Coconut Soba Stir Fry

As usual, this one is super easy to throw together - not to mention that I haven't had coconut milk in ages, so that was really nice. Adapted from HHL.

Veggies were broccoli, carrots, grated ginger, and onion, plus deep fried tofu.
Sauce was 1/4 cup peanut sauce (this peanut flavoured stuff I get from the Asian market), rice vinegar, 1/2 cup coconut milk, and cilantro, thickened with corn starch.
Served over soba noodles, topped with cashews.

Stir Fry

Again.  Yeah, I know.  But it was yummy!...

Two slabs of tofu were pressed and marinated in 2/3 cup orange juice, then cooked on the panini press. 
The leftover marinade was mixed with cornstarch, a bit of soy sauce, a bit of garlic powder, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, vegetarian chicken bullion, and chili powder.  The veggies were onion, broccoli, grated ginger, and bell pepper.  Served over brown rice and topped with peanuts.

The key here is to allow the sauce to thicken for a few minutes after adding it...

Orange Stir Fry

Yay!  More stir frys... because I like them and they make me feel better.  This one was actually the first decent tasting orange stir fry that I have ever made - I could really taste the orange, and the sauce was super yummy.

Adapted from here.

Veggies were red bell pepper, onion, carrot, broccoli, grated ginger, and peas.  I also added deep fried tofu from the Asian Market.  The sauce was 2 tbsp soy sauce, 3/4 cup orange juice, a bit of rice vinegar, 3 tbsp brown sugar, and 2 tbsp corn starch.  The key is to add the sauce about 3 minutes before you are ready to serve so it has a chance to get really thick. 

Served over brown rice, eaten with chopsticks.

Stir Fry

:)
It's another stir fry...

Veggies: carrots, onion, broccoli
Sauce: soy sauce, sugar free maple syrup, mirin, hoisin sauce, corn starch
Brown rice...
And the best part:  the Tofu Cube!  I got the giant deep fried tofu cubes from the Asian Market.  Then I cut an X in the tops and stuffed them with...
Stir fried spinach and garlic with 2 slices of ginger that were removed, mixed with a bit of hoisin sauce.

Add the tofu cubes once the veggies are done cooking, when you add the sauce.  They will heat through.  And they are so much fun to eat!  (I took bites out of my cube without cutting it... M cut hers.  Typical.)

Adapted from my new favourite blog, WTHDAVEA

Green Bean and Carrot Saute

Ok, so I have to say that this dish was not all that great... but that's most likely because I really overcooked the veggies.  I know, shame on me.. slap my wrist with a ruler.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  But the picture turned out good, so I think that means I have to post!  Adapted  from here.

Saute a ratio of 2:1 green beans to carrot sticks with a few cloves garlic.  Add a couple tbsp water and cover the pan (if it doesn't have a lid, a cookie sheet works well) for about 7 minutes, until the green beans are tender.  Add in a sauce of blended: PILES of cilantro and parsley, lemon juice, liquid smoke, paprika, cumin, corn starch, and a good amount of mirin.  Let the sauce thicken for a few seconds and then serve over rice.

UPDATE: Tonight I dumped a bit of tomato sauce on the leftovers and it was a lot better.. more sauce, more flavour, more creamy!  :)

Simple Tofu Veggie Stir Fry and Baked Pasta Shells

I am so sore.  Honestly, I have absolutely nooooo clue why, but here I am, feeling all stiff like I can hardly move without some sort of pain in one of my muscles.  Buuut, I suppose that's what I get for working out so hard.  The really annoying thing is that I have no clue what I did.  It seems like if I am this sore, there should be something that I can point the finger of blame on and say that's what is giving me all this pain.  But oh no, not this time.  All I know is that I did something yesterday morning in bootcamp (the best class ever!) that worked me really hard.  I suppose things aren't so bad because M is really sore too.  Hehe.  She shares my pain!!  But, I don't know about the rest of the world, but I don't really mind being sore all that much, because it means that my muscles are getting a whole lot stronger, a whole lot faster.  And it means I worked really hard, so I can eat more ;).  It feels kind of like a badge of honor, too.

