Otsu!

Japanese buckwheaty goodness found here. I believe this was a result of Googling the following:

tofu
cilantro

I ended up having to go to an Asian supermarket to get many of the ingredients (noodles, low sodium soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar). Safeway fail! I was surprised to find that 100g of soba noodles has 15g of protein! At least that's what it said on the nutritional label!

Otsu

Grated zest of 1 lemon (I had to Google to figure out what 'zest' is)
Grated 1-inch cube of ginger
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

12 ounces or about 400-500g (1 bundle approx 100g) of dried soba noodles
1 package extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Preparation (25 min):
1. Dressing (5 min)
Combine the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

2. Cook the soba in boiling water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water (4 min).

3. Drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (½ inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy (10 min).

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, the green onions, cucumber, and the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds (2 min).

Result? Deelish!! Warm OR room temperature. I made this 2 weeks in a row!

Spinach and Mushroom Couscous

Spinach and mushroom couscous came from here. I added a can of chickpeas and some sundried tomato dressing :)

Spinach and Mushroom Couscous

1 box couscous
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package fresh baby spinach (about 5 oz)
1 package mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation (~20 min)

1. Cook the couscous according to the directions on the package (including 1 tbsp of olive oil), and set aside, covered, to keep warm (5 min)

2. Saute garlic and diced onions in 3 tbsp olive oil. When fragrant, lower the heat and add spinach, mushrooms, chickpeas and 1/4 cup water. Cook until the water burns off, the spinach wilts and the mushrooms are cooked (10 min)

3. Mix couscous and spinach and mushroom combination. Add sundried tomato dressing as desired.

Result: If you love mushrooms, this is a mushroomy delight!

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

I Googled the following

chickpeas
spinach

And found a vegan curry recipe.

To play with the curry taste, I got to use my leftover Greek yogurt! Vegan fail.

First, you have to obtain Garam Masala - either by cooking or putting it together yourself. Here is the recipe:

Garam Masala

4 tsp. Ground coriander
1 tsp. Pepper
2 tsp. Ground cumin
1 tsp. Ground cloves
1 tsp. Ground cinnamon

Next, the final dish!

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1 can tomatoes
1 package frozen chopped spinach
2 -3 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
yogurt, as needed

Preparation (30 min):

1. Medium heat. Add olive oil to pan. Sauté the onion, stirring constantly, until it is just beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook one minute more.

2. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach, garam masala, and salt. Stir and cook for at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Serve over rice or other grain (I used whole grain couscous). Add yogurt to taste.

Result: Tasty, but watery and lacking in salt. This might be the fault of the frozen spinach, and my non-use of salt and the chilies.

Mint + Couscous = Yum!

I had all this leftover mint from the previous recipe and I really didn't know what to do with it! Also, someone at work frequently eats couscous, which I have always been curious about. So back to Google I went:

mint
couscous

I settled on this Mint Couscous Salad with Chickpeas recipe, because it can be served warm. I've discovered that I am happiest with warm food at lunch.

Again, I added a couple of handfuls of spinach and real cumin seeds in addition to cumin powder. It's really easy to prepare and ends up being a nice, light tasting and refreshing meal with lots of texture. I doubled everything in the recipe because I wanted at least 3 days of lunches and a bit for tonight's dinner. Here goes!

Mint Couscous with Chickpeas

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 handfuls of spinach
4 tbsp of lemon juice for the chickpeas
pinch of red pepper flakes
cumin powder, garlic powder, onion powder to taste
sprinkle of cumin seeds
2 tbsp extra virgin oil
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups couscous (only kind I found was flavoured - "Wild Mushroom")
4 tbsp of lemon juice for the couscous
4 tbsp of Greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
chopped walnuts to taste

Preparation (15 min):
1. Toss lemon juice, olive oil, spices, chickpeas and spinach and let marinate while cooking couscous.
2. Combine vegetable broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add couscous and then remove from heat. Let steep, covered, for 5 min.
3. Fluff couscous mixture with fork and add chickpea mixture.
4. Stir in Greek yogurt.
5. Stir in mint and walnuts.

Yum!

Butternut Squash Success!

With the boyfriend's help, here is how the butternut squash recipe turned out!

Very good and tasty filling lunch. The beefy one is way more measurement-conscious than I, so we pretty much followed most of the recipe (aside from me not having any butter, tossing in real cumin seeds, a whole butternut squash and way more carrots and tomatoes than the recipe dictated). I should've had a bigger pot! I ended up making more stew than quinoa.

Here it is!

Quinoa with Moroccan Winter Squash and Carrot Stew (2 parts)

Stew:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp paprika (I couldn't find that Hungarian sweet paprika they spoke of!)
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp black pepper
0.5 tsp coriander
0.5 tsp cumin
pinch of cumin seeds
0.5 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp ground ginger
pinch of saffron (holy this is expensive!)
1 cup water
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 whole butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes
0.25 cup cilantro
1 tsp fresh mint, chopped

Quinoa:
1 cup quinoa (Ancient Harvest)
1 tbsp olive oil
0.5 cup chopped onion
1 cup carrots, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp turmeric
2 cups vegetable broth
0.25 cup cilantro
1 tsp fresh mint, chopped

Preparation For Stew (30 min - can do in tandem with quinoa):
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Mix in paprika and next 8 ingredients.
3. Add 1 cup water, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Bring to boil.
4. Add squash and carrots. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
5. Stir in cilantro and mint.

Preparation for Quinoa (30 min - can do in tandem with stew):
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and carrot. Cover; cook until vegetables begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
2. Add garlic, salt, and turmeric; sauté 1 minute.
3. Add quinoa; stir 1 minute. Add 2 cups water. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
4. Stir in cilantro and mint.