Holy Delicious Tofu

I had never worked with tofu before, but had always wanted to try cooking with it. Coming off a weekend where all I ate was chips, hot dogs, hamburgers, lobster ravioli and ice cream cake, I was ready to cleanse and get back to eating healthy. (Ok so being in a bikini after not seeing the inside of a gym in the last few months might also be a reason.) I had had tofu a few times in college and wasn't really a fan, I always thought it was too mushy and spongy. I did my research and chose my first attempt tofu recipe well; this is amazing!!!! I thought I was going to take a few bites, gag, and blog about hating tofu, but just the opposite. The tofu was cooked very well (crispier outside with a softer center), and the sauce is delicious. I served this over brown rice, but I think I'd stick to bok choy or another green next time. I think I'd actually pay for this if I went to a vegan restaurant.

Ingredients

1 lb firm firm tofu, cut into cubes (I read that you should always press your tofu, so I put mine between two plates and put a 3lb. weight on top of it to take some of the water out. This helps it crisp better.)
2 tbsp olive oil (Note: you can also use a nonstick pan and just put the tofu directly on the hot pan. This too helps the tofu to crisp on the outside and have a more soft inside. I used the oil, which was soaked up quickly.)
8 Shitake mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated (I'm not sure this would taste as good if you didn't use fresh ginger!)
1 T Asian chili paste
1/8 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup soy sauce
2 T lemon juice
1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped (garnish)
3 scallions, chopped
Directions

In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, saute the tofu and mushrooms in oil until the tofu is browned and the mushrooms are a bit wilted. (This took me about 15 minutes. I really watched the tofu and kept "flipping" the pan because I didn't want it to over crisp.) Reduce heat to medium-low and add the garlic, ginger, and chili paste. Saute for 5 minutes. Add the maple syrup, soy sauce, and lemon juice. Cover and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Garnish with almonds and scallions.

In the future, I think I'd save a little of the sauce if I put this over rice again. It was just a tiny bit dry.

Adapted from: http://www.eatmedelicious.com/2007/06/tofu-magic.html.

Weeknight Marinara

In my experience, there are very few things more homey and comforting than a pot of sauce (or gravy, depending on how Italian you are or which part of NJ you are from) simmering on the stove. Not having a drop of Italian in us, my mom and I are constantly trying to perfect our sauces- trying different things, adding different ingredients that Italian people care to share and experimenting on our own.

My best friend, a true Italian through and through, taught me her "meatball and sauce" recipe, though I'll leave that up to her to share here if she feels so inclined. That takes a few hours, and I don't often have that time on weeknights.

I was so excited to see this recipe for marinara posted on one of my favorite cooking blogs and couldn't wait to try it. So with all of the ingredients already in my pantry, I set off to try what I'm calling my "Weeknight Marinara."

 Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can peeled whole plum tomatoes, chopped
Kosher salt and red pepper flakes to taste (I used about 2 tsp of salt and 1T of red pepper flakes. Holy hotness!)
1 packet Splenda
3 T fresh chopped basil
2 T finely grated Parmesan (my best friend also taught me to add cheese to sauces to make them more flavorful and rich)

Directions

In a saucepan over medium high heat, add the olive oil and onion. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and saute an additional minute until fragrant (that's when you know it's the right time to add the next ingredients and "stop" the cooking process).

Pour in the tomatoes and add the salt, red pepper flakes, and Splenda. Stir and bring just to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, add the basil and continue cooking for about 20 minutes until ready to serve.

Run through blender or Magic Bullet if desired.
Adapted from: http://dinnersforayear.blogspot.com/2010/01/ricotta-gnocchi-in-flash.html (Note: I'm DYING to try this gnocchi, so stay tuned!)

Sanders Hot Fudge Cream Puff

I haven't updated in forever, I know, but we're gearing up for medical meeting season at work and the rest of my life seems to be getting in the way of my cooking. So for now, while I exist on Diet Squirt, Quaker oatmeal packets and frozen diet dinners (yes,it has come to that), I had to share this treat from my parents' hometown of Detroit.

