This week's bowl is a total cheat bowl. It uses sauce from a jar!
I have enjoyed watching cooking shows as far back as I can remember. One show I remember falling in love with was "Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee". On Semi-Homemade, Sandra Lee would make a delicious from-scratch pie filling, and then put it in a pre-made crust. Or prepare a lovely casserole one night, and then keep the leftovers relevant the following night by using them to stuff a pepper or a mushroom.
I liked the idea of getting more bang for your effort. I still do.
So, that's why this cheat-bowl makes me super happy. Normally, I enjoy making my own sauces, marinades and dressings. It's important to me to know exactly what is in every element of my food. Bottled and jarred sauces often have undesirable additives, or far more sugar or sodium than I'd like.
But, there's just always been something about Trader Joe's Sweet Chili Sauce. For a special treat, and to make life easy, I use it to dress a stir fry every once in a while.
All your time and effort for this bowl (which won't be much!) will go into chopping veggies and dry-frying tofu; not meticulously measuring spices and other sauce ingredients.
Sweet Chili Tofu and veggie bowl with pineapple and cashews
1 lb package of extra firm tofu, pressed for at least a half hour (I put my tofu on a plate, cover it with another plate, and then place something super heavy like a cast iron skillet or full teapot on top.)
1/2 lb asparagus spears, chopped into 1-2" pieces
1 C. Carrots, chopped into large matchstick shapes
2 C. Broccoli florets
1 medium red onion, roughly chopped
1 C. Fresh pineapple, chopped
1/2 C. Raw cashews
1/2 C. Sweet Chili Sauce
Grain of choice, for serving (optional)
Start by toasting your cashews. Preheat a large skillet (cast iron is best!) over medium heat. Toss the cashews around for a few minutes until they start to golden up and smell awesome. Take them off the skillet and set them aside.
Now we're going to dry fry tofu. This is probably my favorite way to enjoy tofu. It gets perfectly browned and crispy, without using any oil!
Cut the tofu block in five slices width-wise, then four slices lengthwise. You can cut them smaller if you want, after they've been cooked.
Lay the tofu in a single layer on your preheated skillet. You want them to sizzle when they hit the pan. Let them set there for three-four minutes. Sprinkle the tops with salt, and use a wide metal spatula to press the tofu down. Hear that sizzle? That's the money. Flip one piece to check for golden-brown perfection, and when they're all nice and toasty, flip them all over and repeat on the other side.
Take the tofu out and set aside. Throw your veggies in the skillet with a few tablespoons of water and cook over medium-high heat until they've reached your preferred softness (about7-10 minutes). Add the pineapple, tofu and chili sauce and toss to cover everything with the sauce.
Serve over brown rice, rice noodles, quinoa- or as is! Sprinkle with your toasted cashews and enjoy.
Tofu. When you think about a vegetarian diet, tofu probably pops into your mind fairly quickly.
I really love tofu, and sometimes feel like coming to its defense. Unfortunately, tofu gets a bad rap because - drum roll - it's bland! Yes, it is completely tasteless on its own. In my defense of tofu, I will not try to tell you that it "tastes great!" because, in fact, it tastes like nothing.
But that is why I love it! It's a clean canvas for your herbs and spices and marinades. Far too often, tofu is prepared poorly and without pizazz, leaving its consumer underwhelmed and disappointed; thus tarnishing said consumer's taste for tofu forever. It's a sad, sad state of affairs, my friends.
On the other hand, tofu is not the backbone of a meatless diet. It can be tempting to eat it every day - marinated and baked, stir fried, scrambled, pureed into soup or smoothies...
However, tofu is a highly processed form of soy, and not the most nutrient dense. We focus on using vegetables and whole grains as the foundation of our diet.
I love incorporating tofu into our diet approximately once a week, and this scramble is a favorite around here.
In this week's "Bowl of the Week", I'm sharing a garden scramble made with tofu and loaded with fresh veggies. The vegetables in this dish are completely interchangeable and the sky is the limit. Just think of your favorite omelet veggie combos and use those, or try something new! It's all good here.
Tofu Garden Scramble
1 lb Extra firm organic tofu
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. Dried Thyme
1 t. Smoked paprika
1/2 t. Turmeric
2 t. Ground cumin
1 t. Salt, or to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
2-3 Cups of fresh chopped veggies. For this garden scramble, I like to use mini bella mushrooms, zucchini, bell pepper, and tomatoes
3 C. Fresh greens of choice (kale, spinach, chard...)
3 T. Nutritional Yeast (What the heck is that?!)
2 T. Lemon juice
Start by heating a few tablespoons of water in a large skillet over medium high heat. When the water is hot, add onion and cook until soft. Add garlic and stir, then add thyme, paprika, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant.
