Salt and Pepper Tofu

For the last month, I've been addicted to salt and pepper tofu, have been making it about every 10 days and even eating it out (more on that later). I generally serve mine with white rice and whatever veggies I have on hand. I shallow fry it but it still not super healthy but it's oh so delicious. The pepper really helps warm you up on these cold days too. Here is my rough recipe, feel free to play around with the salt and pepper ratio.

Salt and Pepper Tofu adapted by indolent cook:

450g firm tofu
4 tablespoons of corn starch (i've also used a combo of potato flour, will try rice flour next)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground sichuan pepper (I think this really makes the dish)
oil, for frying
3 spring onions, chopped
soy sauce (optional-for extra flavour on your rice)
rice vinegar (optional-for extra flavour on your rice)

Drain tofu and cut tofu into cubes of 2 - 2.5 centimetres. Mix the salt and peppers together. Add half of the salt and pepper to the corn starch.  Put remaining aside.

Toss tofu cubes through the flour blend, making sure they are coated on all sides. Divide into a few batches depending on the size of your frypan.

Pour oil into a small frying pan so that there is no space. Let the oil warm rapidly over high heat for about 30 seconds, then fry the coated tofu cubes a batch at a time, turning, until golden and crispy on all sides. Add remaining salt and pepper to it and fry for another minute.

Retrieve the tofu and drain off excess oil on paper towels.

Put a tiny bit of soy sauce and rice vinegar on your bowl of plain rice, add tofu (and veggies) and top with spring onions.

Lentil Quinoa Stew

I'm bacckkkkkkkkk. Or rather my camera is back.

This dish is a regular winter dish in our household. I can't believe I haven't blogged about it before. It ticks all of the boxes: healthy, cheap, delicious, easy and it's a one pot meal. I really wanted to caculate how much this soup was but was too tricky because a few things were out of the food co-op box, and the quinoa was bought in bulk from costco.

We served ours this week with some gf toast with margarine and nooch.

Lentil Quinoa Stew from La Dolce Vegan

1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 ½ cups vegetable stock
½ cup dry red lentils
¼ cup quinoa
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 medium tomato, diced
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coriander, chopped (we often skip it or replace it with whatever we have on hand, we used parsley this week)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté the onion in oil until translucent. Add the celery, carrots and garlic and sauté for five minutes. Add the stock, lentils, quinoa, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover with lid and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are tender.

In a food processor or with a hand blender, blend half of the soup until smooth (I always skip this step since I like it with a bit of texture). Return to pot, stir in tomatoes, vinegar and coriander reheat and serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bites

Heya.

I've been away for over a month. It's been long enough to make me miss blogging but unfortunately my camera battery went dead and we can't find the charger, so have all of these great recipes and eating out pics and can't access it. We spent about two weeks turning our house upside down but can't find it. I suspect we left it in a hotel in Sydney, anyway have finally ordered one so will be back with proper pics soon.

Anyway here is a recipe and crappy photo from my phone. I've gone back on a healthy dessert kick and have been making a few of these little snacks lately, if you have similar suggestions would love to hear about them.

Now let me start by saying that I hate the taste of protein powder, whereas Toby as you know is protein obsessed. I loved these though and they served as great filling snacks in between meals, particuarly when I work nights and don't get dinner til about 9pm.

Toby dislikes peanut butter, so I was a bit sneaky in giving him a couple but the flavour is kind of lost so he didn't notice and loved them too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bites adapted from from Wayfaring Chocolate
Makes 15-20.

• 2.5 tb (50g) peanut butter
• 4 scoops (84g) Sunwarrior Vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup soy milk (I added a little more til it was slightly moist since slight adaption of original recipe)
• 2 tb maple syrup
• 1/4 cup (40g) dark chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the peanut butter, protein powder, coconut flour and soy milk until well combined and the batter has reached a cohesive cookie-dough-like consistency. Add maple syrup and adjust liquid.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips, then roll the cookie dough into balls.
3. You can either serve them cold or do as I and Hannah did and microwave them for for  approx 30 seconds, until the chocolate is melted and the cookie dough has become more cooked-cookie-like.They are so much better microwaved!!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jam Cups/Cats

Ok so in america they would be called peanut butter and jelly cups. But I just can't call them that since jelly means something different here.

