Creamy Tomato Basil Bisque

Fresh rosemary, basil, and parsley along with fresh stalks of celery, onion, and garlic make this bisque one of the freshest, most fragrant tomato bisque’s you’ll ever eat. No broth is used in this recipe, just fresh ingredients, heavy whipping cream, and mozzarella cheese. This bisque is best when made with local tomatoes that are in season. If possible, buy your tomatoes from a local farmers market, but if that isn’t an option, vine ripened tomatoes from the grocery store will give you the best flavor when tomatoes are out of season. Makes 6-8 servings.

What you will need:
a food processor
butter (optional)
9-10 vine ripened tomatoes
3 celery stalks
1 red onion
5 garlic cloves
1 rosemary sprig
a handful of parsley
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T lemon pepper sea salt grinder
1 1/2 c chopped fresh basil
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 c mozzarella

Turn a large pot on low heat and start to melt the butter (you can leave the butter out if you want, but still turn the burner on to warm up the pot). In a food processor, combine 5-6 tomatoes, celery, onion, garlic cloves, fresh parsley, and fresh rosemary leaves and blend until smooth. Add to the pot. Meanwhile, chop the rest of the tomatoes into 1/2 inch chunks and add to the pot along with the Italian seasoning and lemon pepper seasoning and continue to cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. Then, add the fresh chopped basil, heavy whipping cream and mozzarella and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh scallions, croutons, or more cheese and serve.

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Bisque

This roasted red pepper bisque is made of fresh herbs and veggies, with a little bit of heavy whipping cream and delicious Asiago cheese and goat cheese- no need for veggie broth here. It’s best when slow cooked over low heat, letting all of the flavors infuse and come together. This bisque also works great as pasta sauce. Makes about 4-6 servings.

What you will need:
a food processor
4-5 large red peppers
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1/2 of a red onion
a couple pinches of fresh parsley
a couple pinches of fresh rosemary
a pinch of fresh thyme
lots of fresh basil
1 large garlic clove
1 c heavy whipping cream
3 oz goat cheese
5 oz shredded asiago cheese
a dash of Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids
a pinch of sea salt (if you don’t have Bragg’s, just add more salt according to taste)

Preheat oven on the broil setting. Cut the red peppers in half, remove the stem and seeds, and place directly on the top oven rack. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the peppers start to char. In a food processor, combine the celery, carrots, red onion, garlic, and fresh herbs along with all but one of the red peppers and blend until somewhat smooth. Transfer to a medium side pot and start to cook over low heat. In the food processor, take the last roasted red pepper and pulse it to a salsa consistency, being careful not to over blend it. Add it to the pot along with the heavy whipping cream, Bragg’s liquid amino acids, shredded asiago cheese and goat cheese and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Continue to cook over low heat for at least an hour and a half, letting all of the flavors combine and the veggies soften. Serve with crusty, toasted bread and shredded asiago cheese.

Spicy Pineapple Habanero BBQ Tofu (Vegan!)

This recipe is great for summer BBQ’s and potlucks. It’s a slow cook recipe that allows the sugars from the pineapple and BBQ sauce to caramelize the outside of the tofu while the inside stays moist and chewy. It’s also the recipe that convinced my mom that tofu is not a horrible, non-edible, awful thing.

What you will need:
2 lbs. extra firm tofu
1/8- 1/4 c pineapple habanero sauce (add more or less depending on how spicy you want it) this is the sauce I used: http://www.robertrothschild.com/product/product-details.aspx?prodid=561
1 18 oz. bottle of BBQ sauce
1/4 c nutritional yeast (if you don’t have nutritional yeast, you can leave it out)
sriracha to taste
olive oil for pan frying

This recipe is a little time consuming. It will take a at least half an hour to prep and 2 hours to cook.

For this recipe, you will need to freeze and thaw tofu to give it a more “meaty” texture and to help it absorb the flavors of this dish better. Read my post on how to do that here: https://theveggieslaughterhouse.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/how-to-freeze-and-press-tofu-for-its-best-texture-and-flavor-absorption/. Follow the directions on how to prepare the tofu, then pan fry in olive oil. This step is very important because it prevents the tofu from drying out in the oven. Then, mix together the BBQ sauce, nutritional yeast, sriracha and pineapple habanero sauce in a bowl and completely coat the tofu in it. Arrange on a non-greased cooking sheet with just enough space between the pieces of tofu so they’re not touching. Cook for two hours at 300 degrees without turning the tofu over. Remove from oven and munch!

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• How to Make the Perfect Baked Tofu (onegreenplanet.org)
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• Rosemary Lemon Baked Tofu (thetalkingscale.typepad.com)
• Spicy Vegan Peanut Butter Tofu with Sriracha (dailyfoodstruggle.com)