Tofu in the Mists

I don't know why, but I really dig this first shot of my otherwise boring breakfast. So misty, so mysterious... when the steam subsides you see it's just another tofu scramble. Tofu, onion, garlic, broccoli, and some Lite Life Tempeh Fak'in. A slight sprinkling of shoyu, a generous helping of nutritional yeast, a little thyme, a lot of smoked paprika. Boring, sure, but some pretty great stuff all the same.

and what kind of post would this be without a little Taylor? no post from me, to be sure! Here she is this fine morning with that face that says she's on her way to 'up to no good' and fast!

Happy Monday!

Fatfree Vegan Just Made My Morning!

It's that time of year again, where I stock up on my six pound (yes, six POUND) bucket 'o nutritional yeast from Vegan Essentials. Ever since this lovely stuff arrived in all it's flakey, golden glory, I've been salivating thinking of the things I've been craving to make with it. What I woke up and *thought* I'd be treating myself to was a vegan omelette a la FFV, but alas, I had no tofu. Knowing that Susan would surely have something I that would inspire me I headed over to Fat Free Vegan and this caught my eye, her Golden Potato and Tempeh Casserole.
I halved the recipe and only used one really large Russet potato. I also found, at the last minute, that I had no miso in the house (which was sadly ironic as I had it in my hand at the store the other day thinking, 'wait. i have a ton of miso at home, right?' wrong!)

In the end, this was a-MA-zing as it was. I can only imagine that the addition of miso would make it heavenly. I otherwise kept to the recipe, minus swapping a couple shakes of my shoyu bottle in place of my absent miso. I also used store bought LiteLife Tempeh Fak'n as I had some in the 'fridge that needed using up. The only Spanish paprika I have is smoked so I used that and it just intensified the smokey flavor. Oh, and I omitted the optional vegan parm dusting at the end. Guess I didn't follow the recipe exactly much, eh?

This was the best brunch (with the addition of a quick smoothie while it baked made of a banana, some frozen raspberries, frozen mango, and some plain soy milk, yum!) I've had in ages! I can't wait to make the full recipe again some time soon. The sauce really gets thick and creamy and cheezy and crusts up on top and along the sides like good cheese sauces of old.

Thank you, Susan! For adding to the vegan repertoire, another morning meal success!

If you're not a fan of smokey things (I never used to be) I'd bet that Isa's tempeh fauxsage crumbles from VWaV would make a phenomenal sub and, actually, I'm gonna try that variation next.

I'm not able to cook up a lot of elaborate things in the morning as Taylor is all about a.m. play time, but her Aunt gifted her a little walker (i know, i know, they're awful contraptions that only negligent and horrible parents would use these days...spare me*) and we happily roar and giggle in the kitchen some mornings as she chases the dog around and tries in vain to open cabinets. it allows me to cook a hot meal in the morning on occasion and allows her to run around free instead of flapping her arms in a tizzy until we walk her incessantly around by the hands since this kid thinks crawling is for babies* and will be walking on her own in no time!

*i, and a whole generation of now able-bodied folks grew up with walkers and developed just fine. my daughter is never left unattended and is thrilled by her newfound 'freedom'.

*i am also aware how important the act of crawling can be in development and we try multiple times daily to win T over to the art of crawling, but she is the master of her own everything and she's not having it. so stubborn. i have NO idea where she gets that from ;)