Vegan Nutty Cinnamon Coffee Cake Rolls withOUT Nuts!

My oldest child could survive on carbs alone, bread, tortillas, rolls, breadsticks, pizza, pasta, pancakes, waffles if it's a simple carb he LOVES it.  His FAVORITE of all though is cinnamon rolls.  I don't often make them though because I'm not a fabulous yeast baker and we are all about the instant gratification here... waiting HOURS for something to rise before you can dig in doesn't really appeal to us.  Also for us the BEST cinnamon rolls are ones with little bits of candied pecans or walnuts strewn within, but the middle man here (my 7 year old) is allergic to both of those nuts so no nutty rolls for us.  Until now!  How can a creative mama come up with a way to make something crunchy and nutty without actually having nuts in it?  Say hello to Grape Nuts!  Yes, you know that gravely cereal that we buy but never actually eat... yep... I'm talking to YOU lol Now just a little disclaimer here, there is some debate about the source of the vitamins B and D in Grape Nuts and whether they are vegan or not.  For me since I already had a HUGE unopened box of the stuff in the pantry it wasn't a deal breaker, I already had them and I was SUPER excited to have a nutty crunchy roll that my son with allergies could enjoy.  You can even make them into "candied nuts" if you were so inclined!  Now after this massive box in my pantry is gone and if I ever decide to purchase another box I will do more digging into the source of the vitamins and see if there is a more natural option to traditional Grape Nuts.  If anyone out there knows of an natural healthy version of Grape Nuts please pass on the info!!

This recipe is adapted from the fabulous Kathy over at The Lunch Box Bunch head on over there to check out her original recipe! I was so excited to see that these had no yeast and as such no rise time!

For the dough you will need:
 4 cups unbleached flour 
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp melted earth balance
1 cup almond milk
1/3 cup orange juice (you can use lemon instead and sub lemon in the glaze for lemony rolls!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
flour for kneading

For the filling you will need:
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp melted earth balance
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Grape Nuts cereal

For the topping you will need:
2-3 Tbsp Grape Nuts cereal
2-3 Tbsp melted earth balance
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp pure maple syrup

For the glaze you will need:
2 TBSP melted earth balance
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 Tbsp orange juice
finely grated zest of 1 orange

Preheat your oven to 375

In a med bowl mix all the ingredients for the filling EXCEPT THE MELTED BUTTER, use your hands to really get it all incorporated. Set aside

In a small bowl do the same with the ingredients for the topping. Set aside

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients for the dough and then add in the wet.  The dough should not be sticky and should come together in a nice ball.  Add a drop or two more milk or flour as needed to get it just right.

On a floured surface roll out the dough into a 1 in thick rectangle.  

Brush the melted butter from the topping on to the rectangle of dough and then cover with the filling, spread it all out evenly.

Roll the dough on the short end into a tight log and then slice into 8 even pieces.

Place into a greased baking dish.

Add the topping.

Bake at 375 for 30 mins

While they are baking whip up your glaze.  The original recipe is for a thick yummy looking cream cheese frosting but I didn't have any cream cheese on hand :( so I made this glaze instead.  It was very yummy!  Keep in mind mine makes more of a runny glaze vs an actual frosting.

When the rolls come out let them cool for a few minutes and then pour the glaze over the top.  










 

Homemade Organic, Vegan Juice Pulp Dog Treats

They ARE just waiting for me to drop some of the mixture so that can gobble it up!

Ok, as promised the follow up to yesterday's juice post... what to do with that pulp... first thing is DON'T throw it away!  It can very easily be made into fabulous healthy, yummy, vegan doggie treats that your pups will beg you for.

You can make these treats with any juice pulp bearing in mind that there are a few fruits and veggies that are not safe for dogs to eat, mainly onions, garlic and grapes most of which I don't think people are putting into their juices... unless you're making a savory tomato garlicy type juice, in which case DON'T use that pulp to make doggy treats. 

I try to always use organic fruits and veggies when I juice, in addition I use organic pb and oats so these treats are organic and vegan, IDK if you've priced organic dog treats but boy are they expensive! So making your own and using that juice pulp instead of throwing it away really makes these treats easy on the wallet!

