It’s not every day that you get invited to the vegan club. Especially when you aren’t vegan. Nana had me so nervous I brushed my teeth before we left so they wouldn’t smell the roast beef sandwich I had eaten hours earlier. My sister had me so freaked out about accidentally using something that had been meat, near meat or processed in a town where they serve meat, that I made my Down to Earthy Green Beans because they have three, simple, certified vegan ingredients. And it was still an epic fail.
How do you know you’ve gone to the vegan club meeting a week early? When the lady in charge is slicing brightly colored cheap lard cupcakes while staring quizzically at your “vegan recipe” sign on the gourmet dish you brought….after a few skillfully posed questions we discovered this week’s event was line dancing, we exited quickly and as gracefully as we could #facepalm
#NotTheVeganClub #wwwithkelly #wwsisters #wwsupport #wwsisterhood
Nana on the other hand is a tofu genius. She’s made things out of that spongy little gelatinous square that I didn’t even know where possible. Even the carnivores in her life have been woo’d by her tasty creations and many of them didn’t even realize they weren’t eating meat.
Part of my mother’s mantra is “anything you can make with meat or eggs or dairy I can make without”. Yeah right Nana, let’s do this.
Last Saturday we were discussing the upcoming veggie meet up when Nana showed me a recipe out of a magazine for French’s Crunchy Onion Chicken. Of course little 4 foot next to nothing Nana said “I can make that”. Yes mom…with chicken you can make that. “Nope, with tofu. Watch me”. Uh huh. Sure. I’ll watch you.
Nana’s French’s Crunchy Onion Tofu – 6 Weight Watchers Smart Points per serving (4 servings)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound firm tofu (patted dry)
- 1 cup French’s French Fried Onions (crushed)
- 2 Tbsp flour
- For the “egg”
- 1 Tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer
- 3 Tbsp water
Crush the french fried onions and flour in a quart size zipper lock bag. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small dish mix the egg replacer and water with a fork. After patting the entire piece of tofu off with a paper towel, use a sharp knife and cut the tofu thickness in half. Take each half and cut diagonally making 4 thin triangles. One at a time dredge the tofu triangles thru the “egg” and then place it gently in the crushed french fried onion and flour mixture. Toss gently to coat each side of each tofu piece and place on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. When all four are coated cook for 20 minutes on 400 degrees. Serve immediately and watch your meat eaters and vegan family members alike inhale them before you can get the rest of the meal on the table. I watched all right…I watched two of these suckers go in my mouth and in my tummy. Wow they were good.