So, here's a quickie tofu stir fry that you can whip up in about 30 minutes, shove sdome rice under, and call it a meal.  Simple, quick, delish!

Also, since I am so behind on blogging, I will post a baked shell recipe too.  This one kept M and I well stocked with left-overs for quite a while.  I was totally in LOVE with this dish, even though it was kind of time consuming to make.  But, honestly, the shells were kind of fun to fill, and the most tedious part was picking out the non-broken shells to fill.  Now I still have about 15 shells in the fridge that were broken, and I have to do something with them.  We'll see...

Simple Tofu Veggie Stir Fry

Adapted from FOOD SNOB

Serves 3

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp black bean sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp corn starch

1 medium red onion, sliced
1 medium head broccoli, cut into florets
 1 small bell pepper, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups fried tofu

Rice to serve

Mix together the soy sauce through corn starch in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat a wok over medium high heat with a bit of water, and add the onion.  Stir fry for 1 minute and then add the broccoli.  After another minute, add the bell pepper, and then one minute later add the green onions.  When the broccoli turns bright green, about 2 minutes later, add in the sauce and tofu.  Mix well, heat
through, and serve over rice.

Stuffed Shells

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Serves 10

1 small onion, chopped

1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp salt
½ cup parsley, chopped

4 medium cloves of garlic, pressed
3 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp red wine
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp salt
28 oz can crushed tomatoes

14 oz can crushed tomatoes

25-30 jumbo pasta shells, cooked (pick out the non-broken ones)

Heat a frying pan over medium heat, and sauté the broccoli and onion for 8 minutes, until the onion is tender. Remove from heat and mix with the ricotta, salt, and parsley. Set aside.
Heat the frying pan again, coated with nonstick spray, and sauté the garlic for a minute or so, until it starts to brown. Remove from heat and mix with the mirin through crushed tomatoes. Set aside.
 Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a casserole dish with nonstick spray and fill enough pasta shells with the broccoli mixture to fill the dish in a single layer. Place the shells, opening up, in the dish side by side. If you have leftover filling, go ahead and fill more shells and use another baking sheet. Pour the tomato mixture over the shells so that they are mostly covered. Cover you dish(es) with foil, and bake for 45 minutes, uncovering for the last 10 minutes. Serve.

Korean Stir Fry

Happy Fourth of July to everyone!  Honestly, I really don't get very excited about holidays, even though it seems like everyone else in the world does... But I suppose that's just me.  I get more excited about going to the grocery store than my birthday.  Isn't that kind of pathetic?  One advantage to that would be I can go to the store any old time, and birthdays only come around once a year.  But, while on the topic of birthdays, M gave me something that I have been wanting all summer- a panini press!  Whoohooooo!!!  Now, like M said, I will be grilling/pressing everything under the sun.  In fact, this morning for breakfast I will be making a kind of breakfast sandwich with some bagels that we got from Einstein's yesterday morning.  I am rather nervous and super excited to see how things turn out.  (Random thought: I really need to dust this computer... it's beenon my to-do list for a while but I keep forgetting about it.)  One thing I was also greaful for about this press was that it was about $50 cheaper than the other one I had been planning on getting.  The one I have is from Sur La Table (love that name!) and I got it for about $75.  It's a Breville, which, so I've heard, is a really great brand with top-notch products.  The first one I spotted was at Williams Sonoma and would have been around $120.  The only thing different was that the Sur La Table one only had grills on one side and the Williams Sonoma one had the grills on both sides.  So I just have to be sure to flip everything over... But I suppose I can now go crazy with pancakes and the like now, because I have a griddle.  And M can make toast!  She's so excited...

And about this stir fry.  I just have to say that Chili Garlic Sauce is amazing and I can't live without it.  It really jazzes up a stir fry, and both M and I l-o-v-e the flavour.  Here's a nice simple stir fry, that is supposedly Korean, according to I Eat Food, soooo... yeah.  I'll just play it safe and call it a stir fry.  So there.  It's really good..  Veggies.  Tofu.  Rice.  Sauce.  Chopsticks.....

