These Tofu Beef Crumbles are actually insanely good. I made them to use in my Creamy Lasagna Soup and they really mimic the texture of cooked ground beef. They taste great in my lasagna soup. Also great in  tacos, taco salads, in a layered dip, in pasta sauces or soups or anywhere else you can think of! A block of tofu doesn't really go too far once you make this. I easily ate half a batch (1/2 block tofu) on my salad. So go ahead and double or triple the batch so you have lots. Serving size depends how you are going to use it! 

How to use tofu beef?

• Soup or chili
• Nachos or pizza.
• Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas
• On a salad, it could be a taco salad or just a generic green salad, it will be good. 
• In a layered dip
• I want to try it in a samosa filling!

Lasagna Soup!!!! I used leftovers from my incredible tomato soup recipe and turned it into THIS.
Whole Grain Lasagna Noodles, Lots of Cheese, Tofu "Beef" Crumbles, Spinach and Fresh Thyme to garnish. You can make this as cheesy as you want. I stir a bit of cheese into the soup when I'm heating it up. I don't want it to disappear completely but just be hot. I just used some generic vegan cheese I had on hand, but next time I would consider making my own ricotta or finding more artisan vegan cheese to add. A blend could be nice. The tofu beef crumbles are insane, I really love them and can't wait to use them in a variety of contexts. One batch of the tofu crumbles wouldn't be enough if you wanted ALL of the tomato soup to be lasagna soup, but I was just using some of my leftovers. Maybe you want tomato soup and grilled cheese one day and then the next lasagna soup! Otherwise, I would probably use 3 blocks of tofu if I wanted a big batch of lasagna soup, vs the 1 block I used for leftovers. 

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• 1 x batch creamy tomato soup
• 8 - 12 sheets lasagna noodles, cooked (I used whole grain)
• vegan cheese (you can decide the level of cheese factor. I like lots, but if you want it lighter, less. Read intro above for a couple thoughts) 
• Tofu Beef Crumbles (recipe is for 1 block of tofu, if using full batch of tomato soup for lasagna soup I would make 3 blocks and multiply the recipe)
• Baby Spinach, several big handfuls
• Fresh Thyme or Parsley for garnish

Method:

1. I Keep the tomato soup in a pot and only heat up as much lasagna soup as I am going to eat. If you are feeding a family then just do it all up!
2. Heat tomato soup, add in some tofu beef crumbles and lasagna noodles. I just use a wooden spoon to break them up a bit.
3. Stir in some vegan cheese to get melty. (if I was using ricotta id not stir it in. I'd probably just dollop some into each bowl before adding soup...but I would definitely do a cheese combo with ricotta, so stir in some harder cheese for sure.)
4. Fold in baby spinach until just wilted.
5. Ladle Lasagna Soup into Bowls, garnish with extra cheese, tofu crumbles and fresh thyme or parsley. 

This is a simple delicious treat using only a handful of ingredients. Dates make incredible "caramel". They get soaked just to soften, and then blitzed with a bit of vanilla, a splash of plant milk and a pinch of salt. Then you just mix the date mixture with toasted pecans, portion it into irregular shaped clusters, chill, then dip into melted chocolate. Then finally a sprinkle of sea salt before the chocolate hardens. I can't decide if I like these better straight from the freezer or room temp. Both ways are good. The date caramel stays soft even in the freezer, a tasty contrast from the hard chocolate. Either way, salty caramel bites with pecans and chocolate is an addictive situation. 

I'll definitely be switching up the nuts in these. How about adding some dried fruit? I used 1 cup of pecans in the recipe, next time I might try increasing it to 1 1/2 cups, but they were delicious as is. 

This classic tomato soup is perfection. Bright tomato flavour that is softened and made super creamy thanks to the addition of cashew cream. (it's only raw cashews and water blended together but let me tell you...life changing stuff that happily replaces dairy cream in most cooking projects) This soup was perfectly balanced and addictive. I made vegan grilled cheese for dunking and the whole situation was divine. You will never need to search for another recipe, you will never need to buy the canned stuff, because this recipe is too good and simple to justify that. Certain recipes just belong in one's repertoire, one's that are easy, nourishing, and that will impress anyone lucky enough to grace your dinner table. 

