In her debut cookbook, YouTube powerhouse Lauren Toyota presents a fun and irreverent take on vegan comfort food that’s saucy, sweet, sassy, and most definitely deep-fried.
Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics is a bold collection of 101 recipes where the world of comfort food and vegan cooking collide as Lauren Toyota (mastermind behind Hot For Food) shares her favorite recipes and creative ways to make Philly Cheesesteak, fried chicken, and mac ‘n’ cheese, all with simple vegan ingredients.
Never one to hold back, Lauren piles plates high with cheese, ranch, bacon, and barbecue sauce, all while sharing personal stories and tips in her engaging and hilarious voice. The result is indulgent, craveworthy food like Southern Fried Cauliflower, The Best Vegan Ramen, Crispy Crabless Cakes, and Raspberry Funfetti Pop Tarts-made for sharing with friends for meals, snacks, and beyond. Lauren takes all of the piousness out of vegan eating with recipes that are as bold, creamy, and compelling as their non-vegan counterparts.
To celebrate the release of this long-awaited book of vegan awesomeness, we have teamed up with Hot For Food to do a special contest. We are giving away not one, but FIVE copies of Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics! PLUS we are giving you a sneak-peak of what’s inside by sharing one of the fabulous recipes here today. Just read on to check it out and to learn how to enter the giveaway!
THE BIG BREKKY SKILLET
This is my go-to breakfast option every weekend. It’s perfect for serving a household of hungry mouths, though John and I have been known to devour the whole thing between us! Serving meals in a skillet makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and somehow even makes the meal taste better.
MAKES 4 to 6 servings
PREP TIME 35 minutes
COOK TIME 45 minutes
Prep Ahead
-Coconut Bacon (page 9)
Potato Hash
-2 pounds baby white potatoes, quartered (about 8 cups)
-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
-1 teaspoon paprika
-1 teaspoon sea salt
-1⁄2 teaspoon ground pepper
-2 garlic cloves, minced
Tofu Scramble
-1 (about 16 oz/450 g) brick medium-firm tofu, crumbled
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-2 shallots, minced
-2 green onions, white and green parts, finely chopped
-1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper (about 1 pepper)
-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
-1 teaspoon ground turmeric
-1⁄2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt
-1⁄4 teaspoon ground pepper
-1⁄4 cup unsweetened nondairy milk (optional)
Toppings
-1⁄2 cup packed, stemmed, and finely chopped kale leaves
-1⁄2 cup vegan cheese shreds (optional)
-1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced
-1⁄2 cup Coconut Bacon
-1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
-Hot sauce
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
To make the potato hash, place the quartered potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork-tender, approximately 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, prepare the tofu scramble. Drain the tofu and pat dry of excess moisture with a tea towel or paper towel. Heat a large cast-iron skillet or oven-safe pan over medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Add the crumbled tofu, shallots, green onions, and red pepper and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes or until the vegetables are softened and about half cooked.
Add the nutritional yeast, the turmeric, up to 1 teaspoon of the salt (adjust to your taste), and the pepper. Stir to combine and cook for another 2 minutes. At this point you can add up to 1⁄4 cup of the nondairy milk if the mixture looks too dry and cook for another minute. Remove the scramble from the pan to another dish and set aside.
To cook the potato hash, wipe out any excess scramble from the skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil, potatoes, paprika, salt, and pepper and toss to coat the potatoes well.
Cook for 12 to 14 minutes, stirring only a couple of times and allowing the potato quarters to crisp on the bottom. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes, lowering the heat slightly to prevent burning.
Add the scramble on top of the potatoes in the skillet or transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish if you can’t put your pan in the oven. Surround the scramble with the chopped kale and top with the cheese shreds.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the kale looks crisp and the cheese is completely melted and slightly browned.
Top with the avocado slices, bacon, and chives before serving. Add hot sauce to taste to individual servings if desired.
Bacon Marinade
-¼ cup low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
-2 tablespoons maple syrup
-1 tablespoon liquid smoke
-1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Combine all of the marinade ingredients together in a bowl or wide dish with a whisk or fork.
Coconut Bacon
-3 cups large flaked unsweetened coconut
-Bacon Marinade (see above)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Stir the flakes into the marinade and coat well. There shouldn’t be any marinade pooling at the bottom of the bowl, as the flakes will soak it up.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread out the coconut flakes in an even layer.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes to prevent burning. When the coconut is a uniform, deep brown color, remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the bacon to a plate or another baking sheet so it doesn’t continue to cook. Allow it to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. The bacon will last 2 months if stored in a cool, dry place, but it never lasts that long in my house.
CREDIT: Reprinted with permission from Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics, text and photography copyright 2018 by Lauren Toyota. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
GIVEAWAY
Win one of FIVE copies of Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics! To enter, all you have to do is perform one (or more) of the following actions on the RaffleCopter widget below to earn points. You can perform the actions as many times as you want during the next week to earn more points. The more points, the more chances to win! RaffleCopter will choose 5 winners at random on April 30th, 2018. Sorry, due to shipping costs this contest is open to U.S. residents only. Good luck!
