How to Cook Tofu // Easy & Oil-Free

Vegetarian and Vegan Meal Planning Ideas PLUS ... Dairy Free Muffin Recipe

By Rebecca Bennett

In a vegan or vegetarian diet, it may take time to explore new foods and develop some form of routine to it. There are many different products on the market today for vegans and vegetarians to choose from - keep experimenting to find your or your families personal preferences and tastes.

You should be-able to find quite a good amount of vegetarian and vegan products at supermarkets, natural health food stores and co-ops.

When baking, you can use substitutes like egg replacers, cornstarch or bananas to replace eggs.

Soy, rice and nut milks are great replacements for cow's milk. Plus there are many other dairy alternatives around like: vegan cheese, yoghurts, frozen non-dairy ice creams, and cream cheeses. These are all easily sourced through health stores or supermarkets worldwide.

If you are stuck for ideas on some quick easy menu ideas, here are some sample meal menu items for you to consider:

** Breakfast

- Pancakes

- Soy Yoghurts

- Fruit Smoothies

- Wholemeal Toast or Cereals

** Lunch/Dinner

- Veggie Mock Meat and salad sandwich

- Veggie Sausages or hot dogs

- Veggie or Soy Burger

- Simple Prepared Salads

- Tofu Kebabs or Wraps

- Veggie Fried Rice

- Tomato & Pasta Bake

- Soup or Curry Vegetables

- Veggie Stir fry with Tofu, tempeh, or seitan

- Baked Vegetables with Rosemary & Garlic Herbs

** Snacks /Dessert

- Cookies

- Cake

- Non-Dairy Ice Cream

- Dried Fruits & Nuts

- Fresh Fruits

- Chickpeas

- Popcorn

- Pretzels

- Soy or Veggie Crisps or Chips

- Vegan Pies

So as you can see there are an abundance of tasty foods on offer for vegetarians of all kinds, the tastes and wonders of one's food choices is only limited by one's own imagination.

If have you ever wondered how vegetarians, vegans or people just wishing to avoid dairy products make delicious tasting and looking cakes and sweets without much effort at all?

Unless you are a vegetarian or 100% animal free cooker, chances are that you have never cooked without animal ingredients like eggs and dairy. In fact, if you don't know any vegetarians personally you might not even be aware that you can cook without any animal by-products like, eggs and dairy.

Vegetarians are able to maintain a very healthy diet eating any number of traditional meals or sweets minus animal by-products.

And you don't have to be a vegetarian to benefit from such things, even if you'd just like to cut down on animal by-products for the many health benefits involved or if you are lactose intolerant, have vegetarian friends you'd like to cook for or are trying to avoid cholesterol . . . you don't have to feel you will miss out on all those wonderful sweets and treats you feel you can't live without. Because cooking minus animal by-products is so simple and easy you won't believe it until you experience it for yourself.

So I urge you to try the below recipe for yourself and then decide if vegetarians just eat rabbit food or not. You might be surprised. And you might even be shocked that you won't even notice these muffins are not cooked using any eggs or diary.

** Dairy Free Choc Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp vinegar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup coconut

1 and 1/2 cups flour

3 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190C.

2. Mix first 6 ingredients in a bowl until blended through.

3. Sift the remaining ingredients and blend in bowl until just combined.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Servings: 6 large muffins or 12 smaller muffins

If you are not a vegetarian but are considering becoming one don't let the fear of eating egg or diary free stop you. If you already are a vegetarian or don't eat dairy or eggs for other reasons, and have not tried cooking sweets, you might want to try it. It's so simple and easy if you know how and have access to proven recipes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/377121

Vegan Nachos and Home-Made Savoury Crackers

By Laurinda Erasmus

This much healthier version of a traditional Mexican dish is really authentic in taste. Make it for a light lunch or triple the recipe and serve it at a party. Home-made nachos are very quick and easy to make. They are accompanied by soy yoghurt (soured with lemon juice), home-made guacamole dip, a lentil and bean tomato mix scattered with grated fried tofu. Enjoy!

Ingredients
home-made Nachos savoury crackers* (see recipe below)
1 cup cooked Puy / brown lentils
1 cup cooked red kidney beans
4 tomatoes, chopped
4 tbsp tomato paste, thinned with 4 tbsp water
1 - 2 tsp chopped fresh red chilli (to taste)
2 tsp peanut oil
¾ cup grated firm tofu
4 ml turmeric
3 ml paprika
2 tsp fine savoury yeast flakes
avocado guacamole dip (home-made)
½ cup soy yoghurt / silken tofu mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. Place the lentils, kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste mix and chilli in a saucepan and heat gently.
2. Heat the peanut oil in a small pan and fry the tofu on fairly high heat to remove most of the moisture.
3. Add the turmeric, paprika and savoury yeast to the tofu and stir for a minute. Remove from the heat.
4. To assemble the nachos dish: spoon the lentil-tomato mixture into the middle of a large serving platter. Push the savoury crackers into the mixture from the sides. Scatter the fried tofu on top.
5. Serve the avocado (guacamole) dip and soured soy yoghurt or silken tofu on the side, so everyone can help themselves.

