Daniel's Birthday Dinner: Herbed Tofu Tomato Salad and Vegan Stuffed Shells

Even though we went out to dinner earlier in the week for Daniel's birthday, I wanted to make him something special for his actual birthday tonight when he came home from work. I had seen an amazing-looking marinated tofu salad on Vegan Yack Attack's site, and knew that I needed to try it. Before I went vegan one of our favorite things to eat was caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, and this looked like a wonderful replacement. I can tell you that it did not disappoint!

You can find the recipe here: make sure that you have your ingredients the morning that you want to eat it for dinner, as you need to marinate the tofu for several hours. I did make a few changes based upon what I had available: I used super-firm tofu since Trader Joe's was out of of extra-firm; therefore, I didn't need to press it. The texture was great and just like mozzarella! I used 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar in place of the coconut vinegar, vine-ripened tomatoes instead of heirloom, and a spring mix instead of baby arugula. Again, these were just changes of convenience. She notes that the tofu, which you can marinate between 4-6 hours, gets saltier the longer you marinate it: I did the full 8 hours and it was a little too salty for my taste (though still wonderful!). Next time I will try 4-6 hours instead. Although she did not specify, I marinated it in the fridge (in a sealed container). I couldn't believe how similar it was to fresh mozzarella...I honestly don't think I would have suspected it wasn't if I didn't know! I can't wait to try it in other recipes such as pasta salad.

 

For our main dish, I wanted something classic, filling and yummy (and not too complicated). I saw a recipe on Pinterest for stuffed shells and thought that would be perfect. Although I liked the simplicity of it and the use of veggie ground beef (which Daniel really likes), I wasn't crazy about the use of a lot of vegan shredded cheese; I had also seen another recipe which used a tofu ricotta and spinach, which I liked the idea of...so I just decided to combine the things I liked from both recipes! I was astonished at how delicious they came out! I actually felt a bit guilty eating them because they tasted so authentic...the tofu and cashew cream was an amazing replacement for ricotta. The photo below is from before they went in the oven: not terribly photogenic, but trust me, they were amazing!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 package jumbo pasta shells (I got mine at Fry's)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 package veggie ground beef (I used Trader Joe's brand)
• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 1 package extra-firm tofu, drained (I actually used super-firm since that was what I had)
• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for about 2 to 8 hours, then rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 jar marinara sauce

1. Cook the jumbo pasta shells in salted water (I added about 1 Tbsp. of salt) according to package directions. Drain and set aside so that they are cool enough to handle.

2. Preheat the over to 350.

3. Preheat a medium pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes, then add the 1 Tbsp. olive oil, the onions, and the garlic. Cook for 5-7 minutes until softened. Add the veggie ground beef and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the frozen spinach and cook for about 5 minutes, or until heated through. Set mixture aside.

4. Place your block of tofu in a large bowl and mash with a fork until crumbly (note: this will be a little more difficult if you use super-firm tofu like I did; cutting it up a bit with a knife first helped!)

5. Place the soaked and drained cashews in a blender and add the water: blend until smooth, adding a little more water if you need to get the blender going. Add the cashew cream to the crumbled tofu and mix together.

6. Stir the tofu/cashew cream mixture into the onion/ground beef/spinach mixture and add the salt, pepper and dried basil. Mix well.

7. Coat the bottom of a 9"x13" pan with some of the marinara sauce. Stuff each shell with the mixture and place in the pan (I ended up having some leftover shells). Pour the remaining marinara sauce over the top.

8. Bake at 350 uncovered for 15 minutes.

The recipe makes a lot: we ate probably 1/4 of it for one dinner, so we will have it again (along with more of the salad) tomorrow night, and there will probably be a couple of lunches for Daniel too!

If  I do say so, I was blown away by this dinner! Luckily Daniel absolutely loved it too, and had seconds of everything :)