Weekend Brunch

Finally, a calm handful of days in which I could actually cook a real meal or two! As my schedule may soon become much more relaxed, hopefully you’ll be seeing more posts with actual food coming soon, as opposed to just millions of recipes for sweets and things. Not that I think there would anything wrong with that, either.

I’ve made plenty of tofu scrambles and things before, but I have to admit – They never really tasted great. I was fine making and eating them by myself, but I would have been embarrassed to serve them to anyone else. Beginning to loose hope in what seemed to be a lost cause to begin with, I turned to my cookbooks, the web, anything that might direct me onto the right path. Immediately it was clear that I had relied to heavily on spices in the past, and handled my tofu poorly, causing a grainy and unpalatable texture. Combining my newfound knowledge, I set out on my task: Create a faux-eggs dish that could please my omnivorous family, and me. My end result was a very tasty tofu spinach frittata.

The only thing that I might do differently next time is cook it longer. I was in a bit of a hurry, so I could only allow 20 minutes before the others started threating canibalisim. It was a little watery when cut, but the flavor when combined with the veggies more than made up for the texture.

With this, I decided to experment with a new product that I had heard good things about, LightLife’s “Smart Bacon.” Unfortunately, I really wasn’t sure how to tell if it was done, so I panicked when the suggested time had elapsed and the strips still seemed very wiggly. To make up for that, I cooked them in the toaster oven to varrying degrees of burnt. Hmm… Had they been cooked properly, I would say they were surprisingly good. I generally stay away from fake meats, but my dad absolutely loves bacon, so I wanted to see if I could maybe wean him off of it a little… We’ll see. I don’t remember what bacon should taste like, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but certainly not a bad side.

Tofu Spinach Frittata

1 16-Ounce Package Silken Tofu
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Spicy Mustard
1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
1/4 Teaspoon Tumeric
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Cups Cooked or Frozen Spinach
1/2 Medium Onion
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, grease an 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

Get out your food processor and toss in your tofu, along with all the spices. Puree so well that it makes you nervous. (I honestly thought I had overdone it and made frittata mousse, but that’s actually kind of what you’re aiming for.)

In a small skillet, saute your onions until translucent and deliciously fragrant. Throw in the garlic, and cook for another minute or two. Remove from heat and combine with your [thawed, if originally frozen] spinach. Add to tofu mixture, and make sure all the veggie bits are evenly distributed in the tofu. Pour into the cake pan and slide into the oven for 25 – 30 minutes. Perhaps to would help to set it under the broiler for a bit to brown the top further.

Cut into fourths, it makes 4 relatively small portions. I might suggest making a sizable side to go with it, or at least cooking up more “Smart Bacon” than I did!

Printable Recipe