Two Simple Tofu Stir Fries

Both of these recipes are so good they will knock your sock off.  I loved them both, especially the spicy tofu stir fry.  That one is mostly tofu, with an amazing sauce- but I think next time I would toss in some veggies, just to get something besides tofu in there- like snow peas.  The spicy, peanuty, thick sauce is to die for, and I would be willing to use it in so many places.  As for the broccoli and tofu stir fry, well, I haven't had pressed tofu in quite a while, and this made for a very nice change of pace.  Not to mention it got rid of some broccoli that had been sitting around for quite a while... so that made it even better.  The sauce was not as thick as the spicy stir fry, but good in it's own right.

Tofu and Broccoli Stir Fry

Adapted from 175 Quick & Easy Chinese Recipes

Serves 3

9 oz pressed tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 large head broccoli, cut into florets

3 cloves garlic, pressed

2 cups button mushrooms, sliced

2 large green onions, chopped

4 slices ginger

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp vegetarian fish sauce

3 tbsp rice wine

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp agave nectar

1/2 tbsp corn starch

Salt and pepper, to taste

Pine nuts, to serve

Mix together the soy sauce through salt and pepper, and set aside.  Heat a wok over medium high heat, and add the ginger slices with a bit of water.  After a couple seconds, add in the broccoli, garlic, mushrooms, and onions, and saute for 5 minutes.  Add the sauce and tofu, and stir fry for another minute, until the veggies are tender and hot.  Serve, topped with pine nuts.

Spicy Tofu Stir Fry

Adapted from Ken Hom's Quick Wok

Serve 6

5 tbsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp corn starch

3 tbsp peanut sauce

1 tbsp chili bean sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tbsp sugar

1 small onion, chopped

1 tbsp pressed garlic

2 lb fried frozen tofu, thawed and cut into bite-sized pieces

Mix together the soy sauce through sugar.  Set aside.

Heat a wok over medium high heat, and add the onion with a bit of water.  After a minute or so, add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add in the tofu and sauce, and heat through.  Serve.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Plus Sweet Roasted Cashews

Here's another set of delicious recipes that can be made in just a few minutes each.  The cashews take no time at all, and develop a very nice flavour in the oven.  I especially liked the subtle sweetness of the agave- not to mention the added side effect of all the nuts sticking together.  Just a btw- did you know that cashews have the lowest fat content of all nuts?  I thought that was rather interesting.  Walnuts, of course, have teh omega-3 fatty acids, and almonds are just plain old nutriet packed - the "king of all nuts", is what I have heard them called.  Anyway, I liked these cashews...

The last time I made stuffed bell peppers, they were not very good at all.  These, on the other hand, are the exact opposite, and there is a perfect balance of bell pepper to filling, which was my problem last time.  Not to mention they take minimal prepwork, and are a good way to use up leftovers.  Even M, who has eaten many stuffed peppers, said they were really good.  I actually tried to eat them with my fingers, because cutting them with a fork is kind of hard.  Failure.  But, hey, they still tasted excellent.

Agave-Coconut Roasted Cashews

Adapted from 175 Quick & Easy Chinese Recipes

Makes 1 cup

1 cup cashews- whole or pieces

1 tbsp agave nectar or honey

1/3 cup dried coconut flakes

Chili sauce, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375.  Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and spread onto a baking sheet.  Roast for 12 minutes or so, until lighty browned and they smell really nice, checking occasionally.  Serve hot or cool.

"Burger" Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

Adapted from 175 Quick & East Chinese Recipes

Serves 4

8 oz Boca crumbles

1 small carrot, finely chopped

1 large green onion, chopped

1 tsp finely chopped or grated ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine

1/2 tbsp brown sugar

3 small red bell peppers, or enough to put the stuffing in, cut in half, stemmed, and seeded

1 tbsp Panko break crumbs

Heat a wok over medium heat with a bit of water, and add the Boca crumbles, carrot, onion, and ginger.  Saute for 5 minutes, and then add the soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar.  Heat through, and mix well.

Preheat the oven to 375.  Stuff each bell pepper half, and then put the stuffed peppers, filliing side up, on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with Panko, and then bake for 35-40 minutes, until the peppers are deflated and the filling is lightly browned.  Serve.

Mini Sweet Potato Balls!

These are soooo cute!  Not to mention fun to make, and they taste fabulous, especially with a dipping sauce.  I was very happy to be able to use my treasured black sesame seeds in these- in fact, they are now over halfway gone.  Boo hoo... but anyway, it was so worth using the sesame seeds, because that added so much more to these delectible little finger foods.  The only down side is that I now am finding sesame seeds all over the floor, because they keep flying off the plates. Which is not really such a big deal, but still. 

Anyway, these taste great, and are good hot or cold, so they make a good lunch item for me, as well as a nice and filling side dish for dinners.

Sweet Potato Balls

Adapted from 175 Quick & Easy Chinese Recipes by Jenni Fleetwood

Makes about 28

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped, and boiled until tender
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp garam masala or other curry powder
1 oz grated ginger root
1 cup whole wheat flour
Sesame seeds or poppy seeds, for rolling the balls in (about ½ cup)
Dipping sauce, to serve (I mixed up thick soy sauce, rice wine, and chili garlic sauce, which was excellent)

Mash the sweet potatoes, and then mix in the sugar, masala, ginger, and flour, until they are well blended. Roll into balls about 1 inch across, and then roll the balls in the seeds to coat. Put on a baking sheet, and repeat with remaining sweet potato mixture.
Preheat the oven to 375. Bake for about 12 minutes, until heated through. Serve with a dipping sauce.