Homemade juice pulp doggy treats:

The juice I made the most recent batch of treats from was the first juice in yesterday's post: 1 large sweet potato, 3 large carrots and 2 oranges. After making my juice I was left with about 3-4 cups of pulp. If you have more or less pulp you can adjust your other ingredients accordingly.


Place the pulp in a bowl and add 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 cup oats and I added 1/4 cup ground flax seed. 

Approx 4 cups of juice pulp

Use your hands to squish, mix and combine well. 

Roll into balls appropriate for your dog's size. Mine are about 1 inch balls. 

Bake at 300 for 1 hour turning once half way through. 




My dogs LOVE these, in fact they love to just eat them raw, kinda like how I love eating cookie dough raw lol. 

What a little beggar! lol

Charlie approves these treats and gives them a lip-licking-good review!

So save your pulp! Nothing wasted and your pups yet a YUMMY, healthy treat!

Orange Juice... sorta

My husband and I juice quite a bit.  It seems to happen in waves, we juiced pretty heavily when we first got our juicer, a lovely Value Village find for $50.  We both have done cleansing juice fasts and lost weight and felt much lighter and cleaner inside as a result.  We have not fasted in a while and our juicing tapered off for a while towards the end of the year.  But we're back in action again, refocused with the start of the new year. 

I wanted to share a couple of quick and easy juices with you.  They are orange in color but are not your typical OJ. 

The first is one of my faves:  Sweet potato, carrots and oranges.
You need 1 large sweet potato, about 3 or 4 carrots and 2 oranges.  Wash and peel the sweet potato, wash the carrots and chop the potato and carrots into whatever size pieces your juicer can handle. Cut the rind off the oranges leaving most of the pith (white part) but removing all of the orange peels.  Juice it all and serve over ice!  Makes about 32 oz of juice depending on how big your veggies/fruits were.  I know you are thinking juicing a sweet potato seems weird but it is sooo good it makes a thick kind of creamy sweet juice... just yum! 

Don't toss out your pulp!  I am going to share a super easy recipe for doggie treats using this pulp tomorrow.

The other "orange" juice I like is: Grapefruit, carrot and ginger.
You need 3 grapefruits, about 4 carrots and a 1 inch knob of ginger (if you have never juiced ginger before maybe cut that in half, ginger packs a punch!).  Wash your produce, peel the ginger if you wish (some people do, some don't) I just wash the heck out of it.  Cut the rinds off the grapefruit removing the colored outer rind leaving the pith.  Juice and serve over ice!  This one makes about 24 oz of juice depending on how big your grapefruits are.  So yes it's going to be a bit sour and yes that ginger is going to have some bite to it but once you've been juicing for a while you come to appreciate unique flavor combos such as this and even crave them.  The pith of the citrus fruits hold a lot of vitamin C and antioxidants. This particular juice is known as a natural energy drink due to the ginger/grapefruit combo. 

Check back tomorrow for the recipe for dog treats that will make your pup the happiest on the block, using your juice pulp. They seriously LOVE these treats... they are lick-your-doggy-lips-good!  Charlie says so!

Birthdays, Pizza and Eyeglasses

So I made a goal (not a resolution!) to be more active on the blog this year, even if it just means posting silly daily stuff rather than a recipe every post. 

Today was Bella's best friend's birthday party.  It was a Chuck E Cheese party which the kids were soooo excited for, I totally get it... Chuck E Cheese is an AWESOME place for kids.  Not so much for a vegan mama, it's difficult to have to say "No" over and over again to them. But we love our friends and knew it would be a crazy fun party so I had to figure out a way to make it work. 

Per Peta, Chuck E Cheese's crust and sauce are vegan, so a quick call to talk to the manager and ask if I brought in my own bag of Daiya would they make us a vegan pizza?  He was very kind and accommodating and assured me it would not be a problem.  When we got there I asked at the counter for the manager and he took our vegan cheese in the back and made our pizza himself.  It was not bad as Chuck E Cheese pizzas go.  I didn't get a pic... sorry.  The kids had me pretty distracted, but I did manage to snap a couple pics of the pretty princesses.

The party was a princess theme and all the girls were encouraged to dress up as their favorite princesses.  Bella of course always one to go against the grain decided she wanted to be a fairy (Tinkerbell).  I think I managed to pull off a pretty respectable Tink outfit for her.  It was an awesome party and the little princesses (and the big bros) all had a great time.

