I always keep tofu at home. Frankly, I like it. And I don't always want meat in every meal. Plus, it keeps longer than meat, so I stock up on a few packages when I go shopping. I have learned that I really like tofu the most when I prepare it in thin slices instead of cubes. This recipe was found on Cooking Light. It was easy, and I had all of the ingredients here. I added some toasted sesame seeds at the end for fun.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1 (3 1/2-ounce) bag boil-in-bag long-grain rice
• 2 1/4 cups chopped asparagus (about 1 pound)
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon bottled minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon hot chili sauce with garlic (such as KA·ME)
• 1 pound extrafirm tofu, drained and cut lengthwise into 9 pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 cup preshredded carrot (i didn't have so i skipped)
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

• Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add bag of rice, submerging bag completely in water. Boil 10 minutes. Carefully remove bag from pan, leaving boiling water in pan. Add asparagus to pan; cook 1 minute. Drain.
• While rice cooks, heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Combine sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and chili sauce in a small bowl. Sprinkle tofu with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add tofu to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Add soy sauce mixture; cook 20 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Combine rice, asparagus, 1/2 teaspoon salt, carrot, and sesame oil. Serve tofu over rice.

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Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower has a bad reputation. You don't see it a lot. You don't eat it a lot. Most people choose its friend, broccoli, when they are looking to add a side dish. But don't overlook this guy, my friends. This is a delicious recipe, from Simply Recipes, to serve it year-round.

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
Lemon juice from half a lemon
Olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Slice the cauliflower info florets and put in single layer in an oven-proof baking dish. Toss in the garlic. Sprinkle lemon juice over cauliflower and drizzle each piece with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place casserole in the hot oven, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is lightly brown. Test with a fork for desired doneness. Fork tines should be able to easily pierce the cauliflower. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Red Curry Tofu

The definiton of fish sauce is "a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment." Does that sound as delightful to you as it does to me? Ok, probably not. And when you open the bottle, it smells...well, like fermented fish. But when you cook with it, oh when you cook with it, it brings such depth and new flavors to your food that you'll immediately start expressing your love for fermented fish all over town. I have lots of recipes that incorporate fish sauce, but this one was easy for a Wednesday night; plus, I had all of the ingredients on hand. Experiment with fish sauce - I think it's one of those "you either love it or hate it" things, but if you love it, let me know, and I'll send over many ways to use it!

Ingredients:
1 package extra firm tofu
1/4 cup coconut milk (I buy a can and freeze what I don't use)
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 T. fish sauce
1 T. lime juice
1 t. Thai red curry paste (you can freeze this too)
1 t. sugar
1 T. vegetable oil

Take the tofu and cut into 1/2" slices and blot dry between paper towels. This will take a few pieces.

Combine everything except tofu and oil into a bowl and mix together.

Heat oil in pan over medium heat and add tofu. Brown on 1 side (about 10 minutes) then flip and brown on the other (about 5 more.) Add the sauce to the pan and simmer until it thickens. Serve over rice.

Edamame Tofu Salad with Sesame Chili Dressing

Yes, it's still me writing this. I'm sure you're already worrying about me. Lisa? Tofu Salad? No way! One of my team members at work is super duper healthy and always eating nuts & berries and that sort of nonsense. I give her a hard time about it of course, because I am good at that sort of thing. One day she was eating a tofu salad from this place called Fresh & Co., and she offered me a bite, which I took, expecting to be disgusted. Instead, I wanted more! It was delicious and had such a great combination of flavors and textures. I told the team that I was going to re-create the dish and bring it in, which I did this past Monday, making a few changes along the way. The girls all raved about it and voted it to be ever "fresher" that the Fresh & Co. version, which was the ultimate compliment to me! I have all of the ingredients at home, and if you don't, highly suggest you make the investment. If you don't know what else to do with Mirin or Sesame oil, just contact me and I can send tons of recipes! This is definitely going to be on my recipe rotation, which should keep the co-workers happy!

Salad Ingredients:

4 ounces soba noodles, cooked

1 pound firm tofu (marinated & fried, see below)

2 cups shelled edamame (I blanched for 2 minutes)

1 -2 cups shredded cabbage (napa is preferred, but i used normal cabbage and it was fine)
2 carrots, grated

Fried Tofu Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, sliced

4-5 slices (1/8-inch thick) of fresh gingerroot

1 cup water

1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1/3 cup tamari or shoyu (I used soy sauce)
Coconut oil (I used canola oil)

Dressing:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, pressed

5 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons mirin (or sake)

1 teaspoon grated ginger

2 teaspoons chili sauce (Thai )
¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons hot pepper sesame oil

Garnish:

¼ cup toasted sesame seeds

To prepare tofu:

In the morning, combine all ingredients for marinade. Cut tofu into 1/2” slabs, and then cut slabs into triangles. Put marinade and tofu in a glass storage container with a tight-fitting lid for ½ hour to 8 hours. The longer it sits, the stronger the flavor in the tofu.

Heat ½ of the coconut oil in a skillet to medium high. Remove tofu from marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. This will protect you from sputtering oil. Place ½ of the tofu pieces in oil and brown on both sides. Repeat with remaining oil and tofu. Set aside.

