Cilantro Lime Tofu

Ignore this hot mess of a photo. I made it later in the evening and all natural light was gone, and all my lamps suck.

So, I'm a "gleek". Hardcore. I live for Glee. I'm not ashamed it's the highlight of my week. It's quite possibly my favorite show of all time. And that's saying a lot coming from me. I LOVE my tv shows. I didn't think anything could ever top 30 Rock, or Arrested Development, or Freaks and Geeks, but then Glee came along. And week after week it blows me away. Yes, the story lines move faster then sand (is that even an expression? It is now. It's late and I just ate alphagetti, don't judge) but the stores are some real heart wrenchers. (See Wheels and Home.) If you haven't been living under a rock, then i'm sure you have heard of it. If you live above a rock, and aren't watching it, then what's wrong with you? *

*I am in no way endorsed by Glee, or Fox at all. I'm just a die-hard gleek. 

So what does glee have to do with tofu? I'm getting there. The other day I was reading an interview with  Lea Michelle, who plays Rachel Berry on Glee. In the article she mentioned a dinner she had, "Cilantro Lime Tofu on brown rice with Kale and Black Beans". I was instantly salivating. And not just because there was a picture of Cory Montieth with the article. Although that was a contributing factor.... 

ANYWAYS onto the recipe. Which is why i'm sure someone who is reading a food blog is after. As opposed to gushing over a tv show. I loved the sound of this dish. Lime is one of my favorite citrus fruits, and i'm always looking for more ways to use cilantro other than sprinkled in salads or in guacamole.

So I set to work on this a few days later, subbing the kale for broccoli and omitting the black beans because I forgot to prepare them. While dried beans are certainly cheaper, they are much less convenient. 

Cilantro Lime Tofu

1/2 brick of extra firm tofu, pressed 

1 lime, zested and juiced

1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne 

1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1-2 tbsp oil (for frying)

Cut the tofu. I made cubes but whatever strikes your fancy will work. Triangles could be fun. 

Finely chop the cilantro and mince the garlic. Add to the juice of one lime with zest, soy sauce, brown sugar, cumin and cayenne. 

Marinate the tofu in the mixture a few hours, or overnight for best flavor. Fry in oil on medium heat, until browned. Flip and continue to brown the other sides.  

spicy tofu peanut salad

Summer is here. And summer is a time for cool, refreshing food to take centre stage. With only a few scraps of veg and 1/2 brick of tofu in my fridge I decided to take this theory in place for my dinner and make a cold salad instead of my usual stir fry. The tofu and veg were put into a cool spicy sweet thai inspired salad, wrapped up with some cabbage and crunchy romaine lettuce. Perfect summer time meal for lunch or dinner.


1/2 brick extra firm tofu, rinsed (and pressed if you have the time)
1/2 cup chopped vegetables (I used carrots, celery, and yellow pepper)

Sauce:

3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
juice of 1/2 lime, plus zest (or 1-2 tsp lemon juice)
1 tsp-1 tbsp sriracha (depending on how much you like spice, if you are wary start with only 1 tsp) red chili flakes to taste (see above)
1/4-1/2 cup hot water


I find the best way to combine all these ingredients is to find a small jar and act like The Cars and just Shake It Up. But whisking also works. Start by adding 1/4 cup hot water, then increase if the sauce is still too thick.

Crumble the tofu in a bowl with the chopped veg. And add the sauce and mix to combine. It's better if you let it sit a few hours, or even overnight for the tofu to absorb all the flavors.
But I won't judge if you devour it right away, like I totally did.

Classy Caprese

I love italian food. It would have to be tied with Indian as my favorite cuisine. One of the many reasons I love italian is because it's kind to vegetarians. Yes, Italians do love their meat, but there are plenty of pastas and salads without. 

The other night I got to go over to a friend's for her goodbye dinner. She had a room and board situation and her landlady is an Italian who loves to cook. My friend got to eat amazing Italian food for the year she was here. After tasting it first hand the other night, I am jealous. The menu featured pasta with fresh pesto, and gnocchi with borgonzola cheese sauce. I was in heaven.

The appetizers were caprese salad and prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Obviously I slid the prosciutto over to my friends plate and dived in to the caprese. One of my favorites. 

I love tomatoes, and cheese is the one reason I will never be 100% vegan for the rest of my life. So this salad is like heaven to me. And so easy to make. It's literally three ingridients.

Tomatoes.

Bocconcini

Basil

Done. Instant deliciousness.

What really impressed me with this appetizer was it's presentation. The taste was something I knew and loved, but the way it was presented was something else. So on my weekly grocery trip this week I picked up some bocconcini and basil to accompany the tomatoes in my basket. 

