Tofu Tikka Masala

Tofu Tikka Masala

Really popular dish that my roommates and I make a lot. We love it and change up the veggies all the time.

Ingredients:

Rice of your choice (I use basmati white rice)

Tikka Masala Sauce (I buy from Aldi or Kroger)

Tofu

Tomato Paste

Almond Milk

Carrot

Green peas

Onion

Mushrooms

Corn

Chickpeas

Bell peppers (I like red and yellow)

Naan bread (heads up: this isn’t vegan)

Turmeric

Red pepper flakes

Cumin

Paprika

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Start by pressing your tofu. Wrap the tofu in paper towels or a cloth towel and put on a plate or flat surface with something on top to weigh it down and release the excess water. When this is done being pressed (about 15-20 min), Cut up tofu into small cubes and place in a bag with seasonings (cumin, turmeric, paprika, garlic and onion powder, etc), shake it up to coat tofu.
2. Cooking tofu:
1. Option 1: place tofu in air fryer or oven to get crispy and add to veggie mix at end.
2. Option 2: Add tofu to veggie mix in deep pan in step 5 and cook. This makes for softer tofu.
3. In the meantime, start cooking your rice according the the directions on the package.
4. Wash and chop up the vegetables according to how big of pieces you want in your tikka.
5. Take a deep pan and use some olive oil or coconut oil to grease the pan. Then start tossing in your vegetables. I usually start with onions, mushrooms, and carrots since they take a little longer to cook. (if you do broccoli or cauliflower, add that in with the first group of veggies). Then add in my peppers and other veggies. 
6. Let those veggies cook for a bit till they get soft. Then add in your spices, a jar of your tikka masala sauce and a small can of tomato paste along with about ½ cup of almond or coconut milk. Stir
1. Hint: if sauce is too thick, add more almond milk and keep stirring
7. Put the. lid on your pan and let this sit for a little bit. 
8. Add in spinach to wilt. Cook naan bread in the oven to warm. Or if you have small naan bread, place in toaster to warm.

Serving: place some rice on plate and veggie/tikka mixture on top. Bread on the side. 

Enjoy!

Crescent Wrapped Brie Cheese

Crescent Wrapped Brie Cheese

Ingredients:

Brie Cheese

Canned Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Sliced apples of your choice (I used gala)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Roll out the crescent rolls into one big sheet. I usually just press down along the perforated lines to keep them together-that’s usually good enough
3. Then I put the brie cheese in the middle of the crescent roll thing. I’m so specific, I know. Make sure you cut off the rind before doing this.
4. Then I just wrapped up the cheese with the crescent roll and placed this on a baking sheet. I make sure to leave a little hole in the middle for dipping apples later.
5. I put a little olive oil and seasonings on top of the crescent dough before placing it in the oven.
6. Let this cook until the crescent dough is a golden brown, then you can take it out and let it cool a bit (usually takes about 15-20 min, but keep an eye on it)

Slice up some apples and make it look pretty. Then it’s time to eat!

Red, White, & Blue Chocolate Bark

Red, White, & Blue Chocolate Bark

Ingredients:

White chocolate wafers (for melting)

Food coloring

Toppings - Pretzels, M&M’s, Oreos, Sprinkles, Reese's, etc.

Instructions:

Super easy. Melt the chocolate and separate into different bowls. Chocolate can be melted using 2 different methods.

Option 1: double broiler. Take a pot and fill it with water, Place a glass bowl on top and put chocolate in that glass bowl and allow the heat from the water/steam to melt the chocolate. This process is slow but it melts really well.

Option 2: Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 sec intervals. Stir in between until chocolate is melted.

Keep one bowl for each color. I would recommend spraying your dish with a little oil before mixing the chocolate in it, but go for it. Add in your toppings. I made the bark by alternating layers of chocolate and toppings. Once the chocolate hardened I took it out of the pan and broke it up into pieces. If you made your bark too thick like me- I put mine into a zip-lock bag and hit it with a hammer (its probably better to use a meat tenderizer lol) a few times to break it up. It worked! Fun to make and super yummy.

I actually made this for the 4th of July this year. My roommates had a party so this was super easy to make and people seems to like it.

