Tofu Krab Cakes with Vegan Tartar Sauce...New and Improved!!!

So I've been tweaking my Tofu Krab Cake recipe for a couple of years now....it was good before, but with a few improvements, I think it is now PERFECT!!! I have even improved the Vegan Tartar Sauce recipe! I like the serve these with rice, as the texture and flavor combination just works really well together; so I came up with this flavorful and light Lemon Tarragon Rice side dish. Add some coleslaw, and you've got a pretty awesome meal!! I think you'll love this as much as I do. New and Improved Tofu Krab Cakes (serves 12, with 2 cakes per person)
2 cups breadcrumbs, preferably homemade
3 blocks extra firm tofu (3 lbs)
2 Tbs dried hijiki seaweed, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes and drained
1/2 cup red onion, minced
1 large celery stalk, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp kelp granules
2 Tbs ground flaxseeds
1 1/2 Tbs Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 Tbs hot sauce
1/3 cup vegenaise
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 Tbs olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 Tbs canola oil, divided into 3 tsp

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease 2 sheet pans.
In a large bowl combine the breadcrumbs, tofu, flaxseeds, vegenaise, and dijon mustard. Use your hands to crumble the tofu into chunks and incorporate the ingredients together. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine; this works best with your hands. Mix together until everything is well incorporated, but not too mushy. You still want some good sized chunks of tofu. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup or scoop, form into 24 patties, approximately 3 inches in diameter. When forming, pack each patty tightly to ensure they stay together while cooking.
Place on prepared sheet pans and sprinkle with a little extra Old Bay seasoning over the tops for texture and color. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes; this helps them bind and stay together much better. Heat about 1 tsp canola oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add cooled krab cakes to the pan, and brown lightly on both sides. Repeat until all the patties are browned. Serve with Vegan Tartar Sauce and garnish with scallions.
Note: These freeze extremely well! Place leftover patties in an airtight container, before the browning steps, and freeze until ready to use. Brown in oil after thawing.

Vegan Tartar Sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
1 box silken tofu
2 cups vegenaise
1 Tbs white wine vinegar
2 Tbs capers
1/2 cup dill pickle relish, or chopped pickles
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbs olive oil

In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients. Puree until smooth; a few chunks of capers or pickles is fine. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Lemon Tarragon Rice (serves ~12)
2 1/2 cups brown rice
5 cups cold water
1/2 tsp salt

Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
1 bunch fresh tarragon, minced

In a large pot, bring rice, water, and 1/2 tsp salt to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low; allow to simmer for 45 minutes. Do not lift the lid during this time
After rice is done, gently stir in the lemon juice, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic powder, olive oil, and tarragon, using a fork; fluff rice as you stir. Serve hot.

Serve meal with coleslaw and garnish with lemon wedges and scallions....Enjoy your faux seaside feast!!!

This Week in Sustainability...

Yesterday's Sustainability Sunday was a HUGE success! Dane and I both had tons of people come out to our supper clubs, and the KC Vegan Crawl made yet another mark on the midwest! Yay!

At my place for lunch, I made everyone's favorite: Brunch!!

My Lemon-Ginger Scones! A big, big hit! The recipe is here...I highly recommend it. I even got the lemons at the Farmers' Market!For the main event, I served up cakes 'n eggs, vegan-style!! Awesome Whole Grain Pancakes, Scrambled Tofu with Local Greens, and Local Homefries, featuring both yukon gold and sweet potatoes.

To mix it up a bit, I gave my guests a choice of different pancake toppings: Plain (Earth Balance and Maple Syrup), Homemade Pumpkin Butter, Cinnamon-Baked Apples, Chocolate Chips, or, for those with a savory tooth, Spicy Seitan Chorizo!

Here's my plate-- I topped mine with both the pumpkin butter and baked apples, being the little glutton I am. Did I mention ALL the produce and tofu used were local? Well, they were! The savory option: Pancakes topped with homemade Spicy Seitan Chorizo Crumbles, drizzled with agave nectar and sprinkled with sea salt. Holy moly this was one tasty plate o' food!!Then, for dinner at Dane's place: Gumbo and Rice! Food for the working folks, for sure!! Tons of okra, Anasazi beans, tomatoes, garlic and more in a delicious, spicy broth, topped with fluffy white rice. I think all the vegan Southerners would be proud!!And there was homemade bread: Whole Grain and French Baguettes!! BREAD!!And, since no meal is complete sans dessert: Depression Cake!! Dane found a recipe for cake from the Depression era, when things like eggs and milk were scarce...so it was already vegan and tasty and cheap to make! Yes!! He jazzed it up a bit with a Cranberry-Orange Glaze, and it was just too good!
Thanks to everyone who has been coming out to the Vegan Crawl!! Hopefully we'll just keep growing and growing! There will be more delish food to come, ya'll!

Everything's Better When It's Homemade!

There is just something so gratifying about making things yourself! Not only because they usually taste better and are healthier than when store-bought, but when you are biting into your homemade creation, there is a great sense of accomplishment and pride in your hard work. I love this feeling, so this week I tried really hard to make as much as I could from scratch! It was a lot of fun...and tasty, too!