What I love is that it looks so impressive but is really so easy. Perfect appetizer for a dinner party like I attended. But also perfect for a Wednesday afternoon lunch for just yourself. Because you deserve to eat pretty things even if you're all on your own and there is no one to impress but yourself. Why not work just as hard to impress yourself as you work to impress others? 

I personally spare no effort on my meals because I feel that I am worth it. It makes me sad to think that not everyone puts the care into a meal just for themself. 

But then again not everyone is a foodie with a food blog, who has to take a picture of something before they eat it. 

So if you want to make yourself feel special, all you do is slice the tomato across leaving some room at the bottom. Then stuff cheese in between those slices, top with some shredded basil, and a bit of olive oil. Balsamic is also a welcome addition in my books.  

Enchilada

I was so proud of my plating skils today!

Sometimes in the kitchen, you stumble upon magic.
Burritos are a favorite dish of mine to make, I'm surprised I haven't posted a recipe for them yet! They are easily vegetarian (or vegan!) and totally delicious. They also bode well for being a single girl because you can make a bunch and freeze them! (A deep freeze is a girls best friend! And so is a microwave, which I currently don't have....you've got to re-heat those things somehow....)
And so that's what I was doing last night. I whipped up a batch of burritos with a black bean, corn, celery, and bell pepper filling. I wraped them in a flour tortilla with some lettuce, cheese, and fresh salsa.

I got lucky with the camera today, I am so obsessed with this photo.

It was goooood. I wrapped up a few for later with just the filling, and stuck them in the fridge. Today when I got home I was going to eat the burrito like I did last night, but then a voice spoke in my head. Enchiladaaaaa. It said. And then I knew what I had to do. I had never made enchiladas before, but I had eaten them. I wasn't afraid.
I set to work by whipping out a burrito from last night and throwing it in a little loaf pan (which was the exact perfect size!). Step one, done. Then I had to figure out a sauce. I just got back from a study session at the library, so I was feeling hungry and lazy. I opted to just blend some salsa in my magic bullet and add a dash of cumin for the sauce. Once that was done I poured it over the burrito, threw on some cheese and after 10 mins in the oven, I had an amazing meal before me.

This is an easy peasy way to make enchiladas. I think I know what to do with all my left over burritos now...



Black Bean Enchiladas
makes 4

the filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1/2 can of black beans, rinsed well
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 orange pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1/4 cup frozen corn
salt & pepper
1-2 tbsp salsa

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion, celery, and garlic. Allow to just soften, then add the peppers with some salt and pepper. Cook a few mins until the peppers are almost soft. Add the beans, corn, and salsa. Simmer until corn is cooked.

Wrap the filling in a tortilla. To make an enchilada, place in a pan then cover with sauce. (For one enchilada, I used 1/3 cup of salsa, blended.) Cover with cheese, and cook at 350 for 10 mins until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown on the sides.

Mango Lassi

I love, love, love, Indian food. Mostly for the obvious reason that there is a plethora of vegetarian options, as outlined in The Office episode, Diwali.

Angela: I'm vegetarian, what can I eat?
Buffet server: It's all vegetarian
Angela: I'll just have some bread.

And all this vegetarian food happens to be incredibly delicious. And the naan bread! Well, that is simply downright perfection.
My favorite place to go for Indian is in my hometown of Edmonton, at  New Asian Village. I first discovered it a few years back when a friend and I stopped in for a small bite, and ordered the vegetable  pakoras. They were divine, and we even got to sit in one of the Maharaja rooms! The room alone was an experience. It felt like we had stepped into The Darjeeling Limited.
After this discovery, I went back whenever I could, it's even where I had my last (18th) birthday in Edmonton. I always make a point to go back there whenever i'm home for a visit.

Another reason I love going out for Indian food (other than the naan, a plethora of vegetarian options, and even cool tent rooms to eat in), is the mango lassi. Smooth, creamy, and sweet, it has the power to quench any heat brought on your senses by the peppers and curry of this exotic cuisine. Up until now I never knew how to make it at home, I always thought it tasted so special that it was something you could only get in a restaurant. Now I know better.

All you need is:
mangoes
yogurt
ice
a blending mechanism
(and some milk if you want)

Seriously, why haven't I been making these for years?! Whole Foods had a deal on ataulfo mangoes (my favorite fruit!) the other day for only $1 a piece. So I stocked up. While I adore eating them plain, (they are so much sweeter and juicier and more flavorful than the other kinds of mango!) they worked great in this lassi.
So now that i've discovered the secret, it's time for you to as well. Next time you whip up a spicy chickpea curry, make sure to include a lassi on the side.