So.... if your little one's have invitations to a Chuck E Cheese party, never fear... make a call to your location and ask to bring in your own vegan cheese, and kick back and enjoy the party.

My little Tinkerbell

Brandon and some of the cool swag he scored with his game tickets

 After the party we came home and had some family reading and writing time.  We are working hard as a family to get our kids more excited about reading.  So at dinner we pass around the kindle and each of us takes turns reading out loud to the family.  Right now we are reading book one of Harry Potter.  It's slow going, as reading aloud is something both of the boys need some focus on, but I'm hopeful that the added benefit of time spent doing it together as a family will help.

After reading everyone took sometime to write in their journals before bed.  The boys write stories about their toys, or just about whatever happened in their day and Bells practices her name, numbers or drawing pictures.  Daddy works on a fantasy story he is writing and I have decided this is a perfect time for me to work on the blog :)

Oh one more exciting tidbit to share... The first born got glasses yesterday.  He's pretty stoked about them and had a lot of fun with me going to the different eyeglass places to try on frames and find one he really liked.  We went with these ones.  They were only $50 for frames and lenses at Vision Works in our local mall.  The second photo (the bolder frame) are the ones he really really wanted but they were $139 for the frames plus another $30 for lenses.  So we told him if he does a good job of taking care of these we'd consider getting him a more expensive pair in the future. 

Happy Thanksliving!

We are late to the party as usual... :)  We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday instead of Thursday so we could have some extended family and friends join us.  It was so nice to have a house full of people relaxing and celebrating!  Over the last month we have had a multitude of changes in our lives, I recently went back to work and we are currently in the process of moving (Staying local just moving about 5 minutes from where we were), but going back to work means my daughter had to go to enroll in preschool which is a big change for her and add all the fun and jitters of a new job for me and stress of moving... Ugh!  It was so nice to set all of that aside for one day and just relax and hang out, even if I did have to go sifting through unpacked boxes for my potato masher and the kids had to eat picnic style in the living room because we don't have furniture in that room yet... it was all good!

So on to the feast!

 
I made a homemade seitan roast similar to this one from the PPK  and silly girl that I am I was worried it wouldn't turn out and we would be left with nothing to eat so we picked up a store bought Tofurkey roast,
for a back up, as it turns out I worried for nothing the roast I made was delish and even pleased the palates of our non veg friends.  The Tofurky roast was bland and over chewy in comparison to the delish homemade one... lesson learned!



I was lazy with the gravy and just went with the store bought Tofurkey brand gravy which was so good over my garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing and the roast.  Big fluffy dinner rolls were perfect for dipping the the yummy yummy gravy.

I did roasted veggies to go with the roast which were brussel sprouts, cauliflower and carrots they were tossed with bunches of minced garlic, seasonings and olive oil and then roasted until soft, about an hour. 

My special occasion green beans are always included at holiday meals and were so easy to make vegan, simply sub the butter for Earth Balance.  Take about a pound of fresh green beans, you put 1/2 a stick earth balance into a large heavy skillet and once melted and bubbly throw in a 1/2 cup shaved almonds and 1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) toast those for about 5 minutes and then toss in your beans combine them really well so the earth balance is well distributed and let cook for around 5 more minutes or until the beans are as soft or as crisp as you like them, add salt to taste.

Candied yams are a Thanksgiving staple and were crazy easy to make vegan, just sub the marshmallows for vegan Dandies brand marshmallows and you're done!

My sons' birth father was in town and this was the first time in about 5 years that he has gotten to spend Thanksgiving with his sons so it was important to us to put off our feast until he could join us.  He is DEFINITELY not vegan, though when he is here he does try to be supportive of his sons' choices.   He made us a delish tart homemade cranberry sauce and whipped up a vegan cornbread stuffing with tempeh in place of his usual choice of sausage. 




