Garden Vegetable Almond Cream Cheese

Yay! It worked!! *sigh* I've been wanting to make a vegan garden vegetable cream cheese for so long now, styled after Philadelphia's. Since the Baked Almond Feta recipe works so well I decided to base it on that but tried to remove the 'feta' elements from the cheese, mainly the extra salt and the garlic and then I added quite a bit of nutritional yeast to give it a more "regular" cheese flavour. I then drained and baked it off as normal then blitzed it with some veggies. For those I went with what was listed in the ingredients for Philadelphia's Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese - mainly green and red peppers, cucumber, celery and carrot.

Now, I loved the flavour but I was left with more of a dip or spread more akin to houmous in texture. Not really a problem but it was a bit too runny for my liking. I put it in the fridge thinking well, we'll use it as a dip instead when in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep as usual I thought, hmmm, what if I drained it off AGAIN in cheesecloth?

So the next day I did that and left it overnight. In the morning I was saddened to see very little liquid had drained off but the cheesecloth itself was heavy with liquid, it had simply absorbed it from all around and when I removed it I had a ball of "cheese"! 

This is still soft of course as it is supposed to be like cream cheese and it is just the texture I was originally after - soft and spreadable. I was also happy that doing a second draining did not affect the flavour in any way, it just helped the texture.

This does add another day to the process of course but you can just stop after blending and use it as a dip. Both versions are just packed with flavour - this stuff is so fresh tasting, you can taste all the gorgeous veggies in there and makes for an awesome sandwich spread - especially with flavours that are not in there - avocado, tomato and lettuce :-)

As usual, my Froothie 9400 high performance blender did an amazing job here, from the first stage of making the cream cheese to adding the veggies. I wanted it smooth so blended them fully in but with the froothie you can just pulse the veggies to have a chunkier texture - it's wonderfully versatile that way!

Garden Vegetable Almond Cream Cheese:

1 x recipe almond cream cheese, baked and cooled (recipe below)

1 shallot, peeled and chopped
1 whole small carrot, peeled and sliced
½ stalk celery, sliced
4" cucumber, de-seed but leave skin on
¼ whole red bell pepper, chopped
¼ whole green bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic

½ Tbsp chopped chives

Almond Cream Cheese:
150g ground almonds
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup water
½ cup nutritional yeast
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

First make the cream cheese: Place everything in a blender and blend until really smooth. Transfer to cheesecloth, tie up and place in a sieve over a bowl; refrigerate overnight to drain and set. Transfer to a greased dish and bake at 180C for 30 min. Let cool.

Note: there are step by step photos of this process in the Baked Almond Feta post.

Place all the veg except the chives into a blender and pulse blend until finely chopped. Crumble in all of the almond cream cheese and pulse blend some more until well blended and pink-ish/orangey in colour. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the finely chopped chives. 

You can chill it now and have....

Great for use as a dip, especially with an assortment of veggie crudites and breadsticks....

.....or, transfer the mixture again to 3 layers of cheesecloth, tie up and place in a sieve over a bowl and place in the fridge overnight. Remove the cheesecloth and place the ball of cheese smooth side up on a plate for a spreadable Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese :-)

It's also great at breakfast simply spread on a toasted wholemeal bagel alongside a cup of coffee.

Enjoy!

♥

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links with Froothie UK.

Nutritional Information: per 100g

Calories: 358

Protein: 11.5g

Fat: 29.4g

Sat Fat: 3g

Fibre: 6.2g

Carbs: 14.5g

Sugars: 3.1g

Sodium: 602mg

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Vegan Parmesan, Rosemary & Shallot Sausages with Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy

I like to think of these as a "veganized and poshed up" version of Glamorgan sausages ;-) I was inspired here by a recipe created by my dear chef friend Stacey's recipe for "Pan Seared Aged White Cheddar Sausages  with Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy". I had them when I was working with her back in my vegetarian days and they were just gorgeous, especially with that gravy. (And a huge thanks to her for permission to post!)

