All this vegan cheese disappointment ended last night. Well, maybe not all of it, but certainly in regards to ricotta.

I had a plan for pesto with penne rigate. We love pesto at my house, and I had basil, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan on hand, but something left me feeling wanting more. I remembered seeing a ricotta recipe in my copy of Veganomicon, had some firm tofu begging to be used, so I figured what the heck. The meal was missing a decent protein source anyway.

When served, my wife did not even realize she was eating tofu cheese until I told her. She was amazed–as was I. Even the next day straight out of the refrigerator the tofu cheese had a creamy texture and wonderful, ricotta-y flavor. This is a fantastic meal for meat eaters to feed their vegetarian friends and family, or vice versa. All but those allergic to soy or wheat can enjoy this one.

Dishes like these are the type that may one day push me to be a vegan.

Recipe

I am not going to steal Isa Moskowitz’s ricotta recipe, but you can see it on Post Punk Kitchen. Gotta give the credit on this one. OK, I always will give credit, but this one extra credit.

First get the tofu pressed. If you have not done this before, slice the tofu into six equal parts, wrap them in paper towels (a lot of paper towels), place them on a plate. Then put another plate on top, as well as something else to add more weight and press the tofu. About 10 minutes should be enough. If you do not press the tofu you will have too much liquid in the finished ricotta.

Next set a pot of water on to boil. While the tofu is pressing and water boiling, set the oven to 350F and get your other ingredients together.

While the pasta is boiling, you should have enough time to make the ricotta. Follow the directions I linked to above. Also lightly toast some pine nuts in a little olive oil to add some crunchy, nuttiness to the dish.

Once the pasta is done, drain it and throw it in a 9″x13″x2″ pan. Mix in the ricotta with your hands, really covering the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining basil on top, then the pine nuts. Pour a small can of tomato sauce over the top, just enough to give a little bite to the dish.
Bake this in the oven for about 20 minutes, though I only baked it for 10 and it was great.

Ingredients

This ingredient list does not include what you will need for the Veganomicon Tofu Basil Ricotta.

• 16 ounces penne rigate (one standard store-bought size)
• 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 5-10 chopped basil leaves (aside from those in Isa’s recipe)
• 1/8 cup pine nuts
• 2 tsp olive oil

Sides

Last night I only served this with French bread, but a green salad or some lightly seasoned steamed veggies would have been fantastic, too.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

Tasty tofu ricotta? Apparently so!

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photo credit: mikomiko

Wow! When I wrote about a funny conversation I had with a co-worker, I figured only my very small number of readers would see it. But the amount of traffic I have received since Thursday is amazing.

My wife thought the post was funny, so she passed it along to her Twitter friends and submitted it to StumbleUpon. Since then, I have had more than 10,000 visitors (and counting). Most of these have been from StumbleUpon, but some have visited from Reddit, Digg and a sprinkling of sites I had not previously heard of. The post also sparked several lively discussions, with 50+ comments on this blog, 19 reviews at StumbleUpon and 10 more comments at Reddit.

I responded to a few of the comments, but mostly I just watched as they kept coming in. For two days, almost every time I checked my e-mail I had more comments to moderate. I’ve really enjoyed the discussion, and I’d like to talk a bit about some of the responses I received, as well as why I posted the conversation in the first place.

A few commenters said I was closed-minded, snobbish and sarcastic. I agree with the sarcastic part. Heck, anyone who knows me will agree with the sarcastic part. My “Chicken of the Sea” comment was intended to be funny but sarcastic. As for the close-minded comments, I honestly think vegetarianism is such a hot-button issue that some could not see past that. They thought I was criticizing all meat eaters and labeling them all as unintelligent. And that’s simply not the case.

This was one conversation with one individual who showed an amazing lack of knowledge about the world she lives in and what she eats. As I’ve said in previous posts and comments, my wife is not a vegetarian. Neither are my parents, my daughter, my brother, most of my friends and relatives and many others I respect a great deal.

