Tofu Quinoa Patties

I've been on a quest to make new kinds of patties, so I'm not resorting to buying pre-made ones as much.  Pre-made ones are fine for a quick dinner when there's not a lot of time for preparation, but when I do have time, I've been trying my hand at methods that take just few ingredients.  I don't know about you, but when I play with bean burgers, they seem to fall apart.  I'll let you know if I come up with a truly hardy bean patty recipe.  And, I've been wanting to try grains other than rice on a more common basis.  So, one day I thought of using quinoa, which we all know is healthy, and binding it with tofu.  After a couple of tries, they came out really good!  And, what's even better, and this happens less often than you may think, everyone in my family loved them.  Not a single patty was left over, and that's saying something.  Let me know what you think, if you give these a try.

Tofu Quinoa Patties

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked)
2 cups water
2 - 14oz. pkgs. water-packed tofu, drained
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Canola oil for frying

Directions:

Put quinoa and water in a medium pot.  Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat to medium and cook until quinoa swells and becomes translucent.  This will take ten to fifteen minutes.  Turn heat down to medium low if water is evaporating too quickly.  (I know these are different directions than most packages say, but I find this works for me better.)  You should end up with about 1 and 3/4 cups of quinoa.  In a large bowl, mash the tofu.  Add the quinoa and the seasonings and mix well; you can use your hands if necessary.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil on medium high heat in a large pan.  Make palm-sized patties and carefully add them to the pan.  Do not move patties while cooking.  Turn over after ten minutes, and cook undisturbed on other side for another ten minutes.  If you find your patties are cooking too quickly, turn the heat down to medium.  These will not be cooked solidly all the way through.  They have a crisp exterior and a cooked, warmed through interior. They hold up really well, and the texture is very pleasant.  Can garnish with hot sauce, mustard, ketchup or soy sauce.  Makes ten patties.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Review: Vejibag

The good people at Vejibag offered to send me one of their bags a short while ago.  Their cotton bags are intended to store vegetables inside of them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh longer for a week or more.  I was looking forward to trying this out because I sometimes have a problem with limp veggies and frozen spots on my veggies.  See below for my review.
 

 Here I've forgotten to rotate the photo before loading, but you get the idea.  The bag is 100& organic cotton, and is actually softer to the touch than it would seem to be.  Attached to the bag were a couple of labels promoting the benefits of using a Vejibag.  Towards the top of the bag, you might be able to see a flap of material. So, the bag would be able to fold over at the top to cover any veggies that were put in it.

 Here's another sideways shot of the other side of the bag.  These are also the other sides of the tags that came with the bag.  I was initially impressed with the feel and look of the bag.

I decided to test out the Vejibag by storing some of the produce I had picked up at the Farmer's Market Saturday morning.  This was now Saturday afternoon, and I had washed the veggies and was prepared to put them in the bag.  I had four very long peppers, two zucchinis, two crookneck squashes, and four cucumbers.  That is a large colander, and I wasn't sure all my produce would fit in the bag, but I'd see what I could get in.

 It turned out that all my veggies did actually fit!  I was surprised and impressed with the slight stretchiness of the Vejibag.  The instructions said to rinse the bag in water, wring it out, put the veggies in it, and store it in the fridge.  When the bag was completely fully, it was huge. I'm not sure that it would fit in most crisper bins, so I just put mine on one of my shelves.

Results:  On Tuesday, I pulled out my cucumbers, and they looked great.  No problems - nice and crunchy.  On Thursday, I pulled out two of the peppers.  One of them had a soft brown spot on its tip, but in all honesty, I could have overlooked that at the Farmer's Market.  So, I didn't feel that that was a mark against the Vejibag.  On Sunday, I pulled out all the squash and the last two peppers.  My bag was now empty.  One of the zucchinis was definitely limp.  I did keep it in for one day longer than a week, so I'm not really sure what the limit is.  But, it does say a week or more on one of its tags.  All the other veggies looked awesome, so I was happy with them.  As the bag got less full, I'm not sure if moving it to the crisper bin would have been advisable, but I couldn't find anything on their tags or their website that shed light on whether storing the bag in a crisper bin was better than storing on a shelf.  So, one zucchini down, but everything else was good.  I do wish that everything had stayed crisp because most people would have to pay for a bag.  But, in the end I'm really happy with it, and I will definitely continue to use it.