For dessert I made my traditional chocolate pudding pie,  I've been making this pie every year for Thanksgiving since I was like 14.  For years I have made this pie using an Oreo cookie crust, Jello chocolate pudding mix and Cool whip on top.  But this like just about everything else is so easy to veganize.  I couldn't find a cookie crust at the healthfood store I was shopping at so I just decided to  go with a traditional pie crust and found some that were vegan in the freezer case.  I used organic chocolate pudding mix, and mixed with Silk's organic soy milk, topped with Soyatoo stick it in the freezer for 2 hours or so and then... revel in the amazing simpleness that is my favorite pie :)
 



I also made this crazy simple pumpkin pie from The Lunch Box Bunch that disappeared quickly and a raw vegan cheesecake , we were not in love with the cheesecake.  I used almonds instead of walnuts for the crust as my little dude is allergic to walnuts and it was just too nutty for us.  The texture of this cheesecake was spot on, it just didn't have enough of that "cheesecakey tang" so I want to try to work with it some more.  We are not raw by any means so I think pairing this filling with a vegan graham cracker crust and maybe doubling the lemon juice in the filling and we will get that "tang" we were missing.  






It was a great evening, we all ate way too much, enjoyed some drinks, card games, the company of friends and family and the spirit of being thankful for all that we have.  I am thankful for my beautiful children, for my furry babies, for my amazing husband, for the best friend a girl could wish for, for my wonderful new friends to make new memories with, our new home and that I was able to find a job easily and quickly to ensure we will not struggle financially to keep this roof over my family's heads. I am also thankful that my family is vegan, that we opened our eyes and our hearts to the millions of animals that suffer daily for our choices and that I have learned that I can put on a spread like this... made with love without causing harm to anyone.

Wishing you all the the warmest wishes this holiday season.

Mc Mama's Vegan Breakfast Sammies!

Time to share my favorite yummy breakfast sammies!!  


Making these for my husband helped him kick his Mcdonalds breakfast mcmuffin addiction.  This is the typical artery clogging breakfast he would have from McDonalds several times a week:  http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/full_menu/breakfast/sausage_mcMuffin_egg.html  These sammies require some prep work, so I usually make them in batches that last about a week so that everything is in the fridge and ready to go.  Once it's all prepped and marinated it's so easy to whip them up!

Step One: Making the egg substitute.

You need:

• 1 block of extra firm tofu.  Frozen, thawed and then pressed or squeezed until all the water is out. 
• Apple cider vinegar (about a cup)
• Nutritional yeast (about a cup)
• Dijon mustard (about 3-4 tablespoons)
• Tumeric (about a tablespoon)
• and about 1 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt and pepper

In a resealable container mix apple cider vinegar, yeast and mustard.  Play around with the measurements until you have something that resembles mayo in texture and consistency.  Add the other spices and mix well.



Slice the tofu into about 1/4-1/2 slabs and dip in mixture to coat them really well and then line them up in the container cover and refrigerate overnight.



Step Two:  Making the "bacon"
I use the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance for fakin' bac'n.  I don't always have what I need on hand so I just go with what I have. This time around I didn't have tomato paste so I just skipped it and I was out of fresh garlic so I just put in a dash of garlic salt instead.



You will need:

• 3 tablespoons braggs, or tamari, or soy sauce
• 1/3 cup apple cider
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 8 oz package tempeh
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

Slice the tempeh into thin strips.  Mix all the remaining ingredients in a resealable container and add tempeh.  Cover and let marinate at least an hour or two overnight is best.



The tofu and the tempeh will keep for about 5-6 days in the fridge.


Step 3:  Cooking and assembly

You need a few more ingredients for the final product:

• English muffins or sourdough bread
• Veganaise
• Tomato slices
• Avocado slices
• Soy cheese slice (I was out of cheese today so mine are sans cheese)
• Olive oil for cooking

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet and then brown your tofu slabs and bac'n until they are nice and crispy on both sides (about 3-5 mins per side).


While they are cooking slice your veggies, and spread a thin layer of mayo on your bread of choice.

After the tofu and bac'n are done remove from pan and set aside, I like to brown the bread in the oil and if you assemble the sammie and try to do it then you will have a mess on your hands when you try to flip it :)  So I learned to brown the two sides of the bread BEFORE assembly, I guess you could toast them in a toaster but doing it this way you get a kind of deli grilled sammie feel.

Ok so bread toasted, start stacking it on

 
and the last step is: TO DIG IN AND ENJOY!!

