FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Summertime, I Can Almost Taste It

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As an early University of Florida Building Construction student, if you had asked me what I thought of BBQ…  You would have gotten a mouthful of nothing positive and a grossed out facial expression to match.  By senior year, on any given day, you could have spotted me at an XYZ BBQ table, eating lunch with five of my favorite boys of all time.  Total 180.  Who would have thought?

Last Tuesday, a subcontractor catered BBQ lunch at my office (mind you, I’m still a construction gal by day).  They delivered a heaping load of food that lingered until Friday, which induced extreme BBQ and summertime cravings.

Then it dawned on me, it’s not the meat I crave, it’s the sauce.

Simple fix – BBQ Tofu.

Two tips:

1.  Tofu found in the ethnic aisle is significantly cheaper (see brand above).

2.  If you buy pre-made sauce, pick some up at a local restaurant or the local section at Whole Foods.  Keeping it local is never a bad thing!

FoodFash’s BBQ Tofu

Cut extra firm tofu into french fry like slivers and cover with BBQ sauce in an appropriately sized container for 30-ish minutes.  Place tofu slivers on foil (or foil covered cookie sheet) sprayed with olive oil Pam.  Set foil on the top oven rack and broil for 5 minutes.  Flip tofu slivers over, cover with additional BBQ sauce, and broil for an additional 5 minutes.

I am not a tofu lover, so I’m convinced that this is a dish that tofu skeptics would enjoy as well.  The broiling process removed the excess moisture from the sauce giving the BBQ tofu a “chewy” exterior that was unexpected, but thoroughly enjoyed.  And I totally two-bird-one-stoned this meal by adding strawberries and satisfying my summertime craving too!

I

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It seems I have two choices…  Either continue to re-check The Conscious Cook out from the library every couple weeks for the rest of my life orrrr purchase a copy for myself.  The latter sounds a lot less complicated.

I’m not the biggest fan of meat substitute products, at all, but when my friend Ginnean mentioned that her husband would let her make Gardein for dinner, I figured it had to taste pretty normal.

And then I saw The Conscious Cook’s Gardein “Chicken” Scalloppini recipe when I was flipping through the pages this morning and couldn’t wait to test it out.  I decided to leave out the Udon Noodle Cakes and Pea Shoots in order to make it less gourmet and more every day.

LOVE.  MUSHROOMS.

This recipe was the perfect combination of easy and still feeling like you’re being chef-like.  My current foodie hero, Terry Walters, better watch out cause Tal Ronnen is oh so close to being my Number One – the Gardein “Chicken” Scalloppini was RIDIC!

I honestly planned on roasting brussels sprouts as a side tonight, but the crusty goodness in the background was dominating the oven.  The result of my second ever Kitchen Aid use and my first ever bread making trial was a smashing success too.  Check back tomorrow for crusty goodness deets!

Sorta Pop, Sorta Flop

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If you recall, the non-food highlight of my Valentines day was being able to submit my itemized taxes.  As soon as I received notification that my return had been accepted by the IRS, I rushed out to buy this.

Did you know that you can use Bed, Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons at Macy’s??  Well, you can!  And on top of that discount, there was a $30 mail-in rebate as well.  Thank you Presidents’ Day (and Uncle Sam)!

What to make, what to make first…

I had planned on researching some sort of bread so I could utilize the dough hook, but…  I spent a good portion of  today in the sun (80’s and sunny = perfect pool weather) which made me a tad on the lazy side.  I opted to browse through the Kitchen Aid book to see if there was something I could modify that would use only ingredients I currently had in my kitchen.

Popovers!!!

Modified Popover Recipe

1/2 Cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Water

1/4 Cup Tofutti Sour Cream

1/2 Tablespoon Earth Balance

1 Egg

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Mix ingredients together until smooth.  Pour batter into greased/floured, oven-safe ramekins until they are halfway full.  Set ramekins on cookie sheet and place in a non-heated oven.  Set oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

My popovers didn’t exactly pop over.  This could have had something to do with either the modifications or preheating the oven to 350 prior to reading the cool oven instructions.  I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t look every bit as beautiful as the popover I had pictured in my head.

BUT!  These dense little flopovers were pretty darn good.   They reminded me of a cross between biscuits and French toast, which is a mighty decent combination in my book.  So decent, in fact, that I ate all four flops.

Fluffy Cakes

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Mmmm pancakes!  I haven’t had homemade pancakes in ages.  So when I stumbled upon this gluten-free mix at Target the other day, I had to try it.

I halved the recipe, replaced milk with almond milk, ditched the oil (because I don’t have vegetable oil and thought olive oil would be weird), and used the entire egg.

I was expecting the, now 300 calorie, recipe to yield two small pancakes.  To my surprise, I was able to make a third good sized cake.

I topped two with 1/2 tablespoon of Crofter’s superfruit spread and the other with 1/2 table spoon of pure maple syrup –  a mere 55 calorie addition.

It’s good to know that gluten-free, dairy-free pancakes can be every bit as fluffy and delicious as the regular kind.  And to be well over stuffed for well under 400 calories?  I’m a happy little chickadee!