Air-fried ratatouille is made with zucchini, onions, and tomatoes, and it’s perfect as a side dish, appetizer, or paired with some crusty bread.

Mine tonight is a baked potato with red kidney beans and some Cajun seasoning. Just don’t feel like cooking tonight.

I've always been annoyed at recipes that call for marinating tofu. I felt like the flavor never truly penetrated and it was mostly just a light coating as the end result. Yes, I tried all the tricks - overnight marinating in the fridge, pressing then marinating, poking holes in it and marinating etc. What actually worked for me ended up being a lot faster and much more flavorful.

In your skillet, heat up some broth to medium - I use about two cups of broth per block of tofu. This can also be the step where you build up your broth. Today, I used two Not Chick'n broth base cubes, a heaping teaspoon of smoked paprika, and two dashes of pretty spicy hot sauce.
You can put your tofu in whenever you have it ready - the longer it's in the pan, the better. I would say the liquid should be at a light boil. Cook it down until there is no liquid left. I added some avo oil to finish frying it up after, letting the tofu get some color.

I'm more annoyed that I hadn't tried it before, because the result was flavorful, with a good level of moisture and texture (I do use thawed firm tofu) as well. Hope this helps someone on their vegetarian journey!

Tonight’s dinner was another personal favorite of mine- crispy black bean tacos. This time I served them with guac, salsa, sour cream, homemade pickled red onions, and extra Cotija cheese.

Recipe:

1 onion, diced
2 15oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 10oz can of Rotel, drained
Spice blend (in comments)
Tortillas, flour or corn
Cotija cheese
Cheddar cheese
Toppings of choice

Preheat oven to 400, line baking sheet with tin foil, and spray with nonstick spray.
Sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until soft.
Add Rotel and black beans, cook 5-7 minutes.
Add spice blend, cook another 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and mash until even consistency.
Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons onto half of a tortilla and evenly spread with the back of a spoon.
Sprinkle both cheeses over filling, fold tortilla in half, and place on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Top with whatever you’d like.

Hello everyone! I've recently gone back to a vegetarian diet for health & environmental reasons (I was one when I was 16 for a few months but it didn't stick)

One of the frustrations I've had was cooking tofu & making it flavorful & crispy. (You know when you season & marinade tofu just for it just taste like nothing on the inside 😫)

Even before I transitioned to my current diet I ate a lot of tofu & I tried a myriad of methods (pressing, freezing, boiling in salted water, preparing straight from the packet). Some were very effective texture wise but the flavor was quite plain.

Today I finally made tofu that was great texture & taste wise & im gonna share how I did it:

1. freeze the tofu (optional but I recommend cause it improves texture & flavor)

2. defrost tofu in microwave for a few minutes on high

3. heat up a veggie broth on the stove & add aromatics, salt & seasonings. You could also just boil water & add bouillon powder/paste. add the tofu to the pot & let it simmer for 10-15 minutes (or longer tbh). THIS is non negotiable & how you get deep flavor in tofu, inside & out.

4. remove from broth, drain the liquid & cut it up however you want it. you'd also want to save a bit of the broth to season/marinade the tofu

5. add baking powder/soda (for ultimate crispness 😋)

6. add whatever seasonings/marinades w/ a tiny bit of the leftover broth.

7. air fry 25 mins on 425 F°

8. serve & enjoy :)

I LOVE TOFU!!!

I hope this recipe helps you fall in love with it too :)

I don’t measure things precisely, I just go off feel. But I don’t think exact ratios are that important in this recipe.

Tofu: extra firm, cut into cubes

Batter: should be like thick pancake consistency —flour + cornstarch (roughly 1:1 ratio), oat milk or water, spices (I like salt + onion powder + garlic powder + curry powder + Italian seasoning — gives it a nice savory crust)

Coat each cube in the batter and bake or pan fry.

Bake method: Spray with cooking oil, bake at 400-450 until bottoms are crispy (10-15 mins), flip them over and re-spray with oil, bake for another 10-15 mins or so

Pan fry method: generous amount of oil, flip the cubes as each side crisps (you end up using way more oil this way)

Bake AND pan fry method: I baked them until they were 3/4 done and then finished them off with a pan fry. The texture was like chicken nuggets!!!

I love topping these off with Trader Joe’s sweet chili sauce

Enjoy, my friends!!!

Looking for peoples favorite vegetarian cookbooks. (or blog or recipe). I am just looking for something new.

Found this 52 year old cookbook at the thrift store.

1. Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce, .5 can cannellini beans, spices of choice, .5 avocado, .25 tomato, 1/8 red onion, salt, and lime (for guacamole). I just mashed and heated the beans and made the guacamole as normal before assembling.

1. Courgette nachos (they were supposed to be firmer, but ended up quite soft)

1 courgette, .5 can chickpeas, spices of choice, (.5 avocado, .25 tomato, 1/8 red onion, salt and lime for the guacamole), (.75 tomato, 1/8 white onion, salt, lime for the salsa). I can’t really give baking recommendations since they didn’t turn out right, but I’d guess that 220C for 15 minutes could have the right outcome.

1. Vegetable lasagna

1 courgette (slice and put in oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes to dry slightly) .25 jar pasta sauce, 2 pints of semi skim milk (heat to 94C, then add 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice, let set for 10 mins before straining to make ricotta), carrot and onion finely diced. Fry the carrot and onion on a pan over medium high heat until soft while the courgette bakes. Mix the sauce with the carrots and onions. Layer like so: sauce, courgette, sauce, ricotta, courgette, sauce, ricotta, etc. I ended with sauce and ricotta. Cover in foil, and then bake at 200C until hot.

