It’s a scramble without the unborn animal fetus!
Eggs. One of those farm (or backyard) staples that we all know in one form or another, and either love or hate. Growing up in a Filipino household, ours was always sunny side up, and on the weekend for brunch, broken with the yolk over white rice and a side of salty SPAM. I loved it. My parents sometimes made omelettes, but they were always stuffed with too many things and overcooked…my mom liked to go hard-boiled, but the shell was such a bitch to un-peel (I did this recently for the hubby and it was still a painful experience). But I digress.
I learned there were other ways to make eggs, and then scrambled became my go-to as an adult. I cut out eggs around 2010 along with chicken, but it wasn’t too difficult since I wasn’t regularly eating them, and learned to sub my baked goods with applesauce or the most yolk-like flax egg.
Tangent on why we don’t need to eat eggs: Egg-eaters will dog on vegans and say eggs are a by-product of chickens, so eating them isn’t harmful and a practical way to deal with the abundance of eggs. And to that I say, if we stopped the factory-style raising & slaughtering of chickens, there actually wouldn’t be much as much egg production at all, and chicklings would naturally grow up to be useful adult chickens or roosters in the natural world. Male chicks are ground up or gassed when they’re one day old because they’re considered unprofitable! Don’t even try to use the “we need it for protein” argument on me!
I’m thankful to have come across this vegan scramble recipe by The Hidden Veggies blog, which I adapted into a healthier (IMO) but still hearty recipe. Prior to this I’d only tried a few other tofu scrambles at restaurants, but am so glad that I now have a recipe of my own – and it’s SO easy.
JUST is probably going to come to Canada pretty soon, but I say the less processed food you can eat, the healthier you’re going to be. Let me know if y’all have tried it and what you think.
Also, if your kids love the combo of liquid cheese & broccoli, this recipe replicates that taste, only with more protein, less processed shit ingredients, and no unborn animals consumed. Now THIS is one anti-abortion policy those right-wing Conservatives should get behind.
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium broccoli head, chopped
2 350g packages firm tofu
10 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3 c baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 227g package of vegan Cheddar cheez (I prefer Violife or Vitalite)
Salt & pepper, to taste (I use 1 tsp. of each)
Optional: Nutritional yeast + pine nuts
Squeeze the excess water from the tofu, and crumble in a medium to large bowl using a fork. If you want the smallest possible vegetables, use a food processor to finely chop your broccoli. Heat the oil to medium-low in a large pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic and sprinkle in some salt. Saute until the onions are translucent. Turn the heat up to medium, add the peppers and broccoli, and saute for two more minutes. Add in the crumbled tofu. Cook and stir for 5-8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, spinach, then the cheez and mix for 1-2 more minutes. Add more salt & pepper to taste. Garnish with pine nuts and additional nutritional yeast, if using. Serves 6.
Tips:
- Like your favourite omelette, sub what veggies you prefer to use in this! I haven’t tried it with pine nuts (they’re damn expensive) but I imagine that’d give it a more luxurious taste, like what truffles/truffle oil do to everything they touch!
- You can adjust the portions by adding more veggies, or halving the tofu and veggies if they’re too much.
- The original recipe for this uses 3 tbsp of pesto, but I find that there’s more than enough salt content in the cheez, so if it doesn’t have enough flavour, add a few more shakes of seasoning salt (I like using Herbamare).
Recipe updated in July 2023
