Scrambled tofu is probably one of the most mundane vegan recipes there is. Go ahead and roll your eyes when you open a cookbook and see the obligatory entry, I know I do, even at my own. But for a new vegan it’s one of the most important dishes to learn. And for me, even though my inaugural tofu was scrambled 20 years ago, it’s still a staple.

It’s one of those things that changes with you, kind of like a culinary mood ring. My scramble used to feel incomplete without mushrooms, but lately I prefer a simpler texture, even onions aren’t a necessity anymore. I went through a broccoli era, and used to take a hardline anti-red pepper stance, but lately the cruciferous is out and nightshades are in.

But you don’t have to stop at breakfast, or limit yourself to a plate of scramble and hashbrowns. Look at scrambled tofu with fresh eyes! Here’s a few ways to spruce up your scramble, or use up your leftovers.

Serve in a squash bowl: Serve in half a baked squash (acorn or carnival would work perfectly.) Caramelized onions would be nice, too.
Breakfast burritos: Wrap up with potatoes, fresh salsa and guacamole.
Add to mac and cheese: Use up leftover scramble (or make some scramble just for the occasion!) by adding it to your favorite vegan mac and cheese recipe.
Lettuce wraps: Tuck scramble into lettuce, serve with fresh tomatoes and drizzle with vinaigrette
Make a sandwich: Not the most ingenious idea, but one of my favorites! A scramble sandwich with avocado, red onion and sprouts.
Make a knish: Make potato knishes and add a layer of scramble
Stuff peppers: Mix with a can of black beans and some salsa. Stuff into red peppers, bake and top with a little vegan cheese at the end.
Crepe filling: Serve in a crepe, with a vegan hollandaise sauce.

And in case you don’t have enough scrambled tofu recipes in your repertoire, here’s another for good measure (from Vegan Brunch.)

Basic Scrambled Tofu
Serves 4
For me, a basic scramble should have nice big pieces in it. It’s crumbled, yes, but not completely in crumbles. Just kind of torn apart and then broken up a bit when cooking in the pan. The flavor should be lip smacking and just a bit salty, but not overly so. Garlic, some cumin, a little thyme - that is the base. From there you can do countless variations using whatever is in your fridge that morning.

So this is my basic recipe. When you want a trustworthy and easy to modify standard scramble, this makes a great go-to.

Spice blend:
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed with your fingers

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more, to taste)

1 pound extra-firm tofu, drained

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Fresh black pepper to taste

First stir the spice blend together in a small cup. Add water and mix. Set aside.

Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. Saute the garlic in olive oil for about a minute. Break the tofu apart into bite sized pieces and saute for about 10 minutes, using a spatula to stir often. Get under the tofu when you are stirring, scrape the bottom and don’t let it stick to the pan, that is where the good, crispy stuff is. Use a thin metal spatula to get the job done, a wooden or plastic one won’t really cut it. The tofu should get browned on at least one side, but you don’t need to be too precise about it. The water should cook out of it and not collect too much at the bottom of the ban. If that is happening, turn the heat up and let the water evaporate.

Add the spice blend and mix to incorporate. Add the nutritional yeast and fresh black pepper. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Serve warm.

You can include these additions to your scramble by themselves or in combination with one another.

Broccoli - Cut about one cup into small florettes, thinly slice the stems. Add along with the tofu.
Onion - Finely chop one small onion. Add along with the garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Proceed with recipe.
Red Peppers - Remove stem and seed, finely chop one red pepper. Add along with the garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Proceed with recipe.
Mushrooms - Thinly slice about a cup of mushrooms. Add along with the tofu.
Olives - Chop about 1/3 a cup of sliced olives. Add towards the end of cooking, after mixing in the nutritional yeast.
Spinach - Add about 1 cup of chopped spinach towards the end of cooking, after mixing in the nutritional yeast. Cook until completely wilted.
Carrots - Grate half of an average sized carrot into the scramble towards the end of cooking. This is a great way to add color to the scramble.
Avocado - I almost always have avocado with my scramble. Just peel and slice it and serve on top.

You may or may not know that I’m working on a low fat cookbook. I was deeply concerned that this meant goodbye to some of my favorite dishes but with a few tricks, a lot of creativity and many hours searching thriftstores for 80s diet cookbooks, I’ve been able to keep myself satisfied and I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing much.