One of the things I was not trying to convey in this post is that some people think fish and chicken are part of a vegetarian diet (and no, by the way, they are not). If I posted on the Internet every time that happened, I’d be posting about it multiple times a day. The two things that stood out about this particular conversation were a) the person’s lack of understanding that tuna are fish … which are animals (this still blows me away) … and b) the following bacon comment:

Me: “Um, no. Bacon is meat.”
Coworker: “Really?”
Me: “Yeah. It comes from a pig. What did you think it was?”
Coworker: “I don’t know. Food?”

How can I not find some humor in these comments? Vegetarian or not, it’s funny (sad, but funny) that someone could have no idea what bacon is, other than “food.” I could eat bacon at every meal and still find that funny.

In the end, I appreciated all the responses to my post and enjoyed every one of them — especially the ones I disagreed with.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

My thoughts on the tuna controversy

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It was a cold, gray, and very windy night here in San Antonio, so something warm was certainly needed. The veggies looked very spring like, with bright oranges, reds and greens, but the potatoes offered a hearty fall feel.

Surprisingly I actually finished this dinner in 27 minutes, considering mid-stream I decided to take it a completely different direction. I had planned on mixing chili beans and a bunch of veggies together and topping them with mashed potatoes. For some reason the veggies did not seem to want beans mixed with them, opting for the potatoes I was boiling for the mash. I tested a potato and it was firm but cooked. I quickly pulled them off the stove, drained them, and tossed them in with the carrots, red bell pepper, and red onion I had cooking in a little olive oil, and went to work on my new plan.

Switching concepts in the middle can often be disastrous, but not tonight. My wife loved both the color and taste of these potatoes, and definitely wanted to have them in the future. Always a good sign.

Recipe

Bring about six cups water to a boil–enough to cover three medium potatoes cut into large cubes. Heat about one tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat in a large frying pan. Once heated add the carrots and red onion. Once the carrots have softened up a bit throw in the red bell pepper. Let cook at a slow heat until the potatoes are ready to be added.

Once the boiling potatoes are firm but ready to eat–about eight minutes at full boil–drain them and add them to the veggie mix. Stir them in with the veggies to get any remaining oil coating them as well. Keep them at a low heat as you do not want to burn the dish.

Just at the point the potatoes started to stick to the bottom I used the tomato juice from a can of diced tomatoes I had used in the beans I was making. This kept the potatoes and other veggies from sticking, and gave the whole dish a very subtle tomato flavor. The potatoes really benefited from this addition. Since there were no dry spices in this dish, the potatoes ran the risk of being quite bland. A little fresh chopped cilantro and the remaining diced tomatoes in the last minute of cooking finished this dish off, both for color and flavor.

Ingredients

• 3 medium russet potatoes, cut in large cubes
• 6 cups water
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/3 medium red onion, chopped
• 1/3 can of diced tomatoes, drained, with juice set aside
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped

Sides

I served this along with some canned food, which certainly made the dinner go faster. I mixed two cans of Bush’s Mild Chili Beans, one can unsalted corn, and 2/3 can diced tomatoes. I threw about a teaspoon each of cumin, ancho chili powder, and garlic powder to change the pre-spiced chili beans up a bit. Cooked until heated and served alongside the potatoes and veggies.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

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photo credit: weirdo513

Scene: I’m in the kitchen at work heating up some leftover lo mein with ginger sauce. A female coworker enters the room and strikes up a conversation about vegetarianism.

Coworker: “Do you eat tuna?”
Me: “No, I don’t eat meat.”
Coworker: “Oh, tuna is meat?”
Me: “Yup, anything that is an animal is meat”
Coworker: “Oh, I didn’t know that tuna were animals. What about fish?”
Me: [Blank stare.] “Um … tuna are fish.”
Coworker: “Really? I didn’t know what it was.”
Me: “Just because it says ‘Chicken of the Sea’ on the can doesn’t mean it’s chicken.”

