasoning to it.
  • Mix with your hands until all the tofu is coated with seasoning.
  • Drizzle about 2-3 cap fills of olive oil across the top of tofu
  • Cook in oven on 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes
  • When done tofu will have some texture, edges should be crispy (Yum)

Seasoned Rice

  • Boil rice until tender
  • Once rice is done, drain and rinse with cold water (helps remove some of the starch, so the rice is not too sticky. You can also do this before cooking the rice, I tend to do it after).
  • Add rice back into pot
  • Add in 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp crush red pepper and a small handful of chopped cilantro.
  • Mix well (enjoy how great it smells)

Guacamole

  • Chop 1/2 large red onion and 1 roma tomato
  • Open, pit and chop 3 avocados
  • Add to a bowl along with 1/2 tsp of salt, the juice of 1/2 a lime and a small handful of chopped cilantro
  • Using a fork mix well, while mushing the avocado.
  • I like my guacamole chunky, so I didn’t mix too much but if you prefer smooth, mix until smooth.

Build Your Taco!

  • Warm taco shells in the oven for about 2-3 minutes
  • Chop 1 roma tomato, 1/2 red onion, lettuce (if you did not buy a bag of shredded lettuce), 1 jalapeno and optional, more cilantro to top.
  • Add rice to your taco shell first, next add tofu, then…well you know the rest
  • Enjoy!!