For instance, no one should suffer a life without pesto, but a pesto without pinenuts or walnuts seems lifeless. So what’s a girl to do? Once again, it’s soybeans to the rescue! Edamame has just enough fat and texture to make a lighter healthier pesto work. It also makes the pesto at once bulky and creamy. It’s a miracle, really. Oh, little soybean, what can’t you do?

In this dish I’ve sauteed some mushrooms for meatiness and red onions for a little tinge of sweetness. But you can use edamame pesto as a dip or as a topping for a baked potatoes, or as a filling for lasagna, or anywhere else that pesto would be appropriate. It’s really easy and versatile, too. It may not taste exactly like the super oily pesto we all know and love, but it tastes pretty darn good and it’s got a fraction of the fat so it won’t leave you feeling like you’re about to give birth to a pesto baby. Did I just ruin your appetite forever?

Spinach Linguine With Edamame Pesto
Serves 4

For the edamame pesto:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup packed basil leaves
Handful (1/4 cup or so) fresh cilantro
14 oz package shelled edamame, thawed
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
optional: 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

For the pasta:
10 oz spinach linguine or other pasta

1 teaspoon olive oil
Small red onion, in thinly sliced half moons
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
Extra basil for garnish

Cooking spray

Put on a pot of salted water to boil. Then prepare the pesto:

Place garlic and basil in food processor and pulse a few times to get it chopped up. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until relatively smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula to make sure you get everything. Add a little more vegetable broth if it seems too stiff. Set aside until ready to use.

Preheat a large pan over medium heat. At this point your pasta water should be ready, so add the linguine.

Saute onion in oil for about 5 minutes. Use a little cooking spray as needed, or a splash of water if you prefer. Mix in mushrooms, garlic, thyme and salt. Cover pot and cook 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

The pasta should be ready now, so drain it.

When the mushrooms have cooked down, add pasta to the pan, along with the pesto. Use a pasta spoon to stir and coat the linguine. Get everything good and mixed and the pesto heated through, about 3 minutes. The pesto should be relatively thick, but if it’s too thick (not spreading out and coating the pasta) add a few tablespoons of water. Taste for salt.

Serve immediately, garnished with a little fresh chopped basil.

Once the leaves start changing I’m jonesing for earthy, comforting flavors. Luckily, the farmer’s markets are spilling over with all manner of funny shaped, tantalizing mushrooms. The biggest crime in the world is throwing them into a stew, where they’ll get hopelessly lost.

My favorite way to enjoy fresh mushrooms, like chanterelle, porcini or trumpet, is super simple: sauteed in olive oil with lots of garlic, a little salt and pepper, fresh thyme and a splash of white wine. Finish it off with a squeeze of lemon juice. I like to serve them with a farmer’s market plate; some roasted squash, grilled peppers and some mashed root veggies. You don’t need to employ the entire spice rack when you’re cooking with farm fresh ingredients, it’s much more important to learn the simple cooking methods that coax the most flavor out of them. I’m going to cover a few of those methods through out the month. Won’t you join me?

White Wine Garlic Chanterelles

Serves 2 as a side, or 4 as a garnish

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound chantrelles, stems sliced 1/4 inch thick, tops 1/2 inch thick (you can use any fancy shmancy mushroom here)

big pinch salt

several dashes fresh black pepper

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

1/2 a lemon

Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium heat (cast iron is awesome.) Saute the garlic in the olive oil for about a minute. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The moisture should release from the mushrooms and they should be tender but still firm.

Add white wine and turn the heat up. Cook for about 3 more minutes, stirring often. Add the thyme and squeeze the lemon juice in. Taste for salt and serve warm.

When we do favors we do them out of the kindness of our heart and shouldn’t really expect much in return, but wouldn’t a thank you be so much more heartfelt if you could eat it? Cookies show that you really mean it. Mean it enough to spend a half hour in the kitchen whipping up a batch.

I’ve been trying to make it a point to thank people more often, which means baking more often. This week I had two people to thank but I didn’t really have anything fancy to pack the cookies in. Yes, a plastic baggy full of cookies is a wonderful gift, but I wanted something a little more impressive. Turns out that empty tea boxes are the perfect vehicle for cookies and they’re the kind of thing everyone has around the house. And if they’re not empty, pull out a couple of bags and voila!

