Three-Pea, Cashew and Tofu Stir-Fry

My husband has decided he's on a health kick. In the last couple of months he has started walking every night and cutting down on the amount of fat and calories in his diet. I have been trying to get this to happen for years, but apparently lately he has had some sort of change of heart in regards to his bad habits. This is a welcome change and he has embraced eating less red meat and more vegetarian meals. Tofu has been the hardest food to add to my family's diet. They will willing eat beans, lentils and soups without meat, but tofu has been more of a problem. Luckily I have discovered that my kids in particular love stir-fry using tofu and the May/June issue of Eating Well magazine had a recipe for Three-Pea, Cashew and Tofu Stir-Fry which looked perfect.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had to go to two stores in order to find both snow peas and sugar snap peas, but that is normal for my area. My tofu took slightly longer than the 8 minutes suggested by the recipe in order to fully brown. I also made sure to let my tofu drain for a full hour to ensure that all the water came out. Finally, I let the peas cook longer than the recipe to ensure that they were soft enough for my two boys to eat. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was surprised by how much my two boys loved this dish. They were particularly fans of the sugar snap and snow peas and ate their servings, plus part of mine. My husband and I enjoyed this stir-fry as well. The only draw back that I found was that the tofu wasn't salty enough and needed a little more flavor. I would suggest adding some of the sauce to the tofu after it is browned and letting the tofu sit and marinate while the vegetables are cooking. This would greatly improve the flavor of the tofu. Overall, a great way to add more vegetables and tofu into your diet.

For the recipe go to Three-Pea, Cashew and Tofu Stir-Fry.

Redbook Sweet and Spicy Cashews

The last few months have been up and down with my health. I realized after being in the hospital for the second time a couple of weeks ago that I needed to start taking better care of myself. I always try to cook from scratch, but I tended to grab the baked goods that I made rather than protein snacks. So in the last couple of weeks I have re-done my snack routine. Gone are the cookies and sweets that I would love to be able to enjoy all the time. I've realized that I've finally got my potassium back up and I would like to keep it that way. Therefore I have started eating more fruit and having protein with all my snacks. It has been a learning curve for sure, I would love to say that I enjoy bananas and milk, but it's a struggle. I do love nuts, peanut butter, and cheese, so increasing my protein has been relatively easy. Recently, Redbook Magazine had a recipe for Sweet and Spicy Cashews, which looked easy and full of flavor.

This recipe has 5 ingredients. It takes 10 minutes of prep and 40 minutes of cook time and makes 3 cups of nuts. With only 5 ingredients I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no modifications. I did find that I had to turn the nuts more than the once suggested by the recipe, otherwise they would have burned. Additionally, I found that the temp was too high to put the nuts in for 40 minutes. I either suggest turning the oven down to 275 degrees or lessening the cooking time. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Nuts are a great source of protein, but plain roasted nuts can get boring. This recipe was a great break from my normal roasted almonds routine I liked that the Chinese-five-spice and cayenne gave the recipe a slightly spicy taste, while the sugar made the cashews sweet. Overall, a very simple nut recipe that's full of flavor.

For the recipe go to Sweet and Spicy Cashews.

Food Network Magazine Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts

I am not one of those people that can limit themselves on nuts. The whole idea of eating 10 almonds for a serving doesn't fit with my snacking personality. I'm lucky that I am constantly moving and burning calories, so I look for high protein snacks that will tide me over until my next meal. As I've stated before I tend to eat 6 smaller meals throughout the day, instead of three large ones. I am drawn towards sugar, so I try to find protein snacks that will satisfy my sweet tooth while providing energy. As I was looking through the December issue of the Food Network Magazine I came across a recipe for Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts, which looked like a great sweet and savory protein snack.

This recipe 11 ingredients. It takes a total of 35 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active, and makes 8 to 10 servings. I thought that I had chipotle powder in my cupboard, but when I got ready to make the recipe I discovered that I did not. Instead I substituted Ancho chili powder, which I do relatively frequently in recipes. I chose to combine all my ingredients in a bowl and then pour onto a baking sheet. This way all the nuts were evenly coated. Make sure to watch the nuts while they are in the oven. I probably turned the nuts about every 8 minutes in order to prevent burning. I would not suggest turning down the heat though, the temp needs to be high enough to caramelize the brown sugar. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sweet flavor from the brown sugar combines nicely with the savory flavors from the rosemary and chili powder. This recipe makes a lot of nuts, so it would be great as a party snack. If you are making it for your family I would suggest cutting the recipe in half unless you have two growing boys like I do. I served this as an after school snack to my oldest and he loved it. Overall, an easy sweet and savory snack.

For the recipe go to Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts.