Category Archives: Appetizers

Bang Bang Tofu

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Julie • 3 Comments

Bang Bang Tofu

Lately I’ve been seeing recipes for Bang Bang Chicken and Bang Bang Shrimp popping up all over Foodgawker and Tastespotting. I guess the shrimp is originally an appetizer from Bonefish restaurant, which I’ve never had, and I’m not sure where the chicken came from. All I know is when I see anything with a crispy panko coating and a spicy-sweet dipping sauce, I need to immediately either eat it or vegetarianize it. I am a firm believer in the notion that anything breaded, faux-fried, and dipped in something spicy or creamy will be good. It could be an old shoe. Coat it in panko and I’m good.

Bang Bang Tofu

This was no exception. The tofu took the coating and breading perfectly, and crisped up to a lovely texture in a hot oven. Dipped in a sweet chili and sriracha mayonnaise…man. Doesn’t matter a bit that it’s not chicken or shrimp, or that it’s not actually fried. And depending on your mood, this can be a starter, like it is in the restaurant, or a perfectly hearty main dish. Or both, like it is for me – whenever I make this, I can’t stop eating it. Luckily, since it’s tofu, and it’s baked, that’s not such a bad thing. Or at least it could be worse.

Bang Bang Tofu

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend – I have a good one planned. Some working out, some time with good friends, and Mother’s Day festivities on Sunday. Moms, I hope you get some peace and quiet if that’s what you asked requested for Mother’s Day – I know that would be first on my list.*

*one of like a zillion reasons I’m not a mom

Bang Bang Tofu

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Prep time: 40 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Yield: 5 servings

A healthier, vegetarianized version of the popular restaurant starter.

Ingredients

Dipping Sauce:

½ cup mayonnaise (or Vegenaise)
¼ cup sweet chili sauce
2 Tbsp red pepper hot sauce (Tabasco or Frank’s are both good in this)
1 Tbsp honey or agave

Tofu:

1 15 ounce package extra firm tofu (I use Trader Joe’s high protein super firm)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tbsp hot sauce
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch
1 Tbsp garlic granules
2 tsp smoked paprika
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cups panko bread crumbs

Instructions

Combine the sauce ingredients (mayo, chili sauce, hot sauce and honey). Cover and refrigerate.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Remove the tofu from the package and place on a plate. Cover with another plate and stack some cookbooks or a heavy skillet on top. Allow to drain for 30 minutes or so.
Slice the tofu in half crosswise, then cut lengthwise into six slices. Slice each square into a diagonal (if you want to just cube it, that’s fine too. The tofu police are currently on sequestration vacation).
Stir together buttermilk, egg, and hot sauce in a small bowl. In another larger bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir until smooth.
Place the tofu into the batter and stir until well-coated. Dredge each piece through the panko and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, turning the tofu halfway through. Serve with dipping sauce.

Calories: 302 Fat: 9g Carbohydrates: 34g Sodium: 94g Protein: 20g

Source: Vegetarianized and adapted from Jo Cooks

Filed Under: Appetizers, Main Dish

Baked Avocado Egg Rolls

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Julie • 8 Comments

Baked Avocado Egg Rolls

I guess my theme this week is food inspired by stuff I used to eat at work. I used to travel quite a bit for a former client – it was a hectic way to live but a lot of fun. Work travel is a great way to see little bits of cities you might never have had a chance to spend time in – usually there isn’t much time to do touristy stuff, but if you can fit in one or two little things or try a good restaurant, it’s more than you’d get to do staying at home.

Of course, between the good local restaurants you get to try are the ones you have to go to just to make sure you eat. Those are the ones that were always a bit of an adventure for me as a plant-eater trying to stay healthy on the road. I can’t count the number of iceberg salads and pastas with red sauce I’ve eaten in various cities across the country because that was what was available. And sometimes if something looked really good, I’d just give in to the deep fryer and go to town.

These egg rolls were one of those special cases. I’m mildly obsessed with avocado – if I could pick one food that had to be in everything I ate for the rest of my life, that would be it. I found avocado egg rolls on the menu at BJ’s Brewhouse, a restaurant where my coworkers and I always ended up killing time before redeye flights home from Seattle, and I loved them so much that I ordered them every time I was there. Healthy? Nope. Delicious? Yep.

I work on a different project now, and my Seattle days are over. But I still REALLY like those egg rolls, so I started looking for a way to recreate them and maybe healthify them a bit in the process. I had immediate success with this one, and I wasn’t surprised – how could they go wrong? If you don’t care about the extra oil, you can certainly deep fry these, but I don’t think they suffer for being baked. I for one am certainly enjoying being able to eat these without traveling across the entire country. Serve these with any dipping sauce you like – ranch, soy-ginger, or sweet chili.

