August 10, 2013 · 10:09 am

Asian Flavsplosion Sandwich

Was that title dorky enough for you?  Can we still be friends?  I can’t promise it won’t happen again.  Seriously though…this sandwich is a flavsplosion.  It’s the only word for it.  So you may be surprised at how it starts…

Guys…this is tofu.

tofu2What?  Scared?  Don’t be.

Before you get all cranky and suspicious on me let me point out:  All of this works with chicken too.  No one is going to force you to eat tofu if you really don’t want to but…maybe give it a chance?

Real talk: I love tofu.  It takes on flavors like a pro and can be absolutely delicious.  You just have to do it right.  When I worked at the bakery we made a tofu pesto sandwich with herby tofu that we roasted.  I was obsessed.  Now I made my own tofu sandwich!..with Asian inspiration.

Mise en place

setup

We start with a combo of olive oil and toasted sesame oil.  It’s spiked with a pinch of salt and garlic powder.  Freaking Delicious (capital ‘D’).

oil

Are you friends with toasted sesame oil?  This stuff packs a punch.  A little bit makes a big difference.

Brush.

(or dip or drizzle…just get some on there!)

paint

Bring on the crunch maker aka sesame seeds!! (I love them.  Can’t stop, won’t stop coating everything in them.  See Sesame Almonds)

sesame

Stop Drop and Roll

plopcoatlineitup

It already looks crunchy and delicious but he has to hang out in the oven for a while to get extra crunchy.

Meanwhile..bring on the veg!

vegshred Now this sauce y’all…I can’t even handle it.  I love it on stir fries, I love it as a salad dressing, I love it on fish, I love it on tofu and I totally love it on this slaw.  Plus it’s super simple. Goes a little something like this:

Equal parts:

Brown Sugar

bsug

Fresh Ginger

ginger

Sesame Oil

sesameoil

Soy Sauce

soysauce

Rice Vinegar

((I add an extra tablespoon vinegar…I like things vinegary))

ricevinegar

and a dash of fish sauce if you have it

((not necessary but it does add some depth))

fishsauce

We’ve got your sweet, we’ve got your salty, we’ve got your umami…I mean what more do you want?  Seriously…forget the sandwich…just make this sauce.

(then make the sandwich…)

Infuse those veggies with that flavor attack

pour

And now…we build.

Start with some good bread

bread

Spread some peanut satay sauce (I just used some from a jar)

spread

Turn up the heat with some Sriracha

spice

Pile on the saucy veg

veggies

Pile on the fresh veg.

Basil isn’t necessary but it is OUT OF THIS WORLD.

basil2

Now the “meat” of the situation

tofutop

(Make sure it’s nice and toasty)

tofu close

Close it up and prepare to have your mind blown

nomsloppy

Those chips?  We’ll talk about those next time.  They’re my newest addiction.

For now enjoy this sloppy, kick in the mouth.   Beautiful.

Er..in its own way.

takeabiteEnjoy!

❤ Ellen

Sesame Crusted Tofu Sandwich

Recipe from my crazy brain.  Sauce based on this recipe

For the tofu (or chicken, calm down):

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • about 6 shakes of toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 block of extra firm tofu
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
  2. Mix the oils, salt and garlic powder in a dish
  3. Place the sesame seeds in a separate dish
  4. Slice your tofu into slabs of your desired thickness and shape
  5. Completely coat each piece of tofu with a thin layer of oil (I like to brush so it’s even and doesn’t get too greasy but dipping and drizzling work just fine)
  6. Dip each piece of oiled tofu into the sesame seeds until they are completely coated on all sides
  7. Place the coated tofu on a parchment lined baking sheet so that they are not touching each other
  8. Bake for 20 minutes, flip each piece over and bake for another 10 minutes
  9. Remove from the oven and let cool

For the dressing/sauce/whatever:

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 (or 2, to taste) tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce

Makes about 1/4 cup sauce

  1. Place all ingredients in a container and whisk until well combined.

For the Slaw

About 2 cups shredded cabbage2 small carrots, shredded into strips with a vegetable peeler

  1. Place the cabbage and carrots in a large bowl
  2. Pour about 2 tablespoons of sauce over the vegetables and toss to coat (adjust the amount of sauce to taste!)

For One Sandwich

  • Two slices of bread
  • 1 tablespoon peanut satay sauce (or to taste!)
  • a handful of slaw from recipe above
  • Sriracha
  • 2 triangles of sesame crusted tofu
  • fresh basil
  • extra sauce to drizzle if you want! (I think it’s fine without…depends on how saucy you’re feeling =) )
  1. Pile it all on top of each other
  2. Shove it in your face
  3. (See picture instructions above)

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July 18, 2013 · 11:45 am

Whipped Feta

What do you do when your mother gives you a giant Costco-sized block of Feta?

Whip it good.

It doesn’t get easier than this.

ingredients

Three ingredients (unless you’re feeling fancy), no oven required.

