100th Post

Well I made it, 100. Does that mean I am now a serious blogger?

Sorry I haven’t posted this week, but I had to clear out the refrigerator first. There was no room for any new food. So I am giving you a bonus today, both lunch and dinner.

Lunch was very simple, a peanut butter sandwich and some of the Brooklyn Deli Macaroni Salad from VCON. The peanut butter is from Smart Balance and if you haven’t tried this yet, it is really good. The macaroni salad was a bit of disappointment. It tastes fine, but my mayo set up a bit too hard once the dressing was mixed into the pasta and vegetables. I am going to have to try this again with Bryanna Grogan’s soy-free mayo and see if that makes a difference.


Dinner was my latest attempt at the fish. I had hoped to announce that it was perfected, but again the base mix is to thin, even after mixing in 1 cup oats ground to flour. However, it did thicken up significantly when I mixed a portion of it with some breadcrumbs. The taste is just fine; it just needs to be stiffer. I have some other things that I want to work on, so this is going on the back burner for a bit. But don’t worry; I will come back to it.

All of you that are gluten free, maybe you can give me some help. Will gluten free bread crumbs act as a thickener like regular bread crumbs can? If they can, then I would be more prepared to say that this is mostly perfected. If not, then back to the drawing board.

Before I go, I would like to let everyone know that I am going from a 5 day post week to maybe once or twice a week. I don’t know yet if it will be done on set days, or just when I cook something new. Right now I am leaning to just putting up a post on Fridays, covering what I ate during the week. I am changing the schedule, since I think that at this point, I have shown that one doesn’t need to eat either tofu or tempeh as a vegan. Also since I do eat so many leftovers you will be saved from all of my leftover makeovers.

Have a good weekend.

Faux Fish – Almost Have It

For dinner tonight had leftovers (the Zucchini Mediterranean Style) and my latest attempt at the soy free vegan fish (can also be gluten-free as well). While the attempt to use rice flour as a thickener failed (regular flour also) the patty somehow managed to cook up fairly well. And the best news is that I think the flavoring is now correct. I did the same thing as last time, but doubled all the seasonings; except for the ginger. I also put some seafood seasoning in the panko crumbs that were used for the breading. All the flavors blended well. Not sure if it tastes “fish-like”, but it probably tastes as much like fish as marinated to is able to do so. Now all I have to do is make another bath and use oat flour instead of the rice flour. If that works, the recipe is done.

However, my refrigerator is full to the brim at the moment with leftovers I need to eat. So rather than bore you with things you have already seen, I will not post much next week and may not post at all. So will see you either a few days next week, or the week after that. Have a good weekend.

Soy-Free Vegan Fish (Success)

Yes, you are reading that title correctly. I fiddled with the rice-fu mixture by adding some oat flour and it seemed to solve the problems I was having (stickiness). Unfortunately, it didn’t help the flavor of the final product. They don’t have quite enough flavor, but tastes quite fish-like when the tarter sauce is added. I also need to add some seafood seasoning mix to the breadcrumbs as well. At this point; only one, maybe two more batches are needed for me to get the recipe correct. I will need to see if it works as well with rice flour in place of the oat flour. But think, we can have vegan fish that isn’t tofu based. And yes, in case you are wondering. It is quite good, even at this point.

This is my dinner tonight

And this was my lunch on Saturday. I had the filet as a sandwich with oven fried french fries.

Soy Free Vegan Fish Part 3 (or is it Part 4)

Yes, I am still trying to use the rice Burmese Tofu as a fish replacer. This time was the closest so far.

For those of you that have not been following this saga (as it were). The first try was to replace the tofu in this recipe with the rice tofu, but change nothing else. It worked, kind of. Another try was to season the rice tofu before it set up. That was a crash and burn, since the miso caused the rice-fu not to set. And another try was an attempt to marinade the rice-fu, also a crash and burn. This time, the attempt was influenced by this recipe:

1/3 batch rice Burmese tofu, smashed after setting up
1/4 cup diced onion
1 tsp chickpea miso
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, grated
1/4 cup quick oats, ground (turns into oat flour)

edit: added oat flour to what was left over from this batch and it seemed to do the trick, apparently still some moisture in the rice-fu after setting, amount is just a guess for now, will have to make another batch to get accurate measures, also need to add more miso but garlic and ginger may not change, making rest of batch tomorrow but will bake this time

Combine the onion, miso, garlic and ginger in a small food processor/blender. Blend till combined. Mix the paste into the smashed tofu, till blended evenly. Take 1/3 cup and make into patties. Coat in breadcrumbs (mixed with optional seafood seasoning). Fry in skillet.


It tasted a bit like fish, but had to much ginger in it and maybe not enough miso and onion. They also did not stick well together while either cooking in the oven (tried first) or when pan frying. I still have some of the mix left and will add some oat flour to it, to see if that solves the problem. I also need to make the cakes earlier and let them sit in the refrigerator to firm up a bit before cooking. If these steps don’t work, then I have another idea to try. Unfortunately, I currently do not have enough rice flour to make another batch. So it might have to wait for a week or two. However, I have found anther recipe for the rice flour Homemade Rice Milk Base. (vegetation are you paying attention).

P.S. This is vegetarian, since I am still trying to use up some old bread crumbs.

Connie’s Zucchini “Crab” Cakes

Just to let you know, it is still as cold as can be here in Florida. The temperatures this morning in the Tampa area ranged from mid 30s to low 40s with highs again in the 50s. Unfortunately, this is the time of year before strawberries and other fruits are harvested and the farmers are now saying that they will have some crop loss due to the weather. So if any of you are wondering why your strawberries, blueberries and others are more expensive later on in the early spring; this cold snap is the reason.

