Broccoli and "Cheese" Soup

It's been awhile since I've had broccoli and soup seemed appropriate with the cold weather. I've always thought that yellow split peas taste like cheese, so why not experiment and see how close I could get to broccoli and cheese soup?

Broccoli and "Cheese" Soup

• .5c uncooked yellow split peas
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cubes vegan boullion (sea salt and herbs)
• 3 crowns of broccoli, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup soymilk

Cook split peas and onion in enough water to cover by 1-2 inches, adding water as necessary so there's no less than 1/2 inch of water on top. Meanwhile, steam broccoli until soft.

Once peas are tender, about 25 minutes, add boullion and blend mixture together until smooth. Add broccoli and soymilk and mix well. If it's too runny, mix 2TB flour with a few TB of water, add to soup, and stir continuously until it thickens.

It tasted way better than the canned crap I'm most familiar with, which I guess isn't that hard. This will probably become a go-to dish since it was really easy to make. Next time I might roast the broccoli and onions, too.

Curried Carrot Soup with Ginger Lime Barley

I'm obsessed with making "curried" soups, despite the fact that the "curry" I use is not in any way, shape, or form authentic. I only buy McCormick's because the Giant grocery was remodeling and changing everything around in the store, so I could no longer find my Mexican curry that was strangely amazing. Who knew?

This is pretty easy to make but takes a little while to prep and cook.

Curried Carrot Soup with Ginger Lime Barley

• 1 bag baby carrots, quartered
• 1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
• 1 TB (or more) olive oil
• 1-2tsp Curry powder
• 1.5c soy milk + .5c water
• .5 cup uncooked barley
• 1 square inch of peeled ginger, whole
• 1TB lime juice

For the soup, toss carrots in olive oil and sautee 15 minutes, then add onion. Cook until soft, 20 minutes or so. Add curry powder and cook for another 2 minutes. Add milk and water. Blend together.

Steam barley and ginger in 1 cup of water. Add lime juice when done.

Ladel soup into bowl and top with barley.

Curried Turnip Soup

I don't ever recall in my entire life eating a turnip. I also cannot recall a time where I ever thought I should eat them. Until this week's trip to the grocery store. I try to get new veggies/foods when I can, and these purple and white beauties called out my name. The parsnips nearby also shouted to me, but ultimately I went for the turnips instead. Maybe next week, parsnips.

Not having had them, I blanked on preparation methods. For some reason I've had curry on my mind this week and had to talk myself out of making curried cauiflower soup last night. Good thing I held off as I had a miniscule amount of curry powder left.

Curried Turnip Soup
6 turnips, peeled and chopped
.5 cup uncooked quinoa
1 small yellow onion
2 cups soy milk (I use unsweetened)
curry powder
4 cloves garlic, minced

Steam turnips. Combine quinoa, onion, and 1 cup water in small pot. Bring to a boil then simmer 15-20 minutes or until water is absorbed.

When turnips are soft, place in large pot (I saved about 1/3 of them because I like my soup chunky). Add milk and curry powder (1-2tsp probably works for most people, though I use more). Blend until creamy. Add garlic.

Ladle into bowls and top with quinoa. Makes 2 large servings.

This was so easy to make and absolutely delicious. Who knew I would love turnips? I bet it would be good with a dollop of Better Than Cream Cheese. Tomatoes might somehow make a nice pairing. I can't wait to experiment this fall. Of course I will roast them, assuming my oven is ever fixed. Yes, I cry every day that I don't have the ability to roast everything in my apartment.

Curried Roasted Beet Soup

Today was the first evening this week that they predicted evening rain, so I actually had time to cook a good dinner instead of rushing to the dog park. I opted for the beets since I actually had time and they take forever to cook. This recipe came to me as I rode the Metro home, newspaperless because I was stuck in the Metro for 30 minutes this morning and already finished the sudoku, crossword, and all of the articles. So maybe this morning's fiasco was a good thing.

Curried Roasted Beet Soup

• 8 beets
• 1 red onion, sliced into half-rings
• Olive oil
• 1 ear white corn, uncooked with kernels sliced off
• 2 cups soy milk
• Curry powder
• .5c bulgur, uncooked

Fork holes in the beets and bake on 375 until tender, about an hour. Toss onion in olive oil and bake about 25 minutes (so 40 minutes after the beets go in). Meanwhile, cook the bulgur in 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed.

