Tofu Stir Fry Wraps

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 package firm or extra firm tofu, cube
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 6 to 8 Butter lettuce leaves, (about 1 head, also called Boston or Bibb lettuce)

Directions:

1. Prep Work: This recipe doesn’t take long to cook, so you need to have things ready to go. Slice the onion and bell pepper, have the garlic ready to “press”, grate the ginger, mix the cornstarch/water in a bowl, and wash the lettuce.
2. Cube the tofu, season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. Add the tofu; cook, stirring/flipping every few minutes, until almost golden brown, 4 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate, set aside. (If the tofu is still too soft, you can also put it on a cookie sheet and bake/broil it for a bit)
   
3. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil to pan, along with the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until onion is tender and golden, about 2-3 minutes (reduce heat if browning too quickly).
4. Reduce heat to medium; add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Stir in soy sauce, rice vinegar and cornstarch mixture; remove from heat.
5. Add tofu; toss to coat. Serve in lettuce cups.

Do you like tofu?
Based on this recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Originally published October 2007

Surprisingly easy to replicate, and so delicious.

Squash Kale Chevre Tacos Recipe

Serves 2
Ingredients

• 6 corn tortillas
• kale
• butternut squash (acorn works too)
• Chèvre or feta cheese (2 oz)
• Pico de gallo
• olive oil
• salt/pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Peel squash and cut into 1″ cubes.
3. Toss squash with oil & salt on a cookie sheet, spreading out in a single layer. Cook for about 30 min.
4. Lightly fry/heat the corn tortillas in a skillet. Set aside.
5. When the squash is almost done, heat olive oil on med in skillet and add several kale leaves. (cover with a lid for a few minutes) Cooking until soft.
6. Top tortillas with a layer of squash, kale, chèvre, and pico de gallo
7. Enjoy!

Shortcut: I was told Trader Joes has cubed squash in the freezer section.

These tacos are best with a side of black beans and rice (which I had at the restaurant, but didn’t plan ahead enough when I tried this recipe for myself). Verdict: I think these are my new favorite tacos!

Do you have any favorite restaurant recipes?

Chai Tea Latte Recipe

Serves 1
Ingredients

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 chai tea bag
• 1/2 to 1 TB of sugar (depending on your sweet tolerance)
• 1 TB of pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup of double strength coffee (you can also just use an instant coffee packet in less water, or refrigerate your extra double strength coffee to make this again tomorrow)

Directions:

1. Boil water for the tea bag and let steep in a 1/2″ of water.
2. Combine the milk and sugar in a saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring. When it starts to warm, pour the small tea mixture (and bag) into the saucepan. Remove tea bag after a couple minutes.
3. Remove from heat when the milk is steaming, and stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk to make it frothy.
4. Pour in mug and add the coffee on top.
5. Enjoy!

What’s your favorite fall drink?

I spotted a link to some Irish car bomb cupcakes last week that looked a little too similar to a Smitten Kitchen recipe that I’ve been meaning to try for ages! So I’m not going to copy her recipe, if you actually want to make these lovely cupcakes go check out Smitten Kitchen’s recipe. The only change I made was making a cream cheese frosting instead of a butter cream frosting. I thought it would have a smoother texture and go with the Baileys, whiskey, Guinness combo better.

Baileys Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

• 8 oz of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup – 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3-4 TB of Baileys (usually you would add vanilla, but it isn’t needed with the Baileys)

1. Mix the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar together with an electric mixer

2. Add in the Baileys (you might need a little more sugar at this point).

3. Nom, nom, nom

This was my first time making a chocolate ganache filling, so it was fun to learn something new. I also improvised a little on the filling instructions. I don’t have a 1″ cutter or piping supplies, so I used one of my new insanely sharp knives and then a butter knife to pop the round out. And then to fill them, I just used a plastic bag with the corner cut.

