Tofu Scramble

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day!  I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, which I did, but I tried out a new recipe and am not thrilled with it.  I also made peanut butter cookies from the same recipe except added peanut butter instead of chocolate chips, and I'm not thrilled about that one either.  Oh well, I have a recipe I want to try out tomorrow with chocolate chips and if it works out well I'll post that and just be one day late for National Chocolate Chip Day.  Maybe you'll have more success with chocolate chip cookies than I did, or some other recipe with chocolate chips.

Even though my chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies were a fail, I still made a delicious breakfast this morning - a tofu scramble.  I got the recipe in the book "Main Street Vegan" by Victoria Moran.  By the way, if you are new to being a vegan or interested in becoming a vegan or vegetarian or even just reducing the amount of meat or dairy you eat, I highly recommend this book.  The author helps you move toward your goals without feeling overwhelmed and she includes very simple vegan recipes that are great to introduce you to cooking vegan meals.

This recipe is adapted from Main Street Vegan.  I made quite a few changes to the original recipe based on what I had in the fridge.  Here is what I did to make my tofu scramble:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1 bell pepper (I only had green, but red would have added a lovely color)
• 1 pound firm tofu, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 1 cup spinach leaves (I actually didn't measure this)

Directions:

1. In a large pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the garlic, carrots, and bell pepper and saute for about 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the crumbled tofu, nutritional yeast, turmeric, and tamari and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. (I added a splash of water when I thought the pan was getting too dry, just make sure you don't add too much.  And you can always add more oil, if you prefer that.)
4. Add the spinach and cook for about 1 more minute.

Yield: 2 servings

One awesome thing about a tofu scramble is there are endless varieties just by adding different veggies each time you make it.  Try mushrooms, scallions, asparagus, zucchini, etc.

Oh, and I loved getting so many veggies in the morning! ; )

In one serving, this recipe yields approximately 380 calories and 28g protein.