Thursday, November 15 Fried Tofu Chicken (Cookin’ Crunk) with Mac & Cheese and Al’s Greens (Vegan Soul Food Guide to the Galaxy) Rating: 4.25

We threw healthy eating out the window for this one and just went all-in, dirty South fried goodness. We bought a copy of Cookin’ Crunk at SF Veg Fest and have enjoyed the recipes we’ve tried so far. I’m more than a little bit in love with the Chicken Fried Tofu at our local Whole Foods hot bar and I’ve been trying to replicate it for a while now. There’s a recipe in Vegan Soul Food Guide to the Galaxy that I like, but the marinade for the tofu before breading & frying isn’t quite there yet.  Anyway, we decided to try this one out. I really liked the marinade used for the tofu prior to breading & frying – it gives the finished tofu a good flavor.  I also really liked the fact that you use a beer to moisten the tofu when coating it with the flour mixture. We both loved the taste the finished tofu, but next time will cut it into cubes instead of slices. We dipped it in some store bought BBQ sauce and the buttermilk ranch (slightly tweaked with a small squirt of Dijon and agave) also in Cookin’ Crunk, because everything fried goes in ranch dressing. Since we were having an unhealthy, southern style dinner, I made mac & cheese. Our current favorite recipe is in The Vegan Soul Food Guide to the Galaxy, although instead of rice cheese (because ick!) I use liberal fistfuls of Daiya pepperjack and cheddar until it looks like it will be gooey enough. I make a half batch since there are just two of us and even I get sick of mac & cheese leftovers after a few days. Seth loves collards, like any good southerner should (I had a side of raw kale with garlicky dressing) and the recipe I base his collards on is the Al’s Greens from VSFGG. It’s not hard to make and can simmer for as long as you need to leave it alone while you cook everything else. I should explain about that. Seth’s mom, like many southern moms cooks her collards all day. The broth gets really flavorful and the collards get really tender. For those of you new to collards, that may seem gross (I usually simmer them for an hour or two) but a lot of veggies in the South get cooked to death, so it’s really not out of the ordinary.