Simple Dinners: Enchilada Casserole

Time is never on my side... as evidenced by the fact that is has been way too long since my last blog post.  Lately I need meals to come together quickly and taste good because I don't have time for dinner meltdowns over who doesn't want to eat what.  My oldest son for some reason absolutely hates enchiladas, any enchiladas I have made in the past have resulted in one of those dreaded dinner table meltdowns.  Not because the enchiladas are bad... (I know you were thinking it!) because everyone else in the house gobbles them up with relish.  He just has an aversion to enchiladas, which really sucks for him because the rest of us love them.  So last night I was craving enchiladas but really didn't want to go to the time and trouble of rolling them all up, plus I still have very vivid memories of my hands in flames from the last time I made some.  I made green chili chick'n enchiladas with jalapenos in the sauce and OMG my hands BURNED for two days after wrapping all those up.  So I wanted all the yum of enchiladas without the work... typical huh lol.  Then the answer came to me:
"Enchilada Casserole!" YES!! Enchilada Casserole!  It came together very quickly with about 10 minutes in prep time, there was very little clean up involved, NO ROLLING of enchiladas and best of all my oldest surprised the heck out of me and wolfed it down and asked for more!

So here you are Vegan Enchilada Casserole:

Ingredients:

1. 1 can vegan refried beans (Amy's has a good one)
2. 1 can black beans
3. 1 can or the frozen equiv corn
4. 1 can (the 15 oz one not the huge one) enchilada sauce
5. 1 can diced tomatoes
6. 1 package vegan tortillas/wraps whole grain/spinach... whatever you have will work.  The spinach wraps would add some pretty color.  You need about 12 if you use the smaller ones or 8 if you use the larger 10" ones
7. 1 package pepperjack Daiya
8. Olive oil for bottom of pan

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Heat up your refried beans (they are easier to spread around when warm) and corn in separate bowls in the microwave or pans on the stove
3. Put enough olive oil in the bottom of a 13x9 casserole pan to coat
4. Pour about 1/2 of your enchilada sauce into the pan
5. In a large bowl mix (or the pot you warmed the corn up in if it's big enough) mix the remaining sauce, drained black beans, drained tomatoes, and corn together.
6. Slice your tortillas/wraps in half (a pizza cutter works great for this) so you have a flat edge and then lay down a single layer to cover the bottom of your pan.  You can slice a few into quarters if you need to to cover the corners
7. Layer 1/2 of the refried beans onto the tortillas you just laid down
8. Do another layer of tortillas
9. Cover this later with 1/2 of the black beans/sauce mixture
10. Add a good handful of your Daiya over the layer (About 1/3 of the bag)
11. Add another layer of tortillas
12. Cover with remaining refried beans
13. Add another layer of tortillas
14. Cover with remaining black bean/sauce mixture
15. Add another 1/3 of the Daiya to this layer
16. Cover with a final layer of tortillas and then add the rest of the Daiya to the top
17. Bake for 30 minutes and let it cool for about 10 minutes before slicing it up (the layers stay together better if you let it sit for a few minutes before cutting into it.

 You can top this with black olives, avocado slices, vegan sour cream and a sprig of cilantro for plating. 

Mason Jar Salads with DIY Annie's Organics Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

So hubby is on a BIG salad kick lately, like he's been eating BUSHELS of salad!  We make them up days in advance in mason jars. They stay crisp and fresh for about a week this way and they are quick and easy for him to grab one from the fridge in his mad dash out the door in the mornings.  We use lots of fresh organic veggies from our weekly produce box (we use Full Circle) and make super tasty healthy salads, the only drawback has been the dressing was getting pretty expensive.  He likes Annie's Organics Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette which runs about $5 a bottle and we've been going through about 2 a week.  So I decided to make my own today when making his salads.  The recipe is down at the bottom of this post :)

The salads have the following:
2 radishes
1 beet
1 carrot
1/2 a HUGE cucumber (if yours are smaller use a whole one)
2-3 cups of greens
and some thing crunchy on top (I rotate different kinds of nuts or seeds)

I set up all my fixins assembly line style and get to chopping.  You want to put all the "hard" veggies in the bottom of the jars, I usually stack radishes first, then beets, then carrots. 

Once you have all those chopped pour your dressing in until you have enough to barely cover them.  They will kind of pickle in the dressing while they wait for you to eat them over the week, trust me this is a good thing... it's sooo good! Also those are the veggies that won't get all soggy if they sit in dressing for days, you def don't want your dressing to touch your greens.

