More Soup and Thai Tofu Salad

Last night I made creamy cauliflower soup. Of course I changed the recipe a tiny bit. In the end I didn't add the soy milk as I thought the soup is creamy enough. I also pureed only 3/4 of it because I like the chunks of cauliflower. Lastly, I didn't add the nutmeg. This is because I have been adding different spices each time I have a bowl. At lunch, I just added salt and pepper. With dinner, I added garam masala. Yum!

Here is the recipe, it was posted on a veg Yahoo group I am part of.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

28 oz of vegetable broth
1 large head cauliflower --cut into pieces
1 med potato -- peeled and diced
1 med onion -- diced
2 tsp vegetarian bouillon
1 cup plain soy milk (optional according to Jody)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (also optional according to Jody)
salt and white pepper -- to taste

Combine vegetables, broth and bouillon in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer. Cook until the vegetables are soft (20-30 minutes). Puree (in blender, food processor, or with hand-held blender). Return to pan, add remaining ingredients and heat to desired serving temperature.

I also made Thai Tofu salad. The recipe caught my eye when I was flipping through one of those paper cookbooks they have by the cash register in the supermarket. I wasn't sure about peanut butter and tofu together, but this is great. I'd planned on making a wrap with my soup tonight, but the package of wheat wraps had seen better days. I tossed the green spotted wraps and just had a scoop of tofu salad beside my soup.

Here is the recipe for that as well. I'm looking forward to making a sandwich with this tomorrow.

Thai Tofu Salad

1 package of extra firm tofu
1/3 cup peanut butter
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice

1/8 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp hot pepper sauce
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
¼ cup sliced green onions
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Drain tofu. Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic powder, and hot pepper sauce. Mix well. Add tofu, bell pepper, onions, and cilantro. Stir with fork until well mixed and tofu is crumbly.

Where O Where Has Jody Gone?

I've been lurking around at everyone's blog, but really haven't taken the time to comment or post. Work has been busy and I've been sidetracked by some personal stuff as well.

It was great to see so many wonderful veg*n Thanksgiving meals as I made the blog rounds. This year was rather nontraditional for me. My father and his girlfriend were called out of town on short notice and that changed the family Thanksgiving plan. I ended up heading over to my aunt's for a late lunch, rather than having a big gathering. We decided on an Asian theme. She made stir fried tofu and veggies. I brought spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce based on a recipe from Vegan Cooking School.

The past few weeks, I've been eating pretty simple meals that include salads, marinated tofu and veggies, or fruit/oatmeal. Though I took some pics, it seems silly to post them. The cool weather makes me crave soups and often times I have a cup of soup with my lunch. Last week I made tomato lentil soup. It looked so pretty in the leaf bowl.

Tonight I have a creamy cauliflower soup, cooking. I'm looking forward to trying this new recipe which I will post soon with a photo. I'll be trekking around and commenting on other blog later. Hope everyone is doing well.

Chickpea Patties and Cupcakes

This morning I met a friend for breakfast at Garden Grille Cafe in RI. I had a tofu scramble with portabellas, spinach, and sun-dried tomato. After that I had to go pick up bird seed for Tommy. When I went to get the bird seed, I found that one of my favorite sporting good stores is going out of business. I stopped in hoping to find snowboard boots, but they didn't have my size. Though, I lucked out and found a great winter jacket for almost 70% off. When I got home, I did some yard work. A few trees had branches out close to the house, so I sawed off the offending limbs.

Tonight I made the Moroccan Chickpea patties from Vive le Vegan. Thanks to Leslie for the idea. I thought I had bad experiences with fennel in the past, but this fennel tasted nothing like I remembered. It wasn't bad, even raw. Verdict on the patties... I liked them, but they were a bit difficult to keep together in the pan. Honestly, the mix was just fine on its own without breading or cooking into patties. I'd use it as a dip or make sandwiches with it in the future.

Last weekend, I made the chocolate stout cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The were ok, but not great. This was probably my fault as I made them without out cupcake papers and potentially cooked them too long. This weekend I made chocolate cupcakes and filled/frosted them with the peanut butter cream frosting. These were spectacular. The frosting and the cakes are perfect and perhaps taste even better than any cupcake I've had in the past (vegan or not). Yay Isa! The first photo of the cupcake came out a little funky, but I am posting both pictures.