The Devil's Tofu

A few years ago, my department at work was planning a potluck and one of my coworkers challenged me to make vegan deviled eggs. I am not one to step down from a challenge so after trying out several ideas I decided to go with a fairly tradition deviled egg recipe using tofu for the whites and potatoes for the yolks. You will end up with some tofu shavings which you can put in the refrigerator for use in a tofu scramble or a tofu salad later.

Deviled “Eggs”

For the “egg” whites:
1 14 oz. block of extra-firm tofu
2 tsp. salt

For the filling:
2 medium potatoes
3 Tbsp. Veganaise (or any soy mayo)
2 tsp. yellow mustard
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. pickle relish (optional)
Paprika (for garnish)

Drain the tofu and cut it lengthwise into 1/2-inch strips. Cut each strip in half to create two squares. Round off the squares with a knife and hollow out the center with a spoon. Put 1/4 inch of warm water in a 9”x11” pan and dissolve 2 tsp. of salt in the water. Soak the carved tofu pieces in the salt bath until you are ready for them. Excess tofu pieces can be stored in water in the fridge for up to a week.

Peel the potatoes and boil them until they are soft. Drain the potatoes and cool (running cold water over the potatoes will speed up the process). Once they are cool, mash the potatoes and stir in all of the remaining ingredients, except for the paprika.

Drain the tofu and remove the excess water with a towel. Fill the tofu with the potato mixture and garnish with paprika. Chill until ready to serve.

Makes 10 “eggs”

A very merry Christmas

OMG, I have so much new stuff I don't even know where to start. Here is a picture of some of our loot.



I got Philip a drafting table and stool so he finally has a place where he can sit down and draw. I also finished the cigar gloves from knitty. After about a thousand frogging sessions I decided to make them completely fingerless which was for the better since Philip decided he preferred them that way. We received lots of new DVD's including Happiness, Simpson's season 7 and Heavy Traffic. I also got the Readymade book, David Boring, a book of really crazy hat patterns, and a stocking full of stuff to make a pirate shadow box.

My sister really went over the top with her Christmas shopping; she seemed to get everyone the perfect gift. She bought Philip the entire Left Behind series. She searched the local used bookstores until she found all 12 of the books, very impressive. She also got me a knitting pattern a day calendar and a gift certificate to Stone's Throw where I can take spinning classes.

Today we continued to add to our booty. We went out this morning to look for the LED Christmas lights that I read about in the first issue of Green Light magazine. It seems that they aren't very popular yet which made them really hard to find and when we did find them they only had white. On the plus side they were on clearance for $5 a pack, about 1/3 of the online price, so we bought 3 packs. We also bought 2 bamboo plants, 2 basil plants, and 2 cilantro plants all on sale. We looked at some cacti, but decided to do a little research before buying them since we don't really know how to care for them. I was going to buy some dirt to transplant a few of my aloe babies (yes, my aloe plant is still reproducing like crazy), but the garden section was closed off today so no dirt for me.

After all of that shopping Philip and I watched several Simpson episodes and made one last cheesecake for dinner with my mom tomorrow. To mix things up, I made a blueberry New York style cake with a gingersnap crust. After making cheesecakes for presents and dinners I am through. We still have two pieces in our refrigerator from dinner the other night that will probably never get eaten unless some unsuspecting soul drops by.

It only took a week

So the cheesecake making ended up being a little more of an ordeal than we expected. The recipe was very easy, but we couldn't find a pan small enough to fit into any of the pans we had so we could do a water bath. We borrowed pans from family members and we discovered that not all spring-form pans are water tight and finally on Thursday I gave in and bought an inexpensive 8" cake pan that worked perfectly. We followed the recipe and ended up with a perfect vegan cheesecake that looked exactly like the picture. We will be making three more cheesecakes this week, all NY style for Christmas. I love it when my baking turns out!

Say Cheesecake!

Today I received some rather sad news via email, Delicious Choices, the vegan cheesecake company, has decided to close. They made the absolute best vegan cheesecake I ever had (and I have tried a lot of cheesecakes) which were only available via mail. The good news is that they are selling their recipes on their Web site. For $10 you get a 22 page .PDF with the recipes for all of their cheesecakes that includes product brands and helpful hints. I am not sure how long they will be offering this, but if you have ever had one of their cakes you will probably want to rush over there to find out all of their secrets.

Here is a picture of their key lime cheesecake, my personal favorite. I will be making this bad boy before the weekend is through!

Meet Oscar

Yesterday, Philip and I visited Stone's Throw Artisans in Georgetown to get a drive band for the spinning wheel that my dad found and a few last minute goodies for my secret pal. If you live in Central Kentucky and haven't visited this place you should definitely make the trek. Their customer service is outstanding; I brought my wheel in and got a 30 minute lesson on how to repair and maintain this antique wheel.

We have been busy working on Christmas presents. Philip is making sock creatures like a little factory. Since they are gifts I can't actually show you any of the creatures destined for new homes, but I can show you this one. After Philip finished this guy I knitted him a little scarf and a little tuft of hair. He was so cool that we decided to add him to our personal sock creature collection so we can look at him every day.

Tomorrow I will be mailing my last secret pal package (a little late because I forgot about the deadline.) I will also be mailing all of the other things that I have been meaning to mail for the last month so if you are expecting a package from me you should get it this week, sorry about the wait. A special apology to a certain couple who have a wedding present that has been sitting in my living room for over a month waiting to make a trip to New Mexico. It will be there soon and I hope it will be worth the wait.

Knitters of America rejoice

Today the NYT ran a story about the new TSA rules and I am happy to report that we can bring scissors on the plane again. I acted like I was fine using nail clippers to cut my yarn, but deep down I was longing for my scissors, they are more versatile and usually don't get lost before my return flight. Thank you TSA.

Below is the new list of permitted items and for you smokers I am sad to report that your lighters are still out.

Permitted:
* Scissors with blades 4 inches long or less (New)
* Screwdrivers less than 7 inches long (New)
* Tools less than 7 inches long, including wrenches and pliers (New)
* Knitting needles
* Toy weapons (if not realistic replicas)
* Tweezers
* Nail clippers
* Round-bladed knives and plastic cutlery
* Up to four books of safety matches