Bee Ell Tees

Bee Ell Tees (page 271)
Whole-wheat bread, Cashew Miso Mayo (page 270), spinach, tomato, and Eggplant Bacon (page 42)

The eggplant bacon is something we keep going back to; it's been great in salads, and we loved it in the breakfast sandwich. This weekend, I thought it was time to try a simple BLT for a casual Saturday night dinner.

I also tried making the Cashew Miso Mayo for the first time. I was at a little bit of a disadvantage here because I killed my food processor just the day before (which means I'm in the market for a new one... anyone have one they love and would recommend?). I used my blender instead, which worked great at first, but the more blended the cashews got, the more thick the mixture became, which resulted in the blender just throwing all the mayo up on the sides of the blender, where it stuck instead of falling back down for further blending. I blended for many, many minutes, and scraped down the sides many, many times, but it still never got quite as creamy and smooth as it would have if I had been able to use my food processor. Still, it was really tasty, and the perfect spread for these sandwiches.

Bottom line: these sandwiches were a hit with all of us. Yum!

Sanctuary Chef Salad

Sanctuary Chef Salad, page 28

I have been simultaneously looking forward to and avoiding making this salad. It sounded so good, but the prospect of preparing all the individual components seemed like a lot of hassle. I wondered, would it be worth it?

I'm happy to report: it is SO worth it. By the time we sat down to dinner, I was kind of tired and irritable about all the dirty dishes, and skeptical about the pay out for all the hassle. But with the very first bite, my taste buds said, "Oh, yeah!" and each bite after that got even better.

So let me break it down for you here. First, I whipped up the Sanctuary Dressing (you know, because "ranches are not nice places for cows"):

Sanctuary Dressing, page 29

Very tasty. The kids liked it, too, even though they never really liked regular ranch dressing. El Hombre asked, "How did you do that?" I only had soft silken tofu on hand in the pantry, so I used that instead of the extra-firm. It was fine.

Then we have the Eggplant Bacon:

Eggplant Bacon, page 42

You can see that a few pieces got a little burnt, but it was all good. Man, I love that stuff.

Here we have the Basic Baked Tofu...

Basic Baked Tofu, page 144

... which is perfect for a salad like this. Then there is the Herb-Roasted Cauliflower:

Herb-Roasted Cauliflower, page 108

The cauliflower was really, really tasty. SweetPotato especially enjoyed it. I did notice an error in the recipe, however... the instructions said to "drizzle in the oil" and mix it into the breadcrumb and herb mixture, but there is no oil listed in the ingredients. I went ahead and made it without any oil, which is what I would have done anyway, and it turned out great.

And finally, all the other salad veggies:

Chopped Romaine, tomatoes, red onions, carrots, radishes, and bean sprouts

I couldn't find sunflower sprouts at my grocery store, and alfalfa sprouts didn't strike my fancy this week, so I went with bean sprouts. They were nice and crunchy.

Delicious. And filling. And definitely worth the hassle. Bless El Hombre... he did all the dishes.

Eggplant-Chickpea Curry

Eggplant-Chickpea Curry, page 230

Because I'm in the midst of such a hectic, busy week and pressed for time, I decided to try something crazy and toss this recipe in the crockpot and see what would would happen. This curry seemed like a good candidate for the slow cooker, with the descriptions of "well-cooked" and "broken down" eggplant. Turns out, it was a great idea; I think it worked perfectly.

I first sauteed the onions, garlic, and ginger in a dry pan, and then I put everything but the chickpeas in the crockpot and let the ingredients simmer on low for about eight hours. (I also think it would probably work fine to just toss everything in the slow cooker, without pre-cooking the onion mixture first.) When I got home tonight, I bumped up the heat to high, added the chickpeas, stirred everything around to further break down the eggplant, and then let it bubble away for another ten or fifteen minutes.

I really liked this curry. It was warm and cozy after a busy run-around kind of day. I especially enjoyed how the garam masala spices really shone through in the flavor profile. This recipe is definitely one to keep around.

Breakfast (for Dinner) Sandwich

Breakfast Sandwich, pg. 269
Whole -wheat English muffin, tofu scramble with wilted spinach, Eggplant Bacon, and Caesar Chavez Dressing

El Hombre started his weekly golf league playing tonight, so the girls and I are on our own for Tuesday night dinner now, for several weeks. The plan tonight was to try Isa's suggestion for a breakfast-type sandwich, something we could take with us as we headed out for the evening for SweetPotato's ballet folklorico class and a few errands. I'm talking about a whole-wheat English muffin stuffed with scrambled tofu, wilted spinach, eggplant bacon (!) from the chapter "Full-On Salads," and that ahhhh-mazing Caesar Chavez Dressing.

This was really good. Tasty, easy, and convenient. I did not do the Curry Scrambled Tofu with Wilted Arugula suggested in AFR; instead, I just whipped up a simple tofu scramble with our family's favorite scramble seasonings, something I knew the girls would like - nutritional yeast, garlic and onion granules, and salt, with a couple handfuls of spinach wilted into the mix.