No-Mess Sweet & Sour Tofu
- Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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07 May 2010
I just received my first issue of Vegetarian Times magazine (I love magazines!!), and was excited to see a section with some recipes made using FOIL! Recently, my sister-in-law Amanda suggested I try roasting veggies and such with foil for easy clean-up. I hadn’t thought of that (I’m new to this “cooking” thing, remember?!) So when VT came to my rescue with some recipes, I barely waited a day to try one out.
My first foil adventure is with the Sweet & Sour Tofu Packets recipe from the May/June 2010 edition of Vegetarian Times. I adapted the recipe to what I had on hand, leaving out a few spices and using a bag of frozen organic tri-colored peppers instead of the recommended fresh red and green ones. Still, it turned out really good!
I’m totally hooked on these Garlic Gold nuggets from Kath’s Open Sky Store. They’re tasty and crunchy and organic!
I’m also totally digging tofu. It’s so versatile! And it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. This recipe originally called for Asian-marinated tofu, but as hungry as I was, I just couldn’t bring myself to commit to the hour or so required for a proper soaking. I knew, however, that the tofu would pick up the wonderful flavors of the pineapple and coconut milk, so I wasn’t worried.I learned a tofu trick from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s “Food for Thought” podcast over at Compassionate Cooks. She recommends freezing the firm varieties of tofu, then thawing them before using. It makes the tofu much easier to drain (you can almost wring it out!) – no more stacking towels and books on your tofu blocks. It worked really well for this recipe and saved me a good 20 minutes or so.
Here’s a packet, ready to fold up and pop into the oven! Tofu, veggies, pineapple, and a sweet-and-sour coconut milk sauce. I learned some cool things about coconut milk from another recent book purchase – Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide by Brendan Brazier. He explains how that while coconut milk is high in saturated fat, it is made up of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids that the body quickly turns into energy instead of storing as fat. That’s a good thing for people looking for a quick energy boost or for weight loss. It also contains lots of vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes.
Tada! My packets turned out a little runny – I drained off some of the liquid before storing the remaining leftovers, but hadn’t figured that out in time for this plate! I served the sweet and sour tofu over brown rice. It was exactly what I was expecting – yummy, sweet, and sour. This meal came together really quickly and had very little clean-up due to the use of the foil packets. Thumbs up!I consider it a win when I have most of the ingredients for a recipe on hand, as was the case today when I grabbed my new Vegetarian Times magazine fresh from the mailbox and embarked upon their "Sweet and Sour Tofu Packets" recipe. I adapted this recipe based on what I had in the pantry. The use of foil makes for easy clean-up!
Details- Prep Time:
10 min - Cook Time:
30 min - Ready In:
40 min
Posted: May 7, 2010 at 8:10 pmIngredients
- 1 package extra firm tofu (14 oz)
- 2 cups pineapple diced or crushed - save the juice
- 1 medium red pepper
- 1 medium green pepper
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/4 cup fruit spread (I used grape jelly).
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Gold nuggets or other garlic seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Cut four 16" lengths of foil. Fold then in half, then unfold and fashion one side into a sort of bowl, with a 1/2" lip around the sides.
- Drain the tofu and cut it into small cubes.
- Divide the tofu amongst the foil packets.
- Top each with 1/2 cup pineapple and 1/4 cup each of red and green peppers.
- Whisk together the coconut milk, leftover pineapple juice, fruit spread, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, garlic seasoning, and chili powder.
- Divide the sauce amongst the packets.
- Fold over the foil top and crimp over the sides of the packets. Flip the packets over and bunch up the sides firmly to prevent spilling.
- Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Be careful opening the packets when they're done - steam will escape and it will be hot!
{Tags: coconut milk, foil, peppers, pineapple, Recipes, rice, tofu}
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Gnowfglins: Soaking Grains
- Gnowfglins, Recipes
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06 Mar 2010
I’m wrapping up Lesson 2 in the GNOWFGLINS e-course on healthy and traditional cooking, and tonight’s dinner featured a technique I learned this week: soaking grains. Well, I actually learned this last month in the Nourished Kitchen Real Food Challenge, but for that challenge, I soaked flour for baking. Today, I soaked rice and made it from scratch.