"Korean" Stir Fry

Adapted from I Eat Food

Serves 4

1/4 cup chili garlic sauce

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp soy sauce, plus more to serve

1 small onion, chopped
2 large carrots, cut on the diagonal
1 Tbsp ginger, grated
3 large cloves garlic, pressed
1 large head broccoli, cut into florets

1 medium small bell pepper, chopped

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 ½ cups fried tofu

Rice to serve

Mix together the chili garlic sauce though the soy sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok over medium high heat with a bit of water and add the onion and carrots. Stir fry for a minute and then add in the ginger and garlic. Stir fry for another 2 minutes and then add the broccoli, bell pepper, and scallions. Cook for another 4 minutes until the broccoli is a vibrant green. Add the tofu and sauce, and stir fry for another minutes until the sauce has thickened. Serve over rice with additional soy sauce to taste.

Honey "Chicken" Stir Fry

I haven't really made an official stir fry in such a long time, and I figured that last Friday was the perfect night to make the stir fry that had been waiting on my list for so long.  By the way- the list of recipes that I want to cook is probably about 3 weeks worth of food.  I am never going to catch up, even if I eat five thousand calories a day... sigh.  Anyway, so I went with this quickie dish that night, and it surpassed my expectations by quite a bit.  There was that lovely hint of honey (alliteration!), along with the usual soy sauce.  I wouldn't say that the flavour was very complex or involved by any means- in fact, it was a rather simple recipe as far as stir frys go.  But there was certainly enough flavour to make it taste really really really good.  And I mean really good.  I still hold my firm belief that corn starch is one of the most amazing substances that I have ever used in the kitchen, because of the amount of intensity it can add to a dish.  Amazing stuff!  You should try it some time...

All in all, I would certainly make this dish again (if I every get a chance to make something again), and I was very satisfied with this filling and colourful stir fry.

Honey "Chicken" Stir Fry

Adapted from Tigers and Strawberries

Serves 2

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soy sauce plus extra

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp corn starch

2 large carrots, cut on the diagonal

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 medium head broccoli, cut into florets

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1/3 lb snap peas, trimmed

4 green onions, chopped

2 cups vegetarian chicken

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Cooked rice, to serve

Mix together the honey though corn starch in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Heat a wok coated with nonstick spray over medium high heat.  Add a bit of water with the carrots.  After a minute add the broccoli, garlic, and ginger, and stir fry for another 2 minutes.  Add the bell pepper and snap peas, and stir fry for another 2 minutes.  Add in the remaining ingredients except rice and heat through for another minute or so.  Serve over cooked rice with extra soy sauce.

Coconut Udon Tofu Stir Fry

This stir fry is amazing.  I wasn't feeling all that great today- my stomach had been hurting and I have this aweful taste in my mouth.  So I didn't eat very much for my lunch, and by dinner I was so hungry that I didn't really care how much my stomach hurt, I was eating a lot.  So I made this stir fry, which turned out to be just the thing that I have been craving for a long time.  It's been ages since I have made udon noodles, and these seemed to turn out really well.  I thought it was just slightly sauce heavy, and M agreed, so go a bit heavier on the veggies if you want.  And I always love the tofu, as usual...

A Noodle Dish

Adapted from Eat Air

Serves 4

12 oz fried tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 heat broccoli, cut into florets
5-7 green onions, white parts thinly sliced, green parts chopped into 1 inch pieces

4 small carrots, cut on the diagonal

1 red bell pepper

2/3 cup edammame
1 tsp ginger, grated
2/3 cup reduced fat coconut milk
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp basil

1 tsp curry paste

1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
2 tbsp corn starch
Udon noodles, cooked, to serve

Peanuts, to serve

Mix together the coconut milk through the corn starch in a bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok over medium high heat with a bit of water. Add the carrot and sauté for a couple minutes and then add the broccoli and ginger. Cook for 3 more minutes and add in the bell pepper and green onion. After another minute add the edammame, and then stir fry another couple seconds. Add in the sauce and cook for another minute. Add in the tofu, heat through, and serve over udon noodles topped with peanuts.

Multi-Nut Stir Fry (Pine Nuts!)

