Tofu "Chicken" Nuggets

These tofu chicken nuggets got the disappearing plate of approval from my gang last night.  They didn't take that long to put together and were fairly simple to assemble.  These have a "skin" just like the Vegan Fried Chicken using rice paper wrappers.  Which makes them extra crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Tofu "Chicken" Nuggets

• 2 packages of extra firm tofu - frozen, thawed, pressed and then sliced into 6 slabs each (for a total of 12 slabs).
• 12 rice paper wrappers
• 1 cup non dairy milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tbsp paprika 
• 1 tbsp salt 
• 1 tbsp garlic powder 
• 1 tbsp onion powder 
• 1tbsp dried parsley
• 1 tbsp dried basil

Heat your oil.  I use our fryer at 350. (I am working on making a healthier baked version of these too)

Mix all the seasonings and spices with the flour into a shallow bowl.  

Pour the milk into another shallow bowl.

Now we need to put on the "skins."   One at a time soak the rice paper wrappers in a plate or shallow bowl with 1 cup of warm water in it.  Soak for about 20-30 seconds depending how warm your water is.  When it starts to get soft carefully take it out and spread it on your working surface, then place one tofu slab in the center and wrap it up like a burrito and set aside.  Repeat with all remaining pieces of tofu.

Now dip the wrapped pieces into the flour to coat, QUICKLY into the milk and then back into the flour and set aside.  

Once you have them all coated, I fried them 6 at a time for 3 minutes each side in our fryer at 350.

Let cool and serve.  We had ours with mashed lentils and some corn. 

My kids loved these!  If you wanted to add some extra flavor you could marinate your pressed tofu in some not chicken or veggie broth for a while before you start, that would make the inside have that "juicy" chicken feel (which grosses me out! but others seem to appreciate) and impart a lot more flavor to them.

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VEGANIZED! Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

And now as promised: 

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

With my vegan twist!

When I first conjured up this recipe I had not tried my hand at making my own vegan sausages, so the recipe below calls for Field Roast Italian Sausage.  If you have a few extra minutes I HIGHLY recommend you try yesterday's homemade Spicy Italian Sausage I only ever use my own homemade sausage in the soup now and I usually make up two batches one mild without the red peppers for the kiddos, and one heavy on the red pepper and sometimes I even use hot chili oil in place of the olive oil to really kick up the spice in them!!  Seriously go check em out! Here is the link again in case you missed it :) Spicy Italian Sausage!!

*If you are going to be making the sausages you want to have them steaming before you start the rest of the soup*

So on to soup... Anyone who knows me well knows that the Olive Garden has been my favorite chain sit downy restaurant for pretty much forever.  Well Olive Garden is NOT very vegan friendly so I decided to make my all time favorite Olive Garden dish the Zuppa Toscana soup veganized!  Mike and I LOVE this soup it is a creamy potato base with kale and Italian sausage pretty much a vegan nightmare lol.  Years ago we paid to subscribe to one of those "Restaurant Secrets REVEALED!" websites just to find the recipe for this soup and after much tweaking we had been making our own (much tastier!) though not vegan version of this soup at home now for years.  So about a year or so ago the time came to try to convert this much loved dish to a vegan version.  The conversions were very easy to make, and this soup was FANTASTIC!  There was a moment at first taste where I thought this is not the same, but then I tasted again and thought no... it's not the same it's better! It is delicious, healthy (ish), and 100% cruelty free what could be better than that? The recipe below makes a HUGE pot of soup, enough for 8-10 servings but really it's just enough for dinner for a family of 5, for seconds and to have a little left over for lunch the next day.



This is the original Olive Garden Version of Zuppa Toscana
 
This is my vegan version.
 
You will need all of the ingredients shown. 

• 2 boxes of Not Chicken Broth *veggie broth will work just fine too
• 1/2 container Soy Creamer *soy milk works fine in a pinch if you don't have any creamer, just add a little corn starch to thicken it up a bit
• 1 Package Field Roast Italian Sausage or my homemade Spicy Italian Sausages!
• 6-7 Organic Yukon Gold Potatoes (the original Olive Garden recipe called for russets but over the years we found that using the golds is much better! They have sort of a natural buttery flavor to them) 
• 1 bunch of organic Kale (I have 5-6 stems of purple kale and 5-6 stems of curly kale, I like to use lots of colors when I cook.) 
• Salt 
• Red Pepper Flakes

 
1. In a large pot heat over med heat both boxes of broth, and 1/2 container of soy creamer. 

2. Wash potatoes. Leave skins on. Slice and then quarter. Add to pot.
 
3. Remove spines from kale and coarsely chop. Add to pot. 

4. Add salt and red pepper flakes to taste. I usually add about 2-3 tsp of salt and 2 tbsp of red pepper, but you may like more or less. Start with a little then taste and add more as you need.
 
yuummm... it's coming together! 

5. Keep pot at med heat so it's at a mild boil (not boiling over but a little higher than a simmer)
 

6. While soup is boiling, remove sausage from package and put in oven @ 350 to heat until warm (about 15/20 mins). When they are warm remove from oven and slice or crumble. 

*If you are using my Spicy Italian Sausage they should be done steaming about now. Carefully THEY ARE HOT unwrap and slice them up.

Add to pot.
 

7. Turn down heat and let simmer another 15 mins or so. Then serve hot and enjoy!