When beets are soft, let them cool down (I put mine in the freezer for a couple of minutes). Remove the skin, which will be soft and easy to take off. Chop the beets and add to a large pot or blender along with onions, curry, half (or all if you want it smooth) of the corn, and the soy milk. Blend to desired consistency. Spoon into bowl and top with bulgur.

This is one of my favorite dishes I've ever made! Since the onion and beets had cooled and the corn and milk were cold from the fridge, I chose to eat the soup cold. Usually I like my meals hot, but this was so good. It was sweet from the roasting and the corn, but the curry gave it a nice spice and flavor. The color was a beautiful magenta, and the chunks of veggies were delicious. I'm definitely making this again. And again...

Easy Curry Lentil Stew with Quinoa

Earlier this week I decided to do a quick run by the grocery store after work, and evidently every single other person in the city decided to do the same. I popped in for the essentials- dog food and nut butters, but I also needed some cumin for a pink bean dish I made but didn't blog about because I was lazy. Some how I meandered into the international food aisle and stumbled upon dirt cheap spices, including smoked paprika (something I've never had but always wanted), cumin, chili powder, and curry powder. My last curry efforts have been less than stellar because I'm fairly certain the curry somehow went bad. Really bad.

My old curry was always in a teeny jar and that always spoiled, so of course I bought this giant jar that had no information other than a simple label with the word curry (it was from Mexico). Undaunted, I threw it in my basket and headed to the checkout with the rest of the world.

I wasn't exactly looking for something easy tonight, it just happened that I needed a lot of protein since I had catered lunch at a meeting with no real veggie option. So I went for my go-to lentils.

Easy Curry Lentil Stew
.5 cup lentils
3 cups water
1 medium/large red onion, chopped
2 red potatoes, chopped
15 baby carrots, quartered
salt
3-4 tsp curry powder (adjust to your level)

I brought the water to a boil and added all the ingredients. It looked for 15-20 minutes. With about 5 minutes left I added 2 tsp of the curry. Once it was done, I removed from heat and added the rest. It sat for a few minutes so the flavors could mingle, then I served atop a bed of quinoa.

This dish was one of my favorite things I've cooked in quite some time. The lentils were a bit mushy, which is how I love them, and the curry flavor was perfect. It made 2 portions at about 375 calories each (including the quinoa). Yum!

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower Soup

While my brother and his wife were in town, we ate at one of my favorite places to take visitors, Zaytinya, which is a delicious Mediterranean mezze (tapas) restaurant. One of the dishes we got was Roasted Cauliflower with sultans, caper leaves and pine nut puree, and it reminded me that I hadn't made my spicy roasted cauliflower in ages. I wanted a whole meal of more than cauliflower and today was ridiculously cold, so I went for a soup.

Ingredients

• 1 medium/large head of cauliflower
• 1 medium/large red onion
• 4-6 cloves of garlic
• Red pepper flakes
• Olive oil spray or mist
• 1/2 cup dark red kidney beans
• 1/2 cup barley
• Salt
• Parsley

Preheat oven to 375. Break apart cauliflower and place on baking sheet. Spray with oil, add salt and red pepper flakes (.5-1 TB maybe), and mix until coated. Cut red onion in half and slice into thin half moons. Place on separate baking sheet with garlic and spray with olive oil. Roast 20-30 minutes, stirring a few times.

Meanwhile, cook the barley and when it's done add kidney beans, parsley, and salt and stir. When the veggies are done roasting, add half to the barley and blend the other half with .5-1 cup water until smooth. Add the barley mixture, stir, and serve.

It hit the spot on a cold night.

Creamy Beer Onion Soup

Shiner Bock. I had one tonight at the movies as I watched The Unforseen, a great movie about uncontrolled growth in Austin and the environmental impact. It took me back and made me a little homesick. Especially the Shiner.




I got home and was starving, and the Shiner wouldn't leave my thoughts. The only vegetables I have left are beets and onions and the beets seem like they'll take forever to cook. Beer Onion Soup just seemed ideal.





Ingredients

• 2 medium/large red onions, cut in thin half circles
• Olive oil to coat the onions
• 1 bottle beer (Shiner)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup soy milk (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Roast the onions and get the beer boiling in a pot with water. When the onions are done, add them to the beer along with salt and peper and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the beer reduces down by half. Blend with immersion blender to smooth out, especially if you used 2 onions. Remove from heat and mix in soy milk.