To make them even cuter, and also to provide a little padding, line the bottom with a few extra tea packets that you think will go well with the cookies. Here I’ve chosen some cranberry tea to go with cranberry white chocolate cookies. You can’t see them because they’re hidden but I promise they are there! You can use the inside of the box as your card. This one was for the guy at the bike shop that put my seat on after it had been stolen. He also put on my lights, which is very cool because usually trying to figure out those light straps ends with me and a roll of duct tape and a lot of cursing. But the reason I really wanted to thank him was that if you’ve ever been an idiot in a bike shop, you’ll notice that the employees pretty much treat you like an idiot in a bike shop. But this guy was really nice about it, so he gets cookies!

Some glittery kitty cat stickers would have been cute, too.

On this, the first evening of VeganMoFo, how about figuring out who you could thank? Even if it’s for some silly reason. Hint: No one has ever baked me cookies!

It’s that time of year again! Time to wear down your stove and your keyboard. Time to mow people down with your shopping cart. Time to answer the age old question: do lemon and chocolate taste good together? It’s time for VeganMoFo, the Vegan Month Of Food.

The idea is to write as much as you can for the month of October about vegan food. The blog entries can be about anything food related - your love of tongs, your top secret tofu pressing techniques, the first time your mom cooked vegan for you, vegan options in Timbuktu - you get the idea. There is no strict guideline for how much you have to write, but we shoot for about 20 times a month, or every weekday.

This year the master list of participants is being hosted by Kittee, Cake Maker To The Stars. So get on over there for more details and to sign up!  You don’t have to be vegan to join, just so long as you are writing about vegan food for the month. Happy MoFoing!

Meerkat manor

Halloween is coming and for the first time in my life I have an orange cat AND a black cat AND an orange and black cat. So I am all set. But YOU. You are probably wondering what kinds of thematically appropriate comestibles to prepare. Well, I ain’t got nothing for you. But as usual, the rest of the internet does!

Last weekend kittee made Samhain inspired sushis for the Iron Chef Challenge. Zomg, how forking cute are these?

Wing it Vegan is doing an entire month of Halloween foods so I don’t even know where to begin. I guess with her latest post: Halloweegan Meatloaf Scramble With Mashed Potato Ghosts. But honestly, that is just the tip of the iceberg of mindblowing cuteness and startling innovation, so take the day off from work and read all of her Halloween posts. Heck, take the week off. Tell ‘em I said so.

Musings from the Fishbowl offers us some scaradorable skeleton cookies. Hewwo wittle skewwy poo. Pwease haunt me.

EatnVegn shares a few Halloween posts from years past. I thought this was particularly cool - spiderweb creme for your soup! Also, note the dedication. She hasn’t missed a day of blogging since MoFo began!

And no Halloween is complete without a little Tracy Jordan.

I made this for the VeganMofo Iron Chef challenge last week but I’m only getting around to posting it now. Not because I didn’t have time, I always think that excuse is bullshit no matter who says it, but because I am so overwhelmed with stuff that I’m forced to sit on the couch and watch 30 Rock marathons like a deer caught in headlights. But I really loved this stuffing so I am going to go ahead and tell you about it - better late than never!

I almost caved and made something sweet out of the challenge ingredients - which were pears and nuts. How badly I wanted an almond pear tart or pear and pecan muffins. But I stuck to the mysterious and unnecessary promise I made to myself of only savory dishes for the Iron Chef challenges and then there I was - stuffing!

I have to admit the stuffing I grew up on was the boxed variety that comes to life in a pot of boiling water much like one of those sponge animals that’s born in a capsule and grows before your very eyes. And I actually like that boxed stuff, that is the sad part - I have no quarrel with the taste. But it’s one of those things, like fast food french fries, that I know is a government plot to short circuit our tastebuds and beat them into culinary submission. Making my own stuffing is definitely a part of breaking free THX1138 style or whatever dystopia you choose.

Using fruit in stuffing is a time honored tradition and doesn’t make the stuffing as sweet as you might think. It adds a bit of a cidery taste and heightens the flavors of thyme and sage. Toasting the pecans intensifies the flavor and makes them pretty addictive - make a few extra just to pop into your mouth.

