Grilled Blackened Tofu Sandwich

Last night I wasn't in the mood for cooking dinner and my pantry and fridge. are running low on food items, so not too many options. I decided on a sandwich with baked fries and a salad. I thinly sliced up a block of the extra firm tofu that is vacuum sealed, no water. The marinade I used for the tofu slices is the Blackened Tempeh recipe from The Real Food Daily Cookbook .

I love love love this recipe, I just cut down on the oil and cayenne that is used and I use maple for the sweetener. Let this marinade for a couple of hours, the longer the better. Then I grilled up the tofu, yellow bell peppers, onion and some zucchini's, since I'm overflowing on the zucchini's right now in my garden I use them any chance I get. hee hee. Once grilled layer up on toasted bread and enjoy!

Chinese grilled tofu, veggies with brown rice

The other night when my husband asked what we were having for dinner and I told him a stir fry, his response wasn't very enthusiastic. Stir frys are so easy to make, especially when I don't really feel like cooking, but I do try to change up the veggies & sauce, spicy or sweet, depending on my mood. You see I shouldn't have said stir fry because it's really not what I was going to do, it's grilling the vegetables and tofu that have been marinating in a chinese sauce. I got the idea from, again, The New Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman. When everyone sat down and looked at their plate and said "this looks good" and then they started eating making pleasant grunting sounds, I knew this was a winner! They scarfed it down and wanted more. I would definately make this one for company, it's a nice twist to chinese food.

Here are the vegetables I used and the ingredients for the marinade:

1 head of broccoli, trimmed and sliced

2 Lg. carrots, washed and sliced into long wedges

1 bunch asparagus, washed and trimmed

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 bag of sugar snap peas, washed

1 block of extra-firm tofu,(the vacuum sealed kind), sliced into strips about 1/3 inch thick.

Marinade for tofu:

2 T. sesame oil

1 T. soy sauce

2 garlic cloves

1 T. fresh ginger

In a small casserole dish whisk together marinade then add tofu. Flip tofu every so often to completely coat.

Marinade for vegetables:

3 T. mirin

3 T. soy sauce, tamari or braggs

3 T. sesame oil

1 T. rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves

1 T. ginger

Whisk together marinade then add vegetables. Marinade for at least an hour.

Prepare barbeque on medium heat. Barbeque the tofu until you see nice grill marks. BBQ/grill the vegetables just until done, you still want them crisp not burnt. Mix together both left over marinades and set aside.

To assemble serve vegetables and tofu over brown rice, drizzle with remaining marinade and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Grilled Falafal & Veggie Wrap

These pictures aren't very good, I really need a better camera, but you can get the idea of what the falafel wrap looked like cut in half. I broke out a book I bought during the holidays called The New Vegetarian Grill, Revised Edition: 250 Flame-Kissed Recipes by Andrea Chesman . The book has everything from individual grilled veggies to sandwich's and noodle dishes. It's pretty neat since our bbq will be in use for the rest of the summer. It's been about 100 degrees or hotter out and with weather like that we eat later and don't want anything to heavy.

My first recipe was the Grilled Falafels. These were so very easy to make and pretty tasty too! I sprayed them with olive oil before I put them on the grill, they held together great. I then grilled up, sweet potato, sweet onion, red bell pepper and zucchini. Sliced some tomato and avocado. For the tahini dressing I made the one from VCON but halved the recipe, I didn't have fresh dill so I just added a little bit of dried. Then I wrapped some rice tortillas in foil and heated them up on the bbq for a few minutes. Rice tortillas worked perfect for this because they don't get soggy like a flour tortilla. You can obviously use pita to if you wish. Assembling: I smothered a rice tortilla with tahini dressing, then on one side I layered the falafel and veggies then folded over, cut in half and served with a salad. One half of the falafal wrap was the perfect amount of food but the whole wrap would be fine if you are a bit hungrier and it still wouldn't weight you down.

Below are my changes to the recipe taken from:

Falafel

recipe from The New Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman

3 C. cooked chickpeas (or two 15oz. cans), drained

4 slices sandwich bread, sprouted whole grain

8 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley

3 garlic cloves

2 tsp. ground cumin

]1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground red chile pepper (I used flaked chile pepper) or to taste

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2 T. Olive oil

Puree the chickpeas and bread in a food processor. Scrape into to a large bowl. Then puree the scallions, cilantro, parsley and garlic. Add to the chickpea mixture along with the spices. Mix thoroughly adding olive oil. Use your hands to completely mix if needed.

Form the mixture into patties about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Brush with olive on both sides or use a spray olive oil/canola oil like I did.

Heat the grill or bbq up to a medium heat, about 375. Grill the falafel about 4 minutes on each side, just until grill marks and cooked through.

Note: I think the recipe calls for the bread because it helps bind the ingredients together so they don't fall apart on the bbq.