Easy Peasy Guacamole

Easy Peasy Guacamole

Ingredients:
4 Avocados
1 Red onion
1 Jalapeno pepper
1 lime (or lemon)
Cilantro
Cloves of garlic (however many you want)
Cumin
Red pepper flakes
Paprika (or cayenne)
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper for taste

Instructions:
SO. let me be honest. Guac is super easy to make and you can add whatever you like and omit what you don't.

1) Make sure your avocados are ripe before doing this otherwise the guac will be chunky and really gross. Cut the avocados and remove the pits.
2) In a medium sized bowl, mash the avocados. I use a fork, but find something that will work for you.
3) Chop up the onion, jalapeno, garlic, and cilantro. I chose to chop these super fine, but if you want it chunkier just make it how you want. Add these to the bowl with avocado.
4) Juice the lime and add that to the guac bowl.
5) add in the cumin, red pepper flakes, paprika (only a small amount), and onion & garlic powder. Add salt and pepper for taste.
6) Mix everything in the bowl. Look. its guac.

More traditional guac is just mashed avocado with sea salt. I prefer to add in the toppings to give it more flavor, especially for parties. I also usually add in a roma/plum tomato or two (but I forgot to grab them at the store). I choose this type of tomato because they are more meaty and won't make the dip super watery.

*Hint: save the pit from one of the avocados and leave this in your container to help keep it fresh.

Vegan Spicy Tofu Nuggets

Vegan Spicy Tofu Nuggets

Ingredients:
Firm or extra firm tofu
Almond milk (or any vegan milk)
Buffalo hot sauce (optional)
All purpose flour
Cayenne powder
Paprika powder
Cumin
Turmeric
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Ranch seasoning packet (optional)

What to do?

1. Press the tofu. Take your tofu out of the packaging and press it to release the excess water. If you don’t have a tofu press (I don’t), you can use paper towels- or cloth towels if you’re trying to reduce your waste- and  wrap the tofu in that. Then place on a plate or flat surface with something heavier on top for weight. Then you can put that off to the side and let it sit for about 20
2. The wet mixture. Take a bowl and add in some almond milk and the buffalo sauce. Mix this up and set to the side. The buffalo sauce is optional, but it adds some flavor.
3. The dry mixture. In a bowl separate from the wet mixture, add all purpose flour and all the seasonings (for taste). Don’t make the mistake I did and add WAY too much spice… The ranch packet is optional, but it will help with the spicy. If you don’t want to make them spicy you can leave them out and just add ranch.
4. When the tofu is done, cut it up into cubes or whatever size pieces you want.
5. Dip the tofu pieces in the wet mixture, then the dry and do this one more time.
1. *Hint: use one hand for the wet mixture and one for dry to keep them from getting mixed too much. It may also be helpful to have another bowl for the dry mixture just in case the first one gets too mushy
6. Cooking;
1. Option 1: fry in oil in a pan, make sure to turn nuggets and cook evenly
2. Option 2: start with a little oil in pan and cook partially in pan then transfer to oven or air fryer to finish cooking (less oil)

TA DAAAA tofu nuggets.

Welcome!

Hello!

Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Shannon Lee and I am originally from Cleveland, OH. I currently reside in southwest OH. Some of you may have visited my site back when I was obsessed with planning. Well, times have changed and I've decided to focus this blog on my favorite food recipes (mostly so I can share them with my awesome friends) and the low waste movement.

I am 22 years old and I graduated college back in May 2017. I work full time and workout at the gym a lot, so that's how I spend my days. I've always loved cooking, and started in the kitchen when I was a little girl. I worked in the dining hall at my university for 2 years, and now I inspect food services regularly for work. The recipes you will see on this blog are geared towards vegetarian/vegan diets. I've been a vegetarian since May 2017 and I'm also lactose intolerant (hence why I try to make vegan food as much as possible).

I'm also working on a low waste lifestyle. Many of you have followed my Instagram (@SimplyShannonLee) where I've shown you a glimpse of how I try to reduce my waste. I care for the environment and chose to live this lifestyle. I do not shame anyone who does not live this way. I will encourage it, but everyone is entitled to live their life. I hope you enjoy the content I will be sharing!