Serves : 6

Ingredients:

• drizzle of olive oil

• 1/8th tsp chili flakes
• 1 onion, diced
  
• 1 carrot, diced
  
• 1 celery stalk, diced
  
• 8 cloves garlic
  
• 5 tbsp tomato paste
  
• 1 x 28 fl oz can of whole tomatoes + 2 x can fulls of water
  
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or dried)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
  
• 3 x Bay leaves
  
• 2 cups cashew cream (recipe below)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, celery and carrot, season with salt and pepper and sweat until mostly softened. 
2. Add garlic and chili flakes and cook a few minutes longer
   
3. Stir in tomato paste and cook a couple more minutes
4. Now turn up the heat and add the tomatoes, water, thyme and oregano and season with a more salt and pepper.
   
5. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, you can break up the tomatoes a bit with a wooden spoon to make it easier to blend.
   
6. With an immersion blender, blend soup until as smooth as you can get it.
   
7. Stir in brown sugar, and add bay leaves.
8. Simmer and reduce for about 30 minutes on medium low heat.
   
9. Stir in cashew cream, taste, and season with more salt and pepper to taste. It should taste like heaven.
10. Reduce it until it is thickened to your liking, if you make it too thick, just add a bit more water. 
11. For reheating, it seemed thick when cold, but I didn't need to add more water to heat. It loosened up considerably when hot. 
    

Cashew Cream

For the cashew cream, I always make 2 cups worth of cashews which fills one of my x large mason jars. It's more than you need for this recipe, but I like to have it on hand. You can heat it with maple and cocoa powder for hot chocolate, reduce it and add garlic and cheese for a creamy pasta sauce, I drizzled it on my overnight oats instead of yogurt, use it in baked goods like scones etc. If you don't want a lot of leftovers you can just make 1 cup worth of cashews and there won't be a lot left. 


Method:

1. place 2 cups of raw sliced cashews into a bowl and cover them with a couple inches of water. Let soak overnight. If you are in a hurry boiling water over them and soaked for a few hours does the trick, but the longer soaking results in the smoothest creamiest cashew cream. 
2. Dump cashews and water into a blender. If the water doesn't cover the cashews, just add enough so they are covered with maybe an inch of water. Season with a pinch of salt.
3. Blend until perfectly smooth.
   
4. Pour into a clean mason jar, it should be thick and a very similar consistency to dairy whipping cream. 
   
5. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days. 
   

Ginger Molasses Cookies are one of my favourite winter time cookie. A chewy cookie with molasses and warm spices with a cup of tea when it's cold and snow covered outside is a lovely thing. These cookies are spiced with dried Ginger, cinnamon & cloves. You might be tempted to bake them longer than the suggested 10 - 12 minutes, but they should seem slightly under baked when you take them out. I left one batch a bit longer, and while they were still good the lesser time was best, resulting in a perfectly moist, chewy ginger molasses cookie! As they should be. Enjoy.

This recipe is inspired/adapted from the Tofu cake recipe from the Korean Vegan Cookbook. When I make soymilk at home, the remaining blitzed up cooked soybeans (the leftover pulp), is called Okara. It's a really great ingredient for adding to vegan sea cakes, nuggets, or muffins. You can also mix it into dog food or give it to chickens for a tasty snack. (I learned about Okara in my Vegan Pantry Cookbook) I'll the link to my soy milk recipe below. There is also a video where you can see what the by product looks like. 

Recipe Notes
I mixed the Okara (which has great texture), with chopped bell peppers, scallions, nori, and shiitake mushrooms. The flavour is of these is just so good. I love the hint of sea the nori offers. As suggested in the Tofu Cake recipe from the KV book. I used Just Egg to dip the cakes into before frying in olive oil. You can make your own egg substitute by mixing together plant milk, potato starch, and turmeric. (I'll share measurements below) I tested both methods. I think I like the Just Egg better....but the other method is really delicious too. The turmeric adds an earthiness that is definitely notable. You can't go wrong with either options. I would say the benefit of using the DIY vegan egg is that it's more affordable and accessible, depending where you live. When I make a batch of these I do all the dunking and frying at once. Then I keep them in the fridge and heat them in the oven during the week for quick meals. 

