Broccoli is Good for You

Mom would be proud if you ate this broccoli dish. You could make this with your eyes closed.

Required: Broccoli, Chili Oil, Canola Oil, Sea Salt

Take desired amount of broccoli and dump it in a pan. Add 2 Tbsp of Chili Oil (this will give your dish a hint of spiciness.) Then add a couple of tsp of Canola Oil. Saute on high heat until broccoli gets a little charred. Yes, I said charred. See the dark brown spots in the picture above? You want it to look like that. Although you DON'T want to overcook it. I usually don't like my broccoli soggy. I like it soft yet fairly crisp. You can serve this with rice or pasta or use it as a side vegetable dish in a multiple course meal.

Don't forget to add Sea Salt to taste. Salt makes everything taste better!

Bowties

If you like pesto, try this...

Required: Bowtie pasta, Crimini Mushrooms, Firm tofu, Pesto (For vegans, you can find vegan pesto at Whole Foods), Olive Oil, Black pepper, Salt

Optional: Garlic powder

First, prepare the pasta by boiling just enough in a pot. Put a little olive oil and salt in the pot while boiling the water. In the meantime, slice the mushrooms as desired. Cut firm pieces of tofu into cubes. Saute the tofu and mushrooms in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add a few pinches of salt and black pepper. Add a few dashes of garlic powder if you have it. If you like garlic, you can also add a minced clove into this saute.

When the pasta is ready to drain, let saute stand while you are draining the pasta. Put a dash of olive oil in the drained pasta and stir. This will prevent the pasta from sticking to each other. When you refrigerate the leftover pasta, it will also prevent the pasta from clumping.

Add desired pasta topped with mushroom and tofu saute to a large bowl. Stir in desired amount of pesto. Mix well.

15 minutes and you're done!

Green Beans

Green beans! I got this recipe from watching my mom cook. Can't go wrong with mom's cooking.

Required: French style green beans (the thin small kind), Olive Oil, Fresh Garlic, Sugar (yes, that's right)

Optional: Medium grain white rice

Mince one garlic clove. Rinse green beans. Heat pan for 30 seconds on high. Place 2 Tbsp of oil and garlic in pan. Sauté the garlic. Dump the green beans into the pan. Sauté. Add 2 Tsp of sugar. Mix well. Keep cooking under high heat until beans start to caramelize a bit. Let green beans cook until soft while still retaining crispness. (Soggy beans are not ideal.)

Optional to serve on a bed of rice. 10 minutes and you're ready to eat!

Indian Spring

I don't pretend to know how to cook Indian food. In fact, I know that it's one of the most difficult ethnic foods to make. But I really surprised myself with this one. I liked it so much, I couldn't stop eating!

Required: White Mushrooms, White Onion, Curry Powder, Garlic Powder, Canola Oil, 1 Can of Chick Peas or Garbanzo Beans

Optional: Clove Powder, Rice, Sea Salt, Soy Sauce, Black Pepper

Chop the white onion into small pieces. Slice mushrooms. Saute onion in oil. