Tag Archives: brunch

Mexican Tofu Frittata

Cinco de Mayo is one of those holidays that are celebrated for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual holiday. I, personally, don’t need an excuse to have a good time and eat Mexican food (living in Southern California helps with that). But, it does offer some extra inspiration for dishes I might normally think about. This brings me to the recipe that I made this morning; after my first attempt at making a tofu frittata was a success, I thought a new version was in order.

This time I added some great ingredients to make this frittata Cinco de Mayo appropriate. With deliciously sweet bell pepper, filling black beans and aromatic red onion, this dish makes a wonderful breakfast or brunch. Top it with a simple pico de gallo straight out of the oven and you have something that is simple to make but looks like a restaurant-quality meal!

5.0 from 2 reviews

Mexican Tofu Frittata
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast, Brunch
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 3-4
 

A delicious Mexican Frittata for Cinco de Mayo!
Ingredients
  • 1 tsp. Coconut Oil
  • ¼ Cup Red Onion, Slivered
  • 1 Package of Firm Tofu
  • ½ Cup Galaxy Foods Vegan Mexican Shreds,plus ¼ Cup for topping
  • ½ tsp. Onion Powder
  • ½ tsp. Turmeric
  • ⅓ tsp. Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to Taste
  • ¼ Cup Yellow Bell Pepper, Sliced
  • ¼ Cup Tomato, Chopped
  • ½ Cup Cooked Black Beans

Instructions
  1. Heat coconut oil over medium heat in a medium-sized pan or cast iron pan. Once hot, throw in the onions and let them simmer for 3 minutes.
  2. Unpackage the tofu and drain the water, place it into a food processor with the Mexican Cheese Shreds, onion powder, turmeric, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Process until the mixture is smooth, you may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times to get it to the right consistency.
  3. Return your attention back to the onions, add bell peppers, tomatoes and black beans to the pan and cook until the bell peppers start to soften.
  4. Scoop the tofu mixture into the pan, and combine with the rest of the ingredients and spread it out evenly (as pictured above).
  5. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lower the heat on the stove to low-medium and cook the frittata until it browns around the edges.
  6. Place the pan into the oven for 20-25 minutes. Dice some tomato, red onion and cilantro together and garnish the frittata with it once it is done baking. Wait 5-10 minutes to serve.

As always, this recipe is highly customizable and you can always switch out ingredients; just know that it won’t taste as good as mine. ;)   What are some of your favorite Mexican-themed dishes?

Disclaimer: The Galaxy Foods Vegan Mexican Shreds were sent to me to make a recipe with.

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Filed under Healthy Recipes, Savory Recipes

Vegetable Tofu Frittata

The other day, my mother wasn’t feelin’ too hot so she took the day off of work; I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to make a delicious breakfast for both of us. She is not vegan or vegetarian, but she doesn’t have any issues in being my test subject for new dishes. I have not made a vegan frittata at home before, but because my mom likes egg dishes for breakfast, I thought that I’d give it a try.

This frittata is loaded with veggies; one reason why I love a meal like this is because of how customizable it can be. Throw whatever produce you enjoy into this mix and make it truly yours. I got a few tips for the recipe from one that I found on Vegetarian Time’s site. Because of the moisture from the veggies, the frittata turned out a little less firm than I would’ve liked, but it still tasted delicious.

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 1 /2 Cup Sliced White Onion
  • 1/2 Cup Small Broccoli Pieces
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Portabella
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Tomato
  • 1 Small Jalapeño, Diced
  • 1 Block Extra Firm Tofu
  • 1/4 Cup Daiya Mozzarella Cheese
  • 1 Tbsp. Liquid Aminos
  • 1/2 tsp. Turmeric
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Avocado Slices for Garnish

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium-sized pan or cast iron pan. Once hot, throw in the onions and let them simmer for 3 minutes.
  2. Unpackage the tofu and drain the water, place it into a food processor with the Daiya, liquid aminos, turmeric, salt and pepper. Process until the mixture is smooth, you may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times to get it to the right consistency.
  3. Return your attention back to the onions, add broccoli and the portabella mushroom to the pan and cook until the broccoli starts to soften. Place the tomato and jalapeños with the rest of the simmering ingredients and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
  4. Scoop the tofu mixture into the pan, and combine with the rest of the ingredients and spread out evenly in the pan (as pictured below).
  5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lower the heat on the stove to low-medium and cook the frittata until it browns around the edges.
  6. Place the pan into the oven for 20-30 minutes. Garnish with avocado and if you’re like me, hot sauce!

It’s really hard to mess this dish up; other than the oven time, it takes not time at all to come together. Now all you need to do is make this savory breakfast treat for someone who you care about, and then talk them into taking care of the dishes. ;)

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Filed under Healthy Recipes, Savory Recipes

Birthday Brunch at Flore Vegan Cuisine in Los Angeles, Ca.

Birthday Brunch at Flore Vegan Cuisine in Los Angeles, Ca.<br />
One of my family&#8217;s traditions each year is that whoever&#8217;s birthday it is gets to choose where to go out to eat. Usually I have a hard time picking just one restaurant, but now it&#8217;s even harder because I&#8217;m taking 3 omnivores along for the ride! But, this time, I had my sights set on going to Flore Vegan in LA; I have heard so many good things about this place and have seen their brunch menu which looks amazing. So, onward we traveled the 30-odd miles deep into Silverlake to seek this place out and try out the food!<br />
My first impressions were: there is no parking (which if you&#8217;ve ever driven on Sunset Blvd. you would know), the place is TINY, and very popular. We got there about 30 minutes after they opened on a Sunday and had to wait 30 or so minutes to get sat. It&#8217;s a very casual atmosphere, and had a pretty good variety of people there.<br />
Here are some pictures of the inside:</p>
<p>Once we sat down we were greeted by a very nice server and ordered some coffee and juices; my family also drinks water at a decent rate and the multiple servers were really great about keeping our cups filled. I decided that I&#8217;d get a pretty unhealthy meal of biscuits and gravy because I haven&#8217;t had those in a VERY long time. My father and sister both got the Country Breakfast, and my mother got the veggie frittata. The food didn&#8217;t take long at all to come out, and when it did this is what we got:<br />
Biscuits and Gravy (also pictured above)</p>
<p>This meal ended up being very good, with fluffy biscuits and super delicious gravy, as well as chunks of tempeh sausage on top. I couldn&#8217;t even finish the side of fruit that I got with it because the biscuits were so filling! Overall, I really liked this dish and would get it again for sure.<br />
Country Breakfast</p>
<p>One of the first things we noticed about the country breakfast is that there was no biscuit on either of the plates. If you look at the menu is says that it comes with &#8220;Two silver dollar pancakes, potatoes, biscuit w/ mushroom gravy, and a sausage patty&#8221;, which seems a bit misleading when the plate shows up with no biscuit and many sausage patties. This confused my sister and father and they ended up just putting the gravy (which they both loved) on the sausage patties. In the end, they both were full and said it was pretty good, and definitely better than they expected (it&#8217;s like they swear that vegans eat shitty food!).<br />
Veggie Frittata</p>
<p>This is the dish my mom got, she&#8217;s a huge fan of frittatas (and eggs, unfortunately) so this was seemingly right up her alley. At first, she was taken aback by the fact that the kale was used as a garnish as opposed to being inside of the actual frittata. She was put off by the texture of it, noting that it was a bit mushy and smooth; I tried a few bites of it and had to agree to an extent, but I thought the taste was very good.</p>
<p>After we finished eating, I took a look into their little mini-market/deli/dessert case and searched for something to take home with me. Because I was already planning on baking cupcakes once I got home I decided not to get any sweets; instead, I got a loaf of awesome looking, multi-grain bread. Excited to try out the bread later on, I started to look it over on the drive home; it wasn&#8217;t until we were about 5 miles away from home did I notice that it had mold on a couple sides of it.</p>
<p>Yuck! They were little spots that sort of blended into the darker flaxseeds and grains, so I hadn&#8217;t seen it when we were still in LA. We got home and I trimmed off the moldy parts and took out 2 or 3 slices, then froze half of it. I called Flore immediately, and they told me I could come in and exchange it (but, there&#8217;s no way I&#8217;m driving 30+ miles to exchange bread), and I really just wanted them to double check the rest of the loaves. The gentleman I spoke to was very nice and apologetic, and said that the next time I come in that they would work something out with me. The bread (other than the mold) was great though, so if anything just check it out before you take it home with you.<br />
All in all, I enjoyed my brunch there and would go back again; but, only with one other person instead of 3 so that we wouldn&#8217;t have to wait as long. I&#8217;d love to try out their dinner menu, that looks pretty great as well!

One of my family’s traditions each year is that whoever’s birthday it is gets to choose where to go out to eat. Usually I have a hard time picking just one restaurant, but now it’s even harder because I’m taking 3 omnivores along for the ride! But, this time, I had my sights set on going to Flore Vegan in LA; I have heard so many good things about this place and have seen their brunch menu which looks amazing. So, onward we traveled the 30-odd miles deep into Silverlake to seek this place out and try out the food!

