Most days when I don’t have much time to sit and eat an elaborate meal, I throw things in a bowl and eat up anything combined with anything. This book by Becky Striepe takes those daily meals to a whole new level by providing simple options for the layers in the bowls and combinations that are tried and tested and loved.
Bowls are quick and easy. Becky’s bowl basics are simple, add a layer of grains, potatoes, greens or pasta, top with veggies, then protein and some awesome sauces or dressings. With the recipes for each of the bowl elements in the book, there are endless possibilities to come up with your own combinations!
The book has chapters on Breakfast and Brunch Bowls, Lunches and suppers, Soups and Stews, Sauces and Layers basics.
I made this Peanut butter Tofu Bowl with the perfect mashed potatoes (and they definitely are perfect, noochy, peppery and perfect!), greens and drizzled up with more peanut butter sauce. That sauce is so good that I threw in some cauliflower in it and baked those up as well (baked for 25 minutes at 425 degrees F). Clearly most of the cauliflower did not make it to the pictures. What can I say, we all know by now how much Cauliflower we eat in this house. I should just change the tagline of the blog to Eating Cauliflower till we photosynthesize 😉
Back to the Bowls book. Becky has worked on the book and published it by herself! Which I can tell you is a big feat. so many steps go into writing and publishing a book! Support her by getting yourself a copy here!
Becky is also giving away the book to 2 readers of the blog. One print copy within US and One digital copy for International readers, anywhere in the world! Please enter the Giveaway at the end of the post.
Yumm.. This Peanut Butter Tofu Bowl!
Peanut Butter Tofu Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 block extra firm tofu
- 1 batch Peanut Butter Sauce see below
- 1 batch Perfect Mashed Potatoes see below
- Greens
- salt and pepper
Peanut Butter Sauce
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup (129 g) creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon
- 1-2 teaspoons (1 teaspoons) Sriracha sauce to taste
- 2-6 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) of water
Perfectly Mashed Potatoes
- 2 large red or white potatoes - about the size of a tennis ball - cut into 2” pieces. The thin skin is key since we are not peeling them.
- 1/4 or more cup (59.15 ml) soy or almond milk plus extra, as needed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup (11 g) nutritional yeast flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- green onions chopped (optional)
Instructions
Method
Make the Peanut Butter Sauce
- Put the ginger, garlic, peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, and Sriracha into your blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, adding water by the tablespoon as needed to get things moving.
Make the Mashed Potatoes
- 1. Put your potatoes into a large pot, adding enough water to cover them completely. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minuntes, until they’re fork-tender. Transfer to a colander to drain.
- 2. In a medium-sized bowl, mash up your potato a little bit, then add the soy milk and olive oil. It’s going to look way too liquidy at this point, but don’t panic! Just keep mashing. I try to mash down anything that’s larger than a pea in size, but if you like your mashed potatoes ultra smooth you can mash even more or even get in there with an immersion blender.
- 3. Once the potatoes are the consistency you like, fold in the nutritional yeast. Stir well to completely combine, then add a little extra soy milk – one tablespoon at a time – if things look a little bit dry. Every potato is different, so the exact amount of soy milk is going to vary.
- 4. Season with salt and pepper, top with the green onions.
Make the bowl
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350F / 180ºc
- 2. Slice your block of tofu into 8 cutlets, and arrange them in a greased 9×12” glass baking pan.
- 3. Make your Peanut Butter Sauce and pour it over the tofu, making sure each cutlet gets a nice coating, and bake for 30 minutes.
- 4. While the tofu bakes, make your Perfect Mashed Potatoes.
- 5. Divide the greens and potatoes between your four bowls, and dish up two cooked cutlets on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Hinalea Thorpe
My family loves this including my 1 and 5 year olds. I sometimes bake the tofu with some steamed brown rice and veg or salad. Thank you! It’s become a staple recipe for us
Vegan Richa Support
sounds tasty & healthy!! Thank you so much for the rave review!
Dianne Gabriel
So good!! My sauce was very thick, I’d make it thinner next time but loved the flavor. It was so easy and came together quickly. I’ll make it again.
SYLVIA ANCONA
Califico, aunque aún no la preparo, pues es nutritiva, fácil , y con esos ingredientes tiene que estar deliciosa. Aunque no es receta tuya, Richa, te agradezco la compartas . Tengo tu libro Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen: excelente!!!, y me encanta me envies recetas, realmente las disfruto. Las traduzco y las guardo en mi Cel. Mil gracias. Un saludos desde México.
Caterina B
Hi Richa, I have a question about this recipe. You do not mention that one should press the tofu. Should we? I have always pressed my tofu but have only been making recipes with it for about a year.
By the way, my daughter found this recipe of yours on Instagram. We’re making it tonight.
Richa
Its pressed, Sometimes you get already pressed firm or extra firm tofu, so i must have used that when the recipe was written up. Let me know how it turned out!
Jenifer
i don’t particularly like this new fad (bowls) but i LOVE this recipe Haha
jacquie
yogurt with granola or a rewarm of some chili or soup
Hanna
I love to eat a simple sandwich
Hanna
I love to make tomato soup with a sandwich for those days!
