Happy Weekend Chipotle Tofu-Scramble

Hopefully many of you are enjoying the sun and a day or two off from your busy routine.

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Brunch/breakfast this morning took on a Tex-Mex sorta theme with "Cheezy" Chipotle Tofu Scramble, roasted tomato salsa and some "bacon-like" homemade seitan.

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The tofu is a little more detailed than my everyday throw-in-the-pan scramble, but my kids love the "cheezy-spicy-smokey" combination a lot.
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Cheesy Chipotle Tofu Scramble

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder (I use more)
1 tsp. Soy Sauce
1 cup soymilk
1 tsp. cheap yellow mustard
1 Tbsp. margarine
1/2 an onion, chopped
1/2 a green or red bell pepper, minced
1 pkg. medium firm tofu, drained and crumbled
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp India Black Salt (for "eggy" flavor)
1/4 tsp liquid smoke or Bacon Salt
Chipotle pepper sauce, amount used depends on the brand and your preferences
1/4 tsp cayenne
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Make the 'cheezy' sauce: In a medium sauce pan combine the first 5 ingredients. Heat the mixture over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
Remove from heat. Stir in the mustard and butter until combined and the butter is melted. Set aside. (This is also great in mac-n-cheese, etc...)
In a separate pan heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and then add your crumbled tofu.
Let it cook without turning a lot until you start to get some browned bits... add chopped onion and bell pepper.
Cook until tender and onions are mostly transparent. Set aside.
Add the turmeric, smoke flavor, black salt, chipotle, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and the cheese sauce. (The cayenne pepper is optional!)
Continue cooking over medium heat for a few minutes until everything is heated through. Serve alone, with tortillas or on toast! (I think some black beans and corn would have been AWESOME here too!!)

The roasted tomato salsa was just something from a jar but very tasty and a perfect compliment; the "seitan bacon" is THIS RECIPE HERE from "The Vegan Cooking Club" blog, (though I didn't layer everything to make it LOOK all streaked and bacon-y) ... so while it may not look like bacon, it still tastes good!

Other "long weekend" activities today have included tackling the big horrible jungle of a back yard (finally) in hopes of starting a small garden.
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(Yes, there are raised garden beds back there somewhere near my daughter and the weed wacker...).

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I also scored at a garage sale with a HUGE box of Hotwheels for my youngest Sprout. She was so excited she said I HAD to post a picture, so there you go.

I'm off to take my Middle Sprout to work for a caterer tonight; this is her first time and she'll be serving at a wedding, she's excited and I'm so proud of her (though she wasn't entirely thrilled with the uniform white-shirt-black-pants ensemble... ("So formal and boring, Mom!!"). Pictures to follow!!

Have a great rest of your weekend!!

Tofu Scramble with 'Country-Style' Gravy

Sunday breakfast.

Tofu Scramble drenched in creamy, southern-style Country Gravy over Biscuits.

Can you hear it calling you? I thought so.

Now, in the interest of time and blogspace, I'll assume you can make, beg, borrow, buy or steal reasonably good biscuits. Or toast. Or English muffins. Or whatever toasty-bready stuff suits you. But here's the rest of breakfast...

Tofu Scramble

1 lb. block firm, water packed tofu, well drained
1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion, diced fine
1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine
- insert any other vegetables you'd like here
2 tbsp oil or margarine
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp chicken or vegetable bullion powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp India black salt (optional but gives a very authentic "eggy" flavor)
squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 cup soymilk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast


Slice the tofu into approximately one inch cubes. Then, using either your hands or a fork, crumble it slightly.
Saute mushroom, onion and pepper in oil for 3-5 minutes, stirring often. Add tofu and sautee 5 or more min, until tofu drys out or firms up and moisture evaporates.

Stir remaining ingredients except nutritional yeast into the soymilk.
Pour over the tofu, reduce heat to medium and allow to cook about 5 min. Stir in nutritional yeast. Cook for about 5 - 7 more minutes or until moisture is completely evaporated again and tofu is cooked to your liking, or it starts to brown on the bottom, stirring carefully but infrequently with spatula, scraping pan to get browned bits.

Creamy Country Style Gravy

1 Tbsp Earth Balance
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp (or about a pinch) ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
couple drops of hot-sauce
1 1/2 cups soymilk
1/2 cup soft silken tofu


Blend silken tofu and soymilk in blender or food processor until very smooth.
Heat Earth Balance in a skillet over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, salt, sage and pepper until smooth. Cook and stir with wire whisk, over medium heat until golden tan (barely starting to brown), about 7 minutes. If not smooth and paste-like, add a wee bit more Earth Balance.

Gradually stir in soymilk mixture so that no lumps form, and continue cooking and stirring until thickened. If the gravy becomes too thick, you may thin it with a little more milk. Add vegan sausage crumbles if you want, for 'sausage' gravy.

Pour over Tofu Scramble, breakfast potatoes, toast, whatever you like.

Enjoy. And happy breakfast-ing!

Tofu Scramble with Zucchini

Weekend breakfast. Yum.

Tofu scramble with zucchini and herbs from the garden.

Since I'm a toast freak, we had to have some toasted Rudi's Organic Whole Wheat Bread, and a couple nectarines on the side - we're still getting the most beautiful nectarines from the Farmer's Market!

Tofu Scramble is about the easiest and most basic thing I do with tofu.

My kids love it and would eat it three times a day if I made it! It's quick, it's versatile; I can season it any way I like, and usually whatever veggies we have on hand get added as well. Serve it with toast, rolled in a burrito, on an English Muffin, in a taco, in a pita... Best. Vegan. Breakfast. Food. Ever.

Tofu Scramble With Garden Zucchini

1 lb firm water-packed tofu, crumbled
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 of a white onion, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
1 tsp turmeric powder if you like it an "eggy" yellow
large handful of fresh basil-oregano and rosemary; chopped finely
2 tsp. veggie "chicken-style" bullion powder
*pinch of India Black Salt (Optional: but gives it a very authentic "eggy" taste! Look for this seasoning next time you're at an Asian or Indian Market)
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

Heat your skillet on medium. Add the oil.
After a minute or two add all remaining ingredients and cook, stirring frequently, until tofu has browned, veggies have cooked thru and it has achieved your desired consistency.
I like it pretty dry and crumbly. If you prefer it more moist, you can add 1/4 cup soy milk right at the end for "creamy" scrambled tofu.

You can add whatever seasonings you like, and whatever veggies as well. ANYTHING goes here!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

My girls made me breakfast in bed this morning! Might not look like much, but I'm mighty impressed because we had basically NOTHING edible in the house (I was planning on spending Mother's Day at the grocery store! Yay me!).

Not only that, but they made this wonderfully tasty tofu-scramble (with no directions from me) and topped it with a drizzle of ketchup, JUST exactly how I like it! THEN they took this picture because they know I'm always taking pictures of everything food-like around here. (They wouldn't let me take a picture of THEM holding my yummy breakfast. Silly girls!) Anyway, it was a perfect breakfast, made by perfect kids and my Mother's Day was wonderful! I hope each of you spent it doing something special, whether you're a Mom or not!

In other news, I'd like to claim THIS as the reason why I haven't blogged (or commented) much lately... the cat has decided to try out the laptop as his new lounging spot. Now how could I possibly disturb him when he looks so content? Hmmmmm.....