Serves 4.

* Nachos savoury crackers

These crackers taste wonderfully authentic, yet are baked in the oven rather than fried. You can add all sorts of interesting herbs to the dough if you wish. Cooked couscous adds an interesting texture, although you can substitute cooked quinoa to make gluten-free crackers. Nut butters effectively bind all the ingredients together to make crispy, black pepper studded nachos.

Ingredients
4 tbsp dry couscous / quinoa for gluten-free
1 cup yellow corn meal
½ tsp herbal salt
2 tbsp cashew nut butter / smooth peanut butter
2 tsp cracked black pepper
½ cup brewed lukewarm camomile tea / lukewarm water
2 tsp savoury yeast powder
olive oil cooking spray

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Place a baking (pizza) stone or heavy duty baking tray in the oven to heat up at the same time.
2. Pour boiling water over the couscous and leave for 5 minutes (or cook the quinoa). Drain and fluff with a fork. Make the camomile tea.
3. Place the corn meal and salt in a mixing bowl and combine. Rub in the nut butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir the black pepper and cooked couscous or quinoa into the flour mixture.
4. Pour the tea (or water) over the flour mixture and stir until combined. Add the savoury yeast and stir to mix in.
5. Dust a sheet of non-stick baking parchment with corn meal. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for half a minute. It will be a stiff dough.
6. Roll the dough into a thick pipe, then transfer it to the parchment. Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a thin rectangular shape, flour the dough well so as not to stick. Take a knife and deeply score the dough into squares, then into triangles. Spray them with olive oil.
7. Working quickly, remove the baking stone or tray from the oven and slide the parchment onto it together with the scored dough. Bake on the middle shelf for 10 minutes.
8. Reduce the oven's temperature to 190°C (370°). Turn the crackers over and bake for a further 3 minutes. Make sure the crackers are dry and crispy.
9. Remove from the oven, break the crackers free from each other and cool thoroughly on wire racks. When the nachos are cold, store them in an airtight container (for up to a week).

Makes enough for 4 people. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6442245

Vegan Cheesecake - Baked New York Style

By Laurinda Erasmus

Baking without eggs, butter (or margarine) and sugar can sometimes be a real challenge. However, tofu makes a great substitute for heavy, set cream and tapioca flour binds the ingredients together the way eggs would. Sugar can be replaced with a fruit syrup, or sometimes just fruit pulp which in most cases would be sweet enough.

Before I became vegan, I made my usual baked cheesecake recipe fairly often and got used (of course) to that taste. However, when I re-wrote the recipe with healthier vegan alternatives, my family and I could not believe how exactly similar in taste and texture it was. The tofu creates the same slightly dry, crumbly baked result as the traditional version, but still with the same creamy mouth-feel, sweetness and lemon flavour. I now sometimes make use of the same basic recipe, but change it into a chocolate or even strawberry version. Have fun experimenting!

Pastry base:

5 tbsp finely ground toasted, unsalted cashew nuts
1 tbsp whole meal spelt flour / oat flour / buckwheat flour
2 tsp vanilla-infused grape-seed oil / walnut oil
1 tsp light agave syrup

Filling:

1 cup soy milk
2 tsp lemon juice / orange juice / apple cider vinegar
1 lemon, juice
2 cups firm tofu, drained and patted (very) dry, chopped
1 tbsp vanilla-infused grape-seed oil / walnut oil
6 tbsp light agave syrup
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp tapioca flour
20 ml corn starch

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (360°F).
2. Make the pastry by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. It will be a firm, heavy mixture. Line the bottom of a 1 L round pie dish with the pastry and then oil the sides (or use a silicone baking dish). Press the pastry down firmly. Leave to rest in the refrigerator.
3. Thicken the soy milk by stirring in the juice (or vinegar). It will thicken immediately. Set aside.
4. If you have a food processor, fit the juicing part and squeeze out the lemon juice; or use a fork. Change to the plastic S-blade. Add the tofu, oil, syrup, zest and vanilla essence. Process until floppy. Sprinkle over the flours and pour over the thickened soy milk. Process until completely smooth. Pour the tofu mixture into the baking dish onto the pastry.
5. Place on a shelf just below the middle in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, uncovered. Reduce the temperature to 160°C (320°F)and bake a further 15 minutes. Lightly drape a sheet of tin foil over the top if the cheesecake browns too much.
6. Remove from the oven and cool completely. The filling will become firmer.
7. Decorate with lemon and lime zest. Cut into slices, or lift the cake from the mould before cutting.

Serves 8.

Cook's tip:

A cheesecake forms large cracks when the outside of the batter has firmed into a thin skin and the inner filling continues to expand with the heat. One can decrease this effect by placing a bowl of water on a lower shelf to create steam in the oven. The cracks can always be concealed by serving the cheesecake with slices of fruit on top. Or, simply don't worry about it - it still tastes delicious! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6437236