Whether you are making breakfast in bed for your love, or your kids. Having a sweet lunch date, or a romanic dinner, these are tried and true dishes are easy to prepare, but seem like you spent WAY to much time in the kitchen, shhhh I wont tell if you don't, haha. I'll be making some of these for my family on Valentine's Day. I hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day and treat yourself with the same amount of love you are giving to others, because YOU deserve it! MUCH LOVE~ Des!
BREAKFAST-
Oat pancakesThese pancakes are easy even on a weekday.
Breakfast SausageWe always have sausage in the freezer ready to heat up for any special occasion when you want to seem like your going that extra mile without much work involved.
LUNCH- Creamy Baked Pasta can be prepped the night before. Make the sauce and pasta put in the oven safe dish cover and pop in the fridge. When your ready to bake top with bread crumbs and pop it in the oven. I'll be really honest... it's delicious without the bread crumbs and extra step of baking.
DESSERT- Chocolate Cake this is such an easy cake that literally takes no time and you probably have everything you need on hand.
Chocolate Chip Cookies are something that we take when our kids need to have options and share with others so if you or your kids are having a Valentine' day party make these and everyone will thank you!
Asian inspired dishes are one of my go-to's here. For a few reasons, other than the obvious, it's delicious! It's also easy to veganize, it's quick, and I usually have all I need on hand to throw something together that my family will enjoy and I can feel good about feeding it to them because it's healthy! Who doesn't was to slurp saucy noodles. I use The Sauce on so many things, so I make it and keep it in the fridge to put on rice, veggies, dip sushi, pot stickers, spring/summer rolls, the list goes on and on...
Baked Tofu tossed in The Sauce and Stir-fried Rice
The Sauce:
1 Tablespoon Almond butter (You can add more, any nut or seed butter should work, it's optional so if you want a lower fat version leave it out)
1/4 cup Soy Sauce (Tamari, Liquid Amino's etc.)
1/4 cup Water
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
1-2 teaspoons Garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons Onion powder
1-2 teaspoons Ginger powder
1-2 teaspoons Mushroom broth seasoning (again optional, but it's so good, look for it at an Asian market it will be cheaper)
1-2 teaspoons Korean Red pepper flake (use your favorite red pepper spice, sometimes we add one of these instead Sriracha, Sambal Oelek, Sweet Chili sauce, I promise add what you like it will be awesome)
2 drops of liquid smoke (I use Hickory)
2 Tablespoons Corn Starch, ONLY add this when you are are cooking it. DO NOT add this if you are just making it to top or dip things in, the Corn Starch won't taste good uncooked, haha.
Here's the recipe video. I recommend watching it to see the steps, Much Love Always ~ Des!
*Links are to my Amazon Affiliate link. If you click or buy anything I will receive a commission at NO additional cost to you. It does help our family and we appreciate you support in this way!
This Baked Tofu is our favorite and I batch cook this pretty much weekly. Confession time, I HATED TOFU! I know some people that are transitioning to this lifestyle are saying, "MMM, yeah I'll never like tofu!", "I'll never eat tofu!", or "Uh, gross is that tofu?" I was you, not that long ago actually. I made the ever so popular Tofu Scramble, I hated it, my family liked it well enough. Not enough to request it, so that wasn't something that was on the menu. Until, we went on a 13 hour road trip.
The salad at The Tomato Head
We stopped at this great restaurant with vegan options in Knoxville, TN. Called The Tomato Head. I got this great salad with marinated baked tofu, and I was a believer! I promise there is tons of tofu under all that.
I had to try to replicate it at home, and make a few minor adjustment to suit my needs. The mouth watering picture above made with what I've been calling "The Sauce" all over it, that stuff is good on everything!
Baked Tofu Sammie
Here's how I make it in huge batches for the week, if I'm lucky it lasts that long. I prefer the texture of previously frozen tofu. When I get home, I put it in the freezer. I always have some ready to go in the fridge that I've already frozen and thawed, waiting for me. Once it's thawed, I drain it and press out as much liquid with my hand as I can, if I have time I'll press it between a couple of pans with about 5 cans on it, but more often then not, I don't. Once I've hand squeezed the liquid out, I marinate it.
Marinade: (almost just like The Sauce with a few exceptions)
1/2 cup of Water
1/4 cup Soy Sauce low sodium, (Tamara, and liquid amino's etc. will work too)
2 teaspoons Maple syrup
2 teaspoons Garlic powder
2 teaspoons Onion powder
1 teaspoon Korean red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon Mushroom broth seasoning (you know what I'm going to say, optional, but it's SO GOOD)
2-3 drops of liquid smoke (I used Hickory)
I drop a few pieces of tofu in, flip and add a few more, continue. I can marinate about 2 blocks of Extra firm/Super firm tofu.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and line the tofu squares evenly.
Bake on 400 for 15 minutes. I do this a little different depending on what I'm making and how soft or dry, I want it. The longer you bake the dryer it will be, which I like because it has a good bite to it. I like it a little softer and moist for other things. I also toss the tofu in The Sauce after baking like I did for the main picture of this post. It depends on your preference. Play around with it, I promise you will be a tofu lover and if you make this and still don't like it, I'll still love you, I guess ;)
Much Love my sweet friend ~ Des!
I recommend watching this video so you can see the process. This is the dryer version, but you'll see the steps.
*Links are to my Amazon Affiliate link. If you click or buy anything I will receive a commission at NO additional cost to you. It does help our family and we appreciate you support in this way!
