dr. dan's tofu

this recipe was inspired by dr. dan mager, a chiropractor in amherst. i got the recipe through my friend esther.

sprinkle some tamari, toasted sesame oil, and nutritional yeast in a pan. drain tofu and cube. put cubed tofu in pan and drizzle same ingredients on top. shake the pan to evenly distribute. broil the tofu for a few minutes. watch carefully so it just gets toasted and doesn't burn.

i made this with veggies and grains last night - it was a hit!

simple dinners

a nutritious dinner can be so simple. like last night, for example, was leftover shabbos soup, whole wheat shell noodles, and chicken pieces (served all together in one bowl). do yourself a favor and say goodbye to white flour noodles.

i have lots of chicken to spare! tonight i served chicken that was baked with whole foods' "herbes de provence" spice. it's a mix of savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, and lavendar. i served it with "tru roots" organic sprouted rice and quinoa blend. this is an amazing product you can buy at...COSTCO! (my favorite place, lol!) i also also served costco's frozen organic foursome (corn, carrots, peas, green beans). i love costco! i hope YOUR costco has as many nice, healthy selections as mine.

disclaimer: i don't do vegetables every night - not worth the fight. i didn't mean for that to be a rhymed couplet, but it cheers me that it is. :-)

creamy carrot soup

i based this recipe from the kosher palette.

3 tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 diced onion
tamari
1 lb peeled/cut up carrots
6 c water
1/3c brown rice
1c soy milk

sautee garlic and onion in olive oil. add cut up carrots and continue to sautee. splash in some tamari. add 6c water and the brown rice.  simmer on low until carrots are tender and brown rice is cooked. use an immersion blender and blend ingredients until creamy. or transfer soup into the food processor a few cups at a time and do the same. when soup is blended, add 1c soy milk. i spiced it with salt, cumin, and italian seasoning.

i served this soup with whole wheat rotini and chicken pieces, all in one bowl. yum yum!

(meal was pareve until i added the chicken)

st-RAW-berry pie

hadassah h. made this for a n'shei chabad event, and you bet i made sure to get the recipe!

2c mixed nuts

2c raisins

1c pitted dates

1 small lemon

6c strawberries

chop up nuts in food procesor. not too fine, coarse and crumbly. add the raisins into the spinning food processor so they get ground up with the nuts. firmly press raisin-nut mixture into pie pan/plate, pressing it up the sides. put pan into freezer and continue to prepare. you should have some extra raisin-nut mix, put this to the side.

cut dates in half and check them, and then soak them in about 1c of water for 10 mins.

drain water out from the dates and puree them with 2 c strawberries in food processor. juice one small lemon into puree as processor spins. take pie plate out of freezer and then pour the puree into it. 

halve/check the remaining 4c strawberries and arrange them into the puree. arrange some of them facing up, down, etc, make it creative and pretty. i needed to add more strawberries because my pie plate is a little larger. 

what i ended up doing in pushing the side-crust down flat on top of the strawberries to create a nice crust "border" around the pie plate. i also used some of the remaining raisin-nut mix and pressed some of that along the sides too, to add some extra "border." (see picture i posted on facebook.) i sprinkled coconut shreds along the border for a pretty touch and taste, but it isn't necessary.

i made this on thursday and refrigerated it, which i recommend. all the ingredients get cold and firm! i served it on shabbos day and it was a total hit! the whole thing got eaten up!

rice crispy treats

to make these treats even easier, i mixed this up right into the 9x13 pan. it's a "one bowl wonder!" lol

4c natural brown rice cereal (i used whole food's 365 brand)

1/2 c brown rice syrup

1/2 c NON-HYDROGENATED nut butter (i used peanut, but i'm thinking tahini might be nice too!)

* marshmallows optional, i used them. i have never found a "healthy" kosher marshmallow but there are some that are better than others. read labels. i just threw in enough marshmallows that everything looked "even," lol

mush it all up and flatten into an olive-oil-sprayed 9x13. stick in freezer for about 20 mins to solidify.  this recipe is quick, easy, and more nutritious than the regular version!

p.s. i tagged this as "vegan" but it is ONLY vegan if you don't use the kosher marshmallows (fish gelatin)

tilapia with a twist

fresh tilapia sprinkled with salt, onion and garlic, coriander, dill, and mint. baked.

tru roots brand sprouted rice and quinoa blend (another costco purchase).

asparagus and mushrooms, sauteed.

wake up and go smoothie!