Crumble the tofu into the pan with onion-spice mixture. Stir to cover tofu with spices. Add all veggies except greens to the pan. Turn heat down to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes and when your veggies have softened a bit, add nutritional yeast, lemon juice and greens. Cook until greens have just wilted. Check your seasoning level and add salt and pepper if you want.
Serve with garnish of your choice. I love a few grape tomatoes and avocado on top, and a drizzle of hot sauce. This bowl makes a great weekend brunch, or dinner! Or make a double batch on the weekend and throw half in the fridge for a weekday breakfast treat.
Bowl of the Week!
This week's bowl has a complex flavor profile, but is not complex to put together. You could have a hearty, delicious bowl of food on the table in 30 minutes flat. Also, those roasted veggies and chickpeas are going to make your house smell ah-mazing.
The real star here, in my opinion are the maple roasted chickpeas. These babies are delicious, and so versatile. They make great crouton substitutes for salads, and I often find myself snacking on leftovers straight out of the fridge.
If you've never worked with beetroot before, I feel I must warn you...these guys can be messy! Everything they touch will aquire a reddish-purple stained hue. It will come off your skin....eventually. Beets are crazy delicious and incredibly nutrient dense, so I put up with this somewhat annoying attribute.
Roasted Beet and Apple Chickpea Kale bowl with Honey Dijon sauce
3 Beets, peeled and diced
2 Small- medium apples, cored and diced
1 T. Balsamic vinegar
Dash of salt
Maple roasted Chickpeas
1 Bunch Kale
1- 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 C. Uncooked Millet
Dijon honey mustard sauce
Chopped walnuts (optional)
Maple roasted Chickpeas
1.5 Cups cooked or 1 can Chickpeas
1/4 C Maple syrup
2 T. Tamari, liquid aminos or soy sauce
2 T. Apple cider vinegar
2 t. Liquid smoke (optional)
Dijon honey mustard sauce
1/4 C. Raw local honey
1/4 Dijon mustard
Dash of salt and pepper
Preheat your oven to 400.
Toss the apples and beets together with balsamic and a dash of salt, set aside. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together maple roasted chickpea ingredients (all except chickpeas). Pour chickpeas in an another shallow baking dish and pour maple mixture over, carefully stir to coat chickpeas.
Bake apples, beets and chickpeas for 20 minutes, until beets have softened and the liquid in the chickpeas is mostly gone.
While those are baking, prepare your millet, kale and honey mustard sauce.
Prepare millet according to package directions - I use a 1-1 grain-water ratio.
Remove the kale leaves fromt the stems and chop leaves roughly to 2-3" pieces. In a large skillet, heat 1 T. water and add garlic cloves, cook over medium heat until garlic is fragrant, then add kale. Cook over medium heat until kale is wilted.
In a small bowl, whisk together honey mustard ingredients and set aside.
When ready to serve, place in your bowl a serving of millet, cover with kale, add beets and apples, then chickpeas. Drizzle with honey mustard sauce and sprinkle with walnuts, if using. Voila!
Our most frequent meal here would best be described as simply a "bowl". I love experimenting with different vegetables, proteins, and flavor profiles. A bowl also makes an awesome burrito filling, nacho or baked potato topping.
You can plan on seeing a featured "Bowl of the Week".
Bowls are an easy way to incorporate a variety of vegetables and nutrient-dense whole foods into your diet. You can easily make a large batch on Sunday to enjoy throughout the week, allowing you to enjoy a healthful meal that will fuel you through your busy schedule when you're in a hurry.
Say goodbye to fast food and TV dinners!
Today I'm sharing a low-fat, yet filling bowl that has simple flavors and tons of protein.
Quinoa and Chickpea bowl with Spinach and Smoky Maple Tempeh (Serves 4)
3 C. Cooked quinoa
3 C. Cooked or 1 1/2 Cans (drained and rinsed) of chickpeas
1 Recipe of Smoky Maple Tempeh
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
2 T. Fresh lemon juice
2 Garlic cloves, minced (You can just use one clove if you prefer, I like things garlicky!
Lemon Tahini Sauce (optional)
Several heaping cups of fresh spinach
Salt to taste
Lemon Tahini Sauce - taken from Forks Over Knives
This delicious dressing is super easy to throw together and will really bring the flavor profile of your bowl up a tier or two. Feel free to omit if you don't have tahini, but I highly recommend it!
1/4 Tahini
2 T. Fresh lemon juice
2 Garlic cloves
2 T. Water (or more, to thin to your liking)
Start by heating a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of water and your onion. Cook until the onion begins to soften, then add the garlic and cook for an additional two minutes. Add lemon juice, 1/2 t. salt, quinoa, and chickpeas and mix to incorporate. Then throw in your spinach and tempeh bites. Taste for salt and continue to cook until spinach has wilted and everything is warmed through.
Drizzle with lemon tahini sauce, if using, and serve hot!
