Tofu and Veggies with Peanut Sauce

Tofu and Veggies with Peanut Sauce

As I have discussed numerous times before I live with three males (my two boys and my husband). My boys are both very tall and thin (like my dad) and eat all the time. I think by the time they are teenagers I will just go to the butcher and purchase the whole cow cut-up (you can do this and it's awesome for big families!).  All three of the males in my house are big meat eaters, especially pork. However, I am the odd one out. I was a vegetarian for over 10 years and eat two out three meals everyday without meat. I am attempting to convince the rest of my family that vegetarian food can be just as delicious and filling as meat. It has been an uphill battle, but I'm still trying. I'm particularly adamant with my husband since his father had triple bypass just a few years back. Adding more plant based proteins is always a good idea for heart health.  This week I tried a new recipe for Tofu and Veggies with Peanut Sauce from Redbook magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 45 minutes of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. Make sure to fully squeeze all the water out of the tofu. It really has to be pressed firmly or the tofu will not crisp up in the oven. Even with all the squeezing I found that my tofu needed 30 minutes in order for the vegetables and the tofu to fully brown. Additionally, I used the whole eggplant instead of half. My family loves eggplant and I didn't want to waste the other half. Finally, I chose not to add the chopped peanuts on top. Honestly, I forgot and it was fine without them. 

I was so happy with how well this recipe went over with my family. My husband and kids loved the tofu and eat their entire servings. The only change my family would make was to add another vegetable besides the green beans. My oldest loves green beans, but my husband would have preferred another vegetable or just additional eggplant. Overall, this was a great vegetarian meal option and something I would make again. 

For the recipe go to Tofu and Veggies with Peanut Sauce. 

Honey Cashew Chicken

Living far away from your family can be hard. When I first moved to West Virginia from Washington I was in graduate school and I was able to fly home every break. However, the summer after I moved I got married and the number of times I was able to fly home diminished. Then I graduated and my mom got sick with cancer. I flew home when I found out she was sick and then I got pregnant with my son. Regrettably I wasn't able to fly home before she passed away. Another kid later my father and the majority of my closest friends still live in Seattle. Most days everything is fine, until home sickness hits me. This has been one of those weeks where it seems home is very far away. It probably has something to do with the fact that the holidays are coming up and that was always my mom's favorite time of the year. She came from a large family and the holidays were something she reveled in. The parties, the gifts, the wrapping, she loved it all. While I love the holidays, I have never been as good at all the prep as my mother was. However, I carry on all the traditions from my mom for my two boys. I am a big believer of carrying on family traditions and work hard to maintain these connections. As I've stated before one of the main ways that I remember my mother is through cooking and baking with my two kids. Last month we tried a new recipe for Honey Cashew Chicken from All You magazine which 38 grams of protein looked like a great high-protein option for my family.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking time and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Since I don't eat gluten I used gluten-free soy sauce. A lot of brands of cheap soy sauce use wheat as a main ingredient, so I always check labels. I used homemade chicken broth so I had to add more salt for this recipe than if I had used store bought. Make sure to take the strings out of the snow peas. The one time I forgot to string my snow peas I quickly learned that they must be completely trimmed or they are almost uneatable. My family likes our food on the spicy side so I added more crushed red pepper than the recipe suggested. I would estimate around 1 teaspoon. Finally, I allowed the dish to cook for approximately 3 minutes after adding the sauce to ensure all ingredients were fully cooked. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved this recipe. Snow peas are always a hit in my house and this recipe was no exception. They literally picked all the snow peas out and ate them first. The chicken had a great flavor and the dish was perfect over brown rice. Definitely a recipe I would make again.

For the recipe go to Honey Cashew Chicken.

Hot Rice Cereal with Nuts and Raisins

As I have previously posted the last couple of months I have been working on my breakfast routine. Before making these changes I was horrible about eating breakfast. I would grab for a cookie or leftover piece of cake and my cup of coffee and not eat anything healthy until well into the afternoon. I was feeling tired all the time and my stomach was always upset. So slowly in the last couple of months I have been making changes. I have always been great about cooking from scratch and eating healthy. However, I also love to bake and when I am stressed I tend to over bake. I have fought with low potassium and anemia since February and I knew that it was time to start making a serious effort to be as healthy as I can be. So I made a big decision a couple of weeks ago after talking to my doctor and have eliminated gluten from my diet and drastically reduced the amount of cane sugar that I consume. In addition I have started eating balanced breakfasts and lunches and increased my consumption of fruit and vegetables. The results have been pretty dramatic. My stomach cramps that I was getting almost daily are gone and the bloating that my belly seemed to always have is gone. I feel so much better and my kids have stopped endlessly snacking and are actually eating their meals The change in breakfast habits has taken a couple of months to become like second nature to me and it has involved trying a lot of new recipes until I found a few I really love. Last month I tried a new recipe from Everyday Food for Hot Rice Cereal with Nuts and Raisins, which uses brown rice and nuts and looked like a great way to add protein to my morning breakfast routine.

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 3 minutes of total time (plus the time to cook the rice) and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes. Instead of using the whole milk suggested by the recipe I used vanilla flavored almond milk. I rarely if ever use whole milk. I find the fat and saturated fat too high for my breakfast routine. Flavored almond milk still has the sweetness, but has far less fat than the cow's milk alternative. I also found for the cereal to thicken it took closer to 5-8 minutes, instead of the 3 suggested by the recipe. Finally I used cinnamon to top the cereal, I am not a huge fan of nutmeg outside of baked goods so I chose to leave it out. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I love how this recipe is gluten free and has a lot of flavor. I had never thought about making a hot cereal with brown rice and I was very surprised how easy and delicious this recipe was. My two boys were skeptical of this dish at first, but enjoyed it once they ate a few bites. With 9 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber it is a great whole grain option for breakfast and if you prep the brown rice the night before it only takes minutes to prepare in the morning.

For the recipe go to Hot Rice Cereal with Nuts and Raisins.