Tag Archives: TofuXpress

Jan 26 2013
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Brown Bag Vegan, Raw

Brown Bag Vegan Lunch: Tofu & Tomato Salad

I’m really proud of myself, you guys, because I brought coffee, breakfast, and lunch to work everyday this past week. It’s a huge deal for me because I had grown accustomed to buying coffee and lunch everyday (I would buy coffee or soy lattes twice a day most days) and either skipping breakfast or eating junk from the cafeteria. So, here’s what I know about myself: while I don’t mind leftovers, I don’t want to eat the same thing for lunch and dinner for a week, which is pretty much what happened when I made the pasta bake, and I still had some left after that. In order to keep this up, my challenge will be to prepare and plan ahead so that lunch can be easy and not boring.

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One of the lunches I brought this week was a tofu and tomato salad. It took minimal effort, but did require some planning ahead. Here are the ingredients I used:

1 block extra firm tofu, cut into cubes
1 roma tomato, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
dill (fresh is great but I keep a bottle of Litehouse Freeze-Dried dill which is the next best thing)
salt and pepper to taste

I’d like to note that if I was eating this at home, I would have added some onion, but I didn’t want to offend anyone with my onion breath. Also, hot peppers or red pepper flakes would be a nice addition to this.

First, I had to make sure to press a block of tofu. I put my tofu in the TofuXpress before going to bed one night. Then, the next night, I drained it, cut it into cubes, and put it in a bowl with the chopped tomatoes. Then I mixed in the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dill, and salt and pepper. I then placed all of it in my lunch container and put it in the fridge. In the morning, I grabbed the container, put it in my reusable lunch bag, and took it to work. All I had to do when it was lunchtime was grab a fork and chow down!

Not only was this really easy and about as effortless as lunch can be, it was totally vegan, raw, healthy, and a perfectly substantial lunch. It was also a lot cheaper than anything I would have bought for lunch. Yay! –Melissa

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Jan 08 2013
2 Comments
Thoughts

TofuXpress Winner!

We are super pleased to announce the winner of our TofuXpress giveaway. Congratulations to Lorena!! Lorena has won the wonderful TofuXpress as well as a chance to guest blog on Turning Veganese. We’re pretty excited to find out what she makes with her fancy new gadget.

Here’s a line-up of some things we have made with the help of a TofuXpress:

Brent’s Marinated Tofu

Pesto Tofu

A Different Kind of Tofu Scramble

Big thanks to everyone who entered. If you don’t have a TofuXpress and eat a lot of tofu, you gotta get one! Trust us… it will change your life! –Melissa

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Dec 26 2012
1 Comment
Thoughts

Giveaway Extravaganza!

Today on Turning Veganese, we are announcing our final giveaway winner of a Bubble & Bee Lotion Stick. And the winner is… justaudrey! Wooooot! Congratulations!! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Don’t forget to enter our TofuXpress giveaway! To enter, you will need to do at least TWO of the following:

Then, e-mail us at turningveganese@gmail.com and tell us what you will make with your TofuXpress if you win it. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be invited to write a post for us about your TofuXpress experience! We will accept entries through December 31st. The TofuXpress giveaway is open only to residents in the U.S. or Canada.

Get those entries in! –Melissa

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Oct 27 2012
2 Comments
Raw, Recipes

A Different Kind of Tofu Scramble

I’ll usually make a tofu scramble for breakfast on the weekend, but I wasn’t quite feeling it today. That said, I had a pressed block of tofu that was ready to be eaten. So I decided to make a different sort of tofu scramble.

This was easy and turned out great with just a few ingredients:

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and drained using the wonderful TofuXpress
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp dill (I love dill)
chopped green onion or chives
salt and pepper to taste

I ‘crumbled’ the tofu with a fork and then added the olive oil, lemon juice, dill, green onion, and salt and pepper. I mixed it all up really well and then let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes. I served it on toast with a side of tomatoes.

This recipe reminded me of when I was in Israel a couple years ago and had the same thing for breakfast every day: bread with feta cheese. It’s kind of cool that I accidentally made a tofu-based vegan feta! I gobbled this up really quickly and am already planning to make it again with my next block of tofu.

Great on toast, great as a salad topping, great vegan deliciousness! –Melissa

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Oct 24 2012
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Cooking

Easy Miso Tofu

Maybe it’s the change of season, but I have found myself yearning for comfort food. I’ve been thinking about one dish in particular for the past few days: my Mom’s baked catfish. How could I recreate this dish, vegan-style? Pretty easily!