I stuffed my stuffing into a baked acorn squash half and that was pretty awesome, but you can just use it as a side or in any other way people use stuffing. And here’s a tip: make the cornbread into muffins so that they bake faster and cool faster so you can get dinner on the table faster.

Cornbread Stuffing With Pears And Pecans

Serves 8

1 recipe PPK cornbread or Veganomicon cornbread or your favorite recipe from a 9×13 pan

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cippolini onions, diced medium (use whatever onion you like - about 2 cups once chopped)

1 cup pecans

1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme (keep the soft stems on, just ditch the woody ones)

1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 teaspoons dried sage

1 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup vegetable broth

2 red bartlett pears, sliced in 1/4 inch slices (use whatever pear you’ve got)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut cornbread into roughly 3/4 inch pieces. Place on a baking sheet and toast for about 15 minutes, flipping about halfway through. Remove from oven.

In the meantime, toast the pecans. Preheat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium low heat. Add the pecans and toast for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until they smell toasty and are a few shades darker. Transfer to a bowl and roughly chop once cooled - I like to keep the pieces relatively large.

In the same pan over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Add the herbs to the pan and saute for about a minutes. Add the cornbread and spinkle in salt and pepper. Mix with a spatula, it’s fine if you break the cornbread up with a spatula a bit. Drizzle in the oil and vegetable broth. If it seems to dry add a little extra veggie broth.

Fold in the apples and pecans. Transfer to a lightly greased 9×13 pan and bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is lightly browned.

And don’t forget to check out what everyone else came up with last week. This weeks challenge is hosted by kittee and she chose sushi, which I’m afraid I am going to miss.

I will lay myself bare and stand humbly before you, for here dear reader was my lunch today. Meatball salad. With Trader Joe’s vegetarian meatballs.

But, just listen, ok?

The really awesome part of this salad is the dressing and so let’s not get caught up in all that he said she said who did what to who crap. Mistakes were made but let’s move on. I don’t remember exactly how this incarnation of the meatball salad came to be, but I do know that Josh and Michelle were joking about eating a meatball salad with the premise being that it was a laughable idea. But people put all kinds of stuff in salad. I mean, we have this idea that it either has to be something hippie like sprouts or something fancy like shaved fennel. But when I want salad, especially for lunch, I want something really substantial and really healthy. I don’t want to shove a bunch of green stuff in my face just for the sake of it, I want something that makes it seem that each leaf is a gift. Nature’s potato chip, if you must. I want to keep wanting more and more. But I don’t want all the fat, calories and other miscellany indiscretions that come with most dressings. An unhealthy salad makes me feel awkward, apprehensive and just a little bit horrified. Sort of the same reaction I get from “tween fashion.” 12 year olds in heels? No thanks!

When we think meatballs we think pasta and lots of red sauce and garlic and so forth. You don’t want to dump a thing of marinara sauce on your salad, though, as tempting as it might sound. A nice fresh tomato dressing really does the job of refining the meatball salad concept. Ripe juicy tomatoes, a little fresh garlic and bright green fresh oregano really make you feel like your slurping up a forkful of spaghetti but in salad form. You can use any vegan meatballs that you like - try the tofu balls in the ppk database or the beanballs in Veganomicon. Or if it’s lunchtime and you’re feeling kinda like “fork it!” you can just use the store bought stuff. Just don’t tell them I sent you.

This recipe is enough for 2 gigantic servings of salad. Add your favorite greens and veggies - in this picture I used mushrooms, red onions, cucumbers and radishes.

Fresh Tomato Dressing
Serves 2

1 lb tomatoes (about 3 average sized guys)
2 teaspoons fresh chopped oregano
1 or 2 garlic cloves, very well minced (it’s going to be raw so go easy)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
fresh black pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Chop the tomatoes up fairly small, immediately adding them to a mixing bowl so that not much liquid escapes. Add the remaining ingredients and use your hands (or a fork if you’re all uptight) to mush everything up really well. Let sit for 10 minutes or so to let the flavors meld. Smother your meatball salad and enjoy!