For breakfast, I have been munching on the Bakery-Style Berry Muffins from Isa's Vegan Brunch. These are perfectly sweet and fluffy and satisfying in the morning with a little schmear of Earth Balance and berry jam. This makes me want to try all the VB muffin recipes now! No good vegan could go around tauting homemade goods without mentioning seitan! I love seitan made from scratch! It has such a wonderful flavor and is so easy. Most of my dinners this week have been centered around the Steamed White Seitan, a tester recipe for Terry's upcoming Vegan Latina cookbook. This seitan is supposed to be for chicken- and pork-type dishes, as it has a mild flavor and is spiked with delicious herbs and seasonings.For the first meal in which I used the Steamed White Seitan, I made the Arroz con Seitan, another VL test recipe. This is Terry's veganized take on Arroz con Pollo, a very traditional Latina dish with chicken, rice, and veggies. It was delicious!! First the seitan is marinated and grilled...Then combined with the rice, a delicious broth made with beer, and lots of veggies--including green olives, which I adore!! Very flavorful, hearty, and even nice on a hot summer evening with a side of juicy local tomato slices!Then last night for dinner, I used the seitan for Chipotle Seitan and Potato Tacos, a VL test recipe as well. I love love love tacos, and these were amazing! I prepared these for my friend Sarah and myself, and we devoured every last bite. Perfect on a hot night, with all the heat from the chipotle peppers to make you sweat!

I even made my own Soft Corn Tortillas for our tacos! This was my first time making homemade tortillas, and it was surprisingly easy! These were a Vegan Latina test recipe, of course! I think I will be making these all the time now!
These spicy, savory soft tacos are filled with a chipotle and beer marinated seitan that has been grilled, roasted then pan-fried sweet potatoes, shredded cabbage, the Pickled Red Onions (a VL test recipe I had leftover), and a Lime Yogurt Crema, which is Terry's spin on a sour cream-style sauce....lots of lime and cilantro and yum! I cannot stress enough how awesome these were and how excited everyone should be about the VL cookbook! woo!

And, of course, there's nothing like a homemade pie for dessert! My wonderful friend Cody had a birthday this week, and he requested a peanut butter pie instead of the traditional b-day cake. So I delivered! Celine at the Have Cake, Will Travel blog posed this PB & J Pie recipe not too long ago, and it caught my eye (and taste buds!). I made a homemade whole wheat pie crust and filled it with layers of peanut butter-based filling and raspberry jam. This was awesome! Peanut butter is good just about any way you throw it at me, but this was exceptional! It was even more perfect with some freshly-brewed coffee and lovely company!

I'm A MoFo Burnout.

Man, am I the only one who has a little Vegan MoFo burnout?? I mean, I really loved the excitement it brought and the push to be more creative in cooking and blogging, but it made me a little bit exhausted, too! I have been cooking a lot, though...just not totally psyched on blogging about it much. Also, I feel a little out of new ideas from the recent surge of creativity, so I have been making a lot of old standards...they are still delicious and beautiful, though!

This weekend we had our traditional Sunday breakfast at the wonderful Cafe Berlin...this is a must to make my week run smoothly! It is pretty much the only time Steven and I go out to eat, so this is a really special treat to be served and relax for a whole meal! Tofu-Veggie Scramble with Roasted Potatoes and Whole Wheat Toast

One of my favorites!!!

Like I said, I have been making a lot of things that I have made before...it looks like it's time for me to delve into some of my dusty cookbooks and find some new ideas! Here are some dinners from this week, about which I have been to busy to blog!

Tofu "Crab" Cakes with Vegan Tartar Sauce, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Crunchy Coleslaw

Indonesian Tempeh Stew with Broccoli (from Student's Go Vegan Cookbook), and Coriander Brown Rice

Pumpkin Pancakes with Toasted Walnuts, Sweet Potato Homefries, and Tempeh Bacon
(yes! Brinner is the greatest!)

I am now leafing through Veganomicon...if I can't get ideas from there, I can't get them anywhere!! :)

Vegan Mofo Day #9: Tofu "Crab" Cakes!

On this momentous 9th day of Vegan MoFo, I made my favorite meal: Vegan Tofu "Crab" Cakes! I am serious, these are strangely good! Perhaps it can be attributed to the Vegan Remoulade (aka tartar sauce) on top which is made from Vegenaise, my true love. Who knows! I wish I could emphasize this point more, but I just don't know how: these "crab" cakes could end the world with their deliciousness. I won't waste space to re-post the recipe, but here it is from a post I made a few months ago:Tofu Crab Cakes

I highly recommend serving these with some dirty rice (basically, brown rice with some Cajun spices and hot sauce) and my Crunchy Coleslaw, like I did! Here's my coleslaw recipe...I think you'll like it, too!

Crunchy Coleslaw (serves 6-8)

1 small head white cabbage, thinly shredded

1 small head purple cabbage, thinly shredded

2 shredded carrots

1/4 c minced red onion

2 stalks diced celery

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbs dijon mustard

1/4 cup Vegenaise

pinch salt and pepper

1 tsp paprika

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to coat everything with the dressing. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving. Yum!

This is Laura, and I have approved these "Crab" Cakes! :)