Monday Morning Breakfast I

October is here, which means, among welcoming the cooler weather with open arms, that the blog-osphere just got a bit bigger - Vegan MoFo has officially started! Check out the Vegan Month of Food website if you'd like to learn more about this blogging extravaganza.

It's Monday, the first day of the week (take that, Sunday!), the first day of October, and the first day of mofo. What better way to commemorate all of these "firsts" than with the first meal of the day, breakfast! The credit for such an amazing first meal is due entirely to my boyfriend, Matt. He loves breakfast foods, and he isn't shy about it either.

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast - John Gunther

Behold! The quintessential American vegan breakfast: tofu scramble, roasted potatoes, toast, and...carrot bacon! There are a handful of vegan "bacon" recipes out there - utilizing tofu, tempeh, and eggplant - but I haven't seen one that used carrots. Matt sliced the carrots thinly and marinated them in tamari, maple syrup, and liquid smoke. Then he steamed and sauteed them until they were soft and the marinade had caramelized, making it nice and crispy.

Vegan MoFo - Day 24

Day 24 - Pizza Margherita!

Buongiorno! It's Monday morning, and I'm hoping right back on track with my next themed Veganmofo dish - Pizza Margherita!

Bit o' History: Italian pizza history dates back as early as the first-century BC, to the time of Virgil. However, the popularlity of the "picea" didn't explode until the eighteenth-century. In 1889, modern pizza history was made when Queen Margherita Teresa Giovanni, the consort of Umberto I, visited Naples - the alleged birth place of pizza. In order to prepare a special disk in honor of the Queen's visit, Don Raffaele Esposito (owner of Pietro Il Pizzaiolo) consulted his wife, and together they developed a pizza featuring tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil. It was named after the Queen, and she's totally the luckiest lady on the planet...

...because pizza Margherita is seriously the best. Naturally, I made the Queen's pizza vegan using a cashew-tofu ricotta in place of the mozzarella - if you haven't made cashew ricotta yet, please do so immediately. The ricotta was moist and creamy, and it even browned slightly on the top! Sliced tomatoes and the last of my basil plant roasted underneath a heavy drizzle of olive oil, all on top of homemade pizza dough.

Vegan MoFo - Day 17

Day 17: V-Eggs Benedict

Finally, the MoFo post I've been waiting for! Actually, I've been yearning to make this next dish for months, and I can't fathom why I've waited so long!



Tofu Benny's from Vegan Brunch

Bit o' History: For the longest time, I thought eggs Benedict were named after that treasonous flip-flopper Arnold! Actually, most historians acknowledge two different versions of the original eggs Benedict, neither of which include ole Arnold. My favorite of the two involves Lemuel Benedict, a Wall street broker from the late 19th-century. Lemuel was suffering from a hangover and supposedly ordered “some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce” at Waldorf Hotel in New York. The chef, Oscar Tschirky, was really impressed (by the guy's ability to fabricate such a magnificent meal whilst suffering a hangover - I'd be pretty impressed, too), and decided to put the dish on his permanent menu, after subbing an English muffin and Canadian bacon. Version 2 of this story is a bit less entertaining. Some rich lady, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, was bored with her favorite restaurant's menu and demanded something new! I hope her tantrum was as wild as the one in my imagination.

For a vegan version of this breakfast classic, I looked to one of my favorite cookbooks of all time - Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Her recipe for Tofu Benny's marinates and lightly fries tofu circles (save the scraps for a scramble later on!) and she subs thick beefsteak tomato slices for the bacon. I used whole wheat English muffins and Isa's recipe for Hollandaise sauce (also from Vegan Brunch), and garnished with julienned basil. Super!!

Vegan MoFo - Day 11

Day 11 - I'm back for realz

Well, I definitely did not intend to fall off the face of the blogosphere this weekend. The thing is, I was in CHICAGO! My boyfriend, roommate and I left early Friday morning for a glorious weekend of friends, food and fun. We saw Leftover Crack & the Descendents at Riot Fest - darn good fun! We ate all over Chicago, and it was some of the best grub of my life. I'll keep this sweet with a little dose of what's to come later today.

We had breakfast at the Flying Saucer in Humboldt Park. This place had a few good vegan options and is priced really well. Matt ordered the Breakfast Burriot - huge burrito stuffed with cuban black beans, jalapenos, pico de gallo,  and tofu hash served with some tasty roasted potato home fries.

breakfast burrrrit-o!

I was a great need for some greens, and luckily they had an awesome tofu has chockful of kale and sweet potatoes! The Tofu Sweet Potato hash came with fried tofu sautéed with sweet potatoes and kale and was served with toast (and Earth Balance!!) and roasted potatoes.



I'm a lover of the dark rye

Everything was well priced and well proportioned. My only complaint is that the tofu might have been the pre-fried packaged variety and was steamed along with my kale, resulting in a lot of water retention. Definitely NOT a dealbreaker, though.

Up next: Chicago Diner!! Handlebar Bar & Grill!!

Oh, and I'm ready to hop back onto this MoFo's theme. Get ready for some Benedict, Cobb, Reuben, and many more!

Vegan MoFo - Day 5

Day 5 - General Tso's Tofu

I thought that might entice you! Tonight I made a dish many people are familiar with, even if the origin of it is a bit hazy and unconventional. That, up there, is some super crispy, extra yummy tofu for...General Tso's Tofu! While typically made with chicken, tofu is not an uncommon meat substitute for the sweet/tangy/spicy sauce. Speaking of sauce, most recipes consist of a varying combination of soy sauce, rice wine, rice wine vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, dried red chili peppers (whole), garlic, and MSG. I used all of these ingredients to make the following sauce, except the MSG because I didn't have any on hand. Oh! I also added some minced ginger.

Tofu crunch!

Bit o' History: While it may be the most popular item at your favorite Chinese restaurant, General Tso's chicken isn't so popular beyond western borders. It's thought to have originated in the United States after the mid-twentieth-century exodus of Chinese to the U.S., where it was first mentioned in a 1977 New York Times publication. Named after Qing dynasty general and statesman Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang - who was an utterly ruthless military man. This dude quelled rebellions in record time, and he quickly climbed up the political/military ladder in China, eventually being appointed to the Qing Empire's Grand Council. He's also got a pretty taste meal named after him.

No recipe this time, but a quick good search will give you plenty of hits for techniques and sauces!