Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers

I made SusanV's Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers a while back and I froze a bunch of them to keep in my freezer. I love that they are lower calorie on those days where I maybe indulged a little bit too much earlier in the day. I have just been defrosting them in the microwave for about a minute, then nuking until warm, and slapping it between a TJ's sandwich thin. It's so PINK - it looks so unlike any other veggie burger I've had.

I had mine with veganaise, ketchup, mustard, romaine, tomato slice, and tofutti cheese. Pickles too.. (they went first!)

Skillet Lasagna [Veganized]

So far, I've had so much fun trying out vegan recipes. I have started to feel much more comfortable coming up with my own stuff! I have veganized a few recipes that I had bookmarked on here. This is the first of them.

Ashley's post on Skillet Lasagna sounded awesome as soon as I saw it. I always have leftover lasagna noodles for some reason after I make lasagna - I feel like I might be doing it wrong because I would think these boxes would be compatible with most lasagna recipes. No? Maybe in a perfect world right?

I wanted to use fresh basil in this recipe but unfortunately I seem to have executed my --sorry excuse for an-- herb garden. Fresh basil would have been so much better than dried here. Next time for sure!

Skillet Lasagna

Adapted from Ashley, taken from Cooks Illustrated

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 lb vegetarian ground beef

8 ounces curly-edged whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch lengths

1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce

1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella shreds

8 ounces tofu ricotta

1/4 cup minced fresh basil [I used a few sprinkles of dried basil]

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, red pepper flakes and garlic, and cook until softened.

Layer the vegetarian ground beef, broken noodle pieces, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in that order. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup Daiya shreds. Dot heaping tablespoons of the tofu ricotta over the noodles. Cover the skillet and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the basil and serve with a huge green salad.

So, so, so good. :)

Valentine's Day

I'm really late on this post as you can probably tell from the title!

Back in January, my mom and I went to a culinary school at a spa in Utah for about a week. We learned how to do so many healthy dishes and it was such a good time! For Valentine's Day I made two of these dishes for my boyfriend and I. We stayed in and ate in front of the TV. It wasn't probably romantic enough for the rest of the world but we had a great time :)

These first two recipes are courtesy of Red Mountain Spa in Ivins, UT. The third photo is my attempt at the chocolate crepes from Gina over at Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes. My boyfriend absolutely loved these.. so much that he tried making a few more himself. The thing is, he has no patience and has extremely big clumsy hands. So Ryan and crepes didn't really hit it off in the kitchen. But he definitely enjoyed eating them!

Anyway I'll get to it.

Caesar Salad with Cheese Crisps

Hearts of romaine

Parmesan cheese (block)

3/4 oz anchovy fillets

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

2 segments garlic

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 oz red wine vinegar

1/2 oz lemon juice

4 oz soft tofu

1/4 tsp tabasco sauce

5 oz olive oil

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (for crisps)

Croutons (optional)

Cut romaine into bite-sized pieces. In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients from anchovy fillets through tabasco sauce. Drizzle in the 5 oz olive oil.

On a silpat, create small piles of freshly shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for a few minutes (maybe 5), keeping an eye on the piles as they melt. When they appear to have melted, take the silpat out and let the crisps set till cool enough to touch.

To assemble the salad, toss the romaine with croutons and as much dressing as desired. Garnish each salad with a cheese crisp.

Salmon with Tofu Dill Sauce

Salmon fillets (4 oz per serving)

Sauce:

1 cup soft tofu

2 oz lemon juice

2 tsp dried dill weed

4 garlic segments

1 oz white wine

pinch salt

Combine sauce ingredients in blender or food processor. Put in refrigerator to keep cool while cooking salmon.

Salmon can be cooked on a grill or a grill pan (if you are in New England!)

And here's a picture of one of our crepes..