Posts filed under ‘product review’
Tofu Cookery: Foccacia Bread Pizza
While last week I cooked and reviewed recipes from Vegan Bites (which I am now giving away – enter!), this week I have the pleasure to cook and share some recipes from Tofu Cookery, all courtesy of Book Publishing Co. While thumbing through the book I was really looking for non-traditional tofu recipes, since most of us have used tofu to replace meat time and time again.
For tonight’s dinner, I landed on the recipe for “Foccacia with Tofu”. I instantly knew I needed to try this recipe, especially given my love (and epic failed attempts) for making homemade pizza. A quick scan of the recipe made me believe the rising time wasn’t so long and that this could easily be a week night dinner meal.
I followed the recipe exactly, only using unbleached white flour instead of whole wheat flour, and adding a teaspoon of dried rosemary to the dough. I split the dough into two balls to make separate breads for D and I. I wanted the foccacias to be “Mediterranean” and used the following toppings:
- 2 campari tomatoes on each foccacia
- 1/3 of a medium sauteed sliced red onions (in 1/2 tbsp olive oil) for each
- 1/2 can of artichokes packed in water (patted dry, separated, and split between breads)
- 1/2 block of Mediterranean Herb Soy Feta split between each bread
- 1/4 cup sliced kalamata olives (only on mine)
- basil pesto (spread atop dough on D’s)
- a sprinkle of garlic powder atop each before throwing in the oven
Instead of the 10-15 minutes of baking recommended, we let it bake for 18 minutes (and I think it could have crisply gone for 20 total). What resulted were two crispy, fluffy, golden, foccacia pizzas.
My foccacia
D’s foccacia
Results? Utter and sheer success! WOW, wow, wow! I attribute the success of this dinner to two key components:
- The foccacia dough actually baked, crisped, and maintained it’s integrity with the toppings. It was crispy, fluffy and soft all at the same time. D remarked it was my “best pizza yet” (and he really was talking about the crust). When I told him the secret ingredient was tofu, his response was that he didn’t care what was in it, it was good. I think this will become my go-to “pizza dough” recipe from now on. It only took about an hour to rise, not bad!
- The soy feta. It really sealed the taste of “Mediterranean” that I was going for, in fact it was out of this world and spot on as close to true feta as I can recall. It crumbled easily and maintained it’s flavor after being baked at 475 degrees. I even had D fooled into thinking it was “real” cheese (and I have yet to mention otherwise). Seriously, this is probably the most awesome product I’ve had the pleasure of falling upon at Whole Foods to date. It’s made by a company called Sunergia SoyFoods. They have a whole line of tofus and cheeses in a variety of flavors. The remaining soy cheese flavors are: Lemon Oregano, Soy Bleu, and Tomato Garlic. Absolutely worth checking out!
I would consider tonight’s dinner a 100% success. The dough rose and stayed crisp, D believed the feta was real cheese, and he almost finished off his entire pie. Please do yourself the favor and try this simple recipe out! I’m sharing it courtesy of Book Publishing Co. I’ve done the math and have included the nutrition information at the bottom for 8-servings. Enjoy!
Foccacia with Tofu
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
- 1 tablespoon sweetener (I used vegan sugar)
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/2 pound soft regular tofu at room temperature, mashed or blended
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups of bread flour or whole wheat flour (I used 3 cups unbleached white)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Combine water, sweetener, and yeast in a food processor with a dough blade or a mixer with a dough hook. Let stand until the mixture starts to foam, then beat in mashed/blended tofu. Add and beat the flour, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt, until the mixture forms a smooth ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. Add more flour as needed to clean the sides fo the bowl.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a large, warm oiled bowl and turn the dough once so it is coasted all over with oil. Cover the bowl with a clean dry cloth or plastic wrap and let rest about 15-minutes. Divide the dough in half or thirds and sprinkle baking sheets with cornmeal. Roll or press out by hand each piece of dough on baking sheet to form 8-inch round. Cover loosely with a clean dry cloth or plastic wrap and let rise until slightly puffed (no timing specified, I let it sit for about 45 minute).
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Brush the tops with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and arrange your choice of toppings on the puffed dough. Transfer the focaccias to a preheated baking stone or bake them directly on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown (18-20). Transfer to racks to cool slightly, serve warm.
Nutrition for 8-servings: 238 calories, 35g carbohydrates, 8g fat, 8g protein.