In order to veganize the sausages I've had to change a lot but followed her recipe as a guide. I have made them tofu based and added my Vegan Parmesan recipe of nutritional yeast, ground almonds and salt for a cheesy flavour.

The gravy is pretty much the exact same though, I just swapped onions for shallots (as I had them for the sausages, you can use onion if you prefer) and used soy cream in place of whipping cream. It's a stunning gravy and goes perfectly with the sausages, perfect for a nice dinner with some mashed potato and side of broccoli.

Now, I have made these sausages with both soft and firm tofu. Either work but you have to prepare them differently and you do end up with different textured results depending on which type you use. In the photos you see here I have used an extra firm tofu.

First, with the soft tofu, and I do mean soft, for those of you in the UK/Ireland I used Cauldron's original tofu which is so soft it borders on silken (but don't use silken here!) Anyway, you end up with a softer, looser textured sausage much more reminiscent of traditional Glamorgan sausages which I always remember being very soft. They still hold together and fry up fine but are a little more tricky to shape.

With the extra firm tofu, and I have used quite a firm one here, Taifun's tofu which is even rubbery in texture; you end up with a much firmer sausage, more reminiscent in texture of traditional sausages. This makes them MUCH easier to shape and thus they have less margin of error.

Either way, both turn out well and taste great and I'll post both versions and let you decide which one to make :-)

Lastly, I do apologize for the not-so-great and rather "samey" photos here....I even failed to get a shot of them cut open! My family were eagerly standing in the background waiting for me to finish shooting this so they could eat so I was rather rushed ;-) My poor family always eating lukewarm meals, lol!

Vegan Parmesan, Rosemary & Shallot Sausages:

• 200g extra firm OR soft tofu *see above
• 2 cups (100g) breadcrumbs
• ½ cup (65g) finely chopped shallots
• 1 tsp dried mustard powder
• 1 tsp fine smoked sea salt
• 12 grinds freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 Tbsp finely ground nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 Tbsp ground almonds
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond or soy milk (omit if using soft tofu)
• olive oil to grease and fry

Instructions if using soft tofu:

Drain the tofu (there is no need to press). Place everything except the milk into a large bowl and just get in there with your hands, squishing the tofu through your fingers to mush it all up. When well mixed and thick in texture wash then grease your hands with some olive oil and shape into 6 sausages. I find it easiest to grease a 1/4 cup measuring cup and press the mixture in, scoop it out then squeeze and roll into sausage shapes. Lay out on a plate lined with cling film, cover with cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

Instructions if using extra firm tofu:

Crumble the tofu (no need to press) into a food processor and add the milk. Process until fine in texture and well mixed. Add everything else except the shallots and blend well, it should just come together like a dough and should be able to grab a bit of the mixture and squish it together easily. Now add the shallots and pulse a few times until well mixed and the shallots are a little smaller - you still want bits of shallots in here though so don't overmix.

Grease your hands with olive oil and shape into 6 sausages. Lay out on a plate lined with cling film, cover with cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

To Fry:

Add 1½ Tbsp of olive oil to a large non-stick frying pan and heat to medium. Add the sausages, turning to coat in the oil and fry, turning frequently until equally golden brown all over.

Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 70g shallots, sliced (about 4 large shallots)
• 50g sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained (about 7 pieces)
• 2 cups (500ml) vegetable stock*
• 2 Tbsp soy cream
• 10 grinds freshly ground black pepper

*First, a note on the vegetable stock, it provides a lot of the flavour in this gravy so make sure you use one you really love the taste of. I've used a Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot here FYI.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan then gently fry the shallots and pepper until the shallots are really soft and caramelized, a nice golden brown will do. 

Tip into a blender (I used my Froothie Optimum 9400 for the silkiest results) with the sun-dried tomatoes and half the vegetable stock. Blend until really smooth then add the rest of the stock and blend again. It will be really watery looking at this point, that's ok!