At one point while the onions were simmering in the beer, I tasted the broth and was immediaely disappointed. I probably would have cried except I'd gotten rid of all my tears once I sliced into the onions. But I added some more water and let it cook a little longer. It got better but I was still concerned. Then I added the soy milk and it was perfect. Exactly what I wanted on a cold night. I also used 2 slices of bread to soak it all up. I would have made croutons but didn't feel like turning the oven back on.

Cream of Spinach Soup with Bulgur

I got home from work late after attending a less than stellar networking event/seminar on advocacy. And I decided to walk the 2 miles home without changing into my sneakers. Sometimes I'm brilliant like that. At least the event gave me time to plan dinner, which needed to be fairly easy since I was getting home late. Not too inspiring, but what can you do...




Ingredients

• 1 TB vegan margarine (I love Earth Balance)
• 1 medium red onion, diced or chopped into whatever size you prefer
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 bag fresh spinach, washed and chopped
• 2 TB flour
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 cubes veggie boullion
• 1 TB Better Than Cream Cheese
• .5 cup bulgur + 1 cup water

I followed the same process as my Cream of Mushroom Soup. I heated up the margarine and added the onions, cooking for 10 minutes until translucent. Then I added the garlic for 2 minutes and the spinach until it sarted to wilt. I added the flour and stirred for a minute or so (I evidently don't "get" how to use flour as a thickening agent), then the soy milk and water. I stirred, hoping it would thicken, and it didn't, so I assumed that would never happen and added the bouillon and cream cheese. Once it was all melted and mixed in, I removed from heat. While that was cooking I also got the bulgur going- simmering with the lid on for about 15 minutes or until the water was absorbed.

It hit the spot after a long day. And I'm too tired to think of ways to improve it. Ok, well maybe make it all milk with more cream cheese, but then I'd get fat again.

Creamy Tomato Soup w/Cauliflower Base

Yes, it's another tomato soup recipe. But it's different this time, I swear! I had some poor tomatoes that were on their last legs and I knew I wanted to roast them because, well, I'm obsessed with roasting. Oh, and it makes them taste even more amazing. Usually I use tofu as the base to make it creamy, but I wanted to use cauliflower to be a little different. And because it, too, was on its last leg.

Ingredients

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into small pieces

8-10 roma tomatoes

4-6 cloves garlic still in paper

1 cup unsweetened soy milk

Olive oil for roasting tomatoes

.5 cup fresh basil leaves (whole)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Steam califlower until soft. Meanwhile, cut tomatoes in half lengthwise and toss with olive oil (I used my oil sprayer-genius). Place cut side up in baking dish and add garlic. Check after 15 minutes and rotate dishes and flip the garlic over. Check after 10-15 minutes to see if garlic is soft. When it's become soft or just started to brown remove and let cool a few minutes. When tomatoes start to brown, remove from oven.

In an empty pot or blender, add cauliflower, tomatoes, basil, garlic (remove paper, you can generally just squeeze it out), and salt and pepper. Blend together until it turns a nice shade of orange-pink and becomes smooth. It makes 2 large servings or 3 medium servings, and you get most of your veggie servings all in one sitting.

I could eat this every day. I would consider adding some red pepper flakes and/or some croutons, but it's pretty perfect as-is. Maybe some wine, but I'm still not sure how to cook with it yet, so maybe next time.

Deconstructed Green Bean Casserole

I blame Top Chef for me using words like "deconstructed." I don't know if what I did fits, but I'm going to pretend like it does and that I'm an amazing chef.

I thought of this recipe yesterday while making my "cream" of mushroom soup and almost couldn't wait a whole day to make it. It was pretty simple and contained 3 things:

1. Green beans- about 3 cups trimmed on both ends and steamed.


2. 2 cups of "cream" of mushroom soup, which was about half the recipe (though I added a little pepper)


3. 1 large red onion, cut in half and sliced in half rings, tossed with some olive oil and roasted on 375 for 20 minutes, stirring every 5.

I put the green beans on the plate, topped with he soup, and topped with the onions. Voila!