Various ramblings about the tastiness of burgers and how I manage to avoid the “temptation” (cough) of meat.

Coworker: “I don’t really like bacon, though. Do you eat bacon?”
Me: [Blink. Blink.]
Coworker: “No?”
Me: “Um, no. Bacon is meat.”
Coworker: “Really?”
Me: “Yeah. It comes from a pig. What did you think it was?”
Coworker: “I don’t know. Food?”
Me: “Uh, yeah. It’s meat. It’s from a pig. Pigs are animals.”
Coworker: “Oh, yeah, I know that.”
Me: “Um, ok … well, pigs are animals. Any part of the animal is meat: pigs feet, bacon, ham, whatever.”
Coworker: “Oh. So you don’t eat animals?”
Me: [Blank stare.]

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

Tuna are fish? Fish are meat?

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One particular dish was a lo mein dish that she served along with seasoned tofu steaks. The sauce was is simple, but flavorful and great for quick dinners that do not seem like they were quick. She typically used snow peas, cherry tomatoes, and strips of yellow pepper–which made it quite colorful–but pretty much any veggies will do.

Recipe

First get some water boiling for the lo mein noodles… spaghetti, angel hair, even fettuccine would work. Next mix half a cup of water, a sixth of a cup of sugar, and two tablespoons of soy sauce in a saucepan and bring them to a boil. Let is simmer after it reaches a boil. In the meantime mix one tablespoon of corn starch with a quarter cup of water. After the soy/sugar/water mixture simmers, mix in the cornstarch mixture and cook for a couple more minutes. Preferably you have ginger root as opposed to ground ginger here, but either will work. Use about one tablespoon of fresh ginger or a half a teaspoon ground ginger. Once the ginger is mixed in set the saucepan aside, but keep the sauce warm.

In a wok or frying pan cook about two cups of veggies of your choice. Broccoli, onions, peppers, edamame, and peas are all obvious but good choices. I usually have all of those around anyway, so I do usually use those. I haven’t tried, but I suspect this could be pretty interesting with something like sweet potato or pumpkin for an interesting fall take on the dish. Personally, I like to keep my veggies out of the sauce to get a larger variety of flavors in the completed dish.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked pasta
• 2 cups cooked veggies of choice

Sauce

• 3/4 cup water divided into 1/4 and 1/2
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/6 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Sides

Tonight I served this with some white rice and store-bought veggie egg rolls. I wish I had the time to make the seasoned tofu steaks my aunt used to make as they are fantastic and go with the lo mein quite well.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

Lo mein with veggies and ginger sauce

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Recipe

I had been kicking around an idea for using frozen blueberries, pancake mix and tofu to make a marinated, battered, French-toastish tofu sticks. Knowing I’d be at work all day, I had to make the marinade in the morning and get the tofu sticks sopping up blueberry goodness. I microwave-defrosted about half a small bag of frozen blueberries with about a half cup of water. Then I mixed an eighth of a cup of sugar and microwaved the blueberries another 2 minutes.

While the microwave was running, I sliced the firm tofu and soaked up any excess liquid I had not already pressed out. I buried the tofu in the blueberries, sealed them, threw them in the refrigerator and went to work. It probably only took me 6 or 7 minutes to do this.

After I got home I rolled the marinated tofu sticks in a store bought whole wheat pancake mix and fried them in vegetable oil for about 4 minutes on each side until they were nice and brown. Then I blended the leftover marinade and heated it up in the microwave to make a blueberry syrup topping. Ok, I wouldn’t exactly call it syrup, but you get the point.

This was not my best effort, but it was certainly good enough to keep playing with the recipe. I wanted to get the idea out there, though, since I couldn’t find anything similar online.