Combine all the dressing ingredients except oils in a small bowl. Drizzle olive oil and sesame oil in slowly and whisk well to incorporate. Dress cooked soba noodles with 2 tablespoons of the dressing while still warm.

Arrange noodles, tofu, edamame, carrots and cabbage in separate piles on a large serving platter. Garnish noodles with the sesame seeds. Put dressing in a small pitcher. Try to have prettier plates at your job than I do.

Undressed:

Dressed:

Frou Frou Grilled Cheese

Forget the grilled cheese whose only prep work was to remove a little square of plastic. This sandwich takes only about 1 more minute and uses fresh delicious ingredients (what's in that square of "cheese" anyway?)

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread (a nice fresh loaf is preferred, but I used store brand wheat)
olive oil (or butter if you don't have)
tomato
fresh mozzarella
pesto (homemade is always best, but the store-bought kind works just fine)
salt & peppper

Preheat your pan, griddler, panini maker...whatever you got, on medium heat. While it heats up, you can make your sammy. Put a bit of olive oil on 1 side of both pieces of bread. Flip over and spread the pesto on both slices. Slice your tomato really thin and cover an entire side of one piece of the bread. Then slice your mozzarella and put on top of tomatoes, covering with salt and pepper. Cover with other piece of bread and grill just like you would a grilled cheese. I lowered the heat a bit to make sure that my cheese was definitely melted before the bread burned. Slice and serve when bread is golden brown and cheese is melted inside.

And put those nasty cheese squares back in the fridge....you know they'll last forever in there anyways.

(really bad shot, sorry)

Fancy Pants Salad

So you're having a dinner party but all of your time needs to be spent on perfecting your entree? Happens all of the time. Don't let your starters suffer, Missy. This salad is pretty, tasty and much more fancy pants than a Mesclun or Ceasar. We have served this at Christmas Eve the past 2 years, and everyone loves it. People even go back for seconds...seriously... seconds on salad? Who does that? It's that good, people.

Ingredients:
1 bag (5 ounce) baby greens
1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, cut into bite-size pieces
1 large romaince heart, cut into bite-size pieces
3/4 cup pecans, toasted in a 325 degree oven, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 T. balsamic vinegar

Place greens in a large bowl. Add pecans, cranberries and blue cheese. Drizzle olive oil over salad and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Taste for seasonings and adjust if necessary. Add balsamic vinegar and toss to coat again. Serve

To make ahead of time: Go ahead and toast those pecans early. The lettuces can be prepared and refrigerated, covered, for 3-4 hours.

Christmas Eve 2010

Every Christmas Eve is spent at Mamaw's in Drew with my Mom's side of the family. We meet up and visit, drink Mamaw's punch & eat her famous cheeseball, and then proceed to a family feast. The staples of the meal stay the same but in the past few years, we've tried incorporating different side dishes into the mix. After dinner comes....you guessed it, PRESENTS!

Here is a shot of the spread this year (Mom didn't want me to take a picture because we didn't use pretty serveware)


The feast menu:
Honeybaked Ham
Jezebel sauce (recipe featured last December)
Glenn's beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce
3 Green Salad with blue cheese, toasted pecans and dried cranberries
Gayla's Potatoes
Pineapple Casserole
Broccoli and Gruyere Gratin
Corn Pudding
Rolls

Here is my plate:

The 2 family recipes I want to share from this meal (and the cookbook) are below:

Gayla's Potato Casserole - This recipe is created by my "Aunt" Gayla Marley, but was submitted by my cousin Lesley Smith. She told me that they have had this at a many Christmas and Thanksgiving gatherings and that it's always a crowd pleaser. I would have to agree - this is delicious and a great alternative to ordinary mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:
5-7 big red potatoes
1 small carton cottage cheese
1 small carton sour cream
3/4 stick of butter
Milk
Garlic salt
Salt & Pepper

Peel the potatoes and cute them into chunks. Mash them with an electric mixer. Add salt, pepper, and garlic salt and a dash of milk. Add cottage cheese and sour cream. Mash it all again in the mixer. Grease a 9x13 casserole and put the potato mixture in. Melt the butter and pour it on top. Bake on 350 uncovered for 1 hour.

Corn Pudding - This recipe, submitted by Jan Burnett, might be easiest recipe in the world. Don't judge the ingredients!

Ingredients:
2 cans (16 ounce each) creamed corn
1 package (6 ounce) Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup margarine, melted

Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased 2 quart casserole dish. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Hope all of you had a Merry Christmas! Here's to more eating in 2011!

Corn Chowder

I picked up some fresh sweet corn at the farmers market yesterday, along with some other goodies that you will see appear over the next few posts. I am a sucker for sweet corn; if I walk past it, I must buy it. However, I feel like I've cooked it every which way already this summer. UNTIL....I found this great recipe for corn chowder on simplyrecipes.com, which turned out to be delicious. You can really taste the great fresh flavor of the corn within the soup.