Just what I expected- and better than the original. "Fried onions" in a can scare me and roasted onions are definitely healthier and tastier. Next time I'd add a little salt on top of the green beans and maybe cut them into smaller pieces so they fit on my spoon. Or I could use a fork...

"Cream" of Mushroom Soup

The portabellas I bought this week were calling out to me- and they wanted to become the tastiest "Cream" of Mushroom Soup ever. And I made their dreams come true.

I did a little Googling and came up with a recipe based on a recipe from The Modern Vegetarian's blog and one from Veganfood.net. My hybrid:

1 TB olive oil
1 medium/large red onion, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
5 medium portabello caps, diced in large pieces
1.5 cups water
1.25 cups unsweetened soy milk
2-3TB flour

I sauteed the onion in the olive oil until soft. I added the garlic for a few minutes until fragrant and then put in the shrooms. I let it cook 2-3 minutes and added the water and some salt. As that came to a boil, I mixed the flour with the cold milk (I think to prevent clumping). Once boiling, I added the milk mixure and let it simmer for a few minutes. When it didn't thicken as I was expecting, I happily got out my immersion blennder. Scooping out about half of the chunks into a bowl, I blended the remainder in he pot until nice and smooth. I added back the chunks, stirred, and removed from heat.

It was so creamy, rich, and delicious. If you aren't a HUGE garlic lover, you can probably just use 2 cloves. It made 2 large servings at 250-300 calories a piece and could have stretched to 3 servings. I put mine on top of some barley for some extra texture. And I licked the bowl clean.

I thought about adding a cube or two of veggie boullion but wanted it "naked" first. I debated adding pepper, too, but it was just so good I was scared to mess it up.

Still no camera...but it wasn't pretty anyway- it was dark grey.

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Quinoa

I've been eating leftover soups this week as well as going with my fallback of barley and split peas, so tonight I thought I'd get a little exciting with my food choices. I had a lot of good ingredients sitting around so I came up with this soup, which is a variation of of sweet potato soup I've made before.

I cut 2 medium sweet potatoes into small wedges and boiled them until soft. I also added about 1tst of fresh ginger. When the potatoes were done I added another 1tsp or so of fresh ginger, some chipotle powder, chili powder, and salt. I blended with the immersion blender and added 1 cup of soy milk and 2 TB of red wine vinegar. I'm pretty sure I should have added the vinegar in before the milk, but oh well.

In another pan I sauteed 4 cloves of garlic in a little bit of olive oil and then added 1c water and .5cup quinoa. Once that was done, I added 6 chopped scallions, salt, and juice from 1/2 of a lime. I scooped the soup in a bowl and, surprise, surprise, added the quinoa mixture to it.

It was pretty spicy but delicious.

Black Bean Soup with Mango Relish

I bought a bunch of dried beans a few weeks ago at the organic market by my house. I used them in some amazing chili, which sadly never made it to the blog. But I'd been really wanting to use the black beans separately, and I was hoping to come up with something involving mango and rice. So I Googled black bean mango rice recipe and came up with this Cuban Black Bean Soup with Mango Relish.

Unsurprisingly, I didn't have a lot of the ingredients. So I improvised and made it my own way. The ingredients I used:

1TB olive oil
2 diced red onions
4 chopped garlic cloves
1-2TB chili powder (I ran out of cumin...)
2tsp fresh chopped ginger
1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight
6-8 cups water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt

I sauteed the onions and garlic in the olive oil until clear and soft and then added 4 cups of water, the beans, the vinegar, some of the salt and chili powder, and 1tsp of the ginger. I cooked it for 30 minutes or so and then added more salt, chili powder, and ginger. I scooped out some of the beans and blended the rest of the mixture until smooth. I added back in the beans and some additional water, which turned out to be too much.

As the beans cooked I made 1cup of whole grain rice and the mango relish, which I decided to change a little.

1 mango, diced
3 roma tomatoes
juice of one lime
3 scallions
5 or 6 leaves of purpil basil
.5tsp ginger
pinch of salt

I scooped the rice into my mug (all of my bowls were in the dishwasher, which necessitated the mug, which refused to produce a good photo for me), added the soup, and topped with the relish. The soup on its own was not amazing. But the relish made it stellar.

