bbq tofu sandwiches

rita and i have both become hermits this weekend. i caught a bad flu, and have now given it to her. we're both treating it with lots of duane reade nyquil knockoff, way too much grey's anatomy and my so-called life, and plenty of sleep.

despite this, we have managed to cook some very tasty dishes, which i promise we'll post about soon. i also went over to a friend's apartment the other night and helped her make butternut squash ravioli with hazelnut butter sauce (by "helped" i mean i rolled out the dough with a budweiser can. classy). so good! i wish i had a picture for you guys.

anyhoo, here's a not so exciting (or photogenic) but still yummy meal:
we just fried some tofu in oil, then served it in a sandwich with bbq sauce and sliced tomato. we also had un-photographed sweet potato fries on the side. with more bbq sauce, of course. you can never have enough.
-Lola

vegan chocolate pudding

look at me, posting 2 days in a row! now lets see if i can keep it up.
i LOVE chocolate pudding. it's probably my favorite food ever (although i do say that about many foods). i remember when i was younger and went camping with some friends, we created a whole mythology around the dining hall's chocolate pudding. I don't recall the entire story, only that my friend N. was crowned the pudding queen and the rest of us had to say "I am mere whipped topping in your pudding presence".last week i decided it was time to say goodbye, at least for now, to jello instant pudding mix, and make my own pudding. my first attempt was a spectacular disaster. it started out promisingly enough. just look at this recipe. while i'm sure deb's caramel pudding was amazing, i burnt my caramel and my pudding was filled with unappetizing lumps, rendering it completely inedible.
so i threw it out, took a trip to whole foods, and tried again, this time with a recipe that requires no slaving over the stove and patiently stirring in cornstarch.
yum! this pudding is rich, thick and chocolately. if you're serving it to tofu-phobes, don't tell them its vegan and they'll never know. and remember...

vegan chocolate pudding from veg news, with a few small changes from me
serves 4
*1 cup vegan chocolate chips
*1/2 cup powdered sugar
*8 ounces silken tofu (half a standard 1 lb/16 ounce box)
*1 teaspoon vanilla
1. place tofu in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
2. add sugar and vanilla to blender/processor. stir once or twice.
3. melt chocolate chips in microwave or a double boiler (it took 2 minutes in my microwave.) stir to make sure all chips are melted. add to blender/processor.
3. blend until smooth and combined. you may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times.
4. portion into 4 individual serving bowls and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. add toppings such as whipped cream, crumbled cookies, fruit, or chocolate chips if desired.
-Lola

p.s. how amazing was the US vs. Algeria match this morning? go USA!!!

thai curry with bamboo shoots and tofu

yesterday on the way home I realized we didn't have any ingredients for dinner, so I stopped at Sunshine. Sunshine is a Japanese grocery store, but that description does not do it justice. It is a magical land of canned congee, unidentifiable (to me) veggies, a million different kinds of noodles, and most importantly, pocky. But unfortunately, I cannot live on pocky alone and I wasn't sure how to cook the strange veggies, so I came home with rather normal ingredients. I did get some bamboo shoots, which I had previously only had canned and pre-cooked, but that was about as exotic as my ingredients got. Here's what we made with my purchases:
Thai Curry with Bamboo Shoots and Tofu pictured above, serves 2, as usual no measurements are exact
ingredients:
-about 8 oz winter bamboo shoots, cut into strips
-about 1/2 cup snow peas
-fried tofu (I bought it pre-fried), cut into bite size chunks
-1 cup shitake mushrooms, cut into strips
-about 1/2 cup thai green curry (we used TJ's)
-rice for serving
- about 1 tablespoon butter/ butter substitute for frying (we used earth balance)
Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet. Add bamboo shoots and saute for about 5 minutes. add the shitakes and snow peas and continue sauteing until the bamboo shoots are browned on the edges. add the tofu and the sauce, simmer for about 2 minutes, then serve over rice.
This turned out very good. The best part was the bamboo shoots, which were crispy and almost caramelized from the butter.
Today, I used the last little bit of bamboo shoots to make a delicious curry.

This was just bamboo shoots, chick peas, rice, and peas, sauteed in earth balance and loads of curry powder and cumin, topped with some delicious mango chutney that our mom sent us for our birthday.
and lastly,one of the awesome plates our mom sent us (with the remains of a curry on it):


thanks mom!
ps. there's a giveaway for probars here