Enjoy the rest of your night, and don’t forget to enter my giveaway!
Reviews: Pure NRG Bar & Gardein Chik’n
Today I was so grateful for having the day off. Our power went on & off three times in the course of the night, and the bang of the electricity powering on and off kept me up all night. I got to sleep in while poor D had to go off to work. I considered all the things I could use my time for, but decided to stay home and pick up and clean all the messes I didn’t get to yesterday.
While I was keeping busy the doorbell rang – I had received a package from Keri at IEatTrees.com. I won her giveaway and received a box of 12 Pure NRG bars! Thank you so much Keri! Pure NRG bars are vegan and gluten free, and have laudable nutritionals. They keep for 21 days on the counter, 90 days in the refrigerator, and 6 months in the freezer.
I received Blueberry, Carob Peanut Butter, Cherry Almond, and Carob Coconut.
I stuck 4 bars in the refrigerator, and the rest in the freezer. However I really couldn’t wait to try them and ripped open the carob coconut, as it was just eyeing me down. Check out the nutrition facts:
Calories: 240, Fat: 9g, Carbohydrates: 35g, Protein: 6g, Dietary Fiber: 9g.
Ingredients: coconut flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, hemp protein, unsweetened applesauce, agave nectar, xylitol, olive oil, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, rice milk, vanilla extract, xantham gum, cinnamon, coconut, carob.
Review? I love all of those ingredients listed above! So natural and healthy, and no soy! They are a bit high in calories and fat, however given what the bar is comprised of I think it’s well worth a healthy treat. This bar was delicious! It was sweet with a mild hint of coconut, moist and chewy, and the carob chips balanced out the flavors perfectly. I only allowed myself half, but I can easily see the other half being my “treat” after dinner. I can’t wait to try the rest of the flavors!
Lunch rolled around before I realized what time it was, and I was anxious to dig into a Gardein product, as they generously sent me three coupons to try out their products! Gardein proteins are all vegan, and made up of soy, grain, and vegetable bases. I picked up two products yesterday and whipped out the Tuscan breasts today.
Check out those nutritionals! The ingredients are pretty well based as well: water, soy protein, vital wheat gluten, ancient grains (quinoa, amaranth, millet and kamut®), natural flavors (from plant sources), potato starch, expeller pressed canola oil and/or safflower oil, pea protein, modified vegetable gum, carrot fiber, organic beet root fiber, organic evaporated cane juice, yeast extract, sea salt. marinade: water, tomato paste, spices, herbs (rosemary, oregano, basil), red bell pepper flakes, vinegar, citric acid, xanthan gum
I heated the chik’n for 2-minutes in the microwave before cutting it in half and piling onto a sandwich. The chik’n was moist and cooked in a tomato sauce. I toasted two pieces of Ezekial 7-grain bread, spread one side with the best hummus in the world (Sabra roasted red pepper), stacked some spinach and canned artichokes, and then the gardein chik’n.
The first bite of the sandwich made me drool for me, everything was so moist and flavorful! The chik’n didn’t have a chewy texture (think: morningstar or quorn), and was much more moist. I would say from what I remember it wasn’t as chicken-like in flavor or texture, but was close. I enjoyed the first half of the sandwich immensely; however by the time I got to the second half the overwhelming presence of the chicken-like protein began to nag at me, and iIfound myself picking some chunks of it out.
Results? I found the chik’n to be quite delicious, and I would and will go to it as a chicken replacement again. I can see this being quite delicious shredded up in mexican dishes (think: quesadillas and enchiladas), where there are many other big flavor and texture components at play. I probably will not make a whole piece the center of a sandwich again, and I think I may cut a piece in half and have better results. Overall, I absolutely recommend this product to someone looking to add some vegan protein to their diet in a quick fashion.
I can’t wait to try to the chik’n tenders next! What’s your favorite meat replacer? Before I switched to a vegan diet I loved morning star crumbles, and wish they figure out a way to remove the egg whites!
Stay tuned for tonight’s dinner, and if you haven’t please check out and enter my Vegan Bites giveaway that runs the rest of this week! All you have to do is comment on what you’d like to try!