Ingredients

• One package firm or extra firm tofu
• About 1.5 cups of frozen blueberries
• About 1 cup pancake mix
• 1/8 cup of sugar
• 1/4 inch vegetable oil in a skillet

Sides

I served this along with some diced russet potatoes that I cooked with red bell pepper and white onion and some veggie breakfast sausage patties.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

Blueberry ‘French toast’ tofu sticks

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The great thing about soups like this is they are incredibly easy and fast to make, but taste great and leave one satisfied for the rest of the evening. Thus, when it is 80 outside and you are using the stove, it is not on for too long.

Recipe

Basically this was 2 cans of great northern beans, some quickly chopped veggies, a little rice, some veggie broth and spices. Throw them all in a pot and cook for about 20 minutes until nicely heated.

I prefer draining my canned beans unless I’m trying for a certain thickness, such as my black bean soup (and even then I drain half the beans). This allows the other flavors to come through better as canned bean juice has not staked its claim on the meal.

Here is what I used for this batch of white bean soup:

Ingredient list

• 2 cans great northern beans
• 3 small red potatoes
• 2 medium carrots
• 1/2 white onion
• 1/2 cup white rice
• 2 cans veggie broth (and equal amount water)
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped Italian parsley
• 1 teaspoon thyme

Sides

Being the carbohydrate lover I am, I served this along with some hearty wheat bread — perfect for sopping up the soup.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

White bean soup

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Regardless of how I attempted to cook tofu, it ended up kinda mushy and broken apart. This would have been fine if I were making a tofu pie or scramble. But usually I was going for stir fry, or just pan-fried slices of tofu. I couldn’t figure out how to give the tofu some shape and texture.

Then one night my aunt served some amazing pan-fried tofu for dinner, and I asked her how she cooked it so perfectly. She told me she pressed the excess liquid out of the tofu block before cooking it. I had never heard of anyone doing this before (despite growing up vegetarian). It opened up a whole new world of tofu possibilities.

Last night, I used my aunt’s method to make Indian-spiced fried tofu sticks. Here’s how:

Recipe

First, squeeze the liquid out of a whole block of extra-firm tofu. Be firm but gentle. You don’t want to squash the thing. Then lay it out like a loaf of bread and cut 6 relatively even slices. Turn it on its end and make one more cut, leaving you with 12 sticks.

Combine 3 tablespoons of corn starch and 3 tablespoons of corn meal in a bowl, then add some spices. I did an Indian-style spice mix with some curry powder, garlic powder and turmeric.

Crack one egg into a different bowl and whisk it (vegans might try ground flax seed and water). Dip the tofu sticks in a quick egg bath, then roll the sticks in the spice mixture.

Heat about 1/4-inch of vegetable oil (or maybe a nut oil) and fry the tofu sticks on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side. Drain them on paper towels and serve with dipping sauce. I only had hoison sauce on hand, and while it was sort of a culture clash, the flavors went together fairly well.

Ingredient list

• 1 package extra-firm tofu
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs corn starch
• 3 tbs corn meal
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Pinch of turmeric (for color)
• Vegetable oil

Sides

I served these with a vegetable mix of steamed broccoli, edamame and green peas and some basmati rice lightly flavored with Better Than Bouillon.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

Indian-spiced fried tofu sticks

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My nights used to be pretty simple with just my 2-year-old. She would go to sleep at 8:30 p.m. I was up until 11 or so — plenty of time to enjoy my wife’s company, write, relax, blog, read cookbooks, etc. Now, that time seems to have vanished. My Google feed reader was ridiculous. I ended up declaring RSS bankruptcy and just marking several folders as read.

This is not a bad thing, of course, but one I have had the joy of dealing with. And–completely fishing for compliments here–he’s pretty cute isn’t he?

He was born January 10, so he is a little older than a month at this point. He is also starting to get into more of a regular pattern meaning more keyboard time for me.

So, look for some more quick vegetarian recipes soon. I’ve got some photos and recipes in the can so I’ll be regularly posting again.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

Micah Owen has arrived

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Note to self: next time you know you are going to have kitchen and other remodeling done soon, do not start a blog or any other form of public communication until the remodeling work is complete.

This is a post from Canned Vegetarian.

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