This is the first of (hopefully) many recipe posts on my blog. I’ve been cooking for myself regularly since I went vegan, three and a half years ago, because my college did not have a wealth of options in that category. I’ve discovered a lot of amazing recipes along the way, and also started to get more confident improvising in the kitchen.
I made the following dish last week while visiting a friend’s house. She had a lot of root veggies and a block of tofu to use up, so we made this hearty meal for dinner: Deep, roasty flavors, a filling grain, and a green element adding some much-need vitamins. I wouldn’t call it comfort food per se because it’s not, like, mac and cheese (stay tuned for that recipe!), but it’s definitely comforting. I don’t have much else to say other than, I hope you enjoy!
Oh, one more thing: This recipe isn’t an exact set of steps to follow as much as it is a template to use or adapt to your own needs (and current pantry contents). It’s pretty flexible, so I wrote it as such.
Roasted root vegetables, balsamic tofu, and warm kale salad with couscous
Serves: 4
Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
1 block (~16 oz.) firm or extra-firm tofu
Grain of choice (we used ~1 cup dried couscous)
Assorted root vegetables—we used:
1 large potato (sweet potatoes would also be great!)
2 turnips
4 small beets
1 bunch kale, or other dark leafy green
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Pat tofu dry and gently squeeze out any excess water. Cut the tofu into small cubes.
Combine the balsamic vinegar, Italian seasoning, nutritional yeast, and salt + pepper (we used about a teaspoon each of the latter two) in a container with a lid. Add the tofu to the marinade and shake it around until it’s all covered. Let the tofu marinate for at least 30 minutes.*
In the meantime, prepare your root vegetables: Wash and chop them into small pieces, roughly the same size as the tofu. Spread across one and a half baking sheets lined with silicone mats (or parchment paper). Lightly drizzle the veggies with 1 Tbsp. olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, then use your hands to toss and coat all the pieces.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
When the tofu is marinated, add it to the other half of the baking sheet. Save the leftover marinade.
Bake the veggies and tofu at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until slightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
While the veggies and tofu are roasting, prepare your grain according to package directions.
Also while they’re in the oven, prepare the kale: Remove large stems and tear the kale into bite-sized pieces. Massage for 30 seconds, then add to a large skillet with 1 Tbsp. olive oil on medium heat. Cover the skillet and steam the kale for a couple minutes.
Mix the remaining olive oil with the leftover marinade and pour it over the kale, stirring until it begins to wilt and get brown in a few places. Turn off and remove from heat.
Serve the grain, kale, roasted veggies, and balsamic tofu while warm. (I didn’t do this, but I think they’d be delicious topped with a drizzle of tahini sauce). Enjoy!
For my first real post, I’m going to talk about some of the blogs I love to follow. They have collectively inspired me to get back into it! Blogging about blogs—how very meta.
(Quick tangent—does anyone know how to easily put an em dash into WordPress? Right now I’m just copying and pasting from Google. The disrespect to em dashes on computer keyboards could be the subject of a whole separate post. Hmm…Stay tuned!)
Anyway. By category and in no particular order, here are my favorite blogs!
Recipe/Food blogs
hot for food: Lauren Toyota is an incredible chef, and all of her delicious, deep-fried concoctions happen to be vegan! She is also tons of fun on YouTube. Check out one of her videos, like the RECIPE?! series, and prepare to be sucked in. One series she recently started on the blog is “hot for food approved,” which breaks down her favorite vegan restaurants in each city she visits for future travelers to reference.
One of Lauren Toyota’s impressively off-the-cuff RECIPE?! creations.
Minimalist Baker: If you’re not following Minimalist Baker yet, honestly, what are you doing with your life? I’m just kidding (not really). MB is hands-down my most-used resource for vegan cooking and baking. SO many of my go-to, staple recipes come from her! For a long time, all MB recipes were vegan, and a lot of them still are, but not all, so be aware of that. She’s also great for accommodating other dietary needs, like gluten-free, oil-free, etc. in her recipes.
Sweet Simple Vegan: Jasmine and Chris are two of my favorite people to follow on Instagram, and their blog is just as delightful. Simple, approachable, often healthy recipes grace the site. If you’re intimidated by obscure ingredients or mile-long shopping lists, Sweet Simple Vegan is the refreshingly easy gateway into making vegan food at home.
