Vegan Guinea Pig: Egg Alternatives

Showing posts with label Egg Alternatives. Show all posts

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Plum Genius!

As a vegan mom I get asked constantly if my daughter is vegan or if I'm raising her vegan. I always answer proudly yes! I know many vegan mom's get bombarded with the "so, is that healthy" question but thankfully, being a pediatric dietitian has it perks in that not too many people ask me silly questions when it comes to my child's health. Although I do get the occasional "where do she get her protein" or "how do you handle that at school" as if brown-bag lunches were just invented this decade. But I digress. The funny thing is that there are a plethora of vegan, ready to eat, quick on the go options for vegan kids. The grocery store is swimming with them.

One of my favorite vegan-friendly companies is Plum Organics. I've seen their products every where from Target and Kroger to the Piggly Wiggly (no lie). Here's a list of all of Plum Organics vegan offerings for little ones. We skipped the purees and never did the whole baby food thing but I can attest that their Little Cremes and Crunch O'Las are tasty for both kids and adults.

This Week's Rating

Scale of 1-4 Dancing Guinea Pigs 1 meaning it is destined for the compost bin and 4 meaning it is destined for greatness

Vegan Guinea Pig gives it 3.75 out of 4 Dancing Guinea Pigs

Lil' Guinea Pig gives it 3.5 out of 4 Dancing Guinea Pigs

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Breakfast Lifesaver! Amy's Tofu Scramble in a Pocket Sandwich

I'm not a morning person. Not even a little. Getting up at 9am is my idea of getting up early. But now that I have a little girl my schedule has been turned upside down and I find myself getting up before sunrise to get ready for the day. Between getting myself ready, my daughter ready and heading out the door on time breakfast has slowly shrunk lower and lower on the priority list. But as a breastfeeding mom skipping out on any meal isn't an option. I love making tofu scramble breakfast burritos but that requires me getting up even earlier to make tofu scramble every morning which also isn't happening these days.

I've always been very skeptical of store-bought tofu scramble, especially frozen scrambles. They never looked that appetizing and the few that I have tried have been bland and pasty.When it comes to Amy's brand products things have been hit or miss for me. I love their enchiladas, hate their breakfast burritos. Love their black bean burritos but hate their soups and the list goes on and on. When I saw these breakfast pockets I was desperate and willing to try anything. I threw a pocket in the microwave as I was headed out the door with my daughter on my hip and was surprised that it was amazing! The pocket was a little gummy but the scramble was dead-on and delicious. The next day I decided to pop the pocket in the oven while I got ready, 30 minutes later the car was packed, we were ready to head out the door. I grabbed the scramble pocket out the oven and headed out the door. The gummyness of the pocket was gone and it was divine. My only complaint is the size. It's super yummy but also super small. It really takes two and some orange juice to fill you up. But size aside, this is absolutely perfect. And if you have kids this would be the perfect size for a breakfast on the go!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Roasted Red Pepper Scramble

I’ve been eating some variation of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Puttanesca scramble for breakfast almost every day for the last 4 months or so. This morning I was ready to branch out into a world full of new scramble recipes. I thumbed my way through Vegan Brunch looking for a good scramble recipe and decided to give Isa’s Basic Scrambled Tofu a try. But, true to form. I only loosely stuck to the recipe. The end result was a savory scramble that will be my new favorite for months to come.

Roasted Red Pepper Scramble

2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
½ small white onion, sliced thin
1 pound extra-firm tofu, pressed and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
¼ cup nutritional yeast
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Blend cumin, thyme and salt together in a small cup and set aside.

Warm oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and sauté until they become soft, about 5 minutes. Stir often to ensure that garlic doesn’t burn.

Add cubed tofu, roasted red pepper and spice mix and stir until tofu is well coated. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove scramble from heat source and stir in nutritional yeast. Season with pepper to taste and serve.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Vegans Guide to the Universe Part 5: Egg Replacer 101

After 4 years of being a cheese-obsessed vegetarian I finally went vegan. It wasn’t hard taking the cheese out of my diet, mainly because after 21 days without it I no longer had a taste for it, but it was hard to figure out how to replace eggs. All of a sudden it seemed like everything I made needed eggs in some way shape or form.

After a good deal of trial and error, Google searches, triumphant tries and complete culinary flops I finally came up with a working list of egg substitutes for nearly every recipe.

Baking (1 egg equivalent):
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce + ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup pureed soft silken tofu (plain)
1 tablespoons ground flax seed simmer in 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon canola oil + 2 teaspoons baking powder

Scrambled Eggs:
1 pound firm or extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled – find your favorite tofu scramble recipe and you’re off!

