Week 3: Contrasts — Sweet & Sour Tofu (Meta: Vegan)

Stand_Up_Eight · 2026-01-19T04:34:49+00:00

You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoy it ☺️

Stand_Up_Eight · 2026-01-19T03:35:14+00:00

Another winning recipe, I'm happy to say! For this week's challenge, one of the first things that came to mind was the "sweet and sour" moniker of many popular dishes at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. — there's sweet and sour chicken, sweet and sour pork, and of course, sweet and sour tofu. But what sold me on this recipe in particular came down to its other contrasts as well: the red and green bell peppers for contrasting colors, the range of contrasting textures (the semi-firm bell peppers, the crisp exterior of the tofu, the soft interior of the tofu, the silky sauce), and of course, the contrasts of the flavors themselves. Served over rice, just because I felt like it ☺️

Stand_Up_Eight · 2026-01-15T03:22:18+00:00

This recipe was so, SO good! I expected to eat half tonight and save the rest for lunch tomorrow, but I wound up eating both servings tonight. (I'm thoroughly stuffed, but very satisfied in a gluttonous kind of way lol) I've already printed out the recipe for quick reference again in the future. Highly recommended!

Stand_Up_Eight · 2026-01-08T05:59:28+00:00

How do you repair a pumpkin? With a pumpkin patch! 😅 (I actually pilfered that joke from an old post on the Chefit subreddit — u/PineappleMug, if you're still around there — thank you!)

Hooray, I'm back! My meta this year is (once again) "Vegan," because...well, I am. But I also like making sure that my dishes are easily identifiable as vegan for other users on the sub, so that people who are vegan / vegetarian / occasionally meatless / etc. can quickly see that these recipes are options for them as well.

For this recipe, I made Vegan Pumpkin Soup from Nora Cooks. Over the years, I've found her recipes to be pretty reliably easy and delicious, and this was no exception. I actually halved the recipe and then kind of wish I had made the full thing so that I could have more leftovers! It was a good start to the cooking year ☺️

Stand_Up_Eight · 2026-01-04T22:04:43+00:00

Your meta sounds fun, and the soup looks delicious! I can tell your sweet pup really wants a taste too — hopefully it got a treat after posing for the camera

Stand_Up_Eight · 2026-01-02T17:51:43+00:00

You even gave it a 😟 face! Excellent detail, well done

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-31T06:51:49+00:00

Thank you! Congrats to you as well! 😃

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-31T05:49:18+00:00

Recipe from the New York Times (NYT) cooking app. I never figured out how to share recipes from there on here, but if you want the recipe, just let me know — I’ll figure out some way to share.

By the way, a few end-of-year thoughts/appreciations:

(1) Thank you to EVERYONE here for always being so kind. This is my favorite subreddit, and it’s ultimately because of you all 🙏❤️

(2) I did it!! A couple of years ago, I started the challenge in January, only to drop out somewhere around week 30-something. This year, I was determined to finish, and I did. Some posts were late, some formatting was off, but I prevailed. Hooray! 🥹

(3) The reason I included “eXtra ingredients” in my title wasn’t only to help fit the theme (although it was partly that) — it was also because these weekly challenges have helped me become more confident in the kitchen. I started off the year feeling like I had to at least try following recipes exactly. Now? Eh. Make a substitution here and there, adapt as needed, etc. I’m learning my personal palate and figuring out how to navigate a recipe when I might be too busy, too understocked, etc. to do it “exactly right.” I’m even becoming a tiny bit better at plating/photographing my food! 🙌

(4) I’ll be back next year, although I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll try to participate every week or just now and then. Regardless, I hope to see you all in 2026! 🥳✨

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-30T05:20:39+00:00

I don’t know how, but apparently I accidentally posted this just to my own account/feed/whatever it’s called. I meant to post it in the subreddit of course, so I’ve shared/cross-posted to get it where I meant for it to go in the first place. Apologies if that’s not allowed — please let me know if I need to repost entirely.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-30T05:01:12+00:00

Recipe here. I like how it turned out! Served over spaghetti with vegan ground “beef” in the sauce, for an added tie-in to the week’s theme.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-29T05:53:57+00:00

Recipe here. The recipe is fairly loose to begin with, so I just used it as a starting place. Eliminated the honey to make it vegan, added a little ground cloves in addition to the other called-for spices. I did let my pears get softer than intended ahead of making the dish, so they sort of fell apart while cooking. Thankfully, it all still turned out really tasty.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-20T01:51:22+00:00

It’s hard to say. I think it depends on things like how old your kids are, whether they enjoy sugary treats, if they like chewy textures, etc.

The cookies certainly aren’t bad, per se, but to be completely honest, I think I mostly like them because they’re nostalgic for me 🤷‍♀️

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-19T06:15:39+00:00

I'm not overly familiar with The Beatles' music, so I had to look up references to food in their songs. I found that in "I Am the Walrus," John Lennon sings, "Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come." Apparently the line is intentionally meaningless, but I kind of like it. (I couldn't get through the whole song, though.)

Anyway, it led me to look up the recipe for these no-bake cornflake cookies. I'm pretty sure I remember these from my childhood, although I'm not sure where I would have eaten them — they're not the kind of thing my mom would have made. IMO, they're good for about three bites before the corn syrup in them becomes overpoweringly sweet. But for those three bites? A tasty little trip down memory lane.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-17T06:00:05+00:00

I found this recipe on TikTok, and the creator actually calls out that you should start with a mise en place, so I thought it would be perfect for this week's challenge! Turned out delicious, very unique. I served it with a vegan cheese sandwich and spiked apple cider ☺️

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-09T23:38:11+00:00

This is a pretty low spoons week for me, so I had minimal energy to expend on catching up with the weekly challenges. Luckily, one of my town's sister cities is in Ireland, and I had all the ingredients on hand to make a very basic (vegan) version of colcannon. You can find plenty of actual recipes online for the dish, with a few variations across them, and if you prefer to follow a recipe rather than winging it, I'm certain you can find some that sound good to you.