After you have your dressing in dice your cukes and put those in, then hand tear your greens and shove em it (don't be afraid to mash them in there, they will bounce back I promise!).  If you want to add things like chopped tomatoes, maybe some beans, quinoa or some avocado you have treated with lemon juice put those in BEFORE you put in the greens.  If you want to use grape or cherry tomatoes add those on TOP of the greens and then top with nuts and seeds. 

Then just screw on your tops and store in the fridge.  We have eaten these as many as 6 days after prepping them and they were still crisp and tasty. 

If you've never worked with beets before, don't be alarmed by the bloody hand look you will soon be sporting... and I HIGHLY suggest not wearing your favorite white t-shirt when prepping these unless you are wearing an apron... just take my word for it :)

Five beautiful healthy organic salads to nourish my hungry hubby all week.

The dressing!!

Try to use organic ingredients if possible.

Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette:

2 big ass heads of garlic, roasted for about 30 minutes
1 cup evoo
1/2 cup vinegar (I used plain white)
1/2 cup water
4tbsp lemon juice
1tsp sea salt
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp agave
1/4 tsp xanthan gum *I debated putting this in,  but I had it on hand so I did.  It is a thickener and binder and I wanted this dressing to be as close to the original my husband loves.


Once your garlic is roasted squeeze them out of the skins into your blender and then add all the other ingredients and blend. 

This made me 3 cups of dressing which was enough to dress all those salads pretty heavily and fill up the empty Annie's bottle to put back in the fridge.  Now get on with your happy salad eating self!

Tofu Scramble for Miniature Vegans aka a Tofu Scramble Your Kids Will Actually Eat

Ahhh tofu scramble... nothing screams breakfast more to me these days than a delish tofu scramble served with breakfast potatoes and a slice of toast.  However, my kids and I have VERY different ideas about what is delish... see to me this:


is a FABULOUS tofu scramble, but to my kids it is reason to run away from the table screaming.  "Ahhhh mom... what are all those bits!?"  "What are the yellow ones?"  "What are the red ones!?"  "Tomatoes, mom you know I hate tomatoes unless it's ketchup!"  "Mom you know avocado makes me barf!"  "Spinach!  Mom WHO eats spinach for breakfast!"


Sigh... so I decided to make a tofu scramble just for them with no "bits" of anything, no "barfy" stuff lol, no spinach... just a tofu scramble that in my opinion is scarily close to real scrambled eggs. 

It was super easy to throw together, only a handful of ingredients and the kids ate it all for breakfast this morning and asked for more!

Tofu Scramble Your Kids Will Eat 

• 1 Block of extra firm tofu
• 1/2 tsp tumeric 
• 1/2 tsp BLACK salt black salt is the key in making these actually taste like eggs!  It is sulfury and tastes like egg yolks!  I buy it in the bulk section of my local health food store. 
• 1tsp onion powder because the kids like the taste of food cooked in onions but not the oniony bits!
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Some fresh cracked black pepper to taste  If your kids get wigged out by the little black bits from pepper in their food you can try white pepper which adds the same flavors but is sneaky invisible! 
  
• 2 tbsp almond milk, added in at the end I'm sure any non dairy milk will work, I just had almond on hand today

So I want to tell you first; DON'T freak out about pressing your tofu for this dish!  Somethings like tofu steaks and patties etc... yes you need to press out the water to cut it and maintain the tofu's shape, but with a scramble you are mashing the hell out of it anyway so it really doesn't matter.  The trick is to cook off the water!  So open your tofu, drain and hand squeeze what water you can out of it.  Then crumble it into your pan.  You want to heat it over a med high heat and you will start to see the water coming out of the tofu like in the photo below.

Once you start to see the water releasing you want to keep cooking it, stirring occasionally until all the water cooks off (about 3-5 minutes).  Then it should look like this:

Add the rest of your ingredients and cook for about 5 more minutes.  

It all looked a little dry to me so I added a splash of almond milk and stirred that around and cooked for like a minute or two more.  The result was this:

 A tofu scramble my kids actually ate!  And tell me that does not look just like scrambled eggs!? 

Plated with some breakfast potatoes, fruit and toast I was very pleased with what we put in their bellies this morning!