Quiches, Omelettes and Frittatas:
Firm of Extra Firm Silken Tofu should be used in place of eggs. Popular Recipes are the Papa Chorizo Frittata, Susan V.’s Vegan Omelette for One and Susan V.’s crustless Quiche

Ener-G Egg Replacer is also an excellent choice for replacing eggs in baked goods. 1 ½ teaspoons + 2 tablespoons warm water whisked together equals 1 egg. 1 box has over 113 servings! So it’s a great low-cost way to replace eggs in baked goods.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Papa Chorizo Frittata: The Recipe

As you may or may not know this little Guinea Pig has been working on a cookbook for over 3 years now. I finished my first one in February ’08 and am currently in the process of getting it published (which takes a whole lot longer than I ever imagined!) In the meantime I have started to work on books number 2 & 3. Unfortunately there are no frittata or omelette recipes in my first book but there will be in books 2 and 3. But instead of making you wait another 2 years for either one of those books to come out I’m going to go ahead and release one of the favorite recipes now (by popular demand).

Note: If these pictures seem a bit familiar it’s because I blogged about this recipe during Vegan Mofo (I just failed to provide the actual recipe that went with it)

Frittata:
24 ounces extra firm silken tofu
2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons potato starch
½ teaspoon stone ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon onion powder

Combine all frittata filling in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and set aside.

Filling:
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 red potatoes cut into ½ inch cubes
½ cup white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 link vegan chorizo, crumbled (I pulse in a food processor for about 30 seconds)
¼ cup chopped roasted red peppers
2 tablespoons flat lead parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large sauce pan heat warm oil over medium to medium high heat. Add potatoes and onion and cook until potatoes are tender (about 8 minutes). Add garlic and chorizo and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in roasted red peppers and parsley.

Stir filling into frittata mix.

Lightly oil a 9 inch spring form pan or a quiche pan. Pour frittata mix into pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until filling is firm and you can run a clean toothpick through it.

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove frittata from pan and serve. (Can be served warm, room temperature or cold)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Vegan Mofo: Papa Chorizo Frittata

Being jobless has one major advantage, everyday is a weekend. Which means every morning i can crawl out of bed and make a big full breakfast for myself that would usually be reserved for a Saturday or Sunday. With just one Mexican Chipotle Sausage link left in the fridge I decided to make Papa (Potato) Chorizo Frittata's. Although I got off to a rocky start by nearly burning the onions in the first couple steps of the recipe, everything turned out well in the end and I have a full belly to prove it.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Vegan Mofo: Chorizo Breakfast Quesadilla

As promised in my review of Field Roast Mexican Chipolte Sausage I recently veganized the recipe of the Field Roast website for Chorizo Breakast Quesadilla's. The result was a scrumptious and spicy adaptation that brighetened up a very rainy day here in Atlanta.

Chorizo Breakfast Quesadilla
Makes 3 Servings

1 vegan chorizo sausage link
½ lb firm tofu (drained, pressed and crumbled)
1/3 cup yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon crushed chili pepper (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup vegan Monterey jack cheese, shredded and divided
3 large flour tortillas

In a large skillet or sauce pan (I prefer cast iron) heat canola oil over medium heat and add onion. Sauté for 2-3 minutes or until they begin to become translucent. Add garlic and sauté for an additional 30 seconds. Add crumbled tofu, spices and stir constantly until tofu is completely covered with spices. Cook for approximately 2-3 minutes.

Add chorizo to a food processor and process until broken down into small crumbles (about 30 seconds). Add crumbles to scrambled tofu and continue to cook for an additional minute.

In a separate large sauce pan or skillet over medium heat add 1 tortilla (if using a cast iron skillet lightly spray with oil so tortilla doesn’t stick). Add 1/3 cup of monetary jack cheese and 1/3 of the tofu/chorizo mixture to one side of the tortilla. Fold in half. Cook on both sides until the tortilla becomes slightly crispy and cheese is melted. Repeat with remaining ingredients until all quesadilla’s are assembled. Cut in half and serve.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Vegan Mofo: Spinach Omelette & Pumpkin Waffles(GF)

Good morning! Well...it's morning somewhere. Yesterday morning, after night 4 of virtual insomnia, I decided to make one of my favorite meals for breakfast to perk myself up a bit: spinach omelette's and sweet potato waffles. I've been trying to go gluten free for the last month so instead of my traditional recipe for sweet potato waffles I decided to try Susan V's (Fat Free Vegan Kitchen) recipe for Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles. They not only look divine they were absolutely delicious. The waffles needed no added margarine or oil and went perfect with just a couple tablespoons of Grade B Maple Syrup on them. Susan says that the recipe makes about 4 waffles but mine made 8! I ate two, saved two for today and froze the rest to enjoy next week.

Susan also has an amazing recipe for vegan omelette's but I did not use hers for this omelette. I've actually been working on my own for about 6 months now and I think I've finally come up with a wonderful recipe that fits my taste perfectly. The filling was very simple to make. Usually I would wilt fresh spinach but the budget is tight so I'm using whatever is available in the house right now, which happens to be frozen spinach. I steamed about a cup of frozen spinach and squeezed out all the water I could. Then I lightly sautéed 1/4 cup red onion, 1/2 small purple bell pepper and minced 1 large clove of garlic. Breakfast heaven!

The best part about this breakfast is that I was able to work in two types of vegetables, a generous serving of essential vitamins and minerals and stay gluten free and very full.

The Spinach Omelette Recipe is available in Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food in stores now!

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