This is something I threw together really quickly after making breakfast burritos the other night. It was almost midnight when I finished and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. I decided to add the tofu as an afterthought since I had some left from making burritos and added zucchini because we’re getting tons of it in our produce box lately. This meal literally takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. The original recipe is here. I would probably give it 3/5, but that is only because I’m pretty sensitive to really vinegary things and this has quite a bit of rice wine vinegar in it. The original recipe called for scallions but we didn’t have any, having them in the probably would have pushed it to a 3.5.
I will probably make it again and just reduce the amount of vinegar to suit my tastes. Wes loved it though, he ate two bowls of it for dinner, a bowl and a half for lunch the next day and said I should make food like this more often. For lunch the next day I just added some sliced cucumber and sliced radishes on top.
This could be made with whatever veggies you have on hand (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) and would probably be really good with most types of Asian noodles. I bet udon would be amazing in this dish.
Cold Soba, Sesame Salad with Tofu
4 servings
8 ounces soba noodles
1/2 large container of tofu
3 large carrots
1 zucchini
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
(optional) 1 bunch scallions (about 6)
Cook the noodles for 6-8 minutes, or according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool.
While the noodles are cooking, peel the carrots if desired (I didn’t) and shave the carrots and zucchini with a peeler or mandoline. You should have about 2-3 cups of loose veggie shavings. If using scallions finely chop the green parts.
Cut the tofu into small pieces
Whisk the sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce together and taste. Adjust for taste. Toss the carrots, zucchini, scallions (if using), chilled noodles and sesame seeds together, add tofu & mix gently, serve
At the beginning of this year I started watching the amount of calories that I consume and have lost a lot of weight by doing so. My calorie target is about 1450 (you can find yours and track calories by going here). I generally allow myself about 300 calories for breakfast 300 for lunch and 500 for dinner which leaves me with about 300 calories for various snacks throughout the day.
On top of that we recently decided that we should be vegan during the work week in order to avoid the crazy amount of free food offered at work. I have zero willpower when it comes to free pizza and cake on a semi regular basis and Wes will just eat anything in front of him. Going vegan during these days limited my regular breakfast options since I had to cut out yogurt (soy yogurt is awful!). Here enters evol burritos. Their Tofu & Spinach Saute burrito is delicious, vegan and are exactly 300 calories. Perfect, right? Yes…except for the fact that they are $2.99 a piece. I don’t mind spending large amounts of money on food but after reading the ingredients I realized I could make similar burritos for much cheaper.
This isn’t going to be a pretty or particularly inventive post but I thought I would share this epiphany with the masses so you can make your own super cheap, customized, amazing burritos. You can just make them assembly line style and then freeze them for a quick breakfast later. I made 8 but you could easily make them on a larger scale, it took me about a 20 minutes to make 8.
My burritos were made with the evol burrito in mind but using what I already had. All I had to buy was the tortillas ($4), cilantro ($1) and saran wrap. I feel a bit bad about the saran wrap but it’s really the only way to go for breakfast burritos, it keeps the burrito together and makes it easy to grab out of the freezer on the way out of the apartment in the morning. Tofu had been on sale at Safeway the week before for $1 and I only used half a container for these burritos. So basically I made 8 burritos for less then the price of 2 evol burritos.
My burritos kind of have a curry/samosa sort of taste which is what I was going for since that’s how the Tofu & Spinach evol burritos taste. However, you can make these with anything, the options are endless. If you are ovo-lacto vegetarian you could make these with eggs (or egg beaters for a lower calorie option) and cheese instead of the tofu. You can make them spicy with chilies you could make them savory with soy breakfast sausage. You could even wrap up leftovers and make them for a quick lunch or dinner type of burrito. Evol has lots of options that might provide some inspiration.
Here’s what I used:
Assembly:
I stacked all the heated tortillas on a plate. I lifted the top tortilla and put a layer of saran wrap below it. I put a small amount of each ingredient on the tortilla in this order:
The amount of each ingredient you’ll need will vary based on the size of your tortillas and what you want the end result to be like. Want it to be more hearty? Add more potatoes. Want more veggies? Add them. My first few burritos were slightly overfilled and were harder to roll up, experiment until you get the feel for the right amount. Pretty self explanatory from here but once you get the all your ingredients on the tortilla simply roll it up like…well…a burrito. Then wrap the saran wrap around the burrito. Repeat process until you run out of tortillas.
I stored mine in a large tupperware type container to prevent freezer burn but a freezer bag would also work.
It seems that everyone has their own method of rolling up burritos some much more effectively then others. I worked at Del Taco briefly when I was 16 and learned how to fold them pretty well there. Here is what I do: Place your ingredients near the top of the tortilla (as shown above) fold the sides in slightly, then roll the full side towards the empty side tucking that small piece of tortilla that is at the top under your filling as you roll. I hope that makes sense…
Voila!
These cookies were amazing. Moist, chewy & perfectly sweet. Honestly I think they kind of tasted like a moister Nutra-grain bar. They were a wonderful compliment to two different spreads I made and canned earlier this year. For these cookies I used Strawberry Rhubarb jam and Apple Pear Ginger marmalade, I made a pan of each. They are extremely customizable cookies based on what you have on hand.
Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Modified from this recipe. Yield approximately 24 cookies.
2/3 c rolled oats
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c raw walnuts (or whatever nut/seed you have)
1 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 salt
5 T Earth Balance Vegan Butter (or any oil)
1/2 c sugar (or other sweetener such as agave or honey)
1 t vanilla
1/3 c soymilk (may not be needed if you used a liquid oil or liquid sweetener)
1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, grind up the oats until they are almost powder.
3. Add the nuts/seeds to the oats and grind until the mixture resembles crumbs.
4. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and contents of food processor until everything is well combined.
5. In a separate medium bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until well combined.
6. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until fully combined
7. Place dough in fridge for 30 minutes (this makes it easier to handle)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Using a small cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop out the cookies, three to a row, evenly spaced, on the sheets.
9. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to a small bowl. You will use this to dip a small spoon into while you’re making the depressions in the cookies for the jam. Dip the spoon into the water, shake off any excess water and use the spoon to gently make a quarter-sized depression (about 1/4 in. deep) into the center of your cookies. Wet the spoon each time. You’ll want to do this, it makes it much easier as this is a very sticky dough.
10. Fill each of the depressions with your jam/spread of choice.
11. Bake the cookies for 7 minutes, then switch the sheets’ positions in the oven and bake for another 7 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges.
12. Let the cookies cool on their sheets for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