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to medium heat, reduce to low and simmer with the lid off for about 20 minutes until it has reduced in volume and is thicker. Pour in the cream and stir well.

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links to Froothie UK.)

♥

Nutritional Information:

Per sausage (after frying):

Calories: 122

Protein: 5.6g

Fat: 6.4g

Sat Fat: 1.0g

Carbs: 11.1g

Sugar: 1.1g

Fibre: 1.1g

Sodium: 337mg

Per 1/3 of the gravy (a generous amount for a serving of 2 sausages and sides):

Calories: 118

Protein: 2.1g

Fat: 9.4g

Sat Fat: 1.6g

Carbs: 7.1g

Sugar: 2g

Fibre: 1.8g

Sodium: 787mg

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A Plethora of Granola!

Ok, well, I've decided I can "blog as I learn" regarding this camera. For some reason these pictures look much better on my computer than when inserted into blogger...I'll look into why later, for now here's a few happy and healthy granola recipes for you :-)

If you read the daily blog you'll know that I really overdid it over the holidays, have put on a bit of weight and am trying to eat lighter and healthier. Both these recipes fit the bill perfectly and are so easy to make. They are based on my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Granola recipe but are even easier as these ones use maple syrup instead of requiring you to make brown sugar syrup first. Further like that recipe none of these are overly sweet which is nice as you can add a bit of chocolate, guilt free ;-)

I should explain to UK/IRE viewers that Almond Joy is an American chocolate bar - just think of a Bounty Bar with almonds and I was inspired by that here. It's a simple maple sweetened granola with toasted coconut, toasted flaked almonds and dark chocolate chips. Absolutely lovely and goes perfectly with some ice cold coconut milk (the tetra pak kind like Kara brand, not the tins) and sliced bananas on top.

Almond Joy Granola

• 300g oats ( 2 3/4 cups)

• 150ml maple syrup (2/3 cups)

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

• 50g desiccated coconut (2/3 cups) can be sweetened or unsweetened

• 50g flaked almonds (1/2 cup)

• 80g vegan chocolate chips (1/2 cup)

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. In a small saucepan heat the maple syrup and coconut oil until the oil melts. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add the oats to a large bowl and pour over the syrup. Stir well until everything is well coated. Spread out on a large or 2 med/small baking sheets lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes. Give it a good stir then pop it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Tip it back in a bowl then add the coconut and almonds, stir well, spread it back onto the baking sheet and pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes. Stir then return to the oven for a final 5 minutes. Let cool fully then stir in the chocolate chips. Store in a ziplock bag or airtight container.

I used these Belgian chocolate drops in mine as they were a cute little button shape and appear to be vegan BUT I don't actually recommend them. They just don't taste that great. I can see them being perfect for decorating with but you want a really good tasting chocolate in this so use a dark chocolate bar that you really like and chop that up or use chips you know you like :-)

Nutritional Information: based on a 1/2 cup (60g) serving, using unsweetened coconut, no banana or milk.

Calories: 293
Protein: 7.2g
Fat: 13.6g
Sat Fat: 7.6g
Fibre: 5.3g
Carbs: 37.5g
Sugar: 13.6g
Sodium: 4.1mg
Calcium: 42mg (162mg with fortified dairy free milk)

♥

Furthermore, I made a ridiculously simple Maple Cinnamon Blueberry Granola. Simple, but delicious. I often find a lot of granola out there has way too much going on. Like manufactures have tried to jam in every nut, seed and dried fruit there is in them. I prefer to keep things simple making sure the flavours compliment each other. Maple, cinnamon and blueberry are 3 flavours I love together, especially with oats, that being said some almonds would also go great in this. I prefer this one with rice milk.

Maple Cinnamon Blueberry Granola

• 300g oats (2 3/4 cups)

• 150ml maple syrup (2/3 cups)

• 2 Tbsp vegan butter

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• fresh blueberries to serve.

