Tofu Salad Sammies

I love tofu, I know I have said it a million times before, but I would much rather eat some yummy tofu slab that a mock meat concoction. Not that seitan and all that stuff is bad, it is just I love the texture, taste and really the flexibility of tofu. You can make it taste like ANYTHING! I also love sammies, have I said that yet? Not sure, but it is true. Tofurkey, Pb & J, TLT's, eggless egg even potato salad sammies. I try not to eat too many for fear of a carb over load but damn, give this girl a sammich already!



Tofu Salad Sammie

Tofu:
1 block firm tofu, drained
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut tofu into slabs and place on well greased cookie sheet. Brush on 1/2 olive oil, 1/2 salt and 1/2 pepper and bake for 30 minutes. Pull out of oven, flip tofu and brush on remaining olive oil and sprinkle on remaining salt and pepper. Bake another 30 minutes. Let cool.



Fixens':
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup slivered raw almonds
1/4 cucumber (hothouse) 1 whole cucumber if Persian, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup Vegenaise


Once cooled,

cut tofu into 1 inch squares. Place into large bowl
and add all the fixens'

and mix well.

Chill in refrigerator for one hour, then enjoy!


weird horse-y, giraffe-y, metal thingy approves!

Yummy Quinoa and Spicy Tofu Salad

Normally I am not a fan of salads. To me they equal lack of creativity and they are what a vegan or vegetarian eats when there are no other options available. My grandma has always invited me over for dinner with the promise of there being salad for Tim and I to eat and though I appreciate her offer salad is just so darn unappealing. This is why I was taken by complete surprise when my little baby belly started craving the green stuff on a daily basis. I did not think I would ever wake up in the middle of the night desperately seeking arugula or biking around town with the thought of spinach following closely behind.

The other day as I worked the produce section in my grocery store I realized I was drooling. I kept eyeing the carrots and hugging the broccoli and whispering sweet nothings in the direction of the celery and cucumbers. This was enough! I was starting to go loony from lack of salads! That day I went home and pulled all the veggies out of the fridge and got straight to work, but wait, what about the pantry? There must be goodies in there too, no? This is when I found the quinoa hiding behind the wild rice and a light went on or a bell chimed or the proclamation of Eureka was shouted. Which one happened, I am not sure because I was already preparing the quinoa on my stove top before I fully understood the golden delicious salad I was going to be shoveling into my tum tum later.

With the addition of quinoa to my veggies I was ready to start building my dream dinner. Spinach, Romaine, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, pine nuts, dried cranberries, quinoa and something else, I needed something else. This is when my genius self (OK moderately smart self) grabbed a red onion, a few cloves of garlic and got to chopping. I sliced up some extra firm tofu and added it to the onions and garlic in my frying pan then for fun tossed on Sriracha and Bragg's Liquid Aminos and the end result was fantastic! A spicy delicious salad with the sweet/tart dried cranberries made my heart skip a beat. I am going to make this again, I am going to make it tonight, and eat left overs for lunch, it is that good!

Curried Tofu Salad

My super awesome friend Andi makes some of the best tofu salad ever! We love it and have dubbed it "chix sally" and whenever I get a call or text regarding a fresh batch of chix sally I peddle on over to house and nosh down on a gigantic sammie aka sandwich. I love Andi and I love her sally but if I told her to spice it up a bit, she might kick the tofu out of me. So to save myself a beatin' I concluded the only avant garde sally would have to be made by me. I made a curried tofu sally and it was delicious, but please do not tell Andi!



Curried Tofu Salad

1 package extra firm tofu, drained
2 T. olive oil
1 T. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup Veganaise
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp. curry paste (I used green)


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

After draining tofu slice into 1/2 inch slabs and rub both sides with olive oil. In a bowl mix together all dry seasonings and sprinkle on both sides of tofu. Bake tofu for 30 minutes, then flip and bake another 30 minutes. Let tofu cool then cut into tiny cubes. In a bowl mix Veganaise, peas carrots and curry paste. The add tofu and mix to combine. Refrigerate for an hour or overnight. I think it tastes best the next day.


Sorry Andi.