There always seems to be a dish or two that I will forget to post in a timely matter. I made this for Christmas dinner this year, adapted from The Millennium Cookbook. We were supposed to make homemade pasta to go along with this sauce, but by the time dinner rolled around we were too hungry to wait! The braised garlic reminds me of my grandfather who would eat a few cloves of roasted garlic a day. I love this roasted spread on a piece of toasted bread. No need to worry about vampires or Twilight fans when you make this dish.

Tomato & Peas Carbonara

3 cups soy milk (original)
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 tbsp. white miso
2 tbsp. fresh oregano or 1 tsp. dried
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ground fennel seeds

4 large heads garlic
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp. rosemary and/or fresh thyme

1 lb. pasta
1/2 package sun dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), julienned
1/2 cup fresh peas or thawed frozen

Preheat oven to 350. Cut off the top 1/2 or so from each head of garlic so that the bulbs are exposed. Place the bulbs in a shallow baking dish. Add the vegetable broth, thyme and rosemary to the dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 90 minutes. Once cool, squeeze out the garlic of the top of the bulb. You should have about 1 cup.

In a blender or food processor add the garlic from above and the rest of the ingredients starting with the soymilk and ending at the fennel seeds. Transfer to a sauce pan and heat on medium heat until warm, stirring frequently.

Heat a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Once you begin to warm the sauce in the sauce pan, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. Add the cooking water and the drained pasta to the warmed sauce. Add the peas and sundried tomatoes and gently toss together. Season with salt/pepper if desired.

Serves 6. Calories 368., 6g fat., 4.5g fiber., 17g protein

Our first course was this wild mushroom soup that was incredible. Also from The Millennium Cookbook

Cashew cream, chanterelle, lobster and oyster mushrooms, vegetables… how can you go wrong?

What did you make for Christmas Dinner?

Confession time: we probably eat stir-fry at least twice a week. It’s a great way to pack a ton of vegetables into a meal and the warm, spicy sauce tastes like comfort food to me. I recently made this  for our stir-fry night and it was a big hit. I used seitan in this recipe, but you could substitute any protein you have on hand.

Sweet and Sour Stir Fry

1 lb seitan, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups sugar snap peas, halved
3 carrots, sliced
2 tbsp. oil or vegetable broth

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. corn starch
3 tbsp. ketchup
3 tbsp. maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
1/4 cup water

Mix together the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce and set aside. Heat a large skillet or wok to medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. broth or oil. Once heated through, add the garlic and quickly toss for 1-2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and stir.

Add the seitan to the garlic oil and fry for 5-6 minutes until the seitan cooks through and has a nice crust on it. Add the carrots, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the sugar snap peas and cook for another minute. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the sauce. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Serves 4. Per serving: 240 cal, 7g fat, 33g protein

If you haven’t tried tempeh before, I don’t blame you. Although it’s becoming a much more popular food item, the un-known of how to prepare it can turn you away. Tempeh, hailing from Indonesia, is a nutrient cake made with fermented soybeans. It has a nutty flavor and nougat like texture. It’s also packed with protein, soy, manganese and riboflavin. But, that’s not the main reason DK loves it so much… it’s also a very inexpensive source of protein with zero cholesterol or saturated fat ($1.99 a lb at my Trader Joe’s in California).

So, onto the main question at hand: how do you cook it? I sometimes forget that while I enjoy quirky ingredients, they are not of mainstream know-how. Today’s post is a back to basics approach in learning how to prepare tempeh for my taco salad recipe.

Tempeh is showing up in more and more grocery stores around the country. Look for it near the refrigerated tofu section. As with all soy products, you should really try to only purchase organic soy. I’m definitely not a stickler on using only organic produce but I am really adamant about organic soy. Non-organic soy is a genetically modified organism (GMO) and as bad for your health as it is for the planet. This now motivates me to write a post on GMO’s but until I explain in more detail, try to only purchase soy items that are organic or specifically say Non-GMO.

I almost always steam my tempeh first before using it. I find that softening it this way allows for better flavor absorption. Set up a steamer like you would for any food item. Cut the 1lb tempeh package in 1/2 and place in steamer basket. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Remove the tempeh from the steam basket and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Depending on what you want to do with it, there are different approaches you can take. I often use tempeh to replace ground meat in dishes like tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joe’s, ect. If you want to use it as crumbles, you can grate it on a wide cheese grater, use a food processor or chop it finely. You can also leave it as steaks, add a sauce or seasoning, then bake or fry.

From here, I added the chopped tempeh to a large frying pan, with a can of pinto beans and taco seasoning. This is a really easy filling and can be used to make burritos, enchiladas, tacos, taquitos, ect. I love to make a salad with this filling plus lettuce, corn, salsa, and my own 1,000 Isle dressing.

What are your favorite ways to prepare tempeh? Let me know when you try this and how you like it!

I made this the day before Thanksgiving. It was easy, quick and of course healthy and satisfying.

Tofu with Sesame Soba Noodles

Ingredients:

1 package soba noodles
1 block tofu, cubed
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup flour- for frying- use any kind you have available
4 tbsp. sesame seeds (black or white)
2 tbsp. sesame oil
1/8 cup nutritional yeast (optional but I love the flavor it adds to the tofu)
3 cups broccoli, raw or if frozen, thawed
1 1/2 cups chopped  raw carrot
1 cup frozen edamame, thawed

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and toss hot noodles with sesame oil, 1 tbsp. soy sauce, and sesame seeds. While noodles are cooking, steam or heat in a large skillet the broccoli, carrots, and edamame.  Toss the cubed tofu with the flour  until well coated. Fry the cubes in a cast-iron pan or skillet sprayed with oil. Fry until golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes.  Toss the fried tofu with nutritional yeast and 2 tbsp soy sauce.

Combine the noodles, vegetables and tofu. Add more soy sauce if you’d like to taste.

Enjoy!