White Cheddar Shells with Peas and Baked Tofu November 12, 2008

I have written about Annie’s Homegrown Organic Macaroni & Cheese before ( http://www.annies.com/organicmacandcheese#jump131 ). I buy it at Trader Joe’s and I use it every now and then as a side dish. But last night when the desire to make a labor intensive meal escaped me I created a dish that I think turned out really tasty and is super flexible. I used frozen peas but you could add a plethora of other veggies; peas are just what I had on hand.

 

Prepare the pasta per the instructions on the box. When there is one minute left to cook the pasta, add 1 cup of frozen peas. Although there is already organic cheese in the dish, I used reduced fat coconut milk instead of regular milk and I used vegan margarine instead of butter mixed with the sauce packet. Drain the pasta and peas and mix with 1/2 package of savory baked tofu sliced into 1/2 inch cubes. And there you have it. Super quick, super easy and super yummy.

Orange Ginger Tofu w/ Whole Wheat Veggie Lo Mein November 3, 2008

The Orange Ginger Baked Tofu is a recipe that I found on The Post Punk Kitchen Website (one of my favy-favs!) I LOVE ginger. Seriously love it; to me… the more the better. So this tofu dish was a must make recipe. It turned out so super yummy and I will definitely make it again. I put  the tofu under the broiler per the recipe recommendation and I would recommend that as well. http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=144

 Recipe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I decided to wing it on a Veggie Lo Mein and it actually turned out super good. You could add a ton of other veggies but the following are what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

- 4 tsp. Soy Sauce

- 4 tsp. White Wine Vinegar

- 4 tsp. Crushed Ginger

- 4 tsp. Ken’s Asian Sesame Salad Dressing w/ Ginger and Soy

- 2 tsp. Thai Peanut Sauce

- 1 tsp. Sesame Oil

- 8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti, cooked according to package directions

- 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

- 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

- 1 1/2 cups cooked broccoli, chopped

- 2 cups snow peas, chopped into 1 inch pieces

- 8 oz. Water chestnuts, drained and chopped

- 2 green onions, chopped on diagonal

Directions:

1. Combine the first six ingredients to make the marinade and whisk together well in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Heat some vegetable oil on high in a large skillet or wok. When the oil starts to ripple add the chopped bell peppers. Cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the snow peas and cooked broccoli. Cook for 3 minutes.

4. Add the water chestnuts and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add the marinade to the veggie stir fry and cook for 5 minutes 

6. Combine the stir fry with the noodles and toss. Top with a few (3) slices of the baked orange ginger tofu and top with a sprinkle of chopped green onion.

 

YUMMY Yum YUMMY!!!

Peanuty Pasta Goodness October 7, 2008

I found the following recipe on a great website called The Post Punk Kitchen (www.theppk.com). This site was recommended to me when we decided to go vegan for a week. There are so many recipes on this website that I can’t wait to make. Seriously, Check it out!  

 

The following recipe was called Peanut Noodles with Zucchini. I changed the name because I made a few little revisions and after I made it my boyfriend called it “Peanuty Pasta Goodness”! And that it is!

 

To the recipe I added the following;

- I used 2 zucchini instead of 1. One of the reviewers recommended adding some sliced red bell pepper which I plan to do next time.

- I added Thai Style Baked Tofu from Trader Joe’s which I cut into bite sized chunks and added to the skillet after the zucchini had cooked for about 5 minutes.

- I added the juice of 1 lime to the sauce and as well as a little Sriracha.  

 

I served the rich sauce over whole wheat pasta and topped the dish with sliced green onions for a fresh n’ crunchy bite.

 

I will definitely be making this recipe again!

Recipe rating: 4 out of 5 stars

http://theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=192#review