Vegan Breakfast: Tofu on Toast

I was in the mood for something savory and filling this morning, thus tofu on toast was born. Bonus: I accidentally kind of made a face with my meal. If you look at it right, the green peppers look like eyes and the tomato positioned between the tofu and the toast looks like a tongue sticking out. Kind of scary, but mostly delicious.

Ingredients

• Extra firm tofu
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1 slice of tomato and a few diced chunks
• 1 tbsp. garlic
  
• 1 piece of crusty eggless French bread
• Shredded vegan Monterey Jack cheese
• Tabasco sauce (optional)
  

To Make

Cut your piece of French bread open and toast in a 400 degree oven for several minutes. If you have a toaster oven, bully for you! That's even better. Slice a piece of tofu lengthwise about 1/2 thick. Lay the tofu flat and cut out a circular shape with the rim of a small cup. Marinate the tofu in soy sauce and black pepper for a few minutes. Meanwhile in a small saute pan, combine your garlic, green pepper and diced tomato. Cook over medium heat until the veggies turn tender. In a separate pan, saute your tofu in a well-oiled pan, flipping occasionally to fully cook either side. Remove your toast from the oven and plate. I sprinkled a little fake cheese over the toast and topped that with a slice of raw tomato. I placed the tofu on top and covered with the green peppers and diced tomato. Serve with your favorite hot sauce or vegan Hollandaise sauce.

Simple Sandwich

For those of us that have absolutely no creativity and are still pulling themselves out of the pit of tradition, here's a simple sandwich.

Just like you make any other sandwich with slices of flesh between bread, but this version is healthier, ethical, and still dee-lish.

Ingredients
Bread:
If you walk down the bread aisle in the grocery store and randomly select a loaf, chances are it will contain some by-product of the dairy industry. The dairy industry has some of the worst atrocities of all factory farming, the least of which is forcing their cows to overproduce (note "over" produce = painful, unnatural) milk for the likes of greedy humans. If you're interested in educating yourself on the modern dairy industry, pick up a good book like "Eating Animals", "Farm Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food", or countless others. Both aforementioned books contain current statistics from reliable sources.
If you can find a loaf that does not contain milk, casein (milk protein), whey (milk), or eggs, then you're golden. Some may be concerned about ingredients they aren't certain of like "calcium bicarbonate" or anything with the word "calcium" in it. Most of these are synthetic preservatives that are cheaper to make than to pull from milk. If money isn't an issue then pick a bread with no preservatives and you won't have to question the mysterious additives. If you're like me, on a shoe-string budget, then you'll avoid all products that you are knowledgeable about and buy what you can afford - Publix whole wheat. (may contain honey)

"Sandwich Slices" as we like to call them at home, are found at almost all grocery stores now. Tofurkey brand is most common, but there are others as well (like "Yves"). Many flavors to choose from, just like hunks of muscle.

Spreads:
Mayo & mustard, anyone? I don't like mustard, but my DH does. Mustard generally does not contain any animal products, but you'd be surprised what they add in for the industry sake, so check the label.
Mayo comes in several forms. Traditional mayonnaise is made with eggs. There are several brands of mayo that are vegan including "Nayonnaise". I like canola oil mayo - usually found in the organic or foreign foods section.

"Cheese" if you please:
Sliced vegan cheese comes in many forms now. Some made from Rice milk, some from soy. I really enjoy a good slice of American "cheese" on my sandwich!

Flare:
Lettuce, sliced tomato, spinach, pickle, onion, pepper...

And that's it! Slap it all together and you have a simple, traditional (apart from being healthy and animal-less) sandwich!