Tempeh and Broccoli

One of the unusual things about my restrictive diet is the recommendation to eat more tofu. Since I basically never ate tofu before, any amount is "more." And it's also an adventure to try some different things.

I have read different recipes and articles and mostly tofu is stir-fried. I have also read about this stuff called tempeh. It is fermented soybeans and some contend that it is better for you than regular tofu. I decided to try it, and I like it because it is not as mushy as tofu is.

Tempeh and Broccoli

1 block of tempeh, cubed

1 head of broccoli, chopped into florets

1 tbs oil

salt

Put a large frying pan on high heat. Get it really hot and pour in the oil. You want enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Add the tempeh, and cook until it starts browning and getting a little crispy around the edges.

Add the broccoli. You may need to add a little more oil. Cook the broccoli until it turns bright green and even gets some darkening.

Season with salt.

You could serve this over rice or on its own.

Weekend's Worth of Dinners

Linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

I've been pretty impressed with myself this weekend. My grandparents were visiting, and after completely panicking about what to feed them, I think I have done pretty well. I managed to feed them well -- hopefully well enough that they didn't realize everything that was missing -- and stick to my diet and get my gut healing.

Dinner 1: Stir Fry
At first my plan was to do fried rice. But that didn't pan out because I didn't have time to cook the rice beforehand. This was actually fine. I stir fried a huge pan of vegetables, added shrimp, and had some good sushi rice.

Veggies:
Snow peas
Broccoli
Leeks
Celery
Carrots
Zucchini
All veggies were chopped and sauteed in a little canola oil. At the end of the cooking time I added a dash of gluten-free tamari.

Shrimp: pre-cooked, frozen shrimp. Thawed in cold running water (per package directions) and then tossed in with the veggies at the very end. Just to get a little warmer.

Sushi rice: cooked according to directions. What made this good was a hearty dash of rice vinegar after cooking.

Dinner 2: Pasta two ways
This time I tried the Deboles gluten-free multigrain spaghetti. I am NOT recommending this. I really liked the penne style and the taste is good. But somehow, in the process of cooking, the spaghetti-style broke into a million tiny pieces. Definitely not spaghetti.

Sauces: Parsley pesto and a tweaked tomato

Parsley Pesto
fill the bowl of the food processor at least half full of parsley. (I thought this was a fantastic use for my slightly wilted parsley).
1 clove garlic
2 handfuls of toasted pinenuts
1 tsp salt
olive oil
Just drizzle in the olive oil and pulse until everything blends and starts getting smooth.

Tweaked Tomato Sauce
I make good tomato sauce. I lived in Italy. I learned. However on my current diet, I can't have most of the things that you put in tomato sauce (I can't eat the tomatoes either). So when I planned this meal, I thought I had a jar of tomato sauce in my pantry. Turns out it is salsa.

Since I can't eat many of the "normal" things, like onions. I simply don't have them in my house any more. So here are the on-the-fly changes I made.

1 can diced tomatoes
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 rib of celery, sliced
1/4 leek, sliced
olive oil
basil
salt and pepper
Sautee the carrot, celery and leek in the olive oil. Add the tomatoes and seasoning. Bring to a boil and then simmer.

This dinner was served with a large salad.

Dinner 3: Salmon
For Sunday dinner, I got a little fancier. I made Salmon with cucumber relish, green beans, and brown rice.

The salmon. Hmmm... now that I look back at that original recipe, I realize that I cut my cucumber much larger. Perhaps next time I will try it smaller.

Green beans
Wash and trim the green beans. Fill a large frying pan with a little water, just enough to coat the bottom. Bring the water to a boil and add the zest of a lemon. Add the beans and steam until bright green.
This time I didn't bother zesting the lemon. I just used my peeler to slice off pieces of the peel. I added those and a little juice.


All in all it was a good and tasty weekend.

Stir Fry

Don't you just want to eat something that is that brilliantly purple and green?

There was a commercial not too long ago for Sonic. They were advertising some big basket of food. It was entirely brown. I went out to dinner a couple of weeks ago with some friends, and all the waiters were carrying big plates of brown food. If you think about it, brown just doesn't look that appetizing. "What can brown do for you?" Well, probably feed you, but colors are pretty.

Red Cabbage and Bok Choy Stir Fry

Adapted from Meghan Telpner's Red Cabbage and Spinach Stir Fry

1/4 head of red cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons

2 stalks of bok choy, sliced into thin ribbons

2 tbs olive oil

1 tsp dill seeds

2 tsp ginger root, peeled and minced

2 tbs tamari

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the dill seeds and ginger and toast them. Add the cabbage and bok choy and sautee them. If you are adept at the tossing thing, go ahead. I think there is no shame in using a spoon though. When the cabbage and bok choy are almost cooked (about 5 minutes), add the tamari and cook for another minute or so.

You could serve this over any grain you like, pasta noodles, rice, quinoa. I ate it plain.

Pesto, Peppers, and Stir Fry

Good food weekend. I kept thinking I'd treat myself to dinner out, but then I kept realizing that I have a ton of food in the fridge. So I enjoyed it.

Meal #1: Cilantro Pesto over Rice
Bunch of cilantro
Lime juice
1 green onion
Olive oil
A dash of salt
A dash of ground ginger

I pulsed everything in the food processor and then put it over rice.

Meal #2: Stuffed green peppers
I got 4 green peppers on the cheap, so I decided to stuff them.

1 cup of rice (or so)
1/2 can of black beans
2 chipotle peppers (canned)
2-3 tbs adobo sauce (the sauce the chipotles are canned in)
1 diced tomato
3 tbs chopped onions
lime juice
cilantro

I realized afterward that I could have added corn as well.

I just mixed everything together, until it looked like the blend I wanted, then cored the green peppers, stuffed them, covered with a sprinkle of cheese and baked at 350 for 20 minutes.

Since I had so many peppers, I froze some of them (before I cooked them).

Meal #3: Curried Apple Chicken Stir Fry
I'm editing to add a note about this stir fry. First, it has curry in it, so I expected it to be spicy, and was kind of disappointed that it is sweet. So next time I will add more curry paste, and I'm adjusting the leftovers with salt, pepper, cumin, and probably chili powder too.

Also, next time I will make either the stir fry, or the rice, not both. I don't need a fancy dressed-up rice when I am covering it with stir fry.

Everything has tasted really good.