I had not realized that it would be so cold, or I might have made other plans this week, but these “crab” cakes were a good reminder of summer produce. And they are really easy to make. The only annoying thing is the grating of the zucchini, one of the times I wish for a food processor. The last time I made these, I was still lacto-ovo and made them with egg white. This time two teaspoons of chickpea flour was used as an egg substitute and it worked just fine. Of course, how much one uses is dependent on how wet the zucchini are at that time. The comments on this recipe do suggest salting and draining them once they are grated, but I have always skipped that step. I don’t know if they taste like crab cake, since I never had one in the pregan days. However, these are rather nice and until I can figure out how to use the rice Burmese tofu as a “fish” they will most definitely do.

Speaking of the rice Burmese Tofu as a “fish”, my latest attempt was a disaster. I tried to season the rice-fu before it set up and used miso to add a salty flavor. For some reason the miso changed the texture and it never set once refrigerated. The next batch will be made with water that has been flavored with seaweed. Hopefully that will then go on to give the batch a “fish” like flavor and things like ginger, onion and garlic can be used in the breadcrumb coating. Unfortunately, all of my containers are in use at the moment, so this will have to wait for the weekend at the earliest. Since the fridge is now full, leftovers are on the menu for dinner the rest of the week, so tomorrow I will put up the list of soy protein free cheeses, milks and meats I have making. If you have any that need to be added, just put them in the comments and I will add them to the list.

Seaside Cakes

As you can see, I do have something round on my plate; so the theme continues.
These are called Seaside Cakes (at the bottom of the page) and are supposed to be a vegan replacement for fish patties. When I saw them, it occurred to me that it may work well with the rice version of the Burmese Tofu. They are somewhat different from most “fish” replacers you may see. The base of the patty is a roux thickened gravy, or I guess that is the best way to explain it. Making them went fairly well, or so I thought, until I tried to form them and put the breadcrumbs on them. That was when I realized how sticky the “batter” (for a better term) seemed to be. It also seemed to get softer the more I worked with it. However, once they were formed and breaded, the cakes did get stiff once put back in the refrigerator. And once they were in the pan, they seemed to fry up rather well; but still stayed soft and never really got very firm. I have some ideas about why these problems occurred: from the “base” not being thick enough to not having enough of the rice-fu in the “base” at the start. So this is worth some more work on it. Because it may work out in the long run.

The tarter sauce on top of the cakes is homemade, just to let you know. It is sweet pickle relish, a dash of lemon juice and this mayonnaise (suggestion, use a heaping ¼ cup of almond flour in place of the almonds to make it easier). And this dinner is only vegetarian tonight since I am using up some old breadcrumbs I had bought and didn’t realize they were not vegan. Why simple breadcrumbs in the store brand have egg and milk in them, I have no idea; but these do. Since I refused to potentially waste my panko breadcrumbs or any of our Ritz style crackers; these were used instead.

Tomorrow night the theme continues.

Rice-fu “Fish”-The Recap

Sorry guys, no pictures tonight since dinner was leftovers, the Baby Corn & Peppers Stir Fry. I am also not making a bunch of new food this week, since my TeddyBear has next week off. How he got vacation this time of year in his job (he works for a company that provides back-end office services to banks and credit unions) I do not know, but he did. So next week I guess the theme is “Food to feed Omnis”. I have actually managed to find a few things he likes and Becks I am borrowing your BBQ Pulled “Pork” dish next week. Especially, since I think that your BBQ sauce would throw a lot of people on this side of the big pond for a loop. They would not be happy that a Brit can beat them at their own game. But I digress. He does like (or at least tolerates) seitan, a “Sloppy Joes” type recipe made with lentils, a dish called of all things Mexican Zucchini (possibly because of the corn, don’t know) and a few other things. Might also do a sweet and sour seitan dish as well or a stir fry. However, he is a bit of a challenge on food. Some things he will not eat due to texture (polenta, risotto), he is extremely sensitive to capsicum (the substance that makes peppers spicy) so no green peppers, and he doesn’t like any thing heavily spiced and he doesn’t like to use sauces. Now you ask, how do I cook for him. Well mostly not, since about all he can tolerate after a day at work is a salad and getting him to eat that is a trial. He frankly does not eat enough calories, as far as I know; but he may eat and not tell me about it. The truth, I just muddle through. (update, just learned he has two weeks off since he also has 32 hours of personal days he has not taken, two weeks of omni friendly food it is)

Now on to the rice-fu “fish”. It was and was not a success. It didn’t taste that bad, but it also did not taste fishlike. The rice-fu did not dissolve in the marinade, but it also did not seem to absorb it. however, that could have been because I didn’t let it sit long enough. Next time it will sit in the marinade longer, up to an hour or more. If it dissolves on me, I will have a backup for dinner. And it didn’t dissolve when being fried either. It didn’t get like the chick-fu does, but it did get a bit like the texture of a whitefish. I guess you could say the results were promising but more experimentation needs to be done. That will have to wait till I can get some ginger. I don’t tend to keep ginger around since it will go bad on me before I use it, so I cheat and use Ginger Juice from The Ginger People. That did not work in the marinade well, so need to get some jarred crushed ginger to make this again. Once I am sure it works fairly well, I will put up a picture.

One thing before I go. Would anyone be interested in a product list of ice creams, cheeses, milks and other products that are either soy protein free or even soy free (unusual though it may be). Only reason I’m asking is that I keep seeing these lists on the web of things that are vegan and things that are gluten free are very clearly labeled. Maybe if people saw a market for soy free cheeses and the like, they would be easier to find. If you think it is a good idea let me know and I will get it set up and a link to that page from the sidebar.