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. Heat the maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan until the butter melts. In a large bowl mix together the oats and cinnamon. Pour over the syrup and stir well until well coated. Spread out onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes. Stir then bake for another 15 minutes. Stir and if it feels like it needs it bake for another 5 minutes (I usually do) it should be getting lightly golden brown and feel crisp. Let cool and store in either a ziplock bag or an airtight container. Serve with your favourite dairy free milk, I love rice milk with this one, or some soy yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Nutritional Information: based on a 1/2 cup (60g) serving with blueberries but no milk.

Calories: 283

Protein: 6.4g

Fat: 5.8g

Sat Fat: 1.1g

Fibre: 6g

Carbs: 53.1g

Sugar: 18.2g

Sodium: 32.8mg

Calcium: 50.6mg (168mg with 100ml fortified rice milk)

♥

Lastly, I made this Raspberry Almond White chocolate Granola as I love those 3 flavours together. Like the previous granola's this isn't overly sweet either so don't fret about adding a little bit of chocolate to it. I've gone for vegan white chocolate buttons here snapped in half but dark chocolate chips would equally go nicely here, and of course, it's still good without the added chocolate! You could also use dried raspberries here, I just preferred the texture of soft fresh raspberries against the crispy granola. Also, this one goes perfectly with almond milk :-)

Raspberry Almond White Chocolate Granola

• 300g oats ( 2 3/4 cups)

• 150ml maple syrup (2/3 cups)

• 2 Tbsp vegan butter

• 1/2 tsp almond extract

• 50g flaked almonds (1/2 cup)

• 80g white chocolate, buttons snapped in half or a bar chopped (1/2 cup)

• fresh raspberries to serve.

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. In a small saucepan heat the maple syrup and vegan butter until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract. Add the oats to a large bowl and pour over the syrup. Stir well until everything is well coated. 

Spread out on a large or 2 med/small baking sheets lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes. Give it a good stir then pop it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Tip it back in a bowl then add the almond flakes, stir well, spread it back onto the baking sheet and pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes. Stir then return to the oven for a final 5 minutes. Let cool fully then stir in the white chocolate chip. Store in a ziplock bag or airtight container. Serve with fresh raspberries and ice cold almond milk.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1/2 cup (60g) serving with raspberries but no milk. 

Calories: 305

Protein: 7.9g

Fibre: 7.5g

Carbs: 46.6g

Sugar: 17.5g

Fat: 10.6g

Sat Fat: 2.8g

Sodium: 24.8mg

Calcium: 55.2mg

♥

Banana Doughnuts with Peanut Butter Glaze

So, those of you who read the daily blog will know I've gone a bit doughnut mad lately! This started off wanting to re-make my original doughnuts without the egg replacer - something I no longer use. The first attempt was only ok but a bit chewy - this was mostly my fault in overcooking them. This led to me thinking about banana as an egg replacer and simply making banana doughnuts. The obvious glaze that came to mind here was a peanut butter glaze - and that stuff is amazing!! If you are not into doughnuts (!) I would still highly recommend pouring this glaze over a loaf of banana bread. That would be stunning!

Now my son is never overly keen on peanut butter flavoured things so I also made these with a chocolate glaze. It's the same chocolate glaze I used on the original doughnut post and works equally well with the banana doughnut.

I further started to think about filled doughnuts, as I had jam filled ones in the original post and only one filling came to mind for a banana flavoured doughnut - nutella. These were stunning! Now, I have cheated here and used store bought vegan nutella. Yes, we are very lucky here in Ireland as Spar's own label hazelnut spread is "accidentally vegan" AND cheaper than Nutella :-) But, there are loads of recipes out there for vegan nutella for you to use.