Mango Lassi
1 mango, cubed
1-2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup plain yougurt
1/4 cup ice
milk (optional)


Peel and cube the mango and add sugar, to taste. Let sit until the sugar is dissolved and a syrup as formed. Add to a blender with yogurt and ice. Blend until smooth. If the smoothie is too thick, add milk.

All I had was greek yogurt, so I needed the milk to thin it out a bit.

Chickpea Stuffed Avocados

I'm a student, living in one of the most expensive cities in Canada. I'm currently unemployed, and I can't seem to get a job here. Needless to say, I am on a tight budget. I've started shopping at Walmart (a place I used to shun) since stuff actually is really, really cheap there! Like Avocados. These wonders were only 57 cents each. That's just insane! Never in my life have I seen avocados that cheap. Even at the local fruit and veg markets, where I buy most of my produce for good deals. (Like a bag of 2 dozen overripe bananas for $1!) While not everything was cheaper at Walmart, there were some good deals to be had, and I just had to pick up some 57 cent avocados.

They're all perfectly ripe now, and i've been trying to find new ways to eat them. (Since I got crazy and bought 5.) But I didn't want to eat guacamole for days on end. Usually I put them on sandwiches, or in salads, or just eat them mashed on toast. But my kitchen is pretty bare bones right now -all I have are avocados and canned goods, so I had to think up a new way where I could use up what ingredients I had with the avocados.

Then came to mind a recipe I saw a while back, on Poor Girl Eats Well for Tuna Stuffed Avocados. As soon as I remembered that, I knew what I was having for lunch today.
Since I don't eat tuna (or any fish) I decided to use the classic vegetarian substitute- chickpeas! Just a quick mash, a few spices thrown in, and I had lunch.


Chickpea Stuffed Avocados
serves one

1/2 can chickpeas
1 small green onion, sliced finely
1/2 tbsp mayo type dressing, or olive oil, or even hummus
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp mrs. dash

1 avocado

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

In a small bowl, roughly mash chickpeas while leaving some whole. Add the miracle whip or olive oil, and spices. Mix to combine.
Cut an avocado in half, remove pit. If it's a small pit, scoop out some avocado (which you can then add to the chickpea salad),  to form a small bowl with each half. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving. (Optional, but I threw some on there after the photo was taken, and it gave it a nice kick.)

And I ate eggs, and they were good.

As far back as I can recall, I have always hated eggs.
My earliest memory of hating eggs would be whenever my parents would make scrambled eggs. I'd cry and scream and beg them to stop. I hated the smell, and the idea of having to eat what was making the smell. I would usually run and hide in my room until the eggs were gone.
Over the past few years, i've been trying to change this. Try to start eating eggs so I can reap the health benefits. First it started out with a few nibbles when a friend or family member would eat eggs. I'd take a small bite, trying not to think about what I was doing too much, i'd manage to swallow it, and then that  would be enough. After that I progressed into braving a tomato feta quiche a friend of mine had made, and I liked it! But I decided it would be a one time occurance, and didn't make eating eggs a habit. A year or so later, I got brave again and made a veggie omelette - and what do you know, that felt okay too. Yet for some reason, I still couldn't get past my childhood apprehension towards eggs.

I decided to try and counquer the egg phobia again today. I've recently been informed by my doctor that i'm vitamin B12 deficient, and that I should try to get some more sources of B12 in my diet. As a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I previously avoided meat and all dairy (other than cheese and yogurt). I drink fortified soy milk to get B12, but it must not be doing it's job very well because i'm pretty low in it. So I decided to try eggs once again.

I remembered a recipe I had seen on The Amatuer Gourmet , a recipe called "Eggs Adam Roberts" - scrambled eggs with jalapenos. The sound of them seemed just right, so today I set to work. Plus, my last name happens to be Roberts so I took that as a good sign. ;)

And now i'm converted. I LOVED THESE EGGS. I had no idea I could feel this way, that I could actually enjoy scrambled eggs! There was no smell like I had remembered suffering through in my child hood! and the texture wasn't at all repulsive! Not runny and chewy somehow at the same time. They were light, and fluffy, yet still held their own. I am in LOVE LOVE LOVE with these eggs.

So what does this mean? All I really know is that I love this recipe for eggs. And now I can start to see that they might not be so bad after all. For now, I know I can handle scrambled eggs, and i'm sure i'll like omelettes and quiches, too.
The next hurdle: poached egg. Nothing scares me more than a runny yolk.