Hearty Tofu Scramble

I've always enjoyed a good breakfast. When I first lived on my own, my roommate and I would make these big egg scrambles, packed with all kinds of delicious ingredients. When I first started seriously considering vegetarianism and researching the food industry, eggs was one of the first things to go from my diet. I'm not here to preach, but the way they discard the male chicks in hatcheries (see here if you're curious) shows such a complete disregard for the beauty of life and the spirit of nature. Animal cruelty is just a very small part of why I went veg, but this left quite an impression on me - and eggs almost immediately lost their appeal.

So when I came across the low-down on tofu scrambles and realized how simple it is to prepare something so closely resembling those scrumptious egg masterpieces of my past, I was thrilled to say the least. Simply follow the recipe - the real magic happens when you add turmeric to crumbled tofu in a pan. Mix it together and WA LA! You have scrambled eggs! This is one of those dishes where you can use whatever veggies you have laying around - the more the merrier...

I used Gimme Lean breakfast sausage (hehe, Jimmy Dean...) as a side - also so similar to the original it's scary.

Hearty Tofu Scramble

olive oil/vegetable oil
1 small zucchini, sliced
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 jalapeño pepper, chopped
2-3 tbsp. crimini mushrooms, chopped
5 oz. block extra firm tofu
1 tbsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. thyme
3-4 oz. Gimme Lean breakfast sausage
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Heat some oil in a skillet and add zucchini slices, making sure they all get some pan surface time. Cook 4-5 minutes until slightly browned on cooked side and flip them. Add onions, peppers and mushrooms to the pan and cook 2-3 minutes.


Mix veggies together, scoot them to one side of the pan, and sprinkle some thyme on top. After squeezing as much water as you can from the tofu with a paper towel, hold the block in your hand and crumble it into the pan. Sprinkle the turmeric on top of the tofu. It should look something like this:


Mix the tofu and turmeric together. It instantly turns yellow and looks amazingly like scrambled eggs! I don't know why this fascinates me so, but it does...


At this point you can mix everything together and push it to one side of the pan. The beauty of cooking a tofu scramble is that there is no time sensitive, imminent danger of burning it, whereas eggs will burn quickly. The sausage is easy - squeeze it into the pan and let it warm. I like to flatten it with a spatula, sprinkle some cayenne and black pepper on it and cook til both sides are lightly browned. Serve together with tofu scramble and enjoy!

Serves 1-2 people

p.s. I didn't have it on hand this time, but fresh avocado is a wonderful addition to this dish...