Shishito pepper and onion stir fry

Made a yummy stir fry last night with an ingredient I've never cooked before: shishito peppers! They can apparently be substituted with Padrón peppers. This made 4-5 servings. Served this over white rice.

Directions:

Press 2 lbs tofu (2x 15oz. packages), cut into one to two inch cubes
Chop 1 white or yellow onion into thick petals
Mince 4 cloves garlic
Prepare a sauce of: 4 tsp hoisin sauce, 2 tsp sesame oil, 1-3 tsp brown sugar (depending on your taste), 4 Tbsp soy sauce

Bake tofu at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes on parchment paper, turning once. Set aside.
Heat wok, large cast iron, or other pan to medium high with a high-heat oil. Cook onions, stirring frequently, until just starting to wilt. Set aside.
Add more oil to pan as needed, cook the peppers until they blister. Add garlic for the last minute. Set aside.
Add tofu and the sauce in the pan. Cook for a minute or two, add all veggies, and cook for another minute or so.

Peanut-tofu and quinoa lunch

In my youth (and still now), I loved the cold tofu in a curry-peanut sauce served by a local food co-op. So, I decided to try to remake it. It turned out pretty well!

For a weeks worth of meals, I pressed two blocks of tofu and cooked 1.5 cups of dry quinoa. I cooked it according to the package and added a bit of salt and red pepper flakes.

I used roughly this recipe for the peanut sauce:

• 1/3 cup salted creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce 
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
• Water to thin

My sauce was pretty thick. I added some sliced green onions, chopped cashews, and served on top of the quinoa, cold or at room temp.

Mason jar lunches

After a really lousy but expensive lunch at my work cafeteria, I rededicated myself to bringing in my own lunch. I made two versions of a "mason jar salad" that both worked pretty well! On days that I bike in, however, I always need extra snacks.

Marinated chickpea salad 
[ingredients, from bottom to top: canned chickpeas, balsamic/dijon homemade dressing, shredded veggies/greens, feta, cherry tomatoes]
No cooking required! Make so that chickpeas marinate overnight, shake, and eat!

Black bean salad 
[ingredients, from bottom to top: canned black beans, cilantro/lime dressing, roasted sweet potato, roasted red pepper, cooked white rice]
This one was best poured into a bowl and heated with a spoonful of sambal oelek/chili sauce. The dressing wasn't quite tangy or salty enough: next time I would use fresh (not concentrated) lime juice, more salt, and some cilantro in the salad.

Vegan pizza

I just found this recipe on my old blog. I never revisited it, so posting it here with hopes that I'll make it again!

I made a wonderful pizza last night so if you're interested in trying something new, here's the recipe (written in biochemistry lab style prose... sorry... out of habit)

1) Obtain pre-cooked pizza crust- the brand we bought was actually vegan- or make your own.
2) Roast a red pepper in an oven set to broil. When done, remove the skin and cut half into small slices (just save the other half.
3) Cook half an onion (we used yellow onions) in a pan with olive oil until soft and brown (caramelized), add sliced garlic, capers, and red pepper flakes, cook a few minutes until the garlic starts to brown.
4) This is up to you, but I added balsamic vinegar and orange juice (as a deglazer) to the onion mixture. Since I used very little sauce, this also helped the flavor.
5) Spread olive oil onto the crust, then top with sauce of your choice. I used Annie's organic Roasted Red Pepper salad dressing (just a thin layer) and it was amazing.
6) Spread toppings over crust, bake until pizza crust becomes slightly brown.

For non-vegans, you could add feta cheese. Other vegetables like mushrooms, olives, and artichokes would be a good addition. To give credit where it's due, I based this pizza off of Amy's Kitchen's Roasted Vegetable Pizza and also a veggie pizza from Matador Pizza in Sutton's Bay.

Meyer lemon stir fry

Someone from my office brought in some Meyer lemons, so I decided to add them to my already-planned meal. I made basically this recipe from Martha Stewart, substituting 1.5 lbs tofu for chicken and baking it instead of frying. I also used red pepper and onions instead of broccoli (thus omitted the water), because that's what I had on-hand. And finally, I baked about 3 leaves of kale, chopped and coated in olive oil and garlic, until crispy. I deglazed the pan with more soy sauce and sherry (since I didn't have any marinade left, whoops).

Here's the recipe for the marinade:

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons honey (I used about 1/2 Tbsp)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Bonus picture of Frank Meyer (the plant explorer who the Meyer lemon is named after) sporting a sweet hat:

Stir fry with peppers

We made a tasty stir fry tonight!

Prep:
-Press 1 block tofu for 1 hour, then cut into cubes or triangles
-Chop 1 carrot into sticks
-Chop 1 red bell pepper and 2 hatch chilis into 1/4" slices
-Slice 2 shallots
-Mince 3 cloves garlic
-Cut 3 thin slices from a ginger root
-Slice a few green onions and set aside until end
-Start medium grained rice in rice cooker

Stir fry:
-Dry fry tofu at medium-high heat in a non-stick pan until most sides of the tofu are light brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
-Add oil to pan, heat, and add carrots, ginger, and shallots. Cook until carrots are just browning.
-Add garlic and peppers, cook until just brown.
-Add tofu back in, heat up.
-Add just enough stir fry sauce to cover the veggies and tofu (we used House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy). Cook for a few minutes, stirring often.
-Remove from heat and add green onions and sesame seeds.

Recipe roundup, August 2015

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, but I've still been cooking! Because food is more expensive in DC/Virginia, we've been eating at home a lot, and also trying to eat more cheaply.

Firstly, I've been making a lot of smoothies and overnight oats for breakfast. Made a delicious smoothie today with frozen peach, banana, and ginger; milk and yogurt; and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Lunches have been a lot of lentil and chickpea dishes. In no particular order:

Spanish Chickpea and Spinach Stew with Ginger

• I had sort-of made this before, but this time I actually followed the recipe and it turned out great!). Served with brown rice.

Curried Lentils

• Made with garam masala instead of curry powder.

Cucumber Chickpea Salad with Lemony Tahini Dressing

• The tahini and olive oil whip up into a mayo-like dressing! Great with pita.