First, I grabbed a block of tofu and pressed it overnight using my TofuXpress. Then, I scored the tofu and let it sit in some miso paste and chopped green onion for several hours.

I cooked the tofu by baking the entire block in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. While it was baking, I took some brown rice and quinoa that I had in the fridge and heated them together in a pan, seasoning it with soy sauce and some garlic powder.

It really was as simple as that! I definitely want to tweak the recipe a bit, be more fancy with the seasoning and really crust some of that miso on there. But this hit the spot and satisfied my catfish craving. –Melissa

 

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Sep 10 2012
3 Comments
Raw

Pesto Tofu

Christie and Brent got me a TofuXpress for my birthday and it has changed my life! There are some recipes included in the box and I was immediately intrigued by the Pesto Tofu. This is a great healthy and raw recipe!

Pesto Tofu

1 block firm tofu, pressed in the TofuXpress for at least one hour (I pressed mine overnight)
1/4 cup pesto

The original recipe called for 3 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt, but the tofu was freshly made and I felt it was oily and salty enough as is, so I didn’t add it. It may have helped to make the pesto less clumpy, but I liked the clumps!

I picked some basil from the garden and made my pesto.

Then I cubed my tofu and mixed it with some of the pesto. I tried waiting an hour for the tofu to marinate in the fridge, but I couldn’t wait. So, after 15 minutes, I devoured it with some sliced heirloom tomatoes from the garden, which made it this great sort of vegan caprese dish.

I sprinkled some salt and freshly ground pepper on the tomatoes. A nice drizzle of balsamic vinegar would also be a nice touch!

Yum yum yum! Healthy, raw, delicious, nutritious. I enjoyed this dish a ton! –Melissa

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Aug 02 2012
12 Comments
Lazy Vegan, Reviews

Hipster Chic Volume II : Marinated Tofu

A vegan friend was discussing vegan cooking gadgets with us on her visit from elsewhere and suggested we try out the TofuXpress. We decided to give it a spin, and I will sing its praises for years to come. The TofuXpress is freaking sicknasty bodacious.

As the resident tofu presser in our household, I have struggled with the perfect way to make the texture of tofu meatier. I tried conventional pressing methods (tofu on paper towels, pressed down and weighted by a plate on top), and not so conventional methods (freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw). The former was certainly the most effective, but it necessitated a lot of waste. The TofuXpress makes it easy for me to make a nicely textured tofu that I can marinate.

So, for this simple recipe, you can use the paper towel method, or in my case, use a TofuXpress.

Take your block of tofu, drop it into the Xpress, use the heavy spring for pressing. Before putting it in the fridge, dump some of the already pressed liquid down your sink drain for optimal drainage. Stick it in the fridge, and go do something fun for an hour. I chose to dance to some Earth, Wind, and Fire records.

Pull the tofu out of the fridge, drain the liquid, remove the press. Now, to marinate, there’s a handy lid that attaches to the base of the Xpress that also acts as a seal for marinating.

Go ahead and prepare your marinade. For this experiment, I used a combination of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Sriracha and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. The soy sauce and liquid aminos are there to help thin out the mix as tofu is not quite porous enough to soak in the teriyaki and Sriracha, which is where the awesome flavor is at. Dump your marinade into the Xpress with the tofu, let it soak for a half hour. After that time is up, flip the tofu, put the lid back on and let it soak another half hour.

The final step is to press out excess marinade for a last half hour period. I know that this has taken up 2.5 hours already, but I promise it’s worth it. Drop the excess marinade into a dish, save it for later, or use it to dip. You can slice up the tofu and eat it as is, or pan sear it for science.

If you want to save time, do the following :

  1. Prepare marinade.
  2. Press tofu overnight.
  3. In the morning, drain, switch to marinade.
  4. After daily activities, enjoy your tasty marinated tofu.

This will save a lot of waiting time, and your tofu will be freaking amazing after that nice long marinade session.

In short, the TofuXpress made it super easy for us to make firmer tofu, and enabled us to experiment with marinades. It saves us from wasting paper towels, and doesn’t take up a counter top. It’s dishwasher safe, and all of its parts store inside of itself. The TofuXpress has been a boon to us. Let us know if you have one, your marinade recipes, or feel free to ask us about it.

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