Baked Avocado Egg Rolls

4.5 from 2 reviews

Print

Category: Appetizer

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients

2 large, ripe avocados, diced
Juice of one lime
4 oz (1/2 package) fat-free cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped roughly
¼ cup red onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp pine nuts, chopped
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper to taste
9 egg roll wrappers
Cooking spray

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Place diced avocados in a medium bowl. Gently stir in lime juice.
Stir in cream cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, onion, garlic, pine nuts, cilantro, red pepper, and salt and pepper until thoroughly combined.
Lay an egg roll wrapper on a work surface. Place 2-3 tablespoons of the avocado mixture down the middle of the wrapper. Fold one point of the wrapper over the mixture and roll once. Fold in the two sides and roll the egg roll shut. Use a bit of water to fold in and seal the remaining tip. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.
Spray tops of the egg rolls lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each egg roll and spray the other sides lightly with cooking spray. Return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes, until browned and hot.
Serve with dipping sauce of choice.

Source: Inspired by BJ’s Brewhouse

Filed Under: Appetizers

Vegan Deviled “Eggs”

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Julie • 1 Comment

Vegan Deviled Eggs | Baked In

Disclaimer: I am most definitely not a vegan, nor do I play one on TV, but I’ve been dying to try this recipe ever since I saw it over on Lagusta’s Luscious a few months ago. Of course it took me forever to get around to it, but now we’re coming up on Easter, so the timing is perfect. Holidays can be tough for vegans and vegetarians – most of the traditional holiday meals center around a big slab of meat, and Easter, of course, is all about eggs. I’ve seen lots of recipes for deviled egg substitutes, but this was the first one I’ve come across that really has the look – and, it turns out, the taste – down pat.

vegan deviled eggs

… [click for recipe and more]

Filed Under: Appetizers, Quick & Easy, Vegan

Cheesy Brussels Sprout Dip

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Julie • 8 Comments

brussels sprout dip

Hey, you. Yeah, you. I saw you start backing slowly away when you saw the title of this recipe. I saw the look on your face when you read “Brussels sprouts.” Saw your nose crinkle up as you remembered the god-awful smell of sulfurous sprouts simmering on the stovetop as you begged your mom for green beans, broccoli, peas, anything but sprouts. Let those memories wash over you for just another moment, because we’re about to erase them forever. We’re friends, right, you and me? I’m asking you to trust me. This is a culinary trust fall. Turn around, close your eyes, and lean back. I’ve got you. You’re going to be just fine.

Let me say in the interest of full disclosure that I am a HUGE Brussels sprout advocate. Maybe even an ambassador. I never had them steamed or boiled growing up, so I have no traumatic memories of coming home from school and recoiling in horror while wondering who converted my home into a fart factory. The first time I ever had them roasted (my second ever blog post, let’s have a slow clap for that food photography, please), I was an instant devotee. I think I’ve actually rescued more than two handfuls of people from a fate of lifetime sprout hate, and this recipe should up that number considerably. I first made it as an appetizer for Christmas dinner, and the creamy, cheesy goodness won everyone over immediately. I made it again last weekend just because, and finished it off yesterday for lunch with a big pile of carrot sticks while I was snowquestered. Let me tell you, it really helped get me through the hardship of several hours of light rain falling across the city.

… [click for recipe and more]

Filed Under: Appetizers, Quick & Easy, Snacks

Cauliflower Buffalo “Wings”

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Julie • 19 Comments

cauliflower wings

I was never a wing person. When I started dating Nor and he still ate meat, we would joke about how there was really no polite way to eat chicken wings. Regardless of how appropriate you’re trying to be, at the end of the day you’re still sucking meat off a bone with sauce all over your face and fingers. There is truly no polite way to do it. Nor was the most gracious wing-eater I’d seen, and to this day he is the only person I’ve ever seen eat a tray of buffalo wings and not be completely smeared with sauce and grease at the end of that ordeal.

As for me, I honestly don’t think I have ever eaten a chicken wing in my life (anyone who knows me in real life that might remember better than me, feel free to speak up). But since Nor gave up chicken four-plus years ago, wings have been one of the few things he really misses. I’ve tried to replicate with seitan – those are amazing and you’ll probably see the recipe here at some point – but they are deep-fried. And I. HATE. FRYING. So those have been SUPER special occasion wings – think, your team is in the Super Bowl type of special. But then I found the recipe for these, and I thought “this is too good to be true. They’re made of vegetables and BAKED.” I could make these on any given Sunday and snack on them all day! And I did. For the “hey Mikey, he likes it!” factor, here are the reactions of my two cohabitants (the usual one and a guest) at the time I made these:

Chrissy: “Can I have a piece of cauliflower? OH MY GOD, this is amazing.” Note: her later reaction was that these are just as good before you toss them in wing sauce.

Nor: “Skeptical diatribe about using cauliflower for wings.” Pause for cooking time. “Whoa…these are really good. Can we have these next weekend? And for the Super Bowl?”

… [click for recipe and more]

Filed Under: Appetizers, Main Dish, Vegan