On your mark, get set, go.

mountfeta

First you put Mount Feta (you have one of those right?)  in a food processor with Greek yogurt and a squeeze of lemon.

greek

Then…you whip it.

whipped

That’s it.

You barely did anything and now you have delicious, spreadable feta cheese!  This is the life.  I can’t just leave things alone, though.  I added green onion and chopped fresh basil.

green onion

Because yum.  Highly recommended.

addins2Then I chopped some veg

cucpeptom

Schmeared a pita with my handy dandy spreadable feta and added a corn fritter! (a favorite of ours)

pita

Daniel made tacos.

taco2

Daniel wins this round.

tacoNow, I’m aware that this whipped feta situation is nothing new.  I’ve seen it everywhere.  That just proves it’s good!  The trick is in how you use it…there’s so much more you could do!

-Dip veggies or pita chips or really any chips

-Make a strawberry basil feta grilled cheese that I can’t get out of my head…there’s balsamic reduction involved. Just stop it.

-Use it as a sandwich spread! For basically any sandwich…it’s awesome on an egg sandwich just saying

-Make a pizza with a feta layer UNDER the sauce! Or in place of sauce

Don’t hold back! Let your creativity flow! (Then let me know what you did =))

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

Whipped Feta

Recipe based mainly on this recipe from How Sweet Eats

*A note about salt: I didn’t feel the need to add any.  Feta is pretty salty anyway.  Feel free to add to taste!  Just make sure you taste without first.
**Also this makes quite a lot of spread.  Definitely feel free to cut the recipe in half!
  • 1 pound feta cheese
  • 6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
  • A squeeze of fresh lemon juice (maybe a teaspoon or two) or to taste
  • Optional
  • sliced green onions
  • chopped fresh basil
  • a couple of grinds of black pepper
  1. Place the feta, yogurt and lemon juice in a food processor fitted with the s-blade (or maybe a blender but I haven’t tried!) and pulse to combine.  Run the processor until you reach a mostly smooth, spreadable consistency.  If you want it chunky stop it sooner!
  2. Pour the spread into a large bowl and taste.  Add salt and pepper as needed (you may not need any salt!) and stir in any additions (green onions, basil, etc)
  3. Serve it up!  Get creative!  Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

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June 2, 2013 · 8:20 pm

S’mores Cookies

S’mores pretty much have the ooey gooey dessert genre on lock.

ooze

Few treats come close to this level of oozing decadence.

gooey2

When something is that delicious the obvious next step is to shove it in a cookie…right?

…maybe not…  but we’re doing it anyway…and it’s going to be delicious.

doughball

If you’re gonna do this, there are some pitfalls to avoid.  Believe it or not, there is such a thing as a disappointing batch of s’mores cookies.

Maybe there’s no graham cracker to be found,

graham

or maybe the marshmallows just melt and disappear into the dough.

mallow

Or maybe the baker (mistakenly!) thought the chocolate chips rendered the milk chocolate bar unnecessary.

chocolate

Without the graham, the ‘mallow or the chocolate bar-you’re basically just eating a chocolate chip cookie.

(Your life could be worse.)

But let’s make s’mores cookies.  For real.

A thick soft cookie layer.

halfbaked

Graham cracker crunch.

halfbaked2

Obvious marshmallow presence.

extra

and an actual chocolate bar.

realchoc

Great success.

bars

All the gooey, melty, drippy deliciousness of a s’more..

gooey

…in a cute little square.

barclose

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

S’mores Cookies

So this isn’t really a recipe.  It’s more like an idea to make s’mores cookies better.

You’ll need:

  • One batch of chocolate chip cookies (I’m partial to this recipe for this purpose.  It’s the one I used in the photos.  The cookies stay nice and soft.  You’ll notice I substituted chocolate chips for the m&ms it calls for)
  • 8 graham crackers
  • About 12 large marshmallows
  • 1 jumbo chocolate bar, broken into pieces (doesn’t have to be exact!)

*Note:  The above measurements are for the recipe I linked.  If your favorite cookie recipes yields more or less than mine, you may need more or less of everything else.  Adjust to suit.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  This works best if you cookie sheet has walls like mine.  You could also put everything in a sheet cake pan.
  2. Whip up a batch of your favorite cookie recipe.  Don’t bake them yet, speed racer, just make the dough.  Chill the dough overnight.
  3. Break the graham crackers in half so you have 16 squares. Lay them in your pan in a single layer.  Leave no space in between, you want them to touch.
  4. Spoon large portions of cookie dough onto each square.  Mine were about 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons each because I wanted a fairly thick cookie layer.  Less dough will yield a thinner cookie layer…duh.
  5. Bake 5-6 minutes and remove from the oven.  The cookies should not be finished baking but they should be starting to spread.  Distribute the marshmallows and chocolate pieces evenly among the cookies.
  6. Bake for another 4-6 minutes (depending on the thickness of your cookies) or until the edges start to brown and the centers set.  The marshmallows should be melted and hopefully a little toasty!
  7. Allow to cool completely before attempting to cut these bad boys.  They’ll be much easier to manage.

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