Quinoa Broccoli Casserole (Fabulous!)

I think that this is the first time I have ever tried quinoa not in a soup.  I was kind of concerned, but hah!  It turned out to taste fabulous.  The tofu topping was oh so creamy, and the broccoli was a brilliant green burst of flavour.  Not to mention the ever popular chicken, and parmesan cheese, which added a deep and rich flavour.  Plain quinoa would not be all that great- I have to admit- but, mixed with a smooth sauce and other flavours, it makes for a stellar casserole that makes a large amount of better than average leftovers.

Quinoa, Broccoli, and “Chicken” Casserole

Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Serves 6--8

1/2 cup quinoa, cooked for about 20 minutes, like rice, in 1 cup water
3 cups broccoli florets
1 small onion, chopped

½ bunch spinach, stemmed

2 cups vegetarian chicken, diced small
12 oz tofu, pressed
Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp dijon mustard

½ tbsp curry powder
1-2 tbsp molasses
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese.

Preheat the oven to 350.
Heat a small frying pan over medium heat, and add the broccoli and onion with a bit of water. Sauté until
tender, about 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread the quinoa on the bottom of a casserole dish – I used a 9x13.
Put the broccoli and onion on top of that.

Reheat the pan, and then wilt the spinach, which should take about 2 minutes. Spread over the broccoli and onions.

With a blender, blend the tofu with lemon juice, mustard, curry powder, and molasses until they become a smooth paste. Spread over the spinach.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven, add the cheese on top, and let the cheese melt for 5 minutes. Serve hot, topped with salt and pepper.

Fancy Cabbage Soup

There's really not much to say about this soup - it just has tons of cabbage, along with a lot of other soupy things like potatoes and carrots.  The chickpeas were a very nice addition, I thought, and the noodles really topped this soup off as delicious and filling.

Fancy Cabbage Soup

Adapted from Fat Free Vegan

Serves 8

1 large onion, chopped
3-4 carrots, coined
5 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
8 cups water
3 tbsp vegetarian chicken bullion
3 yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1 tbsp thyme
1 tsp sage
2 bay leaves
1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1 tbsp miso paste
2 tbsp corn starch
3 cups vegetarian mutton
2 cups spaghetti or other pasta, cooked
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Heat a large Dutch oven over high heat, and add the onion and carrots. Sauté for a couple minutes, and then add the garlic and cabbage. Sauté until the cabbage is cooked, about 5 minutes. Add through the bay leaves, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Mix together the corn starch, miso paste, and a couple tbsps water, and then add to the soup with the remaining ingredients except cheese. Heat through, and serve, topped with parmesan.

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.

Another Beefy Soup and Omelete Roll

I made this soup in honnor of St. Patrick's Day.  Ok, let me back up.  This soup showed up on the menu because of all the Irish themed recipes that popped up EVERYWHERE on every food blog that I know.  It seemed inevitable, then, that I would be making some version of vegetarian corned beef soup.  I just go with the flow... anyway, it turned out to be very delicious, but I had a hard time tasting the soup because it was so hot.  Not the spicy kind, but the steaming hot kind.  I think there was still steam comming out of my bowl even when I had finished... but, from what I gathered, it was quite good.  Caraway seeds really add so much to soups, and I just happened to spot the jar of them when I was digging through the spice cabinet, so in they went.  I think that this soup would have been even better with fake beef- not fake mutton.  But that was not to be, because none was in the freezer. 

About the omelete roll- it was fabulous.  Like, really, really fabulous.  I rarely eat eggs anymore, mostly because I would rather get protein from fake meat and beans, but I need to make a bento box for a school project, and this was one of the recipes that I had wanted to put in there.  Although the directions seem to be really complicated, it's not really, and totally worth the ten minutes to put together, because the eggs have an excellent, slightly sweet flavour.  I think next time I would roll up a few veggies inside of the omelete, too, which would jazz it up even more.

Sweet and Simple Egg Rolls

Serves 2

 Adapted from Chinese and Thai 400

2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
½ tbsp soy sauce
A drop peanut or veggie oil

Lightly beat the eggs. Mix together the sugar and soy sauce and then add to the eggs.

Wipe a small frying pan with oil, and bring to a medium heat. Pour ¼ of the eggs into the pan to create a thin layer. When the edges have just set, fold the egg in half towards you, lifting it up with a spatula. Pour 1/3 of the remaining egg into the frying pan, and let it run under the cooked egg. Once the new egg has set, roll the omelet away from you, and lift it up again. Add in ½ of the remaining egg and let it run over the bottom of the pan, and do the same thing as before: roll the omelet in the opposite direction, towards you. When that has set, repeat with the remaining egg. Once all the egg is cooked, roll the entire thing up, and slice in half. Serve

hot.

Corned “Beef” Stew

Adapted from I Eat Food

Serves 8

 

1 large onion, diced, or 12 oz frozen pearl onions

5 carrots, chunked

½ small green cabbage, chopped

5 cloves garlic, pressed

12 oz fingerling or regular potatoes, cut in half if large/diced
5 cups water plus vegetarian beef bullion
¼ cup tomato paste, or 1 can tomato sauce
A bit of apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

Salt and pepper, to taste

Chili sauce, to taste

2 bay leaves

3 cups vegetarian beef, cut into bite-sized pieces

3 tbsp corn starch mixed with water

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, and add the onions and carrots. After sautéing for 2 minutes, toss in the cabbage and garlic. When the cabbage is tender, add in the remaining ingredients except “beef” and corn starch, and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Add in the “beef” and corn starch, heat through, and serve.