Banana Doughnuts with Peanut Butter Glaze

Yields 12 ring doughnuts

1 x 7g sachet quick rise yeast

400g flour

180ml / 3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk

50g / 1/4 cup vegan butter

56g / 1/4 cup golden caster sugar

130g / 1/2 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp nutmeg - optional

1/4 tsp salt

vegetable oil to fry

Heat the soy milk, vegan butter and sugar in a saucepan until the butter melts and sugar dissolves, stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer to another bowl and let cool to between 130F. Best to use a cooking thermomenter here, if not, you want it hand hot. The liquid when using quick rise yeast should be between 120 - 130F which is hotter than when using active dry yeast.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, yeast, salt and nutmeg. Pour the milk mixture over and stir well, add the banana and fold in well. The mixture will be somewhat wet here and you should have a shaggy dough. Sprinkle a bit of flour on a surface and add the dough, gently knead, adding a bit more flour until you just have a manageable dough and can shape it into a smooth ball. Resist the temptation to add too much extra flour here, you don't want a dry dough.

Grease a large bowl and add the dough, cover with cling film and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down, knead a couple times then roll out 1/2" thick. Cut out doughnut shapes with a doughnut cutter, or fashion your own! For the filled doughnuts simply shape into flattish balls. Re-roll scraps and cut our more shapes until it is all used. Place the doughnuts on a floured baking sheet lined with baking paper, cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1/2 hour.

Now, get your glazes ready and get the oil on to fry.

Peanut Butter Glaze

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (80g)

1 cup icing sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla

about 3 Tbsp hot water

Mix the peanut butter together with the vanilla then add some of the hot water and mix, it will turn thick and grainy here but don't worry. Add the icing sugar and the rest of the water and mix well.

Chocolate Glaze

1 Tbsp vegan butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/8 tsp vanilla

20ml hot water (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp)

50g plain or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Add everything to a bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until it all comes together in a syrupy glaze. Transfer to another bowl to cool slightly and thicken up before glazing.

♥

Use a large high sided pot and fill half way up with oil, heat to 350F. Carefully transfer the doughnut to a heat safe spatula (do not use plastic!) and lower into the oil. As these doughnuts are quite soft, I found it easiest to cut around the baking paper the doughnut is lying on then flip it upside down onto the spatula and remove the paper then lower into the oil. Fry each doughnut for about 1 or 2 minutes a side, until they are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack covered in paper towels and repeat with the remaining doughnuts.

2013 Edit - Yes, I've just made these again and wanted to try them baked as some of you have asked if they can be. The answer is YES! After they are shaped and have had their second rise remove the cling film, give them a spray with cooking spray and pop into a preheated 200C oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown and well risen, mine took 12 minutes.They turned out really well, great flavour and texture, not sure I'll even bother deep frying again! Once out of the oven dip them while warm into the glazes.

♥

Give the glazes another good whisk then take a warm doughnut and dip the top into the glaze. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking paper and repeat with the remaining doughnuts. I found the peanut butter ones needed another dip once the first glaze set.

For the filled doughnuts, fill a pastry bag with a long nozzle with the nutella. Insert into the doughnut and move it around a bit to make room then squeeze the nutella in until it is coming out. Best to do these once the doughnuts cool so that the nutella doesn't turn to liquid. As you can guess, this happened to me :-)

Let the doughnuts fully cool and the glaze set then enjoy. These will keep only for a day or two before getting too dry. The next day we microwaved them for 20 seconds to get them warm and soft again :-) 

Also - the second time I made these it was summer and my kitchen was very hot. As a result, when I woke up the next morning the peanut butter glaze had melted off the doughnuts! The chocolate glaze was fine but just a note that if you have made these in a hot kitchen you should store the peanut butter ones in the fridge :-)

♥

Nutritional Information:

(based on 1 peanut butter glazed ring doughnut)

Calories: 303 (235 if you bake them)

Fat: 11.8g (5.3g if you bake them, rest of the figures are more or less the same.)

Sat Fat: 1.7g

Protein: 5.5g

Fibre: 2.1g

Carbs: 43.7g

Sugar: 16.5g

Sodium: 100mg

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♥

Apple Spice Muffins

These are a perfect autumn muffin, lovely for breakfast with a cup of coffee and so simple to make. I've based this recipe on my Strawberry and Vanilla Muffins, a recipe I had all but forgotten about which is a shame as it's a good one! The texture in these are absolutely lovely - light, fluffy and moist with just a hint of warming cinnamon and nutmeg and chunks of fresh apple.

