Pretzel and Nutella Ice Pops

It's a popular birthday day today. THREE members of our bridal party celebrate today. Jen and Maria the same year even! And Paul... just a few older. :) Happy birthday you three!!!

So lets celebrate with pretzel nutella pops! Need I say more?

Head over to Food Fanatic for the Pretzel and Nutella Pop Recipe.



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Silken Chocolate Mousse Cake

Welcome back everyone! Did you have a nice long weekend (if you're in the US that is)? Ours was wonderful and relaxing, and best of all I made this amazing cake!

I've mentioned Hannah over at Bittersweet many times before, but I have to say this recipe of hers is my new favorite! It's actually from her first cookbook,My Sweet Vegan: passionate about dessert. If you didn't know she just came out with a second cookbook, Vegan Desserts: Sumptuous Sweets for Every Season! I really need to get myself a copy ASAP!


Hannah's version calls for shaved dark chocolate to top the cake, unfortunately I was all out (plus John doesn't like dark chocolate anyway) So I subbed in some fresh strawberries instead. The shaved chocolate would have been prettier but the strawberries sure were delicious too!

The crust is made from almond meal and cocoa, and the mousse has a silken secret... silken tofu that is! Ok now don't get all up in arms telling me there is NO way you'd eat tofu in a dessert. I promise you will NOT taste one little bit of it. John is a "I'm not eating tofu" kinda guy and he fully admitted this was sweet, decadent, and delicious. This is not health food people, it's full on, and it tastes like it is... well it's a little healthy, tofu instead of cream is WAY healthier, plus it still gives it that smooth silky texture. Just make sure you buy silken tofu and not firm or extra firm block tofu... that would be gross. Now go whip some up and I'm positive your guests will be none the wiser.

Seriously, I am in LOVE with this dessert! Go get her book and cook this up! OH and another bonus, no oven needed, just a blender or food processor and it sets in the fridge, perfect for summer :)

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Mocha Mousse

So this mousse is a good option for the lactose intolerant... It uses tofu and greek yogurt (seems like all my lactose intolerant friends are able to eat greek yogurt... no clue why!)


The recipe calls for silken tofu... I just found out there is such thing as chocolate silken tofu??? I'm totally using that the next time I make this!



Although this was pretty good, I felt like it still had a little tofu undertone to it... next time I'm also going to add some kind of liquor... maybe amaretto? Or Kahlua?? YUM That should fix the problem :D



The- Best- For- Last Chocolate Mousse
recipe from Prevention
12 ounces soft silken tofu, drained (trying chocolate silken tofu next time)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup fat-free greek-style yogurt
(adding some kind of liquor next time too...)

Directions
Place the tofu, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the chocolate and blend for 1 minute. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula and blend for 1 minute longer or until incorporated. Pour into a large bowl.
Fold in the yogurt just until blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

What a jerk

So I went to the library the other day to grab a cookbook a coworker said was amazing... the computer said the library had the book... but it was NOT where it was supposed to be on the shelf, and no where to be found (I even asked at the reference desk)! Totally frustrating. I mean what kind of miscreant moves cookbooks in the library... jerk... anyway I took a look at some other cookbooks by the same author and found one that looked good and somewhat familiar... I later realized I OWN the cookbook but haven't looked at it for years... whoops! Well now I'm super excited that I own it because there are a TON of recipes I want to make from it!

I guess I should be happy with the jerk though, since it made me rediscover Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals. The only thing I wished this book had was pictures... I mean it should really be a requirement for a cookbook! Don't you agree?? Maybe that's why I love food blogs so much, pretty much all of them come with pictures :) If you are even in the Ithaca NY area, totally stop in to this restaurant, it's amazing!! John and I had a mini vacation in Ithaca last summer and seriously enjoyed our trip to Moosewood.

So in honor of the jerk who made me find this cookbook... I made the Jerk Tofu recipe... except John didn't feel like tofu... so I used chicken instead.

Jerk chicken, with almost fat free cornbread, and garlicky collards (recipe to come tomorrow)

Jerk Tofu
recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites
Serves 8

Pressing tofu time: 30 minutes
Preparation time" 10 minutes
Baking time: 1 hour

Jerk Sauce
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (about ½ cup)
3 fresh green chiles, seeds removed for a milder "hot"
2 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Place the cakes of tofu between tow flat plates or baking pans. weight the top with a heavy object, such as a book or a can, so that the sides of the tofu bulge slightly but don't split. Let stand for a least 30 minutes. While the tofu is pressing, combine the jerk sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender and purée until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400º. Drain the pressed tofu. Cut each cake into three slices. Stack the slices and then cut through all three layers on the two diagonals, making an X. This will make 12 triangular pieces from each block of tofu. Gently toss the tofu triangles in the jerk marinade and place them in an unoiled 8 x 12-inch nonreactive baking dish. Bake for 1 hour, carefully turning the tofu about every 20 minutes.