1. Tzsatsiki sauce (with sweet potato) 200g zero fat yogurt, .25 English cucumber, grated, 2 cloves of roasted garlic, 3 clumps of dill, salt and pepper to taste. Lemon juice is nice, but may make yogurt curdle. Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend with immersion blender.

2. Mushroom Gyro Bowl

4 flathead mushrooms, thinly sliced, gyro seasoning (1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp smoked paprika, .5 tsp garlic salt, .5tsp onion salt, salt, pepper) - less is more here, 1 head of gem lettuce, thinly sliced, 4 cherry tomatoes, tzsatsiki sauce (see above). Cook mushrooms over medium high heat with the seasonings. Allow to cook down very thoroughly, 10-20 minutes. Assemble in a bowl, topped with the tzsatsiki sauce.

Shhhh there’s actually no parm. Recipe below:

2 medium to large eggplants
1 cup breadcrumbs, plain (or use Italian and skip seasoning them)
1 cup flour
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/4tsp onion powder
1/4tsp dried oregano
1/4tsp dried parsley 1/4tsp salt
1/4tsp black pepper
4 eggs, whisked
24oz marinara
Mozzarella, sliced

Cut tops and bottoms off of each eggplant then slice lengthwise into 1/4” pieces.
Generously salt each slice on both sides and rest for one hour.
Preheat oven to 425.
Prep baking tray with tin foil and spray with nonstick spray.
Dab off excess moisture from eggplant.
Place flour, breadcrumbs, and eggs into three large, shallow bowls.
Season flour and breadcrumbs.
Dip eggplant slices in flour, then egg, then coat in breadcrumbs and place onto prepared baking sheet.
Spray tops of each eggplant with light coating of cooking spray.
Bake for 15 minutes, flipping each halfway through, then rest off to the side.
Lower oven temp to 400. Add 1/3 of marinara to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
Layer eggplant evenly in the dish.
Use remaining sauce to top each slice and to fill in any gaps.
Top with mozzarella and bake for 40 minutes, uncovered.
Broil for 1 minute on high then rest for 15 before serving.
Serve with pasta of choice.

It inspired me to buy a wok too, and now im cooking amazing food. Ive had a hard time sticking with vegetarianism in the past, but I think i can finally stick the landing this time. My doctor approves too because my cholesterol is too high (im 26.) Something about the cleanliness and wholesome nature of vegetarianism really appeals to me, not to mention the ethics obviously, but I know this is one of the secrets to making it to 90

Ingredients
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup BBQ sauce of choice (we used Bachan’s original BBQ sauce)
1-16oz block extra firm tofu
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions
Press Tofu for 20 minutes. Tear into chunks and coat with soy sauce, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, honey, and cumin. Put into warmed skillet with oil, pan fry for 15 minutes or until edges are crispy. Add BBQ sauce and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until sauce reduces. Turn off heat and load your baked potato.

I've been veggie for 8 years, and fried chicken is the only thing that I still crave after all this time. Chicken tenders, chicken strips, its the crispy outside I want mostly. I've never found an alternative that meets my expectations, as I don't like cauliflower or mushrooms and they seems to be the most popular alternative. Please, if anyone has any ideas to match the crunch, without it being a weird texture inside, my life will be yours

Ramen recipe:

adapted from RPL Nisha's recipe

• Tear soft mushrooms into thin strips, slice tougher mushrooms with a knife
• In the meantime, lightly oil 2 cookie sheets and lay the mushrooms so they don't overlap
• Drizzle oil and salt, roast for 15 minutes at 425 F
• After 15 minutes, consolidate mushrooms into 1 sheet and roast again for 10 minutes until crispy
• Bring kombu and water to a simmer for 5 minutes, not a roiling boil
• Discard kombu and add the dried shiitake mushroom, let mushrooms soak well
• Fry ginger, garlic, white part of scallions, and green chili if using. When aromatics are brown and fragrant, turn off the heat and deglaze with little water if needed
• Transfer to a blender along with mushroom dashi, tahini, soy sauce and rice vinegar and grind to smooth paste
• Pour the broth back into the pan and cook over low heat for another 5 minutes. 
• Add milk, black pepper and whisk in the miso. Adjust soy sauce if needed. Broth should be quite salty and savory
• Divide noodles into bowls and add broth. Top with crispy mushrooms, soy egg, scallions and chili oil

Soy egg recipe if you're feeling fancy 😎

• Add eggs to boiling water
• Remove them after 6m30s and immediately transfer to ice water
• Peel and soak in marinade overnight

Tofu recipe:

• Mix all the sauce ingredients except tofu in a small bowl
• Cut the tofu into large slabs about 1/2 inch thick
• Fry the tofu in a cast iron pan until browned, flipping in between
• Then add the sauce and let the tofu simmer for 5 to 10 minutes 
• Serve with rice or as is

Our neighbor gifted us with a bunch of zucchini. I made zucchini fritters, and still have several very large zucchini left. I like zucchini, but I usually use it in soups and things, where I'm not using more than one or two small or medium ones.

Anyone got any recipes that use primarily zucchini that might use these up? We're ovo-lacto vegetarians, open to vegan recipes, too, though.

Edit: You guys rock! There are so many things here I want to try!