Apple Spice Muffins:

350g (2 1/2 cups) flour
150g (3/4 cup) golden caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
240ml (1 cup) plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
120ml (1/2 cup) rice milk
160ml (2/3 cup) walnut oil*
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups diced peeled apples
demerara sugar - optional

*You can use vegetable, sunflower or canola oil here, I opted to use walnut oil as I've been enjoying it in baked goods lately and the flavour goes lovely in these. I further would have added some chopped walnuts to the mix but then my son wouldn't have eaten any!

Preheat the oven to 190C / 380F. Either grease a 12 hole muffin tin or you can make muffin cases out of baking paper like I did. Simply cut out 5" squares, spray the muffin tin with a little cooking spray and press them in making sure you crease the folds in. I do find that store bought muffin cases tend to stick with these though so either do this or simply grease the muffin tin.

In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl whisk together the soy yogurt, rice milk, vanilla and oil. Toss the diced apple in with the dry ingredients then add the liquid and gently fold in with a rubber spatula until it just comes together. Do not overmix or you will end up with tough, rubbery muffins!

Spoon into the muffin cases, about 3/4 full then if you like sprinkle the tops with some demerara sugar. Pop in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until risen, slightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove and let cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 muffin

Calories: 270

Fat: 10.9g

Sat Fat: 1.1g

Protein: 4g

Fibre: 1.2g

Carbs: 38.8g

Sugar: 15.3g

Sodium: 152mg

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Cheezy Chive Cornmeal Waffles with a Baby Spinach and Tofu Scramble and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

So, it should probably be proof to the fact that I wanted this blog to show that there is so much more to vegan food than perceived that it's taken me 4 years to even post a tofu scramble! Not that this is the first time I've made one, I have before and always like them but what I've been wanting to do for awhile now is make a tofu scramble that actually does NOT taste of curry!! It seems that so many recipes out there call for cumin and turmeric, cumin and turmeric....Now, don't get me wrong, I love curry and cumin and turmeric but those are flavours that just would not complement this dish in any way.

I was inspired here by a recipe in a Canadian Living magazine I have and it was originally a bacon and cornmeal waffle with scrambled eggs and roasted cherry tomatoes. I opted to remove the bacon altogether, even though there are good vegan versions out there I wanted this to be "faux free" if you know what I mean ;-) I then based the waffle on my basic waffle recipe but omitted the sugar, upped the salt, added some nutritional yeast for a cheezy savoury angle, a little garlic powder then through in some chives. They turned out so good I actually like eating them plain, freshly toasted and slathered with vegan butter!

Next was to make a tofu scramble that does not taste of curry and turmeric and the answer has been in my cupboard for years: Marigold's Swiss Vegetable Organic Vegan Bouillon Powder. It is my favourite vegetable stock powder that I use all the time and it just happens to be a brilliant shade of yellow from the addition of turmeric but crucially doesn't taste of turmeric due to all the other flavours in it. Perfect. I realise this makes this dish "product specific" but you could always use your favourite stock powder here and add some turmeric for colour or just use your current favourite tofu scramble recipe as I'm sure you already have one!

The flavours in this dish complement each other so well though. A forkful of that savoury crispy waffle with some of the soft flavourful tofu and juicy roasted tomato is altogether beautiful! Recipe here serves 2 (with leftover waffles).