Guinea Pig and I were there a few weekends ago for my cousin's wedding. I took him to Coney (an entry for another day!), and we split a Sanders hot fudge cream puff. This is the most delicious, gooey, creamy, smooth treat ever in life, and what girl doesn't need that on a Friday?

When my mom was working downtown, she used to stop in at Sanders at lunch to get one of these. Is she a smart woman or what? Look at this thing? MMMMMM!

Brazilian Black Bean Crockpot Dish

I had a revelation recently about cooking. I love love love love to crock pot cook, but I am always out much longer than the time it takes the dishes to cook! So my big revelation was "Why don't I crock pot cook at night?" I make the recipes the night before and by the time I get my 8-10 hours (Seriously. I require this) a night in, I have dinner made!

I've been dying to try this Brazilian Black Bean dish from one of my favorite websites- sparkrecipes.com- and thought this would be as good a time as any to try it. 

I thought this was a good recipe, but I served it over romaine with avocados. The next day, I brought premade portions of it over brown rice with cheese, tomatoes and sour cream for my friends at work (because this recipe already gave me literally 5 tupperwares full, which are already in my freezer!), which I liked much better. Next time, I think I'll serve this as a black bean quesadilla filling.  

Black beans are on Guinea Pig's "I hate" list, so he doesn't get to rate this, but my coworker Heidi loved it!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

16 oz. dry black beans

1 Green Pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 ham steak, cubed (the original recipe called for two chicken breasts, but I had none on hand and no desire to run out to grab them!)

2 cans of chicken broth (I also added 1 can of water)

Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions

Soak the dry beans for 24 hours in pan with enough water to cover the beans.

When you’re ready to assemble the recipe, drain the beans and put them in the crock pot. Then add the chicken broth plus one can of water, the pepper, onion, ham and seasonings. (I saw that some people added chilies to this to up the heat factor, but I didn’t.)

Cook on high for 8-10 hours.

That’s it! Then (and here’s the fun part), find your favorite way to try it! I loved the “rice and beans” variation, but pay around or feel free to borrow some of my ideas.

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user DCMUM61.

Adapted from: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=420632

Chimichurri Scallops

Guinea Pig got a new job a few weeks and to celebrate, I decided to take him out to a little South American restaurant around the corner from his house called Cucharamama. I actually got a pasta dish (I wasn’t feeling very adventurous), but he got a wood-burning oven cooked steak with chimichurri sauce that he loved.

The first Friday after he started, we had both had very, very, very long weeks. I wanted to make something delicious and comforting to signify the end of the week, but it was Friday during Lent so my pork tenderloin AND my flank steak ideas were out. I settled on scallops and roasted artichokes. (The artichoke steamed somehow rather than roasted and was a disappointment. L) I served the scallops with my attempt at chimichurri sauce and jasmine rice.

To be honest, scallops weird me out a little. They taste amazing when done right, but if you overcook them even a tiny bit, it’s like chewing a rubber band. So I was a little nervous. But they turned out well! The recipe earned me an 8.5 on the Guinea Pig scale!

For the chimichurri sauce:

Ingredients

6 cloves garlic

1 tsp. Kosher Salt

1 tsp. oregano, dry leaves

1 tsp. black pepper, ground

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Finely grated lemon zest from 3 lemons

4 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 bunch flat leaf (Italian) parsley (Careful here! I missed some stems, which ended up in my chimichurri!)

3/4 cup olive oil

Directions

Combine the garlic, salt, oregano, peppers, lemon zest and lemon juice in a food processor and blend into a paste.

Add the Italian parsley and pulse chop until parsley is 1/8 inch in size.

At this point, remove all of the ingredients from the processor and add the olive oil. (I added it to the food processor and it emulsified a little too much!)

Play with the seasonings a bit (I ended up adding more lemon), and allow the sauce to marinate for 30 minutes before serving, but the longer the better.