I think the ideal to put jam in pb cups is pure genius and I wish I had thought of it first.

You know i'm obsessed with choc and pb, but the jam just makes it even better.  The dark chocolate I used was a mixture of 85% and 70% so slightly bitter, pb was kind of salty and the jam adds a tart sweetness that just brings it to another level. I don't think I'm going back to regular pb cups again.!

I made them with my cat mould that I got from Muji in Hong Kong and had some issues getting them out. Next time i'll make the chocolate layers a little thicker.

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jam Cups/Cats adapted  from with style and grace 
I halved this recupe but will making the full amount in the future.

• 2 cups dark chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 cup peanut butter – or nut butter of choice
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1/2 cup of strawberry jam
• sea salt

Directions
Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, saucepan or microwave. Once it’s melted down, add coconut oil to thin out. Add more, if needed.
Add about one teaspoon of melted chocolate to the bottom of each paper cup. Tilt the liners so the chocolate evenly coats the bottom and slightly up the sides. Another option is to take a pastry brush or even a small knife to spread the chocolate.
Place the cupcake tin in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to let set.
Meanwhile, mix together peanut butter and powdered sugar – this makes it less sticky and easier to handle. Place peanut butter mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Once both timers have gone off, roll [in your hands] about 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and place in the center of each chocolate cup. Place tin back in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove and add 1/2 teaspoon of jelly on top of the peanut butter.
With the remaining chocolate, cover each PB&J cup until covered. Top with sea salt – optional.
Place muffin tin back into the freezer, last time I promise, for about 20 minutes.
These can be left out at room temperature or in the fridge. These lasted about 3 days in our house, but can probably keep up to 1-2 weeks, or 3-4 if kept in the freezer.

Makes about 24

I'm not sure about the addition of salt. I think they are just as tasty without it but perhaps I didn't add enough.

Los Latinos-Maidstone

It was my birthday a few weeks ago so to celebrate I went out for dinner with my family to Los Latinos. The restaurant wasn't what I expected, it sits amongst a set of worn out looking shops:

Taken from my car window because it was cold and I was being lazy

I stole some of my brothers corn chips with salsa and quacamole which were delicous but I forgot to take a photo. In my defence, it was my first proper outing since the surgery so I was excited to be back socialising again outside of the home. I also forgot to take a photo of the huge mango smoothies, which were basically giant non alchololic margaritas which gave my sister, my cousin and my stepdad brain freezes.

Toby and I shared some fried plantains minus the sour cream. They were crispy and delicious and were served with perhaps the best refried beans I have ever tasted:

Toby also ordered a deep fried cassava dish which he loved but i'm guessing wasn't gluten free so I avoided it.

We each got a plate of bean pupusas minus dairy which were served with salsa and pickled salad. The pupusas were so much more superior than the ones we have made at home. They were also super filling so I was thankful that we could take a couple home for breakfast the next day.

Don't they look like cookies?

I will defintely be back for more another time. The menu on their website appeared to be outdated so they are much more veg friendly than the website appears. Also I recommend booking, they were booked out first time we tried.

Los Latinos has also been reviewed by Footscray food blog and consider the source.

Los Latinos
128 Mitchell Street
Maidstone

White Chocolate Peanut Butter and PB Cups

I recently got some white chocolate peanut butter called 'white chocolate wonderful' from USA foods. The white chocolate part mostly consists of cocoa butter so the flavour it quite subtle, just like extra sweet peanut butter but still quite delicious. I used mine by adding it to rice cakes, putting it on pancakes with maple marinated strawberries and by making peanut butter cups.

I made a couple of these to help keep me awake at the wild flag show, which was amazing a few weeks ago. Sleater Kinney are perhaps my favourite band so I was so happy when Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss formed a new band with Rebecca Cole and Mary Timothy. I have a bit of a fan crush on Carrie Brownstein who you might know from Portlandia and thought both her and Mary were great performers. Heres a picture of Carrie, I took with my phone:

I then made some more yesterday to take to visit a friend of mine who had quite serious surgery.