I want to remind everyone that they don’t have to blog about food they cook that day. I see a lot of posts starting with “Sorry, I didn’t cook today so…” But it doesn’t matter, don’t apologize. Just talk about food. If you didn’t cook that’s a great opportunity to talk about your favorite spatula or your garden or maybe something that has nothing to do with you. Maybe a grain or maybe how apples were represented in mythology from different cultures. Dig deep! There’s so much out there, some of it might not be that obvious but might get you to do your best writing. I hope that doesn’t sounds like chastising, because who the hell am I to chastise? I just don’t want people dropping out because they think they’re doing it wrong or something.

And now for the round-up! Lots of people are blogging about grains. I was a strictly quinoa girl through most of my twenties and then began to broaden my horizons and regret all those nights where I didn’t eat millet. Don’t let the same fate befall you. Carpe Diem! Seize the grain.

Carla at Year Of The Vegan proves that she can do more than just rice.

Lisa at Show Me Vegan prepares a scrumptious looking polenta dish with black beans, sweet potatoes and green zebras (the tomatoes, silly!)

This is a great tip from B36 kitchen, use leftover grains in your veggie burgers. She uses millet in this creation.

Lillet and Trey describe collards and quinoa as the Starsky & Hutch of Good For You Goodness. I couldn’t agree more! Quinoa and collards love a good car chase.

Shellyfish sings the praises of bulghur and describes how she throws together a grainy salad.

I can kind of see “finishing salts” as the punchline for some redneck stand up. I can see Sarah Palin disparaging it at a town hall meeting - Joe Six Pack isn’t puttin’ any of your city salts on his potatoes. But Joe Six Pack doesn’t know what he’s missing out on!

Salt is a very personal thing - everyone has their perfect salt point, what the Germans call piekenseltzen. Actually, I just made that phrase up, but I am sure the French have a word for it. You need to incorporate salt into your dish while it’s cooking, be it a sauce or a soup or a marinade. But I am typically an undersalter because once on the plate, it’s easy enough to sprinkle on to your liking.

These fancy shmancy boutique salts go a long way to adding new dimensions to your food. I have a few favorites I’m gonna’ share with you so that you too can feel like a big yuppie.

Smoked Salt

Smoked salt is perfect for roasting vegetables. If you have the option of choosing a grind, keep it coarse so that the salt holds its shape while roasting. A few of my favorite veggies to sprinkle smoked salt on are cauliflower, eggplant and baby potatoes. I also love it sprinkled on juicy, sliced tomatoes. There are so many varieties of smoked salt but my two favorites are applewood and hickory. That just refers to the kind of wood used to smoke it.

Black Salt

Yeah, black salt is actually pink. Nothing gets passed you, does it? This is what started it all for me. I had heard that the sulfuric taste of black salt was akin to egg yolks and I had to try it. And it’s true - the taste is pretty much identical, making this salt perfect for tofu “egg” salads. I also use it in my omelet recipe. But I try not to go too crazy with it - the taste is very strong and you might be paying for it hours afterwards. I usually get this in a medium grind, because sometimes I want it to dissolve completely and sometimes I want it to stay a little crunchy. My friend Eppy swears by black salt and avocado, which I’m sure is good but I haven’t tried it. There are other kinds of black salt but the kind you want is Indian black salt, also called kala namak. You can often find it in Indian grocery stores for much cheaper than at a foo-foo shop.

Truffle Salt

This is my most prized possession and probably the salt that I use the most. Truffle salt is a blend of dried, ground truffle and sea salt, but the truffle taste is incredibly strong and earthy - exotic even. Pretend you’re a millionaire and sprinkle some on your pastas, your sandwiches, your pate, your risotto. I sometimes add them to my portobellos, as if they weren’t scrumptious and mushroom-y enough. In Portland you can often pick this up at farmer’s markets but if you’re purchasing it at a salt shop ask for it because it usually goes by some French name that I don’t remember. I like a fine grind for truffle salt so that it dissolves quickly and the flavor gets everywhere.

Well, those are my favorites. I know I was making a big display about what an upper class twit you are if you buy these things, but in reality they are a pretty economical way to add flavor. My one ounce bag of truffle salt cost 3 bucks and lasts months, even though I use it a lot. Happy saltin’, you Joe Forty Ouncers!