Buffalo Baked Tofu Wraps

It’s no secret that I love anything spicy or covered in hot sauce.  I have freely admit that many many times here.  I especially love the buffalo sauce flavor.  Even when I ate chicken I really only ever got buffalo wings for the sauce.  No lie.

So when I got this bottle of Buffalo Marinade in the mail from Foodbuzz as part of the tastemaker program I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!

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The marinade was great, but if you can’t find this specific brand, honestly you can use any brand or even make your own buffalo sauce to marinate in.  I’ve tried the Franks Red Hot brand of buffalo sauce and it’s fantastic as well!  And you’re especially lucky today because you’re also getting a ranch dressing recipe!

Buffalo Baked Tofu Wraps with Ranch Dressing (makes 4 wraps)
(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 package of extra firm tofu, pressed (I like the kind that comes already pressed- the Wildwood Organic is my fave)
1 bottle of your favorite buffalo sauce (you’ll only use about half of the bottle)
4 Whole wheat wraps of your choice
lettuce
ranch dressing (recipe follows)

Directions:
Slice your tofu into 8-10 slices (depending on how big your block of tofu is)

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Place sliced tofu into a ziplock bag or Tupperware container and pour half the bottle of marinade in.

Let the tofu hang out for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spritz a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Take tofu out of the marinade and shake off the excess marinade before placing each slice in the pan.

Place into oven and bake for 7-10 minutes on each side.

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Slice or cube each plank of tofu so that it will fit better into your wrap.

To assemble your wraps, take your tortilla and top with lettuce, a drizzle of ranch dressing, your tofu slices or cubes, and top it off with a drizzle of the leftover buffalo sauce marinade (it’s okay- it’s not meat so you don’t have to worry about food poisoning from this. In fact, you can keep the leftover marinade in the fridge and reuse it!)

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Wrap and roll!!!

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And here’s the ranch dressing recipe for your wraps! (you can use bottled if you want, but I promise this is WAY better!)

Ranch Dressing
(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 cup low-fat Vegenaise (or you can use yogurt)
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
big pinch of salt, to taste
big squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 Tablespoon)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

If you want your dressing a little thinner, add a little more non-dairy milk.  If you want it a little thicker, add a little more vegenaise.

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I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!  And P.S. the leftover buffalo tofu makes a wicked salad- just toss on top of your fav salad with a few spoonful’s each of the ranch and the buffalo sauce!  NOM!

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Meatless Monday: Tempeh Sloppy Joes

 

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Sometimes it’s fun to get sloppy and a little messy when you eat- and these sandwiches definitely fit the bill!  If you aren’t sure what tempeh (pronounced tem-pay) is, check out this post. I’ve seen people crumble up tempeh and use it in tacos and sloppy joes so I thought I would give it a try. Don’t forget you’ll need to steam the tempeh a bit before you crumble it up(see the same post if you want to know why)!

These tempeh sloppy joes are amazing- tempeh is the perfect texture for crumbling up and using in this type of recipe.  If you don’t like tempeh you could just use portabella mushrooms instead.  I really think the meaty-ness of the tempeh fits perfectly with the sauce.  This recipe is perfect for a casual Meatless Monday dinner!

Oh and by the by, any time I make (or think of) sloppy joes I can’t help but sing that Adam Sandler song. (Sloppy joe, slop sloppy joe)

Let’s get sloppy, shall we?

Tempeh Sloppy Joes
makes 6-8 sandwiches
(print this recipe)

Ingredients:
1 package tempeh
1 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms (I like cremini mushrooms)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetarian worcestershire sauce
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper
Whole wheat burger buns

 

Directions:
Steam tempeh for about 10 mins- I do it on the stove in a steamer basket.  Let tempeh cool before crumbling.

Over medium-high heat, sauté onion and bell pepper together in a little cooking spray until tender (veggie broth works nicely for sautéing veggies too).

Crumble in the tempeh (it should crumble easily) and add the mushrooms and garlic.  Cook until the mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the tomato paste, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauce.  Simmer until sauce is thick.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Spoon the mixture onto your burger buns and top with your favorite garnish- I love pickles on sloppy joes!  I also like to serve these with sweet potato fries.

 

mmmmmm…….

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Hope you had a great Meatless Monday!!

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Meatless Monday: Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms

Happy Meatless Monday friends!

On Wednesday I promised an awesome stuffed mushroom recipe and here it is!!  Hope you enjoy!

Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms
(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
4 Portobello mushrooms (you could also do this with baby bellas)
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup of your favorite pizza or pasta sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella (I like Daiya), plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Lightly scrape the gills out of your mushrooms (you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I find the gills kind of oogey so I like to scrape them out) and wipe them down with a damp towel to clean them.

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Sauté onion and bell pepper on medium heat until tender. (I like to sauté my veggies with a little vegetable broth instead of oil!)

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Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.

Remove veggies from the heat and place into a bowl with Italian seasoning, sauce, breadcrumbs, and cheese.

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Divide the mixture between the mushrooms and sprinkle the tops with a little more cheese.

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Bake in the 400 F oven for 45-50 minutes.

