eggless tofu salad

There are a handful of things that I am completely obsessed with. Besides the SyFy channel and blog lurking, I think I'd definitely have to put egg salad on that list too. Nothing's better than a happy-chicken egg hard boiled to perfection, mixed with a little Vegenaise and devoured between 2 slices of toast with some spicy brown mustard. Yum!

Well, I've been really intrigued with the idea of an entirely vegan egg salad, and finally for lunch today, I decided to try it out with a block of firm tofu that desperately needed to be eaten. Being an egg salad purist, I was pretty skeptical, but wow! It was DELICIOUS!

Stuff you need: 1. Firm tofu 2. Vegenaise 3. Salt & pepper 4. Diced onion, shredded carrot or anything else you like in your egg salad

Start by squeezing the tofu like you normally would. While the tofu is getting pressed, chop up your onion, carrot, and/or anything else you'd like to include. When the tofu is ready, crumble it into a bowl and mix it together with a big dollop of Vegenaise, some salt, pepper, and all your tasty extras. I just used a little bit of onion, since that's what I had on hand.

When all the ingredients are properly combined, that's it! Dig in! You could eat it on a bed of greens, between 2 slices of toast with some kale and mustard, or if you can't wait a minute longer, just stand there in the kitchen and eat it right there on the spot :)

I can't tell you how excited and pleased I am with this recipe! I was fully prepared for this to turn out soggy and bland, but it was surprisingly great! Hard boiled eggs have a moderately neutral flavor, so replacing it with tofu wasn't really that crazy after all. This lunch was a total success. I may be an egg salad fanatic, but I think this tofu version is just as good!

high altitude hard-boiled eggs

I know that Easter is months away, but hard-boiled eggs are good all year round! I got another batch of beautiful, happy eggs from my parents, and since I don't eat them quickly enough, I decided to hard boil a big batch the other night.

Aren't they gorgeous? My parents get eggs from a man in their neighborhood who has a little flock of happy chickens- they have space to roam in, plenty of food, and they produce these stunning, multi-colored eggs. Happy chickens make me happy too :)

Anyway, I don't know if cooking times are different for those at sea level, but these are the directions my mom gave me, and they worked perfectly here in Colorado.

How to hard-boil eggs at altitude

Stuff you need: 1. Eggs 2. Water 3. Salt

Place your eggs into an appropriate sized saucepan. You want the eggs to fit nicely in the bottom, so they won't rattle around, or be too tight either. Fill the pan with enough cold water to cover the eggs, and give the water a healthy helping of salt.

Place the saucepan on the stovetop, and bring to a boil using medium high heat. When the water is at a full rolling boil, let the eggs cook for 3 minutes. At the end of the 3 minutes, place a lid on the pot, and remove it from the heat. Let the saucepan sit for 20-22 minutes, and then thoroughly rinse the eggs under cold water.

That's it! Store your hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, and devour them in all kinds of things- on toast at breakfast, chopped up in a stir fry, sliced over a bed of greens, or my personal favorite, mixed with some mayo in an egg salad sandwich!

My roommate, Molly, got her fancy egg salad recipe from Shape Magazine, but I just freehanded mine. 1 chopped egg + 1 rib celery + a little Vegenaise + salt & pepper = the perfect, quick, and tasty egg salad, which is absolutely divine, served on whole wheat toast, with mustard and lettuce. Happy chickens. Happy egg salad. Happy erin :)

breaded eggplant

You know what I love? Food gifts. There's almost nothing better than free, delicious things, and recently, I've been quite lucky in receiving tons of edible presents! I got a beautiful eggplant from my boss, Connie, and a truck load of fresh produce and a dozen happy chicken eggs from my parents.

After reading so much about the factory farming atrocities in Eating Animals, I'm having a very hard time eating eggs, unless I know where they come from. My parents happen to know a man in their area raising chickens in proper, humane conditions, and I couldn't be happier about supporting this local farmer, who really cares :)

Anyway, I digress. With all the wonderful, fresh organic food in my house, the first vegetable I had to devour was the eggplant. What can I say? It's my fave. I based my recipe off this one for Vegan Crispy Baked Eggplant from Chez Bettay. Mine definitely didn't come out as beautiful as hers, but for my first try at breading anything, I think it turned out pretty good.

I mostly stuck to the recipe, except I didn't peel my eggplant, used Panko for the bread crumbs, and used a regular oven sans pizza stone, since I don't own one. I baked my eggplant for about 15 minutes on one side, flipped it, and then popped it back in the oven for another 10. When the bread-crumb coating was starting to look golden, I slathered it with warmed pasta sauce, and devoured it with a side of sauteed beet greens.

The soft eggplant was a nice compliment to the crunchy crust, although I definitely should have baked it longer to give the bread-crumbs some serious bite. Also, 1 eggplant made plenty of food for my dinner, and I used the rest to make phenomenal sandwiches the next few days. Baked eggplant + pasta sauce + lettuce & fresh basil on whole wheat toast = to die for.

It was a good first attempt, and I hope the next batch is even better!