Adapted from: http://www.bonefishgrill.com/behind-the-scenes/recipes/chimichurri-sauce/

For the scallops:

Ingredients

2 Tbsp each of butter and olive oil

1 lb. large bay scallops

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Pat dry the scallops and let them sit a bit before they are seared. Scallops sear best when they are completely dry.

Once dry, salt and pepper each side of the scallops and let them sit for maybe 5-10 minutes before you cook them.

In a hot, nonstick pan, melt I Tbsp each of the butter and oil (it helps the butter not burn). Then add half of the scallops and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, depending on how thick the scallops are. I like to flip the first side after about 2-3 minutes, and then know they are “done” when they are semi-firm when poked with a spatula.

Keep the first batch warm (I used an aluminum foil tent) while you cook the second batch the same way.

Top with the chimichurri sauce and serve!

The Perfect "Diet" Cake!

E: "I'm making a soda pop cake for tonight."
H: "What the heck is a soda pop cake? I want that!"
E: "Are you kidding me? You've never heard of soda pop cake? You have to try it! I have to put it on the blog!"

My friend had never heard of soda pop cake- can you believe it? Probably, because the more people I ask, the more people I realize have not heard about soda pop cake! It's the most simple cake (especially for people like yours truly who seriously CANNOT BAKE), and it's calorie friendly(ish). Most of the time, the people I serve it to don't even know it's diet-friendly. It tastes like a very light angel food cake version of your favorite boxed cake mix.

The recipe couldn't be more simple:

1 store-bought cake mix
1 can of diet soda (for white/light cake mixes, I use diet Sprite or Sprite Zero, and for chocolate cakes I use Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper. I can't wait to experiment with diet cream soda and diet root beer!)

Mix, and pop it into an oven following the directions on the box. I usually stick to 350 for about 20 minutes; these cakes tend to bake up a little quicker because they have less fat weighing them down.

I serve mine with Cool Whip Free and fruit when I feel like being healthy and buttercream frosting when I don't feel like it!

Garlic Balsalmic Soy Glaze

When I'm by myself, I try to eat fairly healthy. That way, I can eat what I want on date nights and on the weekend. I had a bunch of nice veggies from the farmer's market, so I decided to try a new salmon and veggie recipe that I dreamt up while I should have been working. I loved the flavor and savory garlic taste of the glaze over the veggies, but have to play with the type of protein that is best with this; I didn't love the salmon. Maybe next time, I will serve it with a white fish even over pasta.

I served this with a hearty red and a piece of Dove chocolate for dessert. :)

I roasted a double batch of the veggies, and will have the rest over pasta and homemade sauce tomorrow for lunch. I did the veggies in the toaster oven (single girl behavior!) so they weren't as crisp as I would have wanted, but great nonetheless.

Ingredients (salmon):

1 6 oz. salmon fillet, skin removed
24 stalks asparagus, cut into 2" pieces lengthwise
15 grape tomatoes, halved
1 shallot, sliced on the mandolin
1 onion, sliced on the mandolin
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 Tbsp olive oil
seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, crushed red pepper)

Directions:

Heat an oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine the shallot, onion, garlic, asparagus, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Add the seasonings to your liking.

Spray an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray, and evenly spread the veggie mixture over it. Put the salmon in the center of the vegetable mixture, making a "hole" in the middle of the tray with a spatula. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. (A note here- the salmon may end up being done before the veggies, but this depends on the thickness and size of the fish.)

Balsamic Soy Glaze

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove, smashed
2-3 Tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
1 Splenda packet (I use Splenda to cut the calories, though this is a fairly healthy dish)

Directions:

While the salmon and veggies are roasting, melt the butter in a saucepan. When the butter has melted, add the garlic clove and simmer about 3 minutes until the garlic has begun to cook through and your house smells delicious. Whisk in the soy sauce, Splenda, and 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar.

Let the mixture boil, and then turn to a simmer until the glaze begins to thicken (this won't get really thick). If you want a more sour than sweet flavor, add another Tbsp of vinegar and boil then simmer again. (Try it first!)

When the fish and veggies are done, transfer to a platter and pour the glaze over the veggies and the fish.