Review: Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown & iFit Level 2
I know I have been majorly neglecting my blog since last week. This weekend has been both busy and not so busy, and I’ve enjoyed it for both reasons. Friday D and I were both zonked and our weekend storm had just begun to brew. We ordered in and I got to enjoy some tofu vegetable stir fry and watch a movie on the couch. I actually managed to get near 9 hours of sleep that night (a lot for me) and woke up feeling so refreshed.
Most of yesterday was spent lounging, and my sister and I hit up the Bloomingdales Denim Days sale and scored designer jeans for 40% off! Totally worth weathering the insane storm that took down power lines, trees, and flooded roads. In fact, I just got the phone call confirming that the schools I work in are flooded and we will not be working tomorrow!
As a result of such a lazy weekend with mosntrous weather, I have been hitting my indoor workouts consistently. Tonight I finally got off my booty and whipped out my Polar Heart Rate monitor to see just how many calories I’ve been burning.
Let me preface my reviews with this: I am a super big Jillian Michaels fan. I own her books and her DVDs, and went into a deep sadness the day her radio show went on “hiatus”. I think the 30-day Shred is fantastic, and it has become my go-to strength DVD when in a crunch. So when I heard she was putting out a yoga DVD, imagine my excitement!
Review #1: Yoga Meltdown
Yoga Meltdown is set up similarly to 30-Day Shred, as it employs 3 “circuits” that you repeat. However it differs in that instead of offering 3 levels, there are 2. Now I’ve only tried Level 1, but it does incorporate many common yoga movements and would be a good introduction to some features of yoga to someone who is not well versed. Jillian guides you through modified versions (to get your muscles yelling) of the following poses: mountain pose, sun salutation (chaturanga, upward dog, downward dog), warrior 2, warrior 3, side plank, splits, dolphin pose, camel pose, and pigeon.
As someone who practices yoga weekly (not as much as I should or would like to), I found this workout to be fairly simple and only mildly challenging. Hardest poses: Chaturanga push-ups (needed to use my knees and still could barely hold the pose), and Warrior 3 lunge forwards – mostly because my balance is laughable. I’m looking forward to Level 2 kicking my booty and being as “go-to” as Shred. Based on my heart rate monitor I gathered the following information about Level 1 of the workout:
- Time length: 35-minutes
- Calories burned: 215
- Max heart rate: 165
- Average heart rate: 135
As you can see my heart rate wasn’t really pumping high, but that’s expected with yoga. Level 2 review to come!
Review #2: Jillian Michael’s iFit Level 2 for Elliptical Trainer
Two weeks ago I finally put together my new friend Ellie the Elliptical (aka my NordicTrack). While I’m still figuring out stabilization I have been using the iFit workouts and have felt like I was really getting quite a workout. So far the workouts are made up 30-minute sessions with intervals which vary in speed and resistance (hey, Jillian = interval/circuits). I honestly haven’t huffed and puffed this hard in a very long time, however I keep reminding myself that it is only 30-minutes. Future workouts will move to 45-minutes as the weeks continue on.
Tonight’s workout was Week 3, workout 2. The packaging claims that each workout burns between 600-800 calories per workout, with a max pace considered a “moderate” 80 rpm. So far, most days I can barely reach 80 rpm and maintain that speed without feeling like I’m going to fall off the elliptical. Jillian provides “motivating” commentary throughout the workout to encourage you to continue and meet your goals, etc. She also gives you a heads up when the incline is going to change and you are going to need to pick up the pace. Quite frankly, I find her constant chatter annoying, however I see the purpose for it and just crank the volume down a bit.
My elliptical machine has been reading my calories burned for a 30-minute workout at between 450 to 500 calories per session. I knew that wasn’t accurate, as I wasn’t using the heart rate monitor nor was I given an option to enter my current weight. Today I whipped out my handy HRM and set off to see exactly how many calories I was huffing and puffing and burning off.
- Time length: 30 minutes
- Calories elliptical says I burned: 470
- Calories HRM says I burned: 285
- Max heart rate: 183
- Average heart rate: 168
It’s quite telling that there is nearly a 200 calorie difference between what the machine claims I burned and my monitor claimed. Although I would love to believe that feeling like I cannot catch my breath intensity would yield such a high burn, I must put more value on my HRM.
Do I feel like I’m getting my ass kicked with iFit? Absolutely. I am going to continue using this 4x a week and try to stick with it through the 8-weeks and see where it leads. I’ll update again once I enter the 45-minute range.
