Szechuan Tofu & Green Beans

So I wanted to try another tofu dish. The sweet and sour one was more subtle than I expected, so I decided to try a Szechuan recipe. I didn't have balsamic vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar instead. Recipe from here.

4 servings, 1 1/2 cups each | Active Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup water, divided
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons Chinkiang vinegar (see Note) or balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 14-ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
4 cups green beans, trimmed and cut in half
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

Preparation
1. Whisk 1/4 cup water, soy sauce, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, crushed red pepper to taste and 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside. Cut tofu into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes and pat dry. Toss the tofu in a bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons cornstarch to coat.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and spread out across the surface of the pan. Let cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Gently turn and stir. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add green beans, garlic and ginger; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the remaining 1/4 cup water, cover and cook until the beans are crisp-tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir the reserved soy sauce mixture and pour it over the green beans. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Add the tofu and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 1 minute more.

Tips & Notes
Ingredient note: Chinkiang is a dark, slightly sweet vinegar. It is available in many Asian specialty markets. If unavailable, balsamic vinegar is an acceptable substitute.

Sweet and Sour Tofu!

Recipe from here, but I didn't use the pineapples or bell peppers. Just peas and green onions. Plus I used olive oil:

Ingredients
3 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 14-ounce package extra-firm water-packed tofu, drained, rinsed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
As preferred: green peas or onions or any other veggies you like!

Prep
1. Drain and set aside pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Whisk the reserved pineapple juice, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Place tofu in a large bowl; toss with 3 tablespoons of the sauce. Let marinate for at least 5 minutes and up to 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, add cornstarch to the remaining sauce and whisk until smooth.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer the tofu to the pan using a slotted spoon; whisk any remaining marinade into the bowl of reserved sauce. Cook the tofu, stirring every 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.

4. Add the remaining oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add red and green peppers and cook, stirring often, until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the reserved sauce and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 30 seconds. Add the tofu and pineapple and cook, stirring gently, until heated through, about 2 minutes more.

Am Eating Seafood Again :) Tasty Sesame Tilapia and Mashed Sweet Potato

Yum! Used both stove and oven tonight and used these recipes:

Tasty Sesame Tilapia
Tilapia recipe from here.

Ingredients

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
6 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia fillets
Directions

Stir the orange juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a 9x13 inch baking dish until combined. Add the tilapia fillets, turning once to evenly coat. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Remove the plastic wrap, and bake in the preheated oven until the fish flakes easily with a fork, 9 to 11 minutes.

Skinny Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potato Recipe from here.

2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) Swanson Chicken Broth (3 1/2 cups)
4 large sweet potatoes or yams, cut into 1 inch pieces
A generous dash of pepper
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
How to prepare:

- Heat broth and potatoes in a saucepan to a boil.
- Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
- Drain, save broth.
- Mash the potatoes with 1 1/4 cups of broth and pepper. If needed, add additional broth until desired consistency.
- Add brown sugar.

Serves about 6.

Back to Quinoa. This time with Turmeric, Coriander, Walnuts and Craisins :)

Can't seem to stay away from quinoa! I used this website (Quinoa Lentil Salad) for inspiration but I used chickpeas instead of lentils (just cuz I happened to have a can of chickpeas already) and added tofu, carrots and celery (I sauteed the tofu, carrots and celery in some olive oil and a bit of turmeric and coriander before I mixed everything up).

QUINOA LENTIL SALAD
6 servings
1 cup dried green lentils
1 bay leaf
1 cup quinoa
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp salt
¾ cup of raisins or cranberries
¾ cup of walnuts
2 green onions
¼ cup of fresh parsley
4 Tbs of lemon juice
1 Tbs of agave
1 Tbs rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
¼ tsp salt
3 Tbs olive oil
pinch of pepper
Add 1 Cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water, 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp salt. Allow to reach a boil then quickly switch to simmer, cover and let cook for approx 12 minutes. Keep an eye on it as it tends to burn on the bottom soon after the water is absorbed.
At the same time, add 1 cup of lentils to 3 cups of water (check the instructions on the package...different lentils call for different proportions). Add a bay leaf and allow to cook thoroughly. Lentils will take quite a bit longer than the quinoa.
Once both grains are cooked, let them cool and then mix together.
In a separate bowl mix together the dressing (the lemon juice, agave, vinegar, salt, oil and pepper).
Add chopped walnuts, cranberries, chopped green onion and minced parsley.

I am SOUPED OUT. New Dish! Frittata :)

After weeks of soup (this is what happens when you make big batches of food and you live alone), I HAD to find something else.

I googled recipes using leftover ingredients from this salad recipe (Good spinach salad! Substituted simulated bacon bits of course).

I picked the following frittata recipe. Minus the meat of course! Oh, and I didn't have a cast-iron skillet either.

Skinny Frittata with Mushrooms, Spinach, Garlic, Potato and a Touch of Prosciutto
Recipe from this site.
Ingredients:

* 1 cup hashbrown potatoes
* 1/4 diced red onion
* 1 dozen cremini mushrooms sliced
* 2/3 cup frozen spinach or 2 cups fresh spinach
* 1 garlic clove
* 4 organic large brown eggs beaten
* 1 slice proscuitto crisped in the oven
* 1-2 TBS Organic Coconut Oil
* Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In your 12-Inch Cast Iron Skillet melt some of the coconut oil and saute your hash browns. If you’re pressed for time you can skip this step if using frozen hash browns. Just make sure they are not frozen but warmed up in the microwave. I like them browned and crispy before adding them to the eggs.