Purple Basil Tomato Soup

This isn't really different from my last attempt at tomato soup. I sauteed 1 medium red onion in a little olive oil and added water, 1TB tomato paste, 2 large tomatoes, and 6 roma tomatoes. I brought to the boil and added a few leaves of purple basil since I think the regular basil in my aerogarden killed it. (The purple basil had fallen over last night when I got home. I suspect the regular basil was blocking light or otherwise bullying it.)

Once it boiled for about 15 I added 8 or 10 white mushrooms that I'd chopped up. I let these cook for just a few minutes and then scooped out half of the chunky parts so I could use my immersion blender on the rest. I also added in about .5 cup of soy milk just to make it a little creamier and a few more basil leaves for flavor.

The real best part of everything was the lentil couscous salad I made to go in the soup. First I cut up 3 cloves of garlic, added some salt, a few chopped basil leaves, and 1TB olive oil. I let it sit as long as I could so the garlic and basil would infuse into the oil. Meanwhile, I cooked 3/4 cup lentils until just done so they weren't yet mushy, and I made 3/4 of couscous. Once all the cooking was done, I mixed the oil mixture, lentils, and couscous together and put about 3/4 cup into each of the 4 servings I made. Then I garnished with a gigantic purple basil leaf.

It was great- the raw garlic added extra zing to the soup. I promise I'll get more creative with tomato soup in the spring.

Sorta Chunky Tomato Soup

Since it's 6 degrees outside I thought I'd make some nice warm soup for lunch. And since I've been watching TV all day because it's 6 degrees outside and because I hurt my back running on Friday and have consequently been spending a lot of time with the heating pad, I decided on tomato soup because Sandra Lee (semi-home) made it and it seemed like the right thing to do.

My initial idea was the roast the tomatoes, but since I don't write these things down until after I've made them, I forgot. So, I started with 1/2 a red onion, sauteeing it in a little olive oil until translucent. Then I added 6 tiny cloves of garlic for a few more minutes and deglazed the pan with some red wine vinegar. I've wanted to use rwv in my tomato soup, but I didn't know how it would react to soy milk. But today I'm daring. Bold, even.

After deglazing, I added some water, 6 small plum tomatoes, 1 TB tomato paste, and 8 white mushrooms. I let it cook a few minutes then added 1cup of unsweetened soy milk. After stirring it all up, I scooped out half of the mixture and used my immersion blender to smooth out the rest. Once I added the pulp back in I tore up a few leaves of basil from my aerogarden. It's growing ridiculously high so I had to cut it back a little. What a shame to have fresh basil that I was forced to eat...

Now I don't ever remember having a single bowl of tomato soup in my life until the past year. So I never experienced what I understand is true tradition- grilled cheese and tomato soup. However, Sandra Lee reminded me of this true American meal and I thought I'd follow suit with my own version. I toasted a few pieces of whole wheat toast and spread with a thin layer of french onion Better than Cream Cheese. My favorite part was removing the crust and letting it sit in the soup to get a little soggy. While not exactly what everyone else grew up with, it hit the spot. And made just enough for another meal.

Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squashes are delicious but laborious. And sometimes I OD on them a little. But I got my first one this season and saved it for just the right moment.

It was really pretty easy and is the best tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth. I can't describe how amazing it is- beautiful, creamy, and flavorful. Wow.

I roasted a whole butternut squash (which was a little on the small side) in the oven on 350 until the inside was soft (45 minutes?). I also had 6-8 cloves of garlic (whole cloves with some paper still on them) and 2 cut sliced red onions roasting at the same time. I added just a touch of cooking spray and stirred them 3 or 4 times as they got delicious.

I made a special trip to the organic store today because I needed some nutritional yeast and wanted to get some Better than Cream Cheese because, well, it's like crack. While I was there I saw some vegan bullion (flavored with sea salt and herbs) and spontaneously threw it into my little basket. So, I dissolved 2 cubes in a couple cups of water (2ish cups, maybe 3cups) and added 3 TB of Better Than Cream Cheese. Pureed with the immersion blender and voila, amazingness. So what about the onions? I added them to couscous to add to the middle of the soup, which makes me feel a little fancy.

Save the Vegetables! Soup

Evidently I overpurchased on veggies last week, which means that I didn't need to buy much this week, but I had to come up with a way to use them up because the thought of throwing out food makes me want to cry. So I did what I love to do- threw it all in a pot to make a soup.



