You are here: Home / Archives for Recipes / All

Asian Salad with Pan Sauteed Tofu

March 16, 2010 By 2 Comments

I think everyone who reads this or speaks to me at all probably knows that we’re cutting our meat intake and while I’m a big fan of silken tofu for smoothies, I’ve never used tofu for meals. I decided to try it this week, and hoped that we’d like it – and we did.

Here’s what I did:

Tofu
Extra firm tofu
Soy sauce

Remove tofu from package and wrap in paper towels, hold over a sink or bowl and squeeze some of the excess water out. Slice into 1/4 inch slices and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle soy sauce over it to marinate, cover and put in the fridge.

tofu1 300x225 Asian Salad with Pan Sauteed Tofu

Salad
3 hearts of romaine lettuce
4 plum tomatoes
4 Kirby cukes (or two regular, or one English)
a handful of shredded carots

Assemble and set aside

Dressing
9 T. Rice vin
5 T Soy Sauce
10 T. EVOO
4 packets Truvia
Juice of half a lemon

(I know the measurements are odd, but I was documenting it as I made it so that I’d have the exact measurements to post, tasting as I went) – put all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake, alternately you can put in a bowl and whisk but I love the shaking method. Set aside

Heat a non stick skillet on med/high heat and add the pieces of tofu, (don’t crowd them!) cooking for a couple of minutes on each side, till it’s brown.

tofu2 300x225 Asian Salad with Pan Sauteed Tofu

Flip with a spatula and cook on the other side, transfer to a plate.  You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your pan, but don’t worry, you don’t want these smoking hot, just a bit warm because you’re going to put them on top of your salad and you don’t want to wilt it with too hot tofu.

Put some of the salad in a bowl, add the tofu and add some dressing (shake it again if it’s seperatated).
tofu3 300x225 Asian Salad with Pan Sauteed Tofu

Honestly, I have no idea if this is how you’re supposed to cook tofu, but it was terrific!  Light and refreshing, but definitely filling. Serves four for dinner, three if you’re hungry (we were).



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Cucumber Salsa

February 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The easiest recipe you’re ever going to love me for!

4 kirby cucumbers, peeled and chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1 jalapeno seeded, ribs removed and finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
Mediterranean sea salt
2 large pinches of finely chopped cilantro
1 large clove of garlic finely chopped

Combine ingredients in a sealable container.

cukesals1 300x225 Cucumber Salsa

Combine and chill till ready to serve.

cukesals2 300x225 Cucumber Salsa

Prepare the same day that you’re going to use it as the raw garlic will get too strong for most people the next day.

Serve with chips, or chicken… Goes terrific with guacamole. Really fresh and delicious!



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Healthy, Lowcarb, Party Food, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Escarole and Tomato Pasta

August 22, 2009 By 1 Comment

I have a fridge full of beautiful, organic produce and I’m picking more up on Monday, so I’m sort of forced into getting a little more creative, stepping out of my comfort zone in an effort to utilize all this beautiful food I’m lucky enough to have access to.

I  had never prepared escarole before, so I was a little nervous.  I remembered eating it at a friend’s house when I was a teenager and was pretty sure that I could duplicate that dish.  Here’s what I did:

1 bunch escarole washed and roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic chopped
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/3-1/2 c. bread crumbs (I really didn’t measure – it doesn’t matter)

Put a big pot of water up to boil, add salt when it reaches a boil.  Drop the escarole in and allow to cook for a minute or two.  We just want it slightly cooked and bright green.  Drain and allow to rest in the colander.

escarole 300x254 Escarole and Tomato Pasta

In a heated, shallow pan, pour the olive oil and when it “ribbons” add the garlic and saute for a minute or so, add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring continuously until it crisps a bit.  The bread will soak up all the oil, you don’t have to add more.  Add the escarole and saute to coat and combine.  Remove from heat.

escarbrcrumbs 300x200 Escarole and Tomato Pasta

This was so delicious and I was tempted to eat it right then and there, but this was about making meals for the week so I let it cool and then put it in a tightly sealed container and put it in the refrigerator.

Today I decided we had to eat it, so I looked through the rest of the produce for what I could add to it and found the magnificent, heirloom, cherry tomatoes… and decided that escarole and tomatoes would be just wonderful with some penne rigate.

escartom 300x200 Escarole and Tomato Pasta

I put up a pot of salted water to boil and washed and halved the tomatoes.  I cooked two pounds of the penne rigate, drained them into the colandar, put that pot right back on the burner and added a couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil and the tomatoes.

escartomoil 300x243 Escarole and Tomato Pasta

I let them cook for a couple of minutes, just till they started to soften and release their juices.  Then I added the escarole mixture from yesterday.

escarolemix 300x200 Escarole and Tomato Pasta

Cooked it until completely heated and then added the pasta back in and tossed to combine and coat the pasta.  It seemed a little bit dry so I added a couple of splashes of vegetable broth.  Served it with a little parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and we all made grunting noises instead of having a normal family conversation around the dinner table.

escarolemoneyshot 300x235 Escarole and Tomato Pasta

Easily feeds six.