Saute the onion until soft and then set aside. Not saute the mushrooms until they start to brown and then set aside with onions.

Saute the spinach and garlic until soften and set aside.

Now make sure there is oil in the pan so the eggs will float. I’ve greatly reduced the amount I used to see if it would work and it did. Make sure you have beat the eggs until fluffy which should take at least 2 minutes. This will really make a difference. If you like to add milks to your eggs you can do that now but I found it works just as well without.

Pour the eggs into the pan. Let them settle for a minute but do not touch them or play with them. You want them floating in the oil and if you start messing with them you’ll incorporate that oil into the eggs. Now slowly add in the onions, mushrooms, spinach, garlic and potatoes. Top with the pancetta. When you see the edges start to pull away which should start pretty soon. If you are using more eggs it takes longer but the beauty of less eggs is this is faster.

Pop it into your pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes. If you jiggle the pan and it’s not rippling then the eggs are cooked. Carefully remove the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes. Now you can remove it from the pan, slice it up and serve it warm.

Yield: 4 servings

Notes:

You can add whatever cheese you like to this dish too. If you don’t have cremini mushrooms you can use white or portobello cut into chunks.

If you don’t have a cast iron skillet ask for one this holiday season. If not any non-stick oven safe skillet will work.

Spinachy Tomato-y Legumes.

So far in life I haven't been much of a soup person. I love crunch and texture and soup always just seemed soggy and pointless to me. Occasionally I would indulge in a tomato soup or an onion soup. Back in the day when I wasn't as lactose intolerant I would go for cream of broccoli or cream of mushroom. But normally, I never really used to make or order soup.

Until today! This weekend my mom made a lovely bean soup (I need to get the recipe from her sometime) and I took it to work for lunch earlier today. Fabulous. Not heavy, but filling. After work I quickly googled a soup recipe that showed just as much tomato potential and this is what I chose:

Spinach, Tomato and Lentil Soup
I found it here!
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

1lb dried lentils
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 carrots, diced
2-3 celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cans diced Italian tomatoes, with liquid
2 TB vegetable or chicken bouillion (I like the Better than Bouillon brand, if you don’t have bouillon, just use a vegetable or chicken broth in place of all or some water for flavor)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
8 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 bag fresh spinach
fresh grated Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, for serving

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add vegetables, garlic, bouillon, spices and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Saute vegetables in oil for about 7-10 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add diced tomatoes, water (or broth), and lentils to vegetable mixture.

Bring soup to a slow boil for a few minutes, then back down to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes, until soup starts to thicken. Taste for seasoning as its cooking, add more water if it gets too thick.

In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add fresh spinach leaves to soup and gently stir to combine.

Garlicky Dahl - Venturing Into the World of Legumes

NEXT-DAY UPDATE: HOLY CRAP THAT WAS GARLICKY and a tad too salty for me. Too make it more to my taste, I mixed in the following sundried tomato pesto recipe to the lentils (I didn't use the garlic and salt because the lentils had enough already):

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Makes ¾ of a cup – serving = 1 tablespoon
(Recipe taken from here.)

Ingredients:

½ cup of sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained of their oil
¼ cup of sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons of water
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon of kosher salt

Directions:

Put everything the food processor and puree until the paste is smooth. Store the unused portion in the refrigerator until needed.

Hopefully tomorrow's lunch is better! Now on to the original post:

It's been awhile!!

A lot has happened. One of the big things? I stopped eating meat. I've been looking at more vegan substitutes (I'm also lactose intolerant to a significant extent), and it's been an adventure. Pros: I feel good. Lighter! Cons: It's more challenging to eat out socially, but I find people are so nice about it anyway :)

Another pro: BEANS ARE CHEAP!!! Here's a recipe I followed to make a batch of my work lunch for the week. I didn't use frozen or chopped spinach.. I just tossed some spinach leaves in instead. It's because I will be mixing each lunchtime portion with a bowl of fresh spinach anyway (my work lunches are taking up more and more space). I also just used extra virgin olive oil instead of the recipe suggestion - just because I already have the olive oil handy. I also used pre-made mild madras curry paste as my spice.

Delicious Garlicky Dahl
(Recipe taken from this site.)

This super-quick curry is an easy and tasty way to eat a pile of lentils, and gets you extra garlic intake too. Quantity serves one, but is easy to scale up as needed.

* 200g jar of pre-cooked lentils
* 1 tablespoon of sunflower or macadamia oil
* 3 cloves of chopped garlic, or a heaped teaspoonful of chopped frozen garlic
* heaped teaspoonful of good curry powder or garam masala
* generous handful of spinach leaves, roughly chopped.

Heat the garlic, oil, and spices in a heavy-bottomed pan, over a low heat. You want to gently brown and cook the garlic, not burn it, as that will make it bitter. The spices need to cook for several minutes in the sizzling oil, until a delicious curry smell pervades your kitchen...mmm!
Tip in the lentils, including the water in the jar, and stir thoroughly into the spicy garlicky oil. cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat - using pre-cooked lentils means they really don't need long at all, you just need to make sure the flavors are well combined and everything is sizzling throughout. If you prefer your lentils softer, just cook a little longer, adding a dash more liquid if required.
A minute or two before serving, stir in the spinach. It will wilt down quickly, and your dahl will now be streaked with dark green.
Serve immediately, it's a great meal on it's own, or combine with Beautiful Curried Eggs. You can also easily serve this with rice to non-slow-carbers, it makes a great dinner party meal, and if there is a green salad on the table as well you will neither go hungry nor stand out.