So I love these cupcakes, although I think they’re quite possibly the most unhealthy cupcakes of all time. :)  They’re a brilliant concept though, and they go so nicely with Liberty of London trays. :P What next… maybe mojito cupcakes, or pastis cupcakes, or pink gin fizz cupcakes…

What would make an awesome drink cupcake?

Cherry Tomato & Feta Orzo with Dill – {for 1!}

Ingredients

• 1 TB olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 2 TB fresh dill (or 1 tsp of dried dill)
• 1/4 tsp lemon zest (orange or lime zest works too!)
• 1 cup of golden and/or regular cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 cup orzo
• 1/2 cup feta cheese (2-3 ounces)

Directions:

1. Start boiling water for pasta.
2. Mix together oil, salt, pepper, and chopped dill (dried dill works fine too) in a medium bowl.
3. Cut tomatoes in half and add to the oil mixture.
4. Cook orzo in pasta water as directed, usually about 8 minutes.
5. Drain orzo and mix with the tomato and dill.
6. Crumble feta cheese into the orzo and tomato and mix
7. Eat!

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You can also add random ingredients to this one fairly easily, such as: 1/4 English cucumber, chopped; 1/8 red onion, chopped; substituting 1/2 TB oil for balsamic vinegar etc.

I spotted an arugula pasta salad recipe in the June issue of Everyday Food magazine, and I thought it would be a great chance to try arugula a little differently: gemelli pasta, cannellini beans, fresh goat cheese, olive oil, red-wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, arugula, and red onion. Here’s the full recipe at Everyday Food.

What are you cooking with arugula?

Radish Avocado Salsa

• 1 avocado
• 6 large radishes
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeno chile
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions
1. Half, pit, and peel the avocado, cutting into 1/2″ cubes. Trim the ends of the radishes, half, and thinly slice.

2. In a medium bowl,  stir together avocado, radishes, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and oil; season with salt. Serve over black bean tacos.

Thinly sliced radishes are a really interesting twist to this recipe, and they look amazing with the avocado.

What’s your favorite radish recipe?

Here’s a simple pizza crust recipe from Martha Stewart: Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough recipe (Note: It does require an hour to rise).  After I make the dough, I freeze half of the recipe to use for pizza or stromboli (broccoli mozzarella is my current favorite) on another day. Then, roll out the other 1/2 into 2-4 mini pizzas.

Tomato Mozzarella Basil Pizza

Makes 4

Ingredients

Whole-wheat pizza dough (above)
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
8 oz  mozzarella cheese
1 cup fresh basil
1 cup tomato sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place pizza shells on baking sheet. Spread tomato sauce thinly over each shell; sprinkle with cheese, layer torn basil leaves over cheese, and then layer tomato slices over the basil.
2. Bake until crusts are golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

What’s your favorite way to use fresh basil?

First up, picking the rhubarb.  I’ve always just “picked” rhubarb up at the farmers’ market or the grocery store, so I assumed you would just grab some scissors and get chopping. Wrong. I found the following charming video on the proper way to harvest rhubarb.

If you couldn’t be bothered to watch the video, you simply pull the rhubarb stem off the plant. Although, I would recommend the video solely for the pronunciation of the word “rhubarb.”

Next up, what to make.  I looked at several recipes for fruit turnovers on Martha Stewart and Epicurious and finally just decided to make a combination filling and use the Trader Joes frozen puff pastry I had left over.  (FYI, puff pastry, which is made with butter is great for turnovers, while phyllo, the paper thin layered dough, is flakier and made with oil instead of butter and is best for baklava and other desserts)

Rhubarb Turnover Recipe

Makes 4

Ingredients
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry (1/2 package)
1 1/2 cups of rhubarb, chopped into 1/4″ pieces
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB cornstarch
2 tsp lemon juice
1 egg yolk
2 tsp water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (Parchment paper isn’t required, but helps the pastry not to stick to the pan and requires less cleanup!).
2. Roll out puff pastry and cut into 4 squares, placing onto parchment paper covered baking sheet.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Then, add the rhubarb and stir until combined.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and 2 tsp water.
5. Scoop the filling onto the squares, leaving room to fold over into a triangle. Brush the borders with the egg wash, and then fold into triangle. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal, and then brush the tops of the turnovers with more egg wash.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 25-35 minutes.