Their website is www.vejibag.com  .  They have a few options for prices, most commonly sixteen and eighteen dollars.  They also have package prices.  It's worth your time to at least check it out.

Three-Layer Neapolitan Cake and SR's 16th Birthday

Back on July 20th, SR celebrated her 16th birthday!  It was a great day, and I threw her a surprise birthday party.  My parents were gracious enough to let me use their home for SR and her friends.  SR thought we were just going over to Grannyma and Poppy's to drop off JK, so she could have a teen rollerskating party.  So, she was more confused than surprised when she saw her friends; she told me later she stood there wondering for a moment if we were picking them up from there to take them to the rink.  Anyways, we had a lot of fun, a lot of behind-the-scenes planning and baking, and a great, wonderful cake!  Now, this is definitely a sugar-filled cake.  I am going to dabble with other ways of sweetening, but I didn't want to practice on her cake.  So, be prepared: sugar!  I used my White Cake recipe for the white layer, and a double portion of the White Butter Cream Frosting that I made with it to frost the entire cake.  I adjusted my Big and Little Pink Strawberry Cakes, Naturally recipe for the pink layer.  I'm still working on creating the perfect natural pink color, so you'll see what I did below to achieve this pink look.  It was very good, but it's still a work in progress.  And for the chocolate layer, I used my Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes recipe .  I think the end result came out beautifully visually and taste-wise.  Let me know what you think!

Three-Layer Neapolitan Cake

 

The cake layers are cooling on my mom's counter.  

 

Stacked and ready for the outer layer of frosting.  The lighting here makes them look yellow, but look below to see their real colors in natural light.

 

Cake all finished and waiting to be devoured.

 Another shot of sacrificial cake.

 

I had to show a shot of one of the games I planned.  I asked each guest and SR if they wanted to either be a "thrower" or a "lander."  I gave them no other clues.  SR chose to be a lander, and her friend and teammate Brandon was the thrower.  Landers had to wear shower caps while throwers covered their heads with shaving cream then threw popcorn at the piles of cream.  The team with the most popcorn stuck won.  By the way, little JK played all the games too; he wasn't left out.  :-)  This is one of my favorite photos of the whole day.  I love the smiles!

 SR blowing out her candles.

 

SR enjoying her cake.

 A shot of the cake with vegan Neapolitan ice cream.

Three-Layer Neapolitan Cake

Ingredients:

For the White Layer:

2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

For the Pink Layer:

2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup soy milk
Juice from one can of beets, about one cup
3 Tbs. strawberry extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

For the Chocolate Layer:

Non-stick spray
A little flour for dusting
2 cups vegan sugar
1 and 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the Frosting:

1 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
7and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 Tbs. soy milk

Directions:

For the White Layer:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12x9 inch cake pan with an oil spray, and lightly flour its bottom. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl or mug, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate the flour mixture and the milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. With the last addition of milk, add the Egg Replacer mixture and the vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for fifteen minutes in its pan on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

For the Pink Layer:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12x9 inch cake pan with an oil spray, and lightly flour its bottom. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate beating the flour mixture and the soy milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. At the end, add the beet juice, strawberry extract, Egg Replacer mixture, and vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for fifteen minutes in its pan on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

For the Chocolate Layer:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 12x9 inch cake pan with an oil spray, and lightly flour its bottom. Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a mug, whisk together the Egg Replacer and the water.  Pour that mixture and the soy milk, oil, and vanilla extract into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix with an electric blender on medium speed for two minutes.  Pour in the boiling water and mix on low, until the water is blended in.  Batter will be thinner than you might expect, but it's okay.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for fifteen minutes in its pan on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

For the Frosting: 

When the cakes have completely cooled, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and salt. Starting on low speed and working up to medium, beat in the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the soy milk, and beat on medium speed for three to five minutes, until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Makes enough frosting for a giant triple-layered cake. Feeds lots of people, including five hungry vegans at one big party or for several regular days.  Recommend to serve with vegan Neapolitan ice cream.  So good!

