CHEESE?

When we adopted the Eat to Live diet over a year ago, it meant giving up dairy products - yogurt, cheese, milk, ice cream.  We thought we would really miss the stuff, but we don't!  However, I love Greek salad and I used to make it often with salty, tangy feta cheese, but no more feta cheese allowed on a vegan diet.  Then I discovered faux feta!  Basically it's grated tofu marinated in Greek salad dressing.  And the most amazing thing is once the faux feta is in a Greek salad, it tastes just like feta.  Don't believe me?  Try it yourself:

Faux Feta
(recipe adapted from La Dolce Vegan! by Sarah Kramer)

1/2 block tofu, pressed for an hour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
freshly squeezed lemon juice (the juice of an entire lemon)
1 fat clove garlic, minced or pressed
handful of fresh parsley, minced
1/2 handful or more of fresh oregano, minced
1/2 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper

Crumble the tofu into a bowl.  In a small glass measuring cup or a little milk jug (maybe called a creamer?), mix together the oil, water, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.  Whisk together.  Pour dressing over the crumbled tofu and toss together.  Marinate for at least an hour or even overnight.
Into a Greek salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions, olives -if you like), stir in the faux feta.  Eat!  Yum!
Sorry I don't have a picture of this Greek salad.  How about this picture instead?

Summer Solstice

Croquettes Anyone?

Motivated by an excess of zucchini (thanks to S & S and their fabulous organic garden plot), I made these croquettes for supper.  They were really yummy, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Quinoa Croquettes

(adapted from Anna Getty's Easy Green Organics)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 medium carrot, grated

1 small zucchini, grated

1 green onion, finely chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

6 sprigs parsley, minced

l egg *

1/4 cup flour

sesame oil

Cook the quinoa in 2 cups of water in your rice cooker or however you would cook rice.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool.  Stir in grated carrot and zucchini, green onion, garlic powder, salt, parsley, egg and flour.  Mix well.  Form the mixture into patties about 1/2 inch thick and 2 to 4 inches in diameter.  Heat about 2 tsps of sesame oil in a frying pan on medium heat.  Fry the quinoa patties in the oil for about 3 or 4 minutes per side, until both sides are golden.  Keep warm until ready to serve.

* Uh oh!  Not vegan!  Sorry about that!  The original recipe called for an egg and I happened to have one so I used it.  I think you could omit the egg because the quinoa is sticky enough to hold the patty together.