The jerk sauce was wicked flavorful, although the clove is a bit overpowering so go easy on it if you aren't a fan of cloves. You can find more great Moosewood recipes here!

Black Eye Pea... CAKE

Yeah you read that right... cake... made with beans??? And it tastes good? No joke, it's true, and vegan and gluten free too! As Bittersweet will tell you, this isn't a very pretty cake, but it is moist, rich, and tastes like it must be full of butter and sugar.

It's not winning any beauty contests... but it sure is tasty!

Lucky Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Epicurious by Bittersweet (italics are stephchows changes)

2 Cups Cooked Black-Eyed Peas
1 12-Ounce Package Extra-Firm Silken Tofu
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar (I used 1/4 cup + 2 Tbs splenda blend)
1 1/2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup Natural Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder (I used instant espresso powder)
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Pinch Salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan. (I used a bunch of small little loaf pans and decreased the cooking time to 45 minutes)

Toss both the black-eyed peas and the tofu into your food processor or blender, and let it run until the mixture is completely smooth. Give it a good long time to work, since it would be rather unpleasant to find any whole beans in your cake. Add in the sugar and coffee powder, and pulse to combine.

Separately, melt the chocolate and stir well until smooth before adding into the food processor, and then let it run for a minute until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides to make sure you aren’t missing anything, and give it another minute to process. Finally, add the cocoa, coffee powder, baking powder, soda, and salt, and pulse to combine.

Spread the mixture into your prepared pan, leveling off the top with your spatula as best you can. Bake for 60 - 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. I know that’s a bit vague, but it will still be ever so slightly wet since it’s such a moist cake- Just make sure it doesn’t look like it’s covered in raw batter. Let it cool completely in the pan before serving.

Tofu lo mein

I love Chinese food, but man some places use soo much oil it's literally pooling in the container.. bleh! Also my go to pick up on the way home from the gym place Mings II is closed!! So sad :( Anyway, this is a great lo mein swap and to make it even healthier last night I made it with soba noodles instead of lo mein noodles. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and are super healthy/tasty and pick up the flavor of the sauce nicely. Soba noodles also cook in 4 minutes so this is a super quick and easy meal! Also I'm always saying to use olive oil spray. I bought on of these things and it rocks. You add your favorite olive oil, pump it and spray away! super easy and you know what you are getting, no scary additives! :) Ok onto the recipe!


Tofu lo mein (makes 2 servings... maybe 3 for normal people but I eat a lot)
1 bundle lo mein noodles or soba noodles (not all come in pre-serving bundles... so 2 servings from a package)
1 Tbs fish sauce
2 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes
olive oil spray
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and squeezed
1/2 package fresh sliced baby bella mushrooms (or a can of oyster mushrooms)
1/2 onion
1 to 2 cups brocolli/carrot frozen mixture

In a bowl mix together fish sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, and red pepper flakes, set aside.
Drain tofu and wrap in paper towels, place on a plate with another weighted plate on top to squeeze out excess water. Cut into bit size cubes.
Heat wok on high and spray with olive oil, add garlic and sauté 30 seconds, add tofu and let brown, then flip to brown other sides.
In the mean time, bring water to boil and cook soba noodles, drain and set aside.
Add chopped onions and sliced mushrooms to tofu mixture, continue to stir.
Microwave broccoli carrot mixture 1-2 minutes then add to tofu mixture, continue to stir.
Once veggies are cooked through, add drained soba noodles and sauce. Stir and let simmer another minute, then serve it up!

PS the sauce for this came from the lovely lady over at Ella says opa!

Eggless egg salad

So I got home from the gym tonight and as normal was starving. I had been out of town half of last week and really wasn't sure what there was in my house to eat... I found a container of tofu in the fridge and thought ok tonight is the night! I have read about a few different eggless egg salad sandwich recipes and I decided to wing one up tonight! Here is what I made:

Tofu Egg Salad
1 lb extra firm tofu (one package)
1/4 cup miracle whip light OR 1/4 cup hummus
3 tsp brown mustard
paprika to taste (i put a TON in, it's the hungarian in me :) )
black pepper to taste (also I put a ton in...)
pinch of thyme
dash of sea salt
2 pickles chopped up
lettuce leafs
sliced tomato
wheat bread

Ok this is pretty easy if you ask me. First drain the tofu, slice it in half length wise and wrap the 2 pieces in paper towels, place on a plate then squish with another plate weighted with something. Let sit for 5-10 minutes... or if you are impatient press on it like crazy to get all the water out. Next place the somewhat dry tofu in a bowl and chop up, add other ingredients up to pickles and stir. Serve on wheat bread with lettuce and tomato.

This is a very basic recipe, just have fun and add what sounds good, if you like onions add some or if you don't like pickles leave them out :)