My first impressions were: there is no parking (which if you’ve ever driven on Sunset Blvd. you would know), the place is TINY, and very popular. We got there about 30 minutes after they opened on a Sunday and had to wait 30 or so minutes to get sat. It’s a very casual atmosphere, and had a pretty good variety of people there.

Here are some pictures of the inside:

Flore Vegan 1

Flore Vegan 2

Once we sat down we were greeted by a very nice server and ordered some coffee and juices; my family also drinks water at a decent rate and the multiple servers were really great about keeping our cups filled. I decided that I’d get a pretty unhealthy meal of biscuits and gravy because I haven’t had those in a VERY long time. My father and sister both got the Country Breakfast, and my mother got the veggie frittata. The food didn’t take long at all to come out, and when it did this is what we got:

Biscuits and Gravy (also pictured above)

Biscuits and Gravy

This meal ended up being very good, with fluffy biscuits and super delicious gravy, as well as chunks of tempeh sausage on top. I couldn’t even finish the side of fruit that I got with it because the biscuits were so filling! Overall, I really liked this dish and would get it again for sure.

Country Breakfast

Country Breakfast

One of the first things we noticed about the country breakfast is that there was no biscuit on either of the plates. If you look at the menu is says that it comes with “Two silver dollar pancakes, potatoes, biscuit w/ mushroom gravy, and a sausage patty”, which seems a bit misleading when the plate shows up with no biscuit and many sausage patties. This confused my sister and father and they ended up just putting the gravy (which they both loved) on the sausage patties. In the end, they both were full and said it was pretty good, and definitely better than they expected (it’s like they swear that vegans eat shitty food!).

Veggie Frittata

Veggie Frittata

This is the dish my mom got, she’s a huge fan of frittatas (and eggs, unfortunately) so this was seemingly right up her alley. At first, she was taken aback by the fact that the kale was used as a garnish as opposed to being inside of the actual frittata. She was put off by the texture of it, noting that it was a bit mushy and smooth; I tried a few bites of it and had to agree to an extent, but I thought the taste was very good.

Dessert Case

After we finished eating, I took a look into their little mini-market/deli/dessert case and searched for something to take home with me. Because I was already planning on baking cupcakes once I got home I decided not to get any sweets; instead, I got a loaf of awesome looking, multi-grain bread. Excited to try out the bread later on, I started to look it over on the drive home; it wasn’t until we were about 5 miles away from home did I notice that it had mold on a couple sides of it.

bread

Yuck! They were little spots that sort of blended into the darker flaxseeds and grains, so I hadn’t seen it when we were still in LA. We got home and I trimmed off the moldy parts and took out 2 or 3 slices, then froze half of it. I called Flore immediately, and they told me I could come in and exchange it (but, there’s no way I’m driving 30+ miles to exchange bread), and I really just wanted them to double check the rest of the loaves. The gentleman I spoke to was very nice and apologetic, and said that the next time I come in that they would work something out with me. The bread (other than the mold) was great though, so if anything just check it out before you take it home with you.

All in all, I enjoyed my brunch there and would go back again; but, only with one other person instead of 3 so that we wouldn’t have to wait as long. I’d love to try out their dinner menu, that looks pretty great as well!

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Filed under Dining Out, Reviews

Brunch at 118 Degrees in Costa Mesa, CA.

For Raw Wednesday today, I’ll share with you guys the amazing brunch I had at 118 Degrees, a raw vegan restaurant in Southern California. I was looking to try it out, then an offer on Groupon popped up for half off a brunch for two so obviously I had no excuse not to try it!

First Course: Apple Coffee Cake Martini (pictured above)- Marinated apples in cinnamon and agave topped with a pecan crumble and espresso creme. Holy yum, was this good! I will definitely be recreating something like this in the future!

Second Course

Second & Third Course: Strawberry Balsamic Salad & Warmed Tomato Bisque- Mixed greens, fresh strawberries, with a balsamic dressing. This bisque was SO good, and the salad was light and refreshing.

Pesto Fusion Pasta

Fourth Course: Pesto Fusion Pasta- Zucchini noodles tossed with pesto, marinated onion, and red bell pepper. This dish reminded me of a zucchini pesto dinner that I have made, and was very good; especially with the addition of the orange sauce.

Chocolate Mousse Pie

Fifth Course: Chocolate Mousse Pie- Served chilled with a crumbled pecan crust. This dessert was extremely creamy and decadent, and was the perfect way to end the brunch. I left there feeling satisfied and not like I had stuffed myself. The brunch also came with a free beverage, I chose the organic mimosa of course! ;) I definitely recommend going to 118 Degrees if you are in the area!

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