Ingredients:
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 strip of bacon
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 large carrot, chopped
1/2 celery stalk, chopped
3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs, cobs reserved
1 bay leaf
3 1/2 cups milk
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped (I used green because my tummy hates the red ones)
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (I used a little tiny bit of dried)

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bacon strip and fry until the bacon renders its fat, but doesn't begin to brown, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the onion and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft. Add the carrot and celery and cook for 4 or 5 more minutes.

Break the corn cobs in half and add them to the saucepan. Add the milk and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure the heat is as low as can be and still maintain a gentle simmer to prevent scalding the milk on the bottom of the pan.

Discard the cobs, the bacon strip, and the bay leaf. Raise the heat, add the potatoes, red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper to taste, bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost fork tender.

Raise the heat, add the corn kernels and the thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Just Beet It

Beets. Oh how I love you. I love you in salads, roasted all by yourself, and even just your greens. Even though beets have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, suprisingly they are very low in calories. Let's also not forget all the powerful nutrients they have to protect against heart disease and cancer.

My mom doesn't like beets, so I never grew up eating them, much less cooking them. Luckily, they are super easy. And don't even think about throwing the greens away - I recently started cooking them and am obsessed. You can cook just like any other greens, and they are delicious. The best part is that one vegetable makes 2 sides. I served with some chicken/feta/spinach sausage for a nice light meal.

For the beets:
Clean off any dirt with a paper towel, but do not wash. Trim the roots and stems to 1/2." Place the beets in an oven-proof baking dish and cover (foil works fine). Bake at 400 degrees for one hour, or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Then simply slip the skins and root off with your fingers.

For the greens: (from simplyrecipes.com)
1 pound beet greens
1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped (I have made it without bacon and it is still good)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup of water
1 T, sugar
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1/6 cup of cider vinegar

Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat. Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occassionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Bring mixture to a boil.

Add the beet greens, gently toss in the onion mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-15 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in vinegar.

The Perfect Saturday

I have absolutely enjoyed this beautiful Saturday 110%. The weather was perfect, and everything and everyone I encountered was cheerful. You have no idea how rare this is, so I took it all in and wore a smile the entire day.

The majority of my time was spent at the Red Hook Community Farm out in Brooklyn. My volunteer task today was weeding the green beans. My quads are going to hate me tomorrow, but it felt good to put my hands in the dirt and get a little sweaty. Everything was green and beautiful - hard to believe the picture below is in Brooklyn, right?

The best part of the farm is that I never go home empty-handed from a hard day's work. They have a great little farmers market where I can load up on goodies growing right where I've been standing all day. I can't even begin to put into words how delicious these tomatoes are....they are seriously like candy! I started eating them straight and finished half of the box immediately. Sure, tomatoes are in season, I know, but these seeds must be laced with crack or something - never tasted anything quite like it. Lesson of the day: Support your local farmers!!!

Since I was on a tomato-high, I bought some big boys too in order to make the best sandwich you will ever eat in your life. You don't believe me? Well, you are an idiot obviously. Make this NOW, while the tomatoes out there are so delicious.

Ingredients:

Mayo, no diet crap

2 slices bread (white bread is the best, but I didn't have any)

1/2 medium ripe tomato, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

1 BIG handful plain potato chips (i use kettle cooked because they are the bomb.com)

Spread mayo on both sides of bread....if you are on a diet, go with one, but whatever you do, do not leave off the mayo. Top with tomato sliced. Then season with pepper....keep going, keep going, yep that's perfect. Place a big handful of chips on the sammy and squash the whole thing together with your hand. Cut in half and enjoy the most delicious summer sandwich ever. Like I said, the perfect Saturday......

Elote (Mexican Corn)

I discovered elote during my first year in NY at this great little place, Cafe Habana. It took me forever to realize the secret ingredient is mayonnaise. I always bring this to outdoor cookouts in the summer - everyone loves it! Cotija cheese can be found at any Mexican grocery store, but if you can't find it, I've heard Parmesan is a good substitute.

Ingredients:
Ears of corn (however many you want)
Cotija chese
Mayonnaise
Cayenne Pepper
Lime

Shuck corn, leaving husk on. Wrap husk back and grill for roughly 15 minutes, turning, until hot.. Remove husk, slather each ear with mayo and then roll corn in the cheese to stick. Sprinkle with cayenne and lime juice and enjoy!

Lentil Tacos

I love meat. I really do. It's delicious. However, sometimes I decide to give the animals a break and have a vegetarian meal. Note: I do not want hippie food. I do not eat hippie food. Hippie food is lame. These lentil tacos have a ton of flavor; you won't miss the meat. Promise.

Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed
1 package (2.25 ounce) taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped (use half for less heat) - I didn't use this time but if you have, it really adds a nice flavor
2 teaspoons adobo sauce - same note as above
8 taco shells
toppings: shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion, garlic and salt until onion begins to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add lentils and taco seasoning. Cook until spices are fragrant and lentils are dry, about 1 minute. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Mix sour cream, chile and adobo sauce in a bowl. Uncover lentils and cook until mixture thickens, 6 to 8 minutes. Mash with a rubber spatula. Spoon 1/4 cup lentil mixture into each taco shell. Top with 2 heaping teaspoons sour cream mixture, lettuce, tomato and cheese.