8 oz carrot juice (bolthouse farms, costco)
2 tbsp ground flax (woo hoo costco!)
frozen strawberries (go costco, go costco)
frozen mixed berries (cascadian farms...costco!)
1 banana
1 tbsp nut butter
drizzle agave nectar
...everything in the BLENDER!

(see i told you i was weaning myself off the coffee)

cauliflower black bean tacos

drizzle a little olive oil into a pan and sautee your cauliflower. chop up into small pieces. add canned black beans. i used 2 cans of black beans and about 8 oz of cauliflower. adjust these ratios for your family size.

food crime: i added 2 sauce packets from a "regular" taco kit into the bean and cauli mix.

i arranged 365 brand taco shells into trays and scooped the bean mix into them, then i added nice amounts of shredded mozzarella.

serve with tomato-avocado guacamole and hot salsa and you have...a WINNER DINNER! lol

(the one thing that would have made this better? sour cream.)

OMG SO DELISH :-)

sometimes i'm a night bird. everybody is asleep. i can relax and troll the internet get some household tasks done in peace.

so what's a girl to do at 3am when she's hungry? why, invent a new and amazing snack!

i decided i wanted shirataki. you know, the uber low-cal soy noodles (love love love them). i wanted them in broth. i hunted high and low for something broth-like, but to no avail.

then i decided i would make them with some cheese and sauce! yummy, right? so i open the pantry only to find huge bottles of tomato marinada. nope, not interested in opening those. then my eyes fell upon ... the baby food jars! specifically, earth's best tomato and carrot blend! (for those of you creeped out by the idea of eating baby food, get over yourself. it's just pureed food). so i used those as "sauce."

i heated up 2 baby food jars in a saucepan and added 1 baby food jar of water. added sliced mushrooms and the package of shirataki noodles. when everything was hot, i added 2 tbsp of j & j cream cheese, and mixed it in until it became creamy. i spiced it up with salt, italian blend, garlic and onion powders.

voila! yummy, low-cal, high protein "fettucine alfredo!" (did i mention tasty? lol)

sweet potato and even sweeter salmon and veggies!

baked sweet potatoes with earth balance olive oil margarine...yum...

salmon dipped in egg and dredged in ground flax seed and oat flour. the dredge was generously spiced with curry powder. more conservatively on garlic and onion powders. :) baked.

red, yellow, and green peppers were cut up and broiled for about 5 mins, then arranged on top of the salmon. agave nectar was gently drizzled on, then sprinkled all over with salt.

can you say YUM?

shortcuts (quick fleishig supper)

tonight's repast will be the usual healthy and kosher, but simple is the magic word. i'm falling on my face with exhaustion so i took some shortcuts.

let's talk about a great product: imagine food's creamy mushroom soup. this food seriously rocks the casbah. i was going to make a creamy white sauce from scratch when this product literally jumped off the shelf into my waiting shopping cart. that's shortcut #1.

shortcut #2 was frozen veggies: heimishe brand broccoli, yellow squash, yada yada. less chopping.

i sauteed some onions in olive oil and tamari, and then dumped the whole container of thick mushroom soup in. added all the veggies, and it's happily simmering away as we speak.

oh yeah, i put in chicken. lots of leftover pesach chicken. i pulled it off the bone into strips.

the only question is, do i serve it over whole wheat noodles or rice pasta?

gumbo popcorn balls

just like gumbo, they have a little bit of everything:

one big ol' bowl of popcorn
365 chocolate bits (whole foods house brand)
chatfield's carob powder
elyon mini marshmallows (heimish brand)
365 sunflower seed kernels
flax-USA ground flax seed
*kirkland signature honey (costco house brand)
*lundberg brown rice syrup

* you could use a non-hydrogenated nut butter in place of either the honey or rice syrup, that would lend a chocolate-peanut buttery taste. if you use a nut butter, add some salt to jazz it up.

dump everything into the big ol' popcorn bowl and make sure all the ingredients are relatively "even." at the end, drizzle copious amounts of the honey and brown rice syrup all over everything until it's nice and saturated. then form into little balls - squeeze your hands together tight! make those suckers stick together! place on cookie sheets and freeze. YUMMY. tastes just like nutty chews (only healthier)!