Creamy Avocado Collard Green Wraps

Yesterday at the produce stand we came across some amazing looking collard greens and just had to pick some up.

The leaves were so big we knew we could really do something great with them. So we ran home and just let this recipe create itself.

The result was pretty amazing. Packed with nutrients and delicious! This combination of flavors really works!

It was hard to come up with a name for them because there are so many different elements. A friend who shared dinner with us last night suggested "Medley Wraps" because really that's what they are. A medley of vegetable and tastes. But for the sake of quick explanation we went with "Creamy Avocado Collard Green Wraps" for the blog title. :-) But you can call them Medley Wraps if you want, that's totally okay with us!

You will need:
Collard Greens (a bunch with the largest leaves you can find)
1/2 small head of green cabbage
1-2 large carrots
2 yellow onions
1-2 green onions
1/2 block tofu
1 medium avocado
1/4 can coconut milk
4 cloves of garlic
1 TBS soy sauce
salt
pepper
paprika
garlic powder
turmeric


To prepare:

1. Separate the collard green leaves and cut off the long stems. Wash the greens throughly then fill a large pot with water and let it come to a boil. Once pot is boiling, turn off heat, set pot to side and place leaves into water. Cover and let sit.

2. Cut your block of firm tofu in half and then into small cubes. Boil a small pot of water, remove from heat, add tofu, and let sit for a few minutes while you prepare your veggies.

3. Wash other vegetables. Chop cabbage into slices and make carrots into thin sticks. We left our onions pretty long as well and just chopped our green onions all the way down the stem (you want the green and the white parts).

4. Once all veggies are chopped, heat a wok or skillet to medium heat and add a little olive oil or non-stick spray. Throw in veggies and lightly sauté with a tablespoon of soy sauce and a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. (Try not to overcook. They'll continue to cook in the oven and you don't want them to get too soft.) 

5. Drain tofu and add to vegetables in wok/skillet. Give veggies/tofu a small toss to mix.

6. Carefully remove green leaves from pot and set on dry surface. You may want to pat dry with a paper towel. 

7. Add a few large spoonfuls of sauteed veggies on top of leaves and then wrap by folding up from the stem, followed by folding in the sides to create a seal, then rolling up till end is reached. 

8. After all the wraps are sealed, preheat oven to 350ºF and coat a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, then place wraps inside.

9. Chop four cloves of garlic and in a small dish mix with a small amount of olive oil, salt, pepper, and turmeric then place on top of wraps and stick in oven for 25 minutes.

10. While wraps are cooking prepare topping. In a food processor combine 1 medium avocado with 1/4 can coconut milk and a few pinches of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Blend until smooth and creamy.

11. After 25 minutes, take out wraps and set on plate. We served ours on a bed of balsamic sauteed chickpeas (sauté chick peas in spices and balsamic vinegar until soft). Set the roasted garlic to the side, top wraps with a thick strip of avocado mixture and then garnish with roasted garlic and paprika.

Once cut into the filling will look something like this and will taste delicious! 

Enjoy! 

(And don't worry our honeymoon review of The Florida Keys is coming soon!)

With peace, love, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Teriyaki Glazed and Grilled Tofu

Last weekend we went home to visit family. Now, home... home is an odd clasification. Because home to us is the house the two of us share with our animal friends in central Florida. The place lovingly referred to by many as the 'crazy hippy vegan farm'. But home is also in south Florida where we grew up. The place where we met, the beach where we shared our first kiss... It's where our parents live and where no matter how old we get we will probably always think of as "home".

The thing about going home is that there is always an endless amount of things that your parents will try to get you to take with you when you come to visit. It's always great when you're nearing 30 years old and your mother asks if you would like to take a plastic film tube full of all your baby teeth back to Orlando with you. (lol Love you Mom!)

This weekend we were offered a George Foreman Grill. Our first reaction was... no... I mean what the heck are we going to do with that if it's meant to cook oil off of meat? But upon further inspection we thought well... maybe it may be worth a try. It's just an electric grill... we could probably cook anything on it.



And boy were we right! We've been experimenting on it since we brought it in the house and not to sound too overly 90s infomercial but man this thing can do it all!

So far we have made grilled zucchini, garlic, bean burgers, and a few other things. But by far the best creation was the teriyaki glazed tofu. This was so easy we were almost not going to write out a recipe, but it honestly tasted too good not to share.

This recipe will serve two.

What you'll need:

1 block of Tofu
Teryaki sauce
Soy Sauce
Spray Oil
Iron Chef General Tso or Orange Glaze
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Sesame Seeds

First, take a block of tofu and cut it length-wise in half. You want to make two thick "steaks".

Next, fill a shallow dish with a mix of teriyaki and soy sauce (you'll want to do about 3 parts teriyaki and 1 part soy sauce) and let your tofu steaks sit in the mix for a few minutes, flipping occasionally to make sure the sauce is getting evenly absorbed.

Then, sprinkle some light salt, pepper, and garlic powder on your coated tofu. Heat up the George Forman Grill to medium/medium-high heat, spray with non-stick cooking spray, and set on grill horizontally. (If they're rectangular -if they're square this really doesn't make a difference.)

While the tofu is cooking take your teriyaki/soy mix and add a couple tablespoons of the General Tso's or Orange sauce. Mix well and then drizzle or brush on to tofu periodically as it cooks.

The tofu will probably need to cook for at least 10-15 minutes. We suggest flipping it once half-way thorough and coating the bottom side with your sauce mix. The top grill side also seems to make those 'char' lines a little faster. So if you want them to be even on both sides it will definitely need to be flipped.

Most of this sauce is probably going to end up in the drip pan. Not a problem! When your tofu is nice and grilled pop it on a plate and drizzle it with the left over and dripped off sauce then garnish with sesame seeds.

We put our glazed tofu on a bed of sauteed kale and chickpeas. The only special thing we do for that stuff is sauté it in soy-free Earth Balance and add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.... and then the special ingredient... shallots!

If you have never cooked with a shallot before, do so as soon as possble. They are these amazing little onions that add so much flavor to anything they are cooked with, specifically kale and other greens.

The chickpeas could probably use a dash of soy sauce while cooking but be careful not to turn this meal into too big of a sodium-fest! You could also try balsamic vinegar or just plain old salt, pepper, and garlic. Those staples always work. Fresh garlic would be nice here too depending on what you're in the mood for.

Someone mentioned that this dish reminded them of asian style ribs but we think of it more like a faux glazed salmon.

We've really been able to make some versatile dishes in this thing so far. We have a whole list of items like seitan and tempeh we are going to try soon. The best part about this 90s-era contraption is how evenly it cooks the items. So if you have one of these grills lying around from your omnivore days, bring it down from the shelf and dust it off! See what kind of magic you can make happen! It's time to reclaim this grill in the name of the vegan world and make some tofu!

With peace, love, and compassion-
The Two Vegan Ladies