I’ve never made “real” rice before; all of my rice experience is of the boil-in-bag, instant variety. This was the other extreme!
It’s important to soak grains to prepare their nutrition to be fully utilized by the body. Whole grains contain enzyme inhibitors and other natural substances that can actually interfere with digestion and block absorption of minerals and vitamins. Soaking the grains in an acidic solution neutralizes these substances to make the grains’ nutrients more available in digestion.
I started with a cup of dry brown basmati rice. I soaked the rice in 2 cups of filtered water with 2 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar. (Lemon juice or other acidic liquids could also be used). I let my rice soak for 9 hours, though overnight is even better. One benefit (besides the nutritional benefits) – this process cuts down the actual cooking time of the rice.
When my rice was ready to go, I drained the soaking liquid and replaced it with filtered water (though you could cook the rice in the soaking liquid – I wasn’t sure if I’d like the tang of the vinegar in my rice, so I played it safe).
Then, I cooked the rice and turned it into Nutty Carrot Rice!
To go with my rice, I made an Italian breaded chicken breast. I actually get 2 meals out of 1 chicken breast, so I made 2, which should feed me well next week.
Add some baby spinach with vinaigrette on the side, and you’ve got… dinner!
The rice was very good – a nice departure from plain ol’ boring rice. It had a bit of a kick to it – I guessed at the cayenne pepper and used 1/4 teaspoon, and I think I probably should have cut back to 1/8th. (I like spicy food, but “spicy” to me is “mild” to the rest of the world). It complemented the chicken very well, and had a nice, nutty flavor. Nutty rice with a kick! Mozzarella cheese would have been good on the chicken, too. I didn’t have any!The rice recipe makes 6-8 servings (I ended up with 7), so I’ll be eating rice for a while….
Try it out! This was an easy combo, and the whole meal clocked in around a half hour prep, a half hour cook time, and around 375 calories (assuming you eat the entire chicken breast). Lots of vitamin A, too.
Spice up plain rice with a little bit of a kick! To enable the full nutritional value of the rice, soak it first (as described below). Check out Gnowfglins for more information on how to soak grains.
Details- Prep Time:
15 min - Cook Time:
20 min - Ready In:
35 min
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown basmati rice dry
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
- 1 medium onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Directions
Pre-prep: Place the rice and water into a cooking pot. Add the apple cider vinegar. Let soak in a warm place for 7-8 hours or overnight.- When the rice is done soaking, you can either cook it in its soaking water, or (if you prefer a less tangy rice), drain the rice and replace the soaking water with an equal amount of filtered water (approximately 1 1/2 cups).
- Bring the rice to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover to steam, 20-30 minutes or until rice has absorbed all water and fluffs with a fork.
- While the rice is cooking, crush peanuts in a blender or word processor. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet, heat coconut oil.
- Chop the onion. Add to the skillet.
- Grate the carrot. Add to the skillet. Saute until the onions are translucent.
- When rice is finished cooking, add the onion and carrot to the pot.
- Mix in the cayenne pepper and peanuts. Serve warm.
A quick, easy, and tasty chicken dish - double the bread crumbs and seasoning to serve 4.
Details- Prep Time:
5 min - Cook Time:
30 min - Ready In:
35 min
Posted: March 6, 2010 at 9:43 pmIngredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs whole wheat
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- In a small bowl, beat egg with milk.
- In a ziplock bag, mix bread crumbs, seasoning, and garlic powder.
- Dip each chicken breast into the egg mixture, then put it in the bag. Zip the bag and shake it up, coating the chicken with the breading.
- Place coated chicken into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is done and juices run clear.
{Tags: carrot, chicken, Gnowfglins, peanut, rice}
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