Here's something really pretty, really tastey, and really easy.  In other words, I could eat this every week and still be happy.  I got some pine nuts for Christmas, (I know, I'm weird), and this is how I broke the pakcage open.   Oh my gosh, this was so good.  The pine nuts and sun flower seeds, neither of  which I had eaten in a stir fyr before, were absolutely fabulous.  Although the ration of noodles to veggies was higher than I would normally do, this has got ot be one of my favourite stir fries that I have made in a long time.  The leftovers were good, too, which was a huge plus.

Triple Nut Stir Fry

Serves 4

Adapted from 101 Vegetarian Cookbooks

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons mirin
½ cup tamarind juice
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Chili sauce, to taste

Fine-grain sea salt

2 bundles soba noodles, cooked
12 ounces fried tofu

1 onion, sliced

4 carrots, sliced into thin strips

2 baby bok choy, sliced

Sesame seeds, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds

Mix together the sugar through the sea salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Heat a bit of water in a wok over high heat, and then add the onion. After a minute add in the carrots, and then cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. Add in the bok choy and cook until almost tender. Add the tofu, sauce, and noodles. Keep stirring until combined. Serve topped with sesame seeds, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds.

Sauted Snow Peas

These were quite easy to make, and rather similar to another recipe for green beans that I have made numerous times before.  However, I loved the addition of the onions.  I was making another dish on the same night, and I had some leftover onions, so I decided that I would just put them in with the snow peas.  And they turned out to be just the right thing to go along with the sauce.  These were so useful for my lunches during the week, to go with the hummus wraps.  A nice veggie side dish, with an excellent flavour.

Simple Snow Pea Stir Fry

Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Serves 4-6

1 lb. snow peas
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame seed oil, divided
Hot sauce, to taste
3 slices ginger root
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
¼ cup chopped onion

1/2 tbsp peanut oil

Black and white sesame seeds

Mix together the soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, and hot sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat a wok over medium high heat, and add the remaining 1 tsp sesame oil with the peanut oil. Put in the ginger for about 45 seconds, and then remove- this flavours the oil. Add the onion, then garlic, and finally snow peas. Cook for 3 minutes and add the sauce. Cook until tender, about another minute, and serve with sesame seeds.

Coconut Rice and Veggie Stir Fry

So, I did not really read the recipe when I decided to make this dish.  I just skimmed the ingredients, and then thought "Ok, that's goog.  I'll just add more veggies."  Hah, and then when I realised that the tofu was supposed to cook with the rice in the original, I felt kind of stupid.  And this one turned into another stir fry, that was actually quite a nice change from other stir fries because of the cinnamon and other spices in the rice.  You really can't go wrong with cashews and cinnamon.

Coconut Rice with Tofu and Veggies

Serves 4

Adapted from Happy Healthy Life

1 cup long grain brown rice
1/4 cup light coconut milk

1 ¼ cups water

A few drops coconut extract
1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg and cloves

1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 Tbsp agave nectar
2 Tbsp rice vinegar

14 oz fried tofu, cut into bite sized pieces

½ cup light coconut milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp mirin

Dash of nutmeg and cloves

2 tbsp agave nectar

3 carrots cut on the diagonal

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 heads broccoli, chopped into florets

1 onion, sliced

1 tsp. grated fresh ginger

Cashew pieces, to taste (about 1/3 cup)

In a pot, add the rice, coconut milk, salt, coconut or regular water, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon.  Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Add the agave, vinegar, coconut flakes, and vanilla extract.  Cook until the rice is done, about 30 more minutes. 

Mix together the coconut milk, through agave, and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a wok over medium high heat.  Add the carrots, onion, and ginger with a bit of water.  Sauté for 3 minutes, and then add in the broccoli and bell pepper.  Sauté until almost tender, and then add in the coconut milk mixture.  Add the tofu, heat through, and then serve over the rice topped with cashews.

Coconut, Potato, and Veggie Stir Fry

This is rather an interesting dish, one that I would never have dreamed up. It has a kind of sweetness that is a very nice surprise, and makes a nice change from the normal pace of stir fries. I love the little fingerling potatoes in here too, which really add a lot of punch to the dish. Since M is not such a big fan of the “ham”, I just had mine on the side of the plate, which made me squeal because it was so pretty. Another great stir fry. There never seems to be two of a kind with stir fries.