On hand:

1 medium onion

6 cloves garlic (I had to buy a giant pack of garlic becuase I needed it one day and the only nearby place tht had it sold it in 6 bulb packages)

3 large yellow squashes

4 plum tomatoes

4 cups of green beans

1 medium head of cauliflower

1 cup frozen corn



1 can light kidney beans



.5 cup barley (my favorite grain)

.25 cup each quinoa and bulgur



Simply seasoned with seasalt and pepper. If it was topped with avocado, it would contain all essential food groups! It's a nice summery soup and should feed me the rest of the week- it made 5 gigantic servings.

"Ochazuke"

Since I'm feeling a little sick today and I wasn't sure my leftovers from last night would be that great without a little help, I decided to make "Ochazuke." Traditional Ochazuke is leftover rice and green tea with seasonings on top. Things like seaweed, plum, salmon, etc. I use the quotes because, while my dish and the traditional dish both contain green tea and leftover rice, I'm pretty sure most Japanese people don't add chickpeas, kale, and Tony Chacheries. And they probably use white rice instead of brown.

I don't have a picture since I ate it at work, but all I did was mix last night's food together and add some green tea. Just what the doctor ordered, but could have used a little more of the spices.

Since Mother Nature didn't get my memo that winter is over, it's yet another soup evening for me. I opted for split peas and cauliflower, which I often cook up with a little curry powder. This time I decided to be different.

I added .75cups green split peas and one large onion to some boiling water and cooked until the split peas softened up some. Meanwhile, in an effort to dirty every single dish in my kitchen (which I do often), I also cooked up .5cups quinoa and simultaneously blended 2 chipotles (canned in adobo sauce, my favorite...I freeze the leftovers), 2 TB Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, and some of my mint from my freezer. This made a very, very tasty sauce.

When I was done with the sauce I put 3/4 of the split peas/onion in the blender until smooth. I then readded to the pan and put 1/2 large head of cauliflower in the pot with some salt and cumin. I thought about adding turmeric, but got scared and didn't. Now, I had this beautiful vision of a nice, green soup with pretty white cauliflower floating around and a deep red swirl, all on a bed of tasty quinoa. However, I can't seem to ever learn that when you mix red things (peppers, tomatoes, etc) with white things (cream cheese, milk, etc), it turns pink.

And I need to work on my swirling skills...

Overall, I was pleased with the minty taste- not over the top, but you could definitely taste it and it seemed to go well with the spicy chipotle. The cumin also helped town down the heat from the peppers. Next time I'll probably make it with brown basmati rice just for some better texture since the quinoa is a little soft. But I'll be making this one again.

More Soup for Me

Since I woke up with a scratchy throat that morphed into a nice little cough by the evening, I decided I need to make some soup for dinner. Yesterday I received a fantastic present of Brussels sprouts and thought I could make a soup with them. One time I steamed them, threw them in the blender with some veggie broth, and added some pan-fried sprouts for a nice, hearty soup. This time, however, I decided to do something slightly different.

I started off by cooking 3 small onions and 4 cloves of garlic in a little olive oil. Then I added some water and .5 cup of barley. After it cooked about 15 minutes, I added 1 cube of vegan vegetable buillion and some whole Brussels sprouts. I let it cook until the sprouts were done. And it really hit the spot.

I also needed to use up the rest of the firm tofu that was in my fridge. I cut it into 2 inch by 1 inch pieces and then dipped it in some concotion I came up with. I added about .75 cup of pinto beans, a giant squirt of mustard, some leftover canned tomatoes from my pizza, Mexican-style chili powder, and a little olive oil together and blended until smooth. I rolled (dreged?) the tofu in the dip (which would make an excellent dip on it's own) and then rolled it in finely crushed Cheerios. I started crushing the little o's by hand, but that was way too much work, so then I put them in a random paper lunch bag I had, but they broke it, so I resorted to using the bottom of the mustard container to finely crush them. I then baked for 30 minutes or so on 400 and when the tops weren't brown like I wanted, I turned on the broiler until they were nice and crispy.

As always, I forgot any salt or pepper. And I think it would have been better if I'd thought about it in advance and soaked the tofu in my bean mixture for awhile. But, they were neat and I plan to try to make them again, next time with extra firm tofu and a nice long soak. Finally, a new use for Cheerios.