Okay, so food time: these pictures are actually from a few nights ago, but I have been a little preoccupied (more on that later), so I'm finally posting them now!
Um....I have a confession to make- I've only had a tofu scramble once before a few nights ago....ridiculous, right? But I assure you that I really do love scrambled tofu! I suppose I always seem to use up my tofu on something else (baked tofu, anyone?), but I have decided I must be more conscience of saving tofu for this dish! The recipe I tried before was from the Chicago Diner Cookbook, and it was really interesting since it was full of tahini and sunflowers seeds (I subbed cashews, though). However, it never seemed to get salty enough and needed more spices. I promised myself I'd play around with it a little more because I know it can be made to be very tasty, but I just sort of forgot to. Oh well, that's for another time. Anyways, I felt I had to try this one since it's from VWAV and all, and I'm glad I did! The only alteration I made was with the veggies due to a lack of mushrooms and carrots and a bunch of asparagus I had to use up. Let me tell you- this recipe does not suffer from lack of flavor or spices! Why oh why did I wait so long to make this? I also realized that Isa is right, the tofu needs to stay chunky. I was always under the impression that the tofu should be as small and crumbled as possible, but I was sooooo wrong! I'm glad I have now tried this version of scrambled tofu and, while I know I'll make it again soon, can't wait to explore other flavors and variations on this dish. Oh, I almost forgot! What you see in the background is just some roasted potatoes with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and lemon pepper (I used the salt-free kind, hence the added salt).
My mom was the one who taught me all of the basics when it comes to cooking and baking, but since I've become a vegan (or even when I became a vegetarian a couple years ago) our cooking/baking styles have differed greatly. However, this pie was the result of our culinary fusion, if you will. My mom was watching the Food Network waiting for Paula Deen to come on (she LOVES Paula and southern food, even though she's from southern California......) and I joined my mom since it was Sunday morning and I was bored. That annoying "semi-homemade" show was on before and she made a ginger peach pie, and my mom instantly fell in love. She grabbed her little notebook and began taking notes on the recipe and decided she would make it the next day. I thought the recipe looked interesting, but didn't really mention it to my mom since I didn't want to impose my veganism on what she wanted to bake. However, my mom suggested, completely out of nowhere, that I make a vegan crust since the filling was already vegan. Yay! I just though that this was really sweet and considerate :) Okay enough rambling- back to the pie. I used the pastry crust recipe from Vcon and,despite the fact that I am the WORST crust maker ever, it was sooo wonderfully flaky that my dad even mentioned how flaky it was and that he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this crust and a nonvegan one. My mom asked me to use peach nectar in place of the water in the recipe since that's what "Ms. Annoying Semi-Homemade Lady" did (obviously I can't recall her name), and it was a good idea. I don't know if it made a difference in the overall taste, but the crust alone did taste sweeter. Below is a picture of my slice of pie, which turned out horrible-looking, so I apologize. As much as I love ginger and candied ginger, I think I actually prefer classic peach pie to this one since cinnamon shall always be my favorite spice. My mom loved it though, so I guess that's another thing we're going to have to compromise on. 
Well, that's all I have for now, but I have a few things planned to make these next few days so I'll hopefully get those up ASAP.
P.S.- I finished my last final exam today! Yep, that's what I've been preoccupied with. This also led to a lot of pathetic meals since I was kind of eating at random times during the day depending on when our first final was finished and we all got an hour long "lunch"-break (at like 9:30-10:00 am), but whatever. I have a 4 1/2 day weekend, so I got some time to relax and bake now!
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