Christina
My quick lunches are whatever I have cooked on the weekend to get me through the week. It can be anything.
The Peace Patch
I’m a big fan of hummus wraps and cashew butter roll ups. 🙂
Livvy
I love soup in the winter. all about the soup
i am geeked that there’s finally a Bowl cookbook. i’ve been wanting one and hopefully i can win 🙂
Stephanie
Oh. Yum. This looks amazing and I’m going to make it this weekend.
Kelly L.
Looks delish – I never would have thought about pairing mashed potatoes with a peanut sauce!
Lauryn L
My fiancee and I have ramen, or some kind of noodle soup almost every day…we buy fresh noodles from Whole Foods, they are delicious!
Melissa
One of my favorite winter lunches (or lunch in any season, really) is a quinoa and veggie dish. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of curried quinoa with vegetables like celery, carrots, and cauliflower.
Natalia M
I love warm grain salads, with quinoa, millet or rice and loads of vegetables. I love to add tofu to those as well for a protein boost!
Robyn Joy
leftover roasted roots, rice, tofu. sandwiches, soup.
Purnima Barve
Soups, stews, or Indian style lentils with rice.
Ashlee
This is a little different from my usual tofu peanut recipe. I can’t wait to try this!
Paula
I love bowls, & this book sounds fantastic! My favorite quick winter lunch is soup & sandwich.
Andrea
I love having options in my freezer. I make huge batches of soup to freeze, so I have a hot, quick, and cheap lunch anytime!
Hannah
My instant, default lunch is just to make a salad out of whatever vegetables, beans, nuts, and fruits I can find in the fridge. I can some times come up with strange combinations, but it always somehow tastes good!
Jerilyn
I love throwing fall veggies, broth + spices into the Vitamix and hitting the soup button. Delish and easy 🙂
Tracy
I usually have salad and/or leftovers for lunch
Abby
my lunch is usually fruits since i am on a rawtill4 lifestyle. refreshed everyday!
cynthia
I make a lot of different soups.
Sophia
For me, lunch is all about soups and stews during the winter, but I occasionally find myself craving a hearty salad as well.
Jessica
Peanut Butter and Jelly 😀 lol I like to kep it simple!
Connie Fletcher
I love VEGAN FOOD!! All kinds….love, love, love eating this way!!! The problem I have encountered though, is there are soooo many wonderful foods, I can’t decide!!!!
g
newest fave : warm potato and broccoli with miso tahini sauce
Kelsey
I always have some kind of rice/bean/veggie bowl for lunch. Super easy to customize and quick to throw together.
Jen Greene
Soups and sandwiches
Maria
That looks delicious!
I like to quickly stir fry up whatever fresh veggies are in the fridge and serve them over Somen or Udon that only take like 4 minutes to cook up.
Heather
Veggie burgers, baked tofu sandwiches and/or soups.
Julie
Peanut butter, mashed potatoes & tofu – sounds delish!!
ali
a bowl of something warm….. soup, greens with an egg… and some yummy toast on the side!
Malgorzata
My favourite winter lunch is a hot soup.
Ellen Lederman
This sounds wonderful. I’d love this book (thanks to you, just discovered the blog—turns out Becky also lives in Atlanta!). As an old school vegetarian for 25 years, stir-fries were the go-to meal. But now as a vegan for the past couple of years, bowls seem more appealing and varied. Just made YOUR bowl yesterday, with the cauliflower, collard greens, quinoa and almond siracha sauce. Yum! Enjoyed eating my cruciferous veggies so much. Becky’s bowl kind of reminds me of this bowl that Kentucky Fried Chicken had for a while, also with mashed potatoes (no, I haven’t been in a KFC or any other fast-food restaurant for 30 years! Just saw the ad on TV 🙂 )
Deanne O
Baked potato with vegan butter, nutritional yeast and loads of veggies!
Julie
Soup! I make big batches of soup and freeze them in individual size servings. Every morning I go to the freezer to grab something for my lunch.
Yvonne
A sandwich spread with a paste of an almond butter and maple syrup mixture, that I sprinkle with some cinnamon powder. Sweet and delicious!
pilar
delicious recipe as usual. I would love to participate in the bowls book giveaway
shani
i always have frozen soup in the freezer i can defrost
Margaux
My favourite warm winter lunch is blender soup – I steam carrots, pumpkin and zucchini in the morning before work, then get home and blend with water and some soy milk and spices. So simple to heat up and delicious with some sprouts on top!
MPaula
I love to make big pots (or slow cooker recipes) of soup or stew. Leftovers are often tastier than the first day and can last most of the week. If I make a double batch, I can freeze half and have more lunches later on.
Gen
I love soup and sandwiches and a hot cup of tea!
Jennifer
My quick winter lunch go-to would be baked potatoes – white or sweet. I like to top them with diced onion and tomato…little salt and pepper and they are perfect!
Katie
I actually like having oatmeal for lunch. It’s great sweet or savory and you can add anything you have hanging around your fridge from squash to fruit. It’s great!
paula
Would love this. Looks fantastic
Mary Syrenne
Soup. I make large batches, then freeze in individual servings to pull out for a quick lunch.