White Choc Peanut Butter Cups recipe adapted from peanut butter co
 2 cups (about 12 ounces) chopped dark chocolate (I used whittaker)
¾ cup White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Special Equipment:

10 (2-inch) aluminum/tin foil muffin liners

Procedure

1. Place chocolate in the top of a double boiler (or make your own by setting a heat-proof bowl over a pot with 1-inch of water) over high heat. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce stove heat to low. Or melt in 30 seconds increments in microwave.

2. Continuously stir the chocolate until completely melted. Remove bowl from the heat and place on a heatproof surface.

3. Using a small spoon, “paint” the melted chocolate all over the insides of tin foil muffin liners (the tinfoil cups are easier to peel off than the paper cups). The layer of chocolate should be thick enough so that you cannot see through it, but thin enough that the paper cups remain upright and intact. You will not use all of the melted chocolate in this step.


4. Allow chocolate cups to cool and harden completely by placing on a tray in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You can also complete this step the night before.

5. In a small bowl, stir together the White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter and vanilla extract until smooth.

6. Using a mini ice cream scoop or a small spoon, evenly divide the peanut butter between the hardened chocolate cups. Smooth the top to create an even surface.

7. If the remaining melted chocolate has hardened too much, simply repeat steps 1-2.

8. Evenly divide the remaining melted chocolate amongst the filled cups, smoothing the tops and making sure the chocolate reaches all the way to the edges in order to seal the cups.

9. Chill in the refrigerator until set, about 1-2 hours.


 
I loved these and wish I had made more. The original recipe asks for white chocolate in place of dark chocolate but I think the white chocolate peanut butter pairs so perfectly with slightly bitter dark chocolate. I did have some issues finding mini foil liners in the supermarket but eventually ended up finding some medium ones in iga.

Microwave Baked Potatoes with Happy Tuna Salad

Remember me?

I'm not sure what happened but somewhere along the way I lost my blogging mojo. Not just blogging but also reading blogs, have over 100 posts in my google reader and I'm not even curious.

I've lost my blogging enthusiasm before and it always returns, or I kind of force myself to blog, but someone wisely said its not a chore, do it when you feel like it. I'm not sure where this leaves this blog, at the moment am going to leave it and see if the renthusiasm eturns, but if it never returns then maybe its time to say goodbye or to make some changes. Does anyone else suffer from blogging burnout?

I have several things to post about including awesome food in Sydney but instead i'm blogging about about the one thing that I kind of want to blog about.

I had day surgery to remove endometriosis last week and my recovery has been a lot longer and worse than I expected. My friend Eve very kindly offered me her microwave to borrow while I recover and she moves house. I've generally been quite anti microwave, haven't owned one since moving out. However it has come in super handy over last week, in heating up a heatpack more times than I can count, reheating my lunches when I'm home alone and making this. I've become so used to it that I think when I return it I'll get my own. Also look forward to making mug cake, melting chocolate and more.

Troy and Bec come over one night to visit me last week and showed Toby how to make baked potatoes or jacket potatoes in the microwave. It was my idea to add the happy tuna salad. This dish has been the best comfort food. Is there anything more satisying than melted margaine on baked potato? On second thought, don't answer that!

For the record I don't really think it tastes anything like tuna, but its delicious in its own right.

Happy Tuna Salad from VeganMania

1 1/2 cooked or canned chickpeas
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 Tbsp chopped sweet pickles (we sometimes skip this)
2 Tbsp sweet pickle juice or brine
3/4 cup vegan mayo
1 Tbsp old bay seasoning (never used it)
1 Tbsp of prepared mustard
pinch of dried kelp powder (I tend to use dulse flakes)

Mash chickpeas in food processor or with masher. Mix in remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust to your liking.

 Easy 'baked' potatoes:
4 small-medium 'washed' potatoes

Wash potatoes, prick each one with a fork several times. Place potatoes on folded paper towel,  and wrap it lightly arou d potatoes. Microwave for 10 minutes.

Remove from microwave, and cover in foil for another 10 minutes.

Cut open and serve with toppings.

They are not as crispy on the outside but are so quick and easy that I don't mind at all.


Today they were topped with happy tuna salad, margarine, cheezly and sour cream.