Later this week: Final book review for Vegan Bites, vegan St. Patty’s Day cupcakes, dinners from The Tofu Cookery, and many product reviews as I just took Whole Foods by storm! Enjoy your Sunday evenings!
Here comes the sun..day weekend recap.
This weekend was exactly what I needed – the sun was out and the temperatures were high! We celebrated by taking a hike on Saturday, and pretty much catching up on home chores. I needed to make use of leftovers for lunch on Saturday and threw together a vegan nacho inspired fiesta, with totilla chips, pinto beans, follow your heart monterrey jack cheese, chunky salsa, and some tofutti sour cream mixed with some lime juice. It was pretty good for a thrown together meal, however I do realize how un-nutritious it was.
On Sunday, I met up with an old friend in Manhattan for brunch and shopping. I hadn’t seen her in awhile, and I knew as foodie friends, she was going to be hit sort of sideways when I threw the vegan ball at her. However, as good foodie friends do, she bounced back with a suggestion to visit Counter in the East Village for their vegan and vegetarian friendly brunch (which literally is on the same block I used to live in but never went to). I was beyond ecstatic to try their brunch due to their vegan french toast option, and because I had been reading some pretty good reviews in the blogworld.
We made a reservation for 1:30, and were promptly seated when we arrived early. That is the peak of the experience, as everything just went down from there. We waited 15 minutes before our order was taken, and that was really not a problem to us. We ordered our drinks, appetizer, and meal at that point. Fifteen minutes later our coffees arrived. Over one hour later and we still had not received our appetizer. Mind you, the place was full but not crowded, as the tables next to us were empty. At first we thought, “how lovely, they are giving us time to enjoy our brunch coffee and not push us out the door”, however after an hour of thinking this we became antsy and finally flagged down the host (as our waitress had been MIA for some time) and explained how long we had been in the restaurant, and asked when we would receive our food. He snarkily responded that they “only have one cook today, terrible right?”. Uhm, YEAH? Really? That’s how you interact with your patrons? We said if our food wasn’t out within 5 minutes we were leaving – and our appetizer magically arrived. Ten minutes later so did our food.
Was the food “good”? Yes, I’d give it that much. The grilled tofu was actually quite delicious, the perfect texture, flavor, and temperature. The french toast was thick, crusty and cinnamony. While it was good, I think I could make it far better. The atmosphere was classy and comfortable, and probably quite romantic in the evening. But the attitude and carelessness of the waitstaff will make me cry from the rooftops DO NOT GO TO COUNTER unless you have 3 hours to kill and aren’t hungry yet. What an intense disappointment.
We moved on through SoHo, where I eventually snagged a vegan chocolate chip cookie from Whole Foods (I know, not the most original baked good I could come up with in Manhattan, but when we stopped at Atlas Cafe in search of a vegan cookie they were all out. However their insane menu made us regret having not ditched Counter earlier and just came here. I will definitely be returning for some goodies!
We had a lovely afternoon browsing through SoHo, and eventually I scored a key item I’ve been on the lookout for at Uniqlo. A black men’s synthetic leather hooded jacket. The extra-small fit like a glove and I was absolutely in love with the look and the price! I love and miss shopping in the city, however I do not miss the damage it does to my wallet.
When I got home D was still at work (had to go in extra this weekend), and I was quite hungry for dinner. I ended up picking up a new Morningstar Farms Sweet & Sour Chik’n frozen dinner from Target a few weeks ago to try out, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a try! At 340 calories and 14g of protein it seems like a pretty good deal, but with 56g of carbs it’s definitely a last-resort meal.
There weren’t very many chik’n pieces, however the flavor and texture was really good and I do wish there were more! The meal itself is extremely sweet, be prepared. I actually couldn’t finish it, but wish’d I had added a cup of broccoli and another 1/2 cup of rice. Take that suggestion and give it a shot! I’d give these three stars and would return to them in a tight spot!
Tonight I cooked up a recipe from Vegan Bites, with review to come! I hopped on the elliptical for an hour and did two Jillian iFit workouts. The machine is still a bit unstable at times (working on it), but I have gotten a pretty good workout – need to get the heart rate monitor out soon. Now I’m snacking on some natural popcorn and watching t.v. – thank goodness Monday is over! Hoping to squeeze in two hot power yoga classes in Tuesday & Wednesday and cook up three more new recipes. Here’s to a fast week!