You could also use just 1lb. of pasta and have a more vegetable heavy dinner, which is what I would do next time, but this fed the whole family and had plenty for Jim’s lunch at work tomorrow.



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Healthy, Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bok Choy Accidental Dinner

August 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Look at this beautiful bok choy!  I got three bunches of it in my organic produce share this week.

bok 300x217 Bok Choy Accidental Dinner

The plan was to grill it a little to carmelize it, then grill some chicken and toss it with soy sauce, fresh ginger and garlic.

3 bunches bok choy
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 generous Tablespoon of freshly chopped/grated ginger
Sesame oil
Soy Sauce (I use the low sodium, cause it sounds healthier and really is pretty salty anyway)

I cut the bunches in half, length-wise and put them in a pot of water to soak.  This helps them to revitalize if they wilted a little and also starts to clean them.  After they soaked for a while, I seperated the stalks just a little bit from the base and cleaned in between them.  There’s a lot of dirt in these babies, and it’s a little labor intensive, but oh-so-worth it.

I heated up the large grill pan and started to grill the bok choy in bunches.  Just let them caramelize a little on each side and then remove them to a platter until they’re cool enough to handle.

At this point I went to the refrigerator to get the chicken breasts.  I looked on the bottom shelf and there were thighs and a flank steak, but no breasts.  Ummmmm.  I opened the freezer and there they were.  Frozen solid.

Oops.

At this point I didn’t have time to do anything with the thighs and the steak is for a different meal entirely, so I opened the pantry only to realize that I had no rice, and the only pasta I had was rigatoni, which I felt was too heavy for the bok choy…. What to do, what to do.

Then I remembered that Travis had begged us for a case of noodles the day before… Ramen noodles.  (I know! Ew!) I threw caution to the wind and quickly put up a pot of water and grabbed three packages of the noodles.  I threw out the nasty MSG packets and boiled the three bags.

I took out the wok and while it heated, I rough chopped the bok choy.  When the pan was hot I poured about 2 T. of sesame oil and addded the garlic and ginger and sauteed it for about a minute.  I threw all the bok choy in and added soy sauce; just enough so that there was some liquid as I stirfried (is that a verb?)

bokwok 300x190 Bok Choy Accidental Dinner

I drained the noodles and shook as much of the water out of the colander as possible and then just dumped them into the wok.  I added some more soy sauce so that everything had some soy sauce on it and plated.

bokplate 300x215 Bok Choy Accidental Dinner

I drizzled just a little bit of sesame oil over the top and then burned the hell out of my mouth cause I couldn’t wait to try it.

The crunchy stalks, combined with a slightly bitter leaf alongside the sweet caramelized parts and the ginger, garlic and salty soy sauce made this one a real winner.

Ramen noodles… Whoda thunk?



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Healthy, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Opa! Greek Pasta Salad

July 4, 2009 By 5 Comments

If you’ve ever been to my house, I have probably served you pasta salad, in one form or another.  I find that it’s a great option when you’ll be serving a lot of people and you need food that will be as good when the party starts, as it is when you’re standing over the sink with a quick bowl after everyone has left.  It’s incredibly versatile and you can make it with whatever you have on hand!  We’ve been sort of obsessed with the Southwest Pasta Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing lately, but I think we’ve had enough of that for a while and was ready to move on to something else.

As I was compiling this week’s menu and shopping list, I saw that Publix had crumbled feta cheese on sale, BOGO.  I love a good bogo y’all.  So I decided that Greek Pasta salad was on the menu.  The great thing about Greek food, is the same thing I love about Italian food; simple, fresh ingredients, signature flavors, lots of tart vinegar and savory olives with tangy feta cheese.  Yum.

grksal 300x183 Opa! Greek Pasta Salad

2 lbs. Farfalle (bowtie) pasta
2 med. cucumbers, peeled and chunked
4 med. tomatoes chunked
1 med red onion sliced super fine
2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
kalamata olives (our market didn’t have any in the olive bar, so I bought a jar, pitted) rough chopped
8 oz. feta cheese (this is not the time to splurge on the good stuff, the supermarket brand, crumbled, is just fine)
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, assemble all the other other ingredients (except oil and vinegar) in a very large bowl (or plastic storage container).
Drain the pasta and run cool water over it, tossing gently until cooled.
Allow the water to drain from the pasta, again tossing gently.
When all the excess water has drained, toss pasta in with salad.

In a small jar, (I used the empty olive jar), combine 1 part vinegar to two parts oil, cover and shake well to combine.

grksaldress 300x209 Opa! Greek Pasta Salad

Pour over pasta, toss and refrigerate to allow the flavors to combine.




It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Healthy, Party Food, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bad Behavior has blocked 659 access attempts in the last 7 days.