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We served ours with a big pile of steamed broccoli and some salad!

So. Good.

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Mushrooms.  Pizza.  Cheese.  Can’t go wrong there my friends!

Have a great week!

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Decadence and moderation

Let’s talk about moderation friends (this talk will be followed by a decadent recipe, so hang in there! Winking smile).

I’m a big fan of moderation.  I believe that’s what makes a healthy diet and a healthy life!  I can’t even imagine how sad my life would be if I said “sugar is evil and I will never ever eat it again!”  I love love love to bake (and eat said baked goods)!  Never eat a cupcake, brownie, cookie again?  No way!  That makes me sad just thinking about it!!

Decadence can be a part of a healthy lifestyle.  It’s okay to indulge your sweet tooth(or your salty tooth if you don’t like sweets- I have to say though, I don’t trust anyone who says they don’t like sweets or desserts! Winking smile (kidding!) )  Let’s NOT think of this as “cheating” or “being bad”!  Food is not the enemy and it’s not healthy to think of it as being such.  We’re not just talking about dietary health here, but mental health as well.  When we start demonizing food we’re playing a dangerous mental game!

On a daily basis I like to minimize added oils and sugars because that’s what makes me feel my best and healthiest (plus added fats tend to wreck my stomach if I don’t moderate them!).  But when I want to indulge, I indulge!  If there’s a decadent cake or cookie recipe I am dying to try I go for it!  Denying yourself the things you love is another one of those dangerous mental games!  I don’t do this on a daily basis so indulging in a treat occasionally is even more amazing because it becomes something special- I savor it and enjoy it!

Enough lecturing, let’s talk about this recipe!  Chocolate + peanut butter= true love forever!  The combination has never done me wrong and this recipe is no exception!  This is absolutely decadent and one of those things that you want to just sit and savor every single bite!  And this recipe freezes well, so it’s easy to portion these out and wrap them individually and put them in the freezer!  Let’s get to it, shall we?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Graham Bars
(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
for the bars:
1 1/2 cups organic peanut butter
2 cups graham crackers, crushed
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup earth balance, melted
1 tsp vanilla

for the frosting:
1 cup chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons coconut oil (or use earth balance if you don’t have coconut oil)

Directions:
Grease an 8 x 8 pan or line with parchment paper.

Combine grahams, melted butter, and peanut butter.

Stir in powdered sugar (slowly so you don’t get covered in it!) and vanilla.

Press mixture into pan.

Place in refrigerator while you’re making your frosting.

Prepare your frosting by melting together in microwave or double boiler the chocolate chips and coconut oil.

Spread frosting over the top of the PB mixture and place back in fridge until chocolate is firm.

Slice into small squares and enjoy!  P.S. be careful taking them out of the pan- they can be a little crumbly.

 

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Don’t forget to savor every last bite!

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What I Ate Wednesday: Cinnamon Raisin Bread Edition

 

 

It’s time for another installment of What I Ate Wednesday!  Last week’s was a really big hit so I’m definitely going to continue doing it!

What was on the food agenda for me??

Well, for breakfast I had put some whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread in the bread machine the night before!  It turned out soooooo good!  The recipe will be at the end of this post!

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I had two slices with a little Earth Balance.  It was amaaaaaaazing!!!  I had this along with copious amounts of caffeine.

 

For lunch I made my new favorite salad!  I can’t believe I’m going to admit this, but I totally ate this salad while I was driving to school.  I put the bowl right in my lap!

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In my salad:

  • several big handfuls of Romaine lettuce
  • a few handfuls of broccoli slaw
  • cubed, baked tofu (the love of my life!)
  • sprinkle of wasabi sunflower seeds and sesame sticks
  • 2 T Annie’s Light Gingerly dressing

Don’t forget the apple slices!

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Perfection!!

Class was boring as usual.  I think that it gets more and more boring every day.  I’m kind of done with that class, honestly.  Bah!

But I’m NOT done with this after school snack!  (nice transition, huh?)

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Chocolate chip coconut granola bar- used this granola bar recipe and added some shredded coconut to it. Mmmm!

 

Dinner was a brand new recipe!  Come back on Monday and you can get the recipe for these Pizza Stuffed Portobellos! (trust me, you’re going to want this recipe!)

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We had our stuffed shrooms with some steamed broccoli sprinkled with garlic gold nuggets(love those things!), and a salad with Annie’s light honey mustard.

 

Welp, that’s all my eats for the day!  How about a recipe?  This is a spinoff of my Whole Wheat Cranberry Walnut Bread and it’s fantabulous!

 

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup agave nectar (honey would work too if that’s what you have)
3 cups organic whole wheat flour 
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup raisins

Directions:
Add ingredients to bread machine in the order that your bread machine recommends (mine says wet ingredients then dry)

Some people say to add fruit and nuts during the last knead cycle, but honestly I just threw them in there with everything else at the beginning and it worked just fine!

Let your bread machine do its thang! (I used the basic 1- 1 1/2 lb loaf size bread setting with a light crust)

Devour! 

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Happy WIAW- what are you munching on today??

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