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Claire from Almost Skinny Vegan Food gave me this lovely award too long ago (May), and I'm just getting to respond now.  I already thanked her shortly after she bestowed this on me, but I wasn't able to actually pass this on...until now.  Thank you, Claire, for thinking of me!  And now I'm thinking of all of you.  Read below for the rules and questions.  :-)

There are five rules to follow if you decide to accept this award:

1.  Visit and thank the blogger on their blog who nominated you (that would be me, ahem).
2.  Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back (I give you permission to use capital letters and flashing stars around my name.)
3.  Answer the ten questions (now, don't make us yawn!)
4.  Nominate up to 12 bloggers for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award (up to 12? Surely, I will have a harder time NOT going over that limit!)
5.  Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog (up high, where we can see it!)
**If it's not obvious, do not add the parens to your post.  Those are just my unique additions.  :-)**

The 10 Questions: (dum, dum, dum!)  - again, my parens, sillies.

1.  What is your favorite color?  Well actually, I love all the colors, but I learned when my oldest was a toddler, that that wasn't an acceptable answer.  I NEEDED to have a favorite, and the rest of my children demanded a concrete answer as well.  So, yellow, yes, yellow is my favorite color.  It's happy, and I like it.  But, I love wearing brown, ssh.

2.  What is your favorite animal?  Of course, being vegan I love ALL the fuzzies.  Again, not an acceptable answer.  Okay, so my top faves are in no particular order: kitties, bunnies, elephants, and dolphins.

3.  What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?  Hot apple cider and hot chocolate. Yes, I know it's two, ssh!

4.  Facebook or Twitter?  This is the only online place you will see me, except for my e-mail.  Just my blog and only my blog, thank you very much.  Psst, I'll let you know if that changes...but, it probably won't.

5.  What is your favorite pattern?  This is a very open-ended question - could it mean clothing pattern like McCalls?  Could it mean geometric patterns?  I'm going to stick with my first reaction and go with my OCD.  I like symmetrical patterns, whether they be numbers or picture frames.

6.  Do you prefer getting or giving presents?  Giving, of course, right?  Everyone knows  that!  Especially when you're asked that on the Internet, sheesh!  Unless, of course it's my birthday, then gimme, gimme, gimme.

7.  What is your favorite number?  Well, I could say 3 since I have three children. Or, I could say 6, the number of precious children with which I've been pregnant.  But, I think it's got to be 4 or 8 because when I go grocery shopping, I always buy things in groups of 4 or 8, so it must be 4 or 8, yes, I'm sure of it.

8.  What is your favorite day of the week?  Monday, absolutely, right?  The beginning of the week, homeschooling those eager kids, work stretching out eons ahead of me.  Ah, no.  Sunday, for sure! That's the one day that Mama gets a nap, and even G doesn't bother me for that hour.

9.  What is your favorite flower?  Well, it could be a rose, since my middle name is Rosa - whoops, personal information alert!  It's a family name that's been passed down for generations, and the R in my own SR's name is Rose, but...I love Gardenias, I admit it!  Love, love, love those beauties.

10.  What is your passion?  Besides the obvious - God, Family, and Food, I love writing.  I've submitted four manuscripts, one of which was with a publisher for a year before not making the cut.  I'm finishing up my first full-length novel and will be submitting it to agents later this year.  So, yes, writing.

Hope you enjoyed this, and now it's your turn!

My fellow sisters, in no particular order...well, maybe by category and then alphabetically, but that's it!

1. My dear friend from church, Susan of Fruitful Words

2.  My dear friend from church (did I already say that?), Lynette of Lynettejoy

3.  Because she inspires me so much, Diane of Fit to the Finish 

4.  My Seattle buddy, Andrea of Andrea's Easy Vegan Cooking 

5.   Because I'm curious where she's flicking them, Joey of Flicking the Vs

6.  I like her style, Maud of Food Feud

7.  She does amazing food creations,Caralyn of Gluten Free Happy Tummy

8.  She impresses me with her athleticism, Ingrid of Ingrid Improves

9.  Loving her pizzas and cookies, Miss Rachel of Miss Rachel

10.  For a Puerto Rican take on vegan food, Millie of Nuestra Cena-American & Latin Vegan Cuisine

11.  I travel vicariously through her, Molly of Rambling Vegans

12.  Because she told me through a private e-mail that she really LOVES memes, SV of The Shenandoah Vegan

Don't forget to visit these sites and see what they have to offer!