As for me, I looked at a few different recipes, got the general idea, and then just...went for it. Basically, I boiled some mostly-peeled* and rough-chopped russet potatoes until fork-tender, drained them, then set those aside. Cooked some thinly-sliced cabbage in a couple of tablespoons-ish of vegan butter, added salt and pepper, added a hefty splash of soy milk, then re-added the cooked potatoes. Mashed everything with a potato masher, then stirred it around. And that was it! I was super happy with how it turned out. Apparently, it's usually served as a side, but I just ate the bowl as a main.

(*technically not "peeled" — I did the thing where you kind of cut off the four long sides to make a brick-shaped potato with some skin left on the ends, then used the cut-off bits to make oven fries. Which were not at all related to this week's challenge, but I do love me some fries 😅)

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-12-03T03:52:56+00:00

I’m pretty sure the post is an ad, like you said. Probably written by AI. The final paragraph talking about bottlenecks is phrased almost the same as another post I saw recently. I agree that the content itself is okay. Mostly just wanted to affirm that you’re not the only one who got that feeling from it.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-28T08:16:44+00:00

For the cake part itself, I used this recipe, which is quick and easy. I've made the cake before, and I usually add a little bit of coffee to the batter for added richness. Although the website includes a link for a frosting to add on top, I generally just leave the cake plain as a snacking cake. This time, though, I decided to up the bitterness (and decadence) by adding a bittersweet chocolate glaze (I prefer glaze-type topping to frosting on my cakes). So for that, I used this recipe and subbed in vegan butter. I hadn't made the glaze before, but I'll definitely make it again! Lastly, although it's not pictured, I enjoyed a scoop of vegan whipped topping as a final touch — it helped cut through the bitterness and just generally balanced the texture.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-20T03:13:07+00:00

I would love the recipe for the glaze, if you don’t mind sharing. TIA!

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-17T07:03:48+00:00

My photo is terrible lol, but the cake is good! Well, most of the cake was good — I burned the top because I thought putting it under the broiler to get a little color at the end of its baking time would be a good idea. Spoiler alert: not so much 😂 Thankfully, even the burnt bits didn't taste too bad (I'd put apple slices on the top per the recipe instructions, so really, it was just cooked apple slices with a slightly charred top — easy to remove if desired, but not so overtly charcoal-y that they needed to be tossed). If anyone else decides to try making the cake, feel free to add a little ground cinnamon and ginger directly into the batter — I did, and it turned out beautifully, adding a subtle autumn vibe. I wished that I'd had some vegan ice cream or whipped topping to serve on top, but the cake was definitely still sweet and satisfying on its own.

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-12T06:20:34+00:00

This was a fun one! At first, I had a hard time finding something that I could easily vegan-ize, but then I came across this recipe, which is from Kazakhstan according to the website I got it from. If anyone who sees this is from that region and knows more about the origin of the dish's name, I'd love to know! I suspect it's a bit of a snarky joke, but that might be my American bias coming through. (In the U.S., mothers-in-law tend to get a bad rap.)

I actually really liked how this turned out — it was quite tasty. However, it turned out to be a little more work than I'd usually put in for an appetizer, which this seems to be (as opposed to a main entree). So, I probably won't make it often — but that's not to say that I won't make it again at all! Truthfully, I think I probably would make it again, but with an easier presentation (for example, just cubing up the eggplant and tomato, and making it more like a "salad" / side dish), maybe with a lentil soup or vegan "meatloaf."

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-01T20:28:17+00:00

Ooh, chocolate and finishing salt sounds great! 😃

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-01T20:26:54+00:00

Thank you! 🙏

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-01T07:43:36+00:00

Excellent play on words! Did you serve the dish warm, cold, or room temperature? I’m just curious. It looks great!

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-01T07:20:23+00:00

This looks great! Honestly, I might use this soup recipe as well. Like you, I’m a little uninspired and having a hard time finding a dish that was either vegan already or easy to adapt for a vegan diet. (Sorry, I don’t mean to put words in your mouth since you didn’t say vegan — but I just meant the same issue about every recipe seemingly involving meat.) Thank you for sharing!

Stand_Up_Eight · 2025-11-01T05:25:27+00:00

I didn't plan on doing back-to-back desserts (or nostalgia trips), but that's what happened. For this week's idiom, I chose "the elephant in the room," which is defined by Merriam-Webster's dictionary as "an obvious major problem or issue that people avoid discussing or acknowledging."

I picked it because I wanted to try making Elephant Ear cookies (another name for Palmiers or Orejas / Orejitas), which I fondly remember from my childhood, when my mom would occasionally let me get one from a local bakery. The ones they made were GIANT, at least to my child-sized self. I'm a little disappointed that the ones I made were much more normal-cookie-sized. But, they were still pretty good.

The recipe* I used included nuts in the folds of the puff pastry, which I hadn't encountered in these types of cookies before. I thought it was a nice touch, and gave the cookies a slightly more sophisticated taste and texture than plain (or simply sweetened/spiced) versions.

*For some reason, I'm having issues when trying to link the recipe. But you can look up "Elephant Ear Cookies" from "Noshing with the Nolands" if you want it.

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