Eggs Benny

Happy Friday, bloggies! I hope you all have something wonderful and exciting planned this weekend, even if it's doing nothing. I'm going to be a tad bit busy and super jealous of all the people who get to run the Kirtland Armed Forces Day Half-Marathon. I have a bib, but sadly, I have a pulled hamstring. Just when I think it's getting better and I do a few squats to test it out, I'm reminded within minutes that it's not healed. Boooooo. Oh well. I still have my mommy coming in 5 DAYS to cheer me up.

My beautiful mom making a tasty drink.



Something else that cheers me up? Amazing food. Even more so: AMAZING BREAKFAST. I don't know what it is about breakfast, but I could eat it all day, every day. Pancakes, tofu scramble, french toast, and now my new favorite, Eggs Benny. This recipe is mostly from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' book, Vegan Brunch. A vegan cookbook dedicated to brunch?? Yee haw! Eggs Benny obviously starts with the English muffin. Which were homemade. And easy. I will never buy English muffins again. Then there's the egg, made with tofu. I didn't make the Hollandaise sauce from the book as I didn't have some of the ingredients. I also decided to add some Smart Bacon for the "ham" and some spinach because I love spinach and it gave the Benny a little florentine kick.



Eggs Benny
Prep time: English muffins should be do-aheads, as well as marinading the tofu. So start this the day before you want to make it.
Cook time: 15 minutes

English Muffins
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup lukewarm water

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp margarine (I use Earth Balance)

A few tablespoons cornmeal
Nonhydrogenated margarine for skillet

1. In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and water; set aside until the yeast has dissolved, about 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt; make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture and margarine. Mix until a dough forms, then turn out onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and springy, 6 to 10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel; set in a warm place and let rise until just about doubled, about an hour.

2. Preheat a cookie sheet in the oven to 350° F. Punch dough down and knead for a minute, then roll out on a floured surface until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 3-inch rounds using a cookie cutter and pat both sides into cornmeal. Preheat a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium heat; melt about 1 tablespoon margarine in it (the pan should not be hot enough to burn the margarine). Cook the muffins in the pan in small batches so as not to crowd the pan, flipping once, about 1 minute a side or until it looks lightly browned like an English muffin. Put each batch straight from the skillet into the oven; bake for 6 to 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for half an hour before serving.

Tofu Eggs
2 pounds firm tofu
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 tsp arrowroot (I used cornstarch)
1 tsp black salt (I've referred to this a million times...I hope you've gotten some by now! :))
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for cooking (I used some margarine to cook the tofu, so I didn't need more than 2 tbsp.)

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Gently press some of the water out of the tofu. Lay the tofu on its narrow side and slice into three pieces lengthwise. So basically you will have three slices that are large, flat rectangles. Use a 3-inch cookie cutter to cut circles out of each tofu slice. Repeat with the next block of tofu. Reserve the rest of the tofu for another use, it will be about a pound of leftover.

2. Marinate the tofu circles for about an hour, but it's great to do overnight, too.

3. To time this right, you should start cooking the tofu when you're letting the Hollandaise sauce cool. It's really simple, just preheat a cast-iron pan over medium heat, add a thin layer of olive oil (or margarine) and cook on each side till nicely browned, about 15 minutes.

Hollandaise Sauce (NOT from this book.)
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 cup vegan sour cream (I use Tofutti)
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise (I use Vegenaise)
3 tsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp black salt (there it is again!)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp lemon juice

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk all the other ingredients in, making sure to keep it smooth. You don't want this to bubble, so keep on low for about 3 minutes, constantly stirring, then remove from heat.

At this point, cook your tempeh bacon, if using.

ASSEMBLY

1. Either toast your English muffin or just slice and lay cut side up.
2. Add some baby spinach on top of the muffin.
3. Lay a few slices of bacon on the spinach.
4. Put your tofu on top of the bacon.
5. Smother with Hollandaise sauce.
6. Shovel into your mouth.



I hope you get the chance to at least make these English muffins. Cody & I both wolfed a couple down fresh out of the oven. They were seriously some of the best I've ever had. If you're not lucky enough to be vegan (toot toot), you can just replace the vegan margarine with regular margarine and make them just the same.

I hope you all have wonderful weekends! Last night, we were able to spend some time with some amazing married-friends. The dinner was great (and vegan! Thank you, my dear!), there was a lot of laughing, a lot of conversation, and even some tea at the end named Lady Londonderry (L-Town represent!). I hope you can find yourselves around friends like this at some point this weekend. It really lifted my spirits and reminded me of how absolutely lucky Cody & I are. XO

PS: My luck only comes in the form of good friends lately; I managed to pull my hamstring pretty bad at the Run for the Zoo a few weekends ago. Like, pulled-so-badly-it's-black-and-blue-all-along-my-thigh pretty bad. Maybe I need a pair of fancy compression socks like the AMAZING Skinny Runner is giving away on her fabulous, must-read blog.