Happy Meatless Monday!

Do you celebrate Meatless Monday by having one meatless dinner a week? We do but every day has been Meatless Monday for me for the last 17 years, long before there was a name for it!

I will be making eggplant parmesan later so I might post on that as well. But I thought today would be the perfect time to share my meatless wonton recipes with you. I love fried things but it's difficult finding meatless wontons and egg rolls and such, so I started making my own. However, learning to fry things is dangerous and addictive, so I suggest these as an occasional snack rather than daily lunch! (Still trying to remind myself of that!)

Today I made cream cheese wontons and amazing smoked tofu wontons. You can do any variety of veggies and tofu though, of course. This just happened to be what I had on hand today. I have also made a yummy version with firm tofu and mushrooms marinated in soy sauce.

I also have to share another new discovery I found at our local Winco recently. It is super firm, smoked tofu. It has an amazingly delicious meaty texture and flavor, so the meat-eaters in your life won't even have to miss meat! This has been wonderful to cook with and would also be great eaten in cold slices on a veggie sandwich!

My cream cheese wontons were inspired by a local Asian fast food restaurant that serves them. They are filled with soft cream cheese and sliced scallions (green onions). Of course, there is any number of delicious things you could add to these. They would also be good as egg rolls.

I just put a small dab of cream cheese, then topped it with some sliced onions.

With your finger, run a bit of water around the inside edge of the wonton wrapper, then pinch them closed as shown. The water will help the wrapper stick together.

What type of cooking oil you use is personal preference. I like using peanut oil because it tends to not smell up the house as much as vegetable oil. I only use a little in the bottom of the pan and then turn the wontons around in it. You can of course use enough oil to completely submerge them. I just don't like using very much oil.

I like serving these with a simple soy sauce dipping sauce. You can use any dipping sauce  you have on hand.

To make the tofu wontons, chop the tofu in small pieces and follow the same steps as above. Experiment with different vegetables to see what you like best.

Enjoy, and Happy Meatless Monday! Please feel free to share other ideas for vegan and vegetarian-friendly wonton ideas!

French Toast!

Happy Sunday, everyone. I hope you all got to sleep in a little and take advantage of the weekend.

I love making brunch on Sunday mornings because that's the only day my fiance is home all day during the week. I'm currently on a French toast kick which is great because I learned how to make it myself. I used to love going out to eat at places like Denny's and IHOP because I could get delicious French toast. Now I don't have to which saves money and means I don't have to get up so early to go out!

I made an amazing discovery recently and it is this:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sara-Lee-Texas-Toast-Restaurant-Style-Bread-24-oz/16777984

Sara Lee Texas Toast is the key to really good French toast. If you can find brioche, that would be equally good.

For two pieces of toast, my recommendations are as follows.

Ingredients:

• Sara Lee Texas Toast (or any thick cut dense bread)
• 2 eggs
• splash of milk
• butter
• syrup for serving
• cinnamon (optional)
• powdered sugar (optional)

I like to preheat my pan and melt a little butter in it to get that nice crispy outside on the toast. Mix the eggs and milk in a bowl and dip the bread in, thoroughly coating both sides. Toss the toast in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side over medium heat. Adjust your cooking time as needed for your desired level of doneness. Serve with syrup. I also like mine with a side of vegan bacon!