The tofu and asparagus were marinated in some olive oil, soy sauce, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Then I grilled them on the grill pan. I know. It’s complicated.
For the potato salad, I had about a half cup of leftover homemade walnut-basil pesto that I mixed into a quick dressing with olive oil, white wine vinegar, and a little water to get to the desired texture. This was tossed with big chunks of boiled red potato, a healthy handful of FRESH peas (I’m the only one in this house who cares, but I tasted one at the market and became obsessed), and some steamed baby kale. Easy peasy.
Tonight’s dinner: baked tofu (sesame oil + hot sauce + soy sauce), sprouted red + brown rice, wilted pea shoots and asparagus, and curry peanut sauce. Not a great photo, but a pretty good meal.
I always like to try new things, so this morning I opted to go a different route for the semi-traditional fancy Saturday breakfast: the chickpea omelet (Vegan Richa’s recipe). Her recipe suggest this is cooked similar to an uttapam; I can see it, but I went a different way with the veggies and the flavors. I skipped the cumin in the batter and added nutritional yeast; for veggies cooked into the pancake I went with shallots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and shredded carrot. Then I had these beautiful asparagus to use up (somehow I didn’t plan a menu around asparagus this week; clearly I am failing in my duties) so I tossed six of them in a pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt and let them go a bit greener before taking it off the heat and splashing with balsamic vinegar. I piled them on top of the omelet and sprinkled with fresh dill for Saturday Fancy flourish.
This was pretty good, though the boyfriend said he could “sometimes” taste the chickpea flour in an off-putting way (I am pretty sure I mixed it fine, but it may have cooked unevenly, especially that first one, so you’d get that raw flour taste) and might taste better thinner and more crepe-like. Something to consider for next time, I suppose. For mine, I enjoyed the crunchy exterior and fluffy interior a lot.
A nice Sunday lunch, via Salad Samurai. Although I enjoy pad thai, I don’t have a favorite pad thai recipe because too often I find the sauce/noodle balance out of whack, so I thought I’d give this less-saucy version a try. It’s fresh and crunchy and tasty–and the lemongrass baked tofu is pretty great; I will make that again–but I wish for a bit more salty peanutty-ness. That’s an easy fix: ADD MORE PEANUTS.
I had a bunch of random stuff to use up, and the only requests I got from the boyfriend were “not too kale-y” and “very unlike calzone” (because that’s what he had for lunch). So here’s what I made:
Baked tofu with a marinade/baking sauce composed of gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, minced ginger, and a little bit of mirin and coconut syrup. Baking tofu in a sauce–mixed right in the pan–is my lazy go-to. It’s easy to play up and try different combinations of things. I just throw the baking dish in my toaster oven for 20 minutes on 400 degrees, then flip and bake another 20 minutes. Besides my oven being presently out of order (I’ve got someone coming out Thursday to fix it, I hope), the timer function makes this very easy. I use the toaster oven even when my oven is working, unless I’m roasting a bunch of stuff.
Soba noodles with ginger and veggies was a bunch of things cooked separately–the noodles had to boil, of course, but I stir-fried in sesame oil shallots with thinly sliced red bell pepper, then pieces of asparagus, then some snow peas. I added a few spoonfuls of a quick sauce I made for the veggies – miniature ginger matchsticks in vegetable broth and a splash of soy sauce and a few good shakes of red pepper flakes. After the noodles were cooked, I tossed everything together with the rest of the ginger sauce and a couple chopped scallions.
Braised mixed greens were the last, simplest part. Happy Boy Farms sells a great braising greens mix that’s got a little bit of everything–kale, escarole, cabbage, and chard–that I chopped u[p a bit and stuck in a pan with vegetable broth and ginger. Cooked on low until everything is tender and wilted, annnnnd… that’s it.
Baked tofu with balsamic vinegar and green garlic, roasted rainbow carrots with thyme and asparagus, lemon parsley dressing, kale salad, and quinoa
The sauce was a riff on the creamy-cilantro lime dressing from Salad Samurai: lemon instead of lime, parsley instead of cilantro, and fresh spring onion instead of powder. The rest of the recipe includes cashews, a little light miso, garlic, and pepper, just add water and throw in the VitaMix.
Baking tofu in a mix of olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, green garlic, and fresh thyme sprigs is a pretty good base. The same ingredients – sub salt for the soy sauce – makes for good roasted carrots. Kept the asparagus simple with olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt.
