(quirky music playing throughout video) [package sliding] [liquid pouring] [knife cutting] [board sliding] [knife chopping] [bowl sliding] [garlic paper rustling] [knife chopping] [liquid pouring] [knife chopping] [plate sliding] [blending] [burner humming] [sizzling] I hate tofu. I mean the the texture. The texture. That was me some years ago
before learning more about it. I had no idea tofu came in different firmnesses, there was
more than one way to cook it, that you could even manipulate the texture if you wanted to. In short
I was just pretty clueless. Fast forward to now, tofu and I have actually grown a great deal of
respect for each other. Yup it's a two-way street. What I would like for you to get from that though
isn't more of what i am saying it's it's more about what I'm not saying. It took multiple
chances, failing a few times, years, practice, ultimately really digging in to see if
this particular protein was for me. I'm a picky eater. I absolutely know that about
myself. But this method of I guess you can call it perseverance, led me to apply this
to other foods that you know at some point I wanted no business with. This burrito recipe here
is my take on chipotle's sofritas. Which if you're unfamiliar is a vegan, vegetarian option they
offer as a plant-based protein. I haven't had it in years, but it's pretty good. In this recipe, I'm
using what's known as a extra firm block of tofu. You could also use just firm tofu, but the firmness
kind of goes down from there to medium and so on. I wouldn't recommend that. You're going to be most
successful in this recipe if you're capable of getting out all of the water in the tofu as much
as possible. This way the tofu is going to soak up the sauce and take on all those awesome flavors.
I used a pretty cheap tofu press. It has been a lifesaver, but there's other methods, you know. I've
used prior to using that tofu press. I've stacked a bunch of books on the tofu, I've also done the
same thing with several cast iron skillets. Kind of about getting weight on there, so you could even
sit on it to you know get the water out. Yeah, no, I, don't do that. To create the sauce, I used a
really huge blender. I would recommend if your blender comes with like a smaller blender cup,
to possibly use that, or even a food processor. It would probably do a little better in there. I
had to keep scraping everything down as it kept painting the entire blender right as I hit the
on button. There is one must-have ingredient to make this sauce and that's gonna be the chipotle
pepper in adobo. If you haven't had them before they can be fairly hot. The recipe calls for using
two, but if you haven't had them before I would certainly recommend you start out with just one. If
you are super sensitive to things that are spicy, I would say just use only some of the adobo
sauce that's in there as a starter. Also if you're not a fan of tofu, you know I
can't say I haven't been there before as I explained earlier, you can try another
plant-based protein. Maybe like some beans, or if you're into it maybe some crumbles. This way
you don't miss out on a really tasty meal option. [board sliding] [knife cutting] [knife chopping] [fork clanking] [pan sliding] I can't even explain how much I love a
sheet pan recipe. Cut everything, season it, toss it onto a sheet pan, and put your feet up. I
could say the same about certain crock pot recipes or insta-pot recipes. It's it's just about having
everything done and you're just like on your way. I don't get to show the full process here but
one of the things I love to do when prepping you know cauliflower or broccoli. I like to wash them
after I cut them into pieces. Those florets are basically just you know squeezed and in this
clustered environment and because of how fairly tight it is in there if you wash that prior to
actually cutting it, you know, that grime can pretty much just hang out in between. You know as a kid
though, you eat dirt and suddenly you have like the immune system of an ostrich. As an adult, you
get judged though. So I won't tell you that I go outside and eat dirt with my kids. My mom taught
me that after you wash the florets, you should toss them into a bowl of water with about two to
three tablespoons of white vinegar. Let it hang out in that bowl of water for about 10 to 15 minutes
and this is gonna help sterile the veggies. It also adds just a touch more flavor into the veggies
as it seeps into the outer layers. I feel like me and her can make the same exact recipe, follow all
the same steps to the actual recipe, and it's the the things she does that aren't in the recipe that
you would think aren't a big deal, but somehow her food always turns out that much better.
I'm noticing it's these tips that she doesn't share all at once, that I'm starting
to understand separates the boy from the man. Uh I mean, I mean the the boy which is me from
the mom. She's gonna kill me when she hears this. So this recipe is great on its own but the
addition I added was the beans. A very simple way to incorporate some protein into the recipe. Of
course that makes it a little less of a fajita, but who cares. Here I added black beans. You could also
add maybe another you know strong flavored bean like like some refried beans. Or you can go more
of a fairly more neutral route with maybe like a great northern one or even a cannellini. You
could add those beans onto the tray within the last five minutes of cooking just to basically
heat them through. And boom, who's your daddy? Well it's definitely not me and
unless I'm claiming you on my taxes. [board sliding] [knife chopping] [garlic paper rustling] [knife slamming] [knife chopping] [corn shucking] [liquid pouring] [water pouring] [sizzling] [liquid pouring] I haven't been to a common fast food joint
in a little while. I remember my first time at uh Chick-fil-a, years ago. You walk in and
you overhear everyone saying you know like my pleasure. Just for some background,
I was born in Brooklyn, New York. And raised in South Jersey, Philly area. Let's just
say the hospitality is uh it's a little different around here. So when someone came over and you
know dropped our order off at the table and said you know, my pleasure. I was caught off guard
and felt compelled to respond, uh yes, art thou, thankth. Can I have some ketchup? The wife's
like uh what are you doing? I'm confused. I don't know, I I thought it was like medieval day
or something in that nature. I'm not really sure, this story was completely irrelevant. But I could
still feel the little you know, I got from her. Just as a reminder this may be one of the
easiest recipes I'll ever show you. Also definitely my favorite summer pasta. Zucchinis are
perfectly in season, and so is corn. You're getting these fresh veggies together to make basically
a party inside of the skillet. The zucchini here is to help produce a super thick, creamy, kinda
light but really saucy gravy thing happening. It cooks down and kind of wilts like spinach does
leaving behind like a ton of juices. The corn you could obviously swap in you know go for a canned
version, but if you get corn in the right season, you kind of really don't want to. When capable,
I actually like to get the corn charred a bit on the grill, then at that point, I'll you know,
cut it off and get it into the pasta. That move is like next level for the pasta. Protein tip here,
I actually went for a chickpea pasta, which is also a gluten-free pasta. Rather than going with
a flour-based version. The disparity between protein servings on each, is like you go from like
a 14-15 grams per serving to like 20 to 22 grams per serving. I often choose to use a canned coconut
milk for creamy sauces. You could use another thick plant-based milk or say you wanted to go for
something that wasn't a thick plant-based milk because that's what you could find, adding a
little cornstarch or if you don't do corn starch even like some arrowroot powder. Um adding a little
bit of that will help thicken up the sauce for you and have something very similar to if you were
using the coconut milk. I started off this recipe with using a plant-based butter rather than
some oil because I actually enjoy a hint of that buttery flavor consolidated with the other flavors
within the dish. I also used vegan parm and if you wanted to go say a little less processed I
actually have a homemade version you can do with whole food ingredients at home linked
at my website in the description but I would incorporate the homemade version after
the pasta's cooked and it's actually plated. Um kind of like Olive Garden used to or
probably still does. Tell me when to stop any time now. All three recipes are linked in
the description along with other interesting things. If you're looking for more breakfast
inspiration check out my last video on the screen. Somewhere around here that I never
remember. I truly appreciate you and the time you chose to spend with me.
Until next time. Believe in good. Peace.