For Dipping
I make a quick creamy guachjang dressing to dip these in, and the combination is divine.

Guachjang Dressing
Whisk together

• 1 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp guachjang paste
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp soy sauce 

Yield: 20 cakes (approx, depends how big you make them)

Sea Cake Mixture
Ingredients:

• Okara from 1 batch of soy milk (I weighed it, 1 lb 13 oz)
• 1/2 - 3/4 bell pepper, I used orange and yellow about 2/3 cup chopped
• 100 g shiitake mushrooms, chopped (I bought 1 x 113 g package, removed the stems)
• 3 sheets nori, ripped or cut into small pieces. (ripping it seemed easiest)
• 2 tbsp Just Egg, or 2 tbsp plant milk
• 2 tbsp potato starch
• S & P (I add this to taste, a few good pinches)

Method: 

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, use your hands to mix together.

Cooking the Cakes

Ingredients:

• olive oil for frying (as needed)
• Just Egg for Dipping (about half a bottle) or make your own ** Egg Substitute (see below)

Method:

1. Form the okara mixture into patties, and place them on a baking sheet.
2. When you have your patties made up, heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non stick pan.
   
3. Dip the cakes into the egg mixture and place in the hot oil. (I did about 4 at a time in my pan) Flip over when they are golden brown on one side. Avoid trying to flip before they are ready. They can stick a bit even when they are golden so just keep an eye.
   
4. Place the browned okara cakes back onto the baking pan. 
   
5. Now I place them in a food storage container in the fridge, and reheat in the oven as needed. If I want to eat some straight away, I still pop them into the oven to get really hot after they've been browned. 
   
6. Serve them with your favourite dipping sauce.  

***Egg Subtitute for Dipping

Whisk together 3/4 cup plant milk, 2 tbsp potato starch & 1 1/2 tsp turmeric. If you have it, I also like to season the mixture with Kala Namak (It's a black Sulphur based salt that tastes like egg) 

For me, making soy milk is an fun and relaxing process and I enjoy preparing it frequently in my home kitchen. There is something about the simple process of making a milk from plants that I find grounding and even therapeutic. I love the taste and I love that it is incredibly nutritious. Also, the recipe couldn't be easier.  The process begins by cooking the soy beans, then blending them with water. The frothy, milky mixture gets strained through a mesh bag. The pulp gets reserved for another use, and the soy milk is simmered and seasoned to taste. For seasoning I just add a pinch of salt, but it is common to add in a splash of vanilla and maple syrup if that's your thing. I LOVE soy milk in my coffee. Don't get me wrong, black coffee is great, but in my afternoon cup I crave this combination. 

Soy Milk Pulp (Okara) Uses
When you make soy milk, a byproduct is the leftover pulp from the blitzed up soybeans. This can be used to make vegan fish cakes, nuggets, stirred into dog food and apparently a tasty snack for chickens. I'm definitely going to work on recipes using this byproduct. 

Environmental Impact
Below I'm sharing a resource concerning the environmental impact of soy that I found useful, It's a You Tube Video by Ed Winters, (one of the most important vegan educators) if you are concerned or interested to know more about it. 
Environmental Impact of Soy (YouTube)

The Homemade Vegan Pantry, by Miyoko Schinner 
I followed & slightly adapted the soy milk recipe from a wonderful cookbook that I have. I definitely recommend it. That's where I learned what I know about okara and it's uses. You can check it out by clicking the link below. 
The Homemade Vegan Pantry, by Miyoko Schinner 

Why you shouldn't soak your soybeans overnight for soy milk. 
The process for cooking the soy beans in this book is slightly different than many of the recipes you see online. What I learned while reading the intro to this recipe in The Homemade Vegan Pantry cookbook, is that it is better to use a quick soak method using heat (hot water) compared to soaking your beans overnight in cold water before cooking. There is an enzyme in soybeans that gets triggered by cold water, and will yield milk with a strong beany taste. Instead, this recipe results in a milk that is creamy, light tasting, and delicious. (if you aren't convinced, you'll just have to trust me and try it!)