From My Bowl: Caitlin Shoemaker is another simple recipe connoisseur who I love to follow. Plus, she’s friends with Jasmine and Chris, and I love their friendship!
Oh She Glows: Anglea Liddon’s cookbook is the first one I ever bought, and on her blog you get her wonderful content…for free! Her delicious recipes and thoughtful reflections on life and family are virtual comfort food.
My first cookbook!
Fashion blogs
Style Bee: Lee “the Bee” Vosburgh is my absolute favorite blogger as of late. Her content is always so thoughtful, detailed, and beautifully designed. Lee writes primarily about minimal/ethical/sustainable fashion, but also about a range of other topics. She has inspired me to consider my personal style more carefully (even though it’s quite different from hers), and I love following along with the bits of her life she shares, too (she has a corgi named Dobby!). I reread this post of hers every time I pack for a trip.
In addition to all of her lovely style content, Lee periodically shares her gorgeous floral photographs for readers to use as phone wallpapers. I have this one as my lock screen right now. (Photo: Lee Vosburgh)
Un-Fancy: Caroline is another minimalist-ish fashion blogger whose style is quite unlike my own. She inspires me with both outfit ideas and honest reflections about her ever-evolving relationship to her personal style. Plus, she has the best low-key playlists.
Beauty blogs
Temptalia: All hail the Queen. I get a lot of my beauty product recommendations from social media, but when I want to know more about a specific eyeshadow palette or lipstick shade, I always turn to Christine. Her encyclopedic collection of reviews and resources is unparalleled. Recently, she’s also been sharing more personal thoughts about beauty industry controversies, and I am so here for it.
Logical Harmony: Tashina Combs is my go-to cruelty-free beauty guide. She puts in the work to contact brands about their animal testing policies and vegan products so the rest of us don’t have to. Use her resources to simplify your life, like the one below listing tons of cruelty-free brands you can find in the drugstore.
Phyrra: Courtney is an indie beauty aficionado, cruelty-free connoisseur, and glam goth. Plus, her hair color is always amazing.
Fitness blogs
Blogilates: Cassey Ho is an entrepreneur and fitness instructor whose YouTube videos and (free!) monthly workout calendars are my go-to at-home work out. She makes me feel strong, empowered, and very, very sweaty. Recently, Cassey’s been blogging every day as part of her 90 Day Challenge, wherein she shares the good, bad, and ugly of her quest for personal transformation. I’ve been reading her daily posts religiously.
One of Cassey’s workout videos. You can get a full-body workout for the day in 28 MINUTES! Efficiency queen!
Ecology blogs
Dynamic Ecology: This blog by ecologists Jeremy Fox, Meghan Duffy, and Brian McGill is my go-to whenever I have a big question, like: Should I go to grad school? It’s less about popular science (although there are links to that, too!) and more about the field of ecology itself and the humans who populate it. Plus, cute fox photos.
In Memoriam (inactive or defunct favorites)
Paris To Go: Ariana of Paris To Go is no longer actively posting, but her blog is still an incredible wealth of information about sustainability and “zero”-waste living. Her singularly snarky, direct, dry, self-deprecating voice is my favorite on the web. (And she still keeps the dream alive on Instagram, at least.)
Van City Allie: RIP VanCityAllie, a Them of mid-2000s blogs! She was (is? I don’t know what she’s up to now) an amazing photographer, outdoors enthusiast, and Twilight fan living her best life in the beautiful city of Vancouver, BC. She was lifestyle inspiration in a real, wonderful way. I hope she’s doing well.
Brightest Bulb in the Box: Robyn blogged about makeup from a scientific point of view, combining two of my favorite things with a delightful writing style. Her beauty breakdowns, explaining why certain products or ingredients work the way they do, were some of my favorite web content. The blog is gone now, but it will live on forever in my heart.
Hope Jahren Sure Can Write: Scientist Hope Jahren is the author of one of my favorite books, “Lab Girl.” Before that, she was convincing publishers to publish her book via her subtly-named blog, Hope Jahren Sure Can Write. She wrote about “interactions between women and men and Academia.” All her posts are gone now, but the home page says there is more to come (plus a new book in 2020!!), so…fingers crossed!
Me @ Hope Jahren.
Well, that’s it for my favorite blogs! I hope you find this list…Useful? Fun? Informative? All of the above? Let me know what you think, and see you next time!
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