What a weekend. What a weekend. I went on one of the coolest hikes ever on Saturday (google “devils marbleyard,” I left my camera at home). The highlight is an enormous boulder field and MAN is it awesome. I think I found my element- if anyone was wondering. Slight note to anyone thinking of making the venture- do it, but do not leave the trail. Despite your search for the great 360 view, if you have to leave the trail it’s probably not worth seeing. I’ll leave it at that.
However, the next day I spent in the kitchen. And have a few treats to show for it. Namely these gems, heavily inspired by Vegan Mother Hubbard. They’re a great party food and super versatile. I’ve been trying to find new tofu styles and this has been on my list for a bit. Granted it isn’t a particularly quick recipe, it isn’t a hard one either.
Beer- Batter Baked Tofu
Ingredients
2 blocks of extra firm tofu, pressed (approx 14oz)
1 cup veggie broth
3 tbsp diced onion, diced red pepper, and 1 clove of garlic sautéed together
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
8 oz of choice beer (more if you’re a beer-lover, I was just looking for a way to use up party-leftovers)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup bread crumbs (magic bullet worked astonishingly well to crumble some toast)
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
Directions
- Press the tofu (for tips see my tofu tutorial) for 40-60min
- Then slice it into blocks. For less of a tofu taste make thinner strips, they’ll be less dense.
- In a large bowl, mix together the broth, onion/pepper/garlic mixture, soy sauce, mustard, lime juice and black pepper. The original recipe has a more specific method for expedited marination, so know that this recipe was just my approach for better or worse.
- Microwave for 1 minute (I wasn’t positive my bowl was mic safe so I played it safe), add beer, and microwave for another minute.
- Add the tofu an let marinate in the mixture for as long as you can. Aim for an hour.
- Now it’s dip and dunk time. But first preheat the oven to 350. Then set up three bowls side by side. In the first, flour and a dash of salt if you like. In the second, the almond milk with 1/2 cup of the broth. Add the breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast to the last bowl.
- No grab a tofu finger, dip in the flour, then the milk, then roll in bread crumbs, and place onto a greased, foil-wrapped baking sheet.
- Pop in the oven for 15 minutes, turn over if it won’t crack the breading, and put in for another 15 for a total of 30 minutes.
top with bbq sauce, dip in honey mustard, or get creative and make cool new sauces to wow the summer crowd:)
ah another great serving tip that I loved was chopping it up into cubes and using it as a salad-topper. Along the same lines, if you are like me and run out of bread crumbs before you run out of tofu, go ahead and baked the naked pieces and they get nice and golden. Also a good soup/salad add-in. 
sunshine shannon 