Now brew up a massive cup of coffee and get eating!

I started the week out with a meal plan and using Gyminee to track my calories and nutritional intake, so I make sure to eat enough.

Day 1
Breakfast: Oatmeal, raisins, grapefruit, coffee with soy milk
Lunch: Dave’s Killer bread peanut butter and banana sandwich, carrots, Kettle chips
Dinner: Vegan chili with tortilla chips
Verdict: I missed having yogurt for breakfast, but overall today was pretty typical.

Day 2
Breakfast:  Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli, applesauce, almonds, coffee with soy milk
Lunch:  Bay Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant: Mango Curry
Dinner: Asian Lettuce Wraps (butter lettuce, mango, scallions, bean thread noodles) with Chai Pow Yu instead of beef
Verdict: Today was the perfect vegan day! I didn’t feel like I had to worry about getting enough calories

Day 3
Breakfast:  Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli, soy milk, Dave’s Killer bread, peanut butter, honey, almonds, coffee with soy milk
Lunch:  leftover lettuce wrap ingredients mixed into a salad
Dinner: Ya Hala Lebanese Restaurant‘s Mezza Plate: hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouli, pita bread, stuffed grape leaves, fried cauliflower, falafels
Verdict: I think I actually ate too many calories today!

Day 4
Breakfast:  Banana muffins (with applesauce substituted for eggs), honey, pear, apple, coffee with soy milk
Lunch:  Chips and guacamole
Dinner: Sweet & Sour Stirfry (pineapple, bell peppers, broccoli) with Chai Pow Yu instead of pork, rice, vegan cupcake
Verdict: I ate a lot of food today, but I’m starting to feel like I’m foraging for food.  I guess I really just felt like snacking or a dessert, so I bought a vegan cupcake at New Seasons deli.

Day 5
Breakfast:  Mother’s Day breakfast at Bar Carlo: Vegan Skillet of potatoes, avocado mushrooms etc and coffee with soy milk
Snack: frozen yogurt (we’ll discuss this later)
Dinner: Brazilian Black Beans, rice, beets, chips, guacamole
Verdict: I accidentally ate a frozen yogurt at IKEA today. It wasn’t even a temptation thing, I just completely forgot that I was going vegan this week. And I’d been there for hours, and I was tired and hungry… oops!

Day 6:
Breakfast: Sweetened Wheatfuls, soy milk, banana, coffee with soy milk
Lunch: black beans, rice
Dinner: pita pockets, hummus, baba ghanoush, tomato, cucumber, apple juice
Verdict: I felt like I was foraging again today.  I’m a little tired of eating a massive plate of rice, beans or vegetables and then being hungry again a few hours later.

Day 7:
Breakfast: Dave’s Killer Bread, peanut butter, banana, applesauce, coffee with soy milk
Lunch:  black beans, rice, pita bread, hummus, baba ghanoush, apple juice
Snack: Starbucks Soy Chai Latte
Dinner: Lentil Soup
Verdict: I was a little annoyed to find out that Starbucks charges you 40 cents extra to have soy instead of milk in a chai.  Lame!

Overall, vegan week has been fairly easy, except for my amnesia day when I bought a frozen yogurt for $1 at IKEA.  Personally, I’ll stay a vegetarian (or pescatarian) because it’s much easier for me to stay healthy.  Being vegan takes a little more work in planning meals and going out, but the main thing is the calorie counting. I hate feeling like I’m not getting enough to eat, and dairy is a much simpler protein source. Plus, I love cheese!