Oh my.

I don’t think J will be making another dinner between now and bedtime. We are FULL.

I was looking for a vegan recipe for panko-encrusted tofu and came across this one: beer-battered tofu with vegan ranch dressing from Vegan Food Addict. It’s really good, but not exactly light…and not exactly light in calories either.

Because the batter seemed so thick, I ended up making two batches–for the second, I thinned the batter to the consistency of milk.

I also tried to “fry” it on the grill (sprayed with cooking oil).

As you can see, this method did not work, so I resorted to the method recommended in the recipe:

The end result was a batch of deep-fried, thickly battered tofu, which was quite good, but you can’t really eat more than one or two. The second platter in the picture below is the thinly battered batch, which I preferred. J preferred the thickly battered ones, however. Even so, we have quite a bit left over.

A very nice surprise was the vegan ranch dip that was part of the recipe, and which I adjusted by using fresh spices, etc., instead of dried (except for the dill).

It would make a fantastic dip for vegetables or as a sandwich spread. Here’s my adaptation:

Ranch Dip
1 cup Veganaise
1/4 almond milk
juice from half a lemon
handful of fresh chives
handful of fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup white onion
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Blend it all up in the bullet–it’s super yummy!!

As I cooked this, I was listening to the soundtrack to Celeste and Jesse Forever–an excellent (but under-rated) movie with a fantastic soundtrack, starting with Lily Allen’s “Littlest Things”: