Baked Tofu, Brussels Sprouts and Roasted Potatoes In Under 30 Minutes

Lets face it not everyone has hours to spend cooking or baking a tasty vegan meal! This is one of my favorite go to meals when I am busy. It is packed with protein and vitamins and did I mention its super tasty!

By far the star of this show is the Brussels Sprouts, I can't get enough of these little guys. And I get asked often how do you cook them. There are many different ways to add them to any meal but I prefer the method explained below. It not only cooks them all the way through (it is the worst to bite into a half cooked sprout), and it also brings out the natural flavor of this amazing veg!

I do however have to apologize for the pictures, I was timing myself on the preparation of this meal and neglected photo mastery!

Ingredients:

prepared as a meal for two

• 1 brick tofu (extra firm)

• 4 to six medium potatoes

• 1 pound brussels sprouts

• 1/4 cup soy sauce

• 1/2 cup water

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1 cup white cooking wine

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 tsp pepper

• 1 package of Road's End Organics Savory Herb Gravy

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Dice potatoes and toss with 4 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper, place on baking sheet and into oven. Then cut tofu into nine equal squares or there about and place in a shallow baking dish with two cloves of garlic minced, the water and the soy sauce. Place in the oven with the potatoes. The potatoes will take a bit longer to cook that is why they went in first. The potatoes will take about 25 minutes and the tofu about 20.

Tofu ready for the oven

Next prep the sprouts by cutting the bottom of them off to expose the tender part, then de-leaf any loose leafs, and cut in half as seen below

looking good sprouts!

Then melt your butter in a pan be careful not to burn it after butter is liquified add the sprouts. What will happen next is that the sprouts will start to caramelize where they are making contact with the pan. This is a bit tricky because you don't want them to burn but you want to them to brown down nicely. Turn them over so both sides can get a bit cooked, about five to seven minutes into this process add the cooking wine and cover. This will kind of steam the inside of the sprout, and make them tender but the outside will be nice and browned. And the best thing is they are cooked all the way through no tough sprouts here!

sprouts just placed in pan

Prepare the Road's End Organics Herb Gravy as directed on the package. And drizzle over tofu and you are ready to serve!

There it is 28 minutes and change for a great vegan meal!

Late Summer Veg and Pasta

This is a pretty simple dish that uses the fresh veg that we have right now. It is what I like to call a two dish meal, meaning that you boil pasta in one and in another cook the veg that is it, clean up is a breeze! You can use any veggie you happen to have the combo below is my favorite but feel free to experiment!

Ingredients:

• 1 box angel hair pasta

• 2 medium to large tomato

• 2 medium summer squash

• 2 green pepper

• 2 red pepper

• 2 medium onion

• 1 handful of sun dried tomato

• 5 cloves of garlic

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Dice all veggies as seen below

Start the water for the pasta. Take the oil and let it heat up in your pan. Press or mince garlic and let that cook with the onion until the onion is soft and kind of translucent. As seen below.

Don't forget about your pasta water when it comes to a boil put the pasta in! Then add the rest of the veggies to the other pan. As seen below

The vegetables will take about as long to cook as the pasta which is about 9 to 11 minutes. If the veggies get done before just put them on low heat and place a cover over the pan. When pasta is done and drained mix with the vegetable mixture, as seen below.

Plate and enjoy!

Breaded Tofu Nibbles

Tofu is a chameleon, it can take on the taste of anything and I have turned it into a lot of things! This is a simple recipe that lets the tofu be itself for the most part with a little help from Japanese Panko flakes and some back up from a few spices.

Ingredients:

• about 6 ounces of panko flakes

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 1/2 cup water

• 2 tbsp corn starch

• 2 tbsp spicy mustard, or any of your choice

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

• one brick tofu

Directions:

Cut the tofu into eight rectangles. Then take the first three ingredients and place into a shallow bowl. Now take everything else and place in another shallow blow. The mustard mixture will be the first thing you dip the tofu in, make sure its good and moist. Then dip into the panko mixture make sure its fully covered. After that place in a baking dish, and cook for about 30 minutes at 350. Enjoy as a side dish or a main, if you are eating as a main dish I suggest green beans as a perfect side!

the two mixtures

dipped in flakes!

ready to enjoy!

Vegan Walnut Orange Coffee Cake

This is for a little end of summer party with some friends. It is a great mix of summer flavors and autumn hardiness! Coffee cake is so versatile and yummy feel free to experiment with variations on this recipe and get back to me if you come up with something great!

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 cup quick-cooking oats

• 1 1/2 cups orange juice

• 1/3 cup vegan butter

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 3 tsp egg replacer dissolved in

• 4 tbsp warm water

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 3/4 cup flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 cup walnuts

• 1 tbsp orange zest (grated orange peel)

Topping:

• 1 1/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 3 tbsp orange zest

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 2 1/2 cups flaked coconut

• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

dry ingredients in mixer

wed ingredients added

Directions:

Mix oats and orange juice in a small bowl until softened and set aside. In large mixing bowl cream butter and sugars, then add the egg replace and vanilla until well combined. Next add the flour about a half cup at a time then add the baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the oat mixture in next that you previously set aside. Finally add the walnuts and orange peel. Pour into a greased 13'' by 9'' pan, bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

cake done

topping ready!

When your cake is almost done about five minutes or so left start on the topping. Put sugar butter, orange zest and juice in a small sauce pan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut and walnuts. Broil for about two minutes or until topping is browning nicely. Enjoy!

finished and yum!