Cheezy Chive Cornmeal Waffles with a Baby Spinach and Tofu Scramble and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Waffles:

100g plain flour
40g cornmeal (polenta)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
150ml unsweetened soy milk
60ml sparkling water
1 Tbsp vegan butter, melted
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

First, this recipe will make 2 round waffles which will serve 4. The tofu recipe serves 2 but I like to make more waffles as they reheat so easily in the toaster. In fact, I prefer them reheated in the toaster as they get even crisper on the outside, which I love :-)

Get your waffle iron heated up then mix together all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. I like to grind up the nutritional yeast flakes in a mortar and pestle until fine before adding so it mixes in better. In another small bowl or jug mix together the soy milk, sparkling water and melted vegan butter. Pour this into the dry ingredients and whisk just until smooth then stir in the chopped chives. Grease the waffle iron, I use a spray here, and scoop over some of the batter. Cook according to your waffle iron's instructions, remove and repeat with the last of the batter. You can make these earlier in the day you want this or even the day before as the waffles reheat perfectly in a toaster.

Recipe note: I use an extra firm tofu here that needs very little pressing, so it's pretty much the same weight before and after pressing. If you are using a firm or more 'wet' tofu the you'll want 100g AFTER pressing - it's surprising how much weight there is in the liquid in tofu. I recommend pressing 150g firm tofu and weighing out the 100g afterwards.

Baby Spinach and Tofu Scramble:

1/2 Tbsp vegan butter
100g extra firm tofu, drained and pressed. - see note above.
1/2 cup roughly chopped baby spinach
2 shallots, chopped fine
2 large cloves garlic, halved (they will be removed later)
1/2 tsp marigold vegan bouillon powder, plus more to marinade.
freshly ground black pepper

Measure out 2 teaspoons of the vegetable stock powder in a glass measuring jug then add a splash of hot water, stir to dissolve then fill up to 1/4 litre with cold water and mix well.  Crumble the tofu into a shallow bowl and pour over the stock, refrigerate for at least 1 hour to marinade.

Drain the tofu but save the stock liquid, make sure you use a fine mesh sieve here so you don't lose any tofu! Melt the butter in a large frying pan then add the shallots, 4 garlic halves, drained tofu and a few grinds of black pepper. Fry on a gentle heat until the onions are soft and the tofu starts to dry. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of stock powder and give it a good stir. Add a splash of the stock liquid and the chopped spinach and fry until the spinach wilts and the scramble dries a bit more and you start to get some golden bits on the tofu. The whole process here should take about 10 minutes. If you don't like it too dry add another little bit of stock liquid just before serving. Taste and adjust seasoning as you like and remove the garlic before serving.

*2014 Edit - As I love this scramble so much and have been wanting it much quicker than this recipe can provide I have come up with a much faster way of making this and it is JUST as good! I've also swapped my brand of tofu and now use Cauldron's tofu which is quite soft.

Easier Tofu Scramble:

2 tsp vegan butter
125g soft tofu (1/4 of a pack of Cauldron’s tofu)
2 small shallots, diced fine
1 large clove of garlic, chopped fine
1 tsp marigold vegan bouillon powder (the orange tin)
½ tsp dried chives
Freshly ground black pepper

Crumble the tofu in a sieve over the sink and let drain a few minutes. Tip into a hot dry frying pan and gently fry until the tofu is dry-ish. Add the butter and stir to melt then add everything else. Fry on low heat until well mixed, of even colour and the shallots are soft. Serve immediately! Quick and easy :-)
Roasted Cherry Tomatoes:

about 6 cherry tomatoes per person
extra virgin olive oil
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C and toss the cherry tomatoes with a bit of oil in a roasting tin. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Roast for 15 minutes.

Assembly:

If you made the waffles earlier, simply separate them, I use 2 quarters per person and pop in the toaster, start low as they don't take long but will burn fast. You just want them hot with lightly golden crispy edges. Immediately slather them with vegan butter then spoon over the tofu scramble and top with the cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with some chopped fresh chives if you like, or some fresh basil would go lovely, a sprinkle of smoked sea salt and some more freshly ground black pepper to taste and serve.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving as seen.

Calories: 324

Protein: 11.1g

Fat: 14.1g

Sat Fat: 2.5g

Fibre: 2.2g

Carbs: 38.2g

Sugar: 0.9g

Sodium: 890mg

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