Sweet, Potato and “Ham” Stir Fry

Adapted from Wok
Serves 4
1-2 tbsp masaman curry paste
1 cup reduced fat coconut milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
3 tbsp tamarind juice
1 tbsp corn starch
1 smallish onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 head broccoli florets
1 bell pepper, chopped
12 oz fingerling potatoes, boiled until tender (about 8 minutes)
3 cups vegetarian ham, chopped

Rice and almonds, to serve

Mix together the curry paste through corn starch in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat a wok over medium high heat with a bit of water. Add the onion and carrots, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the broccoli and bell pepper, and sauté for another 4-5 minutes. Add the potatoes and sauce, then the ham. Cook until heated through, about 1 more minute, and then serve over rice with almond slivers.

 

Spicy Peanut Asparagus Plus Soft Mutton Soup

These two dishes went very well together because they are both pretty easy to throw together.  The asparagus was some of the best that I have ever tasted, and I would make it over and over again.  Five million times.  Not really, but it was still one of those quick dishes that are nice to take advantage of asparagus season.  The soup was not exactly what I had hoped but it was good in its own right.  If nothing esle, I always love the mutton.  I thing that my beans and pasta were a bit over cooked, but the soup still tasted amazing.  It had spinach, too, which I had been craving for quite some time now.

Simple Peanut Chili Asparagus

Serves 3

Adapted from Chinese and Thai 400

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp chili sauce, or to taste

2 tsp corn starch

2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp agave nectar

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tbsp grated ginger
Scant 1 lb asparagus, trimmed
2 tbsp chopped peanuts
Mix together the lemon through agave in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat a wok over medium heat, and add some water. Stir fry the garlic and ginger for a couple seconds and then add the asparagus. Stir fry for another 3 minutes and add the sauce. Cook until asparagus is done, about another minute. Remove from heat and stir in the peanuts. Serve.

Pasta, Bean and Mutton Soup

Serves 8

Adapted from 330 Vegetarian Recipes

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, pressed

3 carrots, coined

3 cups cabbage, chopped

5 cups water

1 tbsp vegetarian chicken bullion

1 cube vegetable bullion

4 yukon gold potatoes

1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 1/2 cups white beans, cooked
1 1/2 cups pervuano beans, cooked

1 cup soy milk mixed with 2 tbsp corn starch

1 1/2 bunches spinach, stemmed

2 cups dried penne pasta, cooked

4-5 cups vegetarian mutton, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat with a bit of water.  Saute the onion and carrot for a minute and add the garlic.  Saute for 2 minutes more and then add the cabbage.  Saute until tender, about 4 minutes.  Add the remianing ingredients though coriander, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes, covered.  Add the beans and corn starch mixture, cook for 5 more minutes, and add the spinach, pasta, and mutton.  Serve with salt and pepper.

Simple Mini Mutton Stir Fry

It was kind of funny making this dish because I had no clue what was going in it.  Thankfully, it turned out better than I could have possibly hoped, and I would certainly be making this combination of veggies again.  So easy to make, and so versatile.  Largely due to M too, becasue I kept asking her what she wanted in the stir fry because my brain was so fried that all I could do was chop.  But, here's the amazing recipe.

Simple Mutton Stir Fry

Serves 4

Adapted from Chinese and Thai 400

2 tbsp agave nectar

1 tbsp corn starch
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 lb snow peas, trimmed

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 carrots, chopped on the diagonal

3/4 lb mushrooms, quatered, halved, or left whole
3 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
3 cups vegetarian mutton (more or less is good too)
Sesame seeds to serve (I forgot in the pictures...)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix together the agave through soy sauce in a small bowl.  Set aside.
Heat a wok over medium high heat with a bot of water.  Add the carrots and mushrooms, and saute for a minute.  Add the bell pepper and saute for another 3-4 minutes.  Add the snow peas andn green onions, saute for a minute, and then add the sauce, mutton, and cilantro.  Cook unitl all veggies are tender.
Serve over rice with sesame seeds and salt and pepper.

Asparagus and Tofu Soba Stir Fry

I went to the grocery store yesterday, and oh my gosh.  They had the most beautiful veggies that I have ever seen in my life.  I had such a hard time holding myself to just getting what M and I could manage to eat, or else those beautiful veggies would have gone bad.  But, oh- the bell peppers were so big and red, and the asparagus was so tall and thin.  I was falling over with excitement, and M was just rolling her eyes at me the whole time.  Who cares, though, because they were so pretty.  I really wish that veggies would always be that pretty, but a person really has to take advantage of moments like this when they can, lest the pretty veggies disappear without a chance for them to appear on their plate. 

Which is what happened to a bunch of asparagus in this dish, which tastes stellar for the minimal 20 minutes of time it requires to make.  I loved the sauce, which way almost too spicy, but just right in this case.  The veggies were so fresh and excellent quality, that they really shone in the stir fry.  Not to mention that the long matchstick shapes were absolutely beautiful on a plate.  The sesame seeds nicely round things off.  Not to mention the ever popular tofu made an appearance in this dish once again.

Tofu, Asparagus and Carrot Soba Stir Fry

Serves 4

Adapted from 330 Vegetarian Recipes

1 lb asparagus, trimmed
Equal amount of carrot matchsticks
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/4 cup each soy sauce, dry sherry, and mirin
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp agave nectar or honey

Chili sauce, to taste

12 oz pakcage fried tofu, cut in half if large

2 servings soba noodles, cooked

Black and white sesame seeds, to serve

Heat a wok over medium high heat coated with nonstich spray.  Add the asparagus, carrots and green onions, and stir fry until almost tender, about 6 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix together the soy sauce through chili sauce in a small bowl.  Add to the wok, with the tofu.  Cook for another minute and add the noodles.  Saute until heated through, and serve with sesame seeds.

Coconut Tofu Stir Fry and Snow

It actually snowed.  It actually snowed!  That never happens.  M and I were, as usual, pretty skeptical when the weather man said  that there was going to be snow because he is usually wrong, but it actually did snow for once.  And we got several inches too, from the looks of it.  All the little kids went out to play in it, but I just stayed inside for the better part of the day, and M and I  ran our usual errands.  What was really funny was that I needed apples, and there hadn't been any good ones in the stores that I had went in over the weekend, so M and I went on a search for my essential breakfast food.  We ended up at Whole Foods, and I saw a pile of nice-looking apples laying in a display outside the front door.  I was sure that there would be another display of them inside the store, but oooh nooo.  So I ended up digging through the apples in the freezing cold, with M shivering beside me.  But it was all worth it, because they did taste really good.

This stir fry is another cold weather dish, and I was excited that it had coconut milk in it, which seems to be M and mine's favorite ingredient of late.  This recipe is quite good.  The only thing I would do differently next time would be to add a bit of corn starch to the sauce because it was not very clingy to the veggies.  Other than that, I loved it, and M agreed.  The only thing was that we were kind of short on tofu, so we ended up adding that to our individual servings.  I think a stir fry deprived of proteins is really depressing.  For the leftovers, we used part of a giant log of "ham" chopped up, which I also really liked.  Like most stir frys, this one is pretty easy to make, after the washing is done.  When I was mixing up the sauce, it looked soo good, too.  I'm just waiting to try it with corn starch, because that would be even better.

Tofu Stir Fry with Peanuts and Coconut Sauce

Serves 4-5
12 oz fingerling potatoes, cut in half
1 lb button mushrooms, quartered
3-4 cups green cabbage, shredded

2 lbs fried tofu

1 medium onion, sliced
3 cups broccoli florets

3 large carrots, cut on the diagonal

2 cloves garlic

1 red bell pepper, chopped

¼ cup soy sauce

2/3 cup light coconut milk

1 tbsp honey or agave nectar

1 tbsp chili garlic paste
3 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp corn starch

Peanuts, to serve

Bring a large pot of water to boil, and cook the potatoes until tender but firm, about 8-9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, mix together the soy sauce through coconut milk in a bowl. Set aside.

Heat a wok over high heat with a bit of water. Add the onion and carrots and sauté for 2 minutes, and then add the cabbage and bell pepper. Sauté for two to three more minutes, and then add the mushrooms and broccoli. When they are a few minutes away from being tender, about 4 minutes, add the bok choy, tofu, and sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes and then add the potatoes. Cook until heated through, and serve over rice topped with a generous amount of peanuts.

More Noodles and Veggies

I tried yoga for the first time yesterday for several years, and it was amazing.  I loved it.  I was so relaxed, but it felt like I had actually gotten a decent core workout, and I was actually really tired afterward (admittedly, I had done a weight-lifting class an hour before).  I really want to start doing yoga every week.  I think that will be my new year's resolution.  M wants to do the same thing, only twice a week instead of once a week.  M's old.  She needs her yoga and stretching time.  But really, I enjoyed the yoga more than I thought possible.  My favourite part had to be at the very end, when the teacher sprayed the room with peppermint purfume, and we just sat on our mats for a good ten minutes.  I was so unwilling to leave the room, and just wanted to stay like that forever.  But the depressing part was when I got home, I could feel the tension coming right back on, and it was back to normal life in a matter of seconds.  But, as I said, the yoga was so relaxing, and I am hoping that it will get rid of some of my issues caused by stress from school and life.

Another destresser has got to be cooking.  Even more so when the dish turns out really good, like it did tonight.  This dish was actually supposed to be a noodle pancake sort of thing, and the noodles were to be fried and become a disc.  Well, that didn't exactly work out, so I decided to just go with a plain old stir fry.  It was still really really good, and both M and I loved it all the same. 

Noodles with Vegetables
Serves 4

Adapted from Chinese and Thai 400

3 servings frozen egg noodles

2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cup cauliflower florets
2-3 cups green cabbage, shredded
3 cups crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 bunch green onions, chopped
½ lb snow peas or snap peas, trimmed
¾ cup bean sprouts
1 tbsp cornstarch
¼ cup soy sauce, plus more as needed
3 tbsp agave nectar
¼ cup mirin
1 tbsp vegetarian chicken bullion
¾ cup vegetarian bacon
Boil a pot of lightly salted water, and cook the noodles until tender. Drain, and keep warm.
Meanwhile, mix together the cornstarch through bullion. Set aside.

Reheat the wok, and add the garlic, cauliflower and broccoli with a bit of water. Sauté for a minute and add the carrots, pepper, mushrooms, green onion, and snow peas. Sauté until almost tender, and then add the sauce. Cook until heated through and stir in the bean sprouts and “bacon”. Stir in the noodles, and add more soy sauce as needed.

"Beef" and Broccolini Stir Fry

It's so cold and wet.  M and I went shopping today, and I'm still frozen solid like an ice cube, even though we got back hours ago.  What miserable weather.  I wouldn't really mind all that much, but it seems to be cold, cold, cold everywhere.  It's impossible to find anywhere to thaw out.  Unless I'm buried underneath a pile of blankets in bed.  When means that I have a very hard time getting up in the mornings.  I just feel bad for New York City, because they just got a huge snow storm.  That's winter for you!  Only, where I live, it doesn't really snow, it just gets really cold.

But there's nothing like a nice and warm stir fry to warm me up, and this one certainly fit the bill tonight of being quick and hot.  It's nice and simple, and the sauce turned out great.  The funny thing was that I had no clue what I was doing the whole time I was making the dish.  But it still turned out to be exactly what I had been craving, especially becasue the last stir fry I tried to make was absolutely disgusting.  I am very grateful that this one turned out so good and kind of wish that it make a bigger batch.  Oh well.  It was quick, filling, and stellar cooking.

"Beef" and Broccolini Stir Fry

1 very small onion, sliced

2 small carrots, sliced on the sharp diagonal

1 lb white button mushrooms, quartered

1 bunch broccolini, stalks cut in half. stems and florets separated
2/3 cup edammame
3-4 cups vegetarian beef
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp Better Than Bullion Vegetarian Beef flavouing

4 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp mirin
1 1/2 tbsp chili garlic paste
Cashews, to serve

Mix together the  honey through the chili garlic paste in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Heat a wok over fairly high heat with a bit of water.  Add the onion and broccolini stems and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add the carrots.  Stir fry for a couple more seconds, and then add the mushrooms, and stir fry for another minute.  Add in the broccolini florets, and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add the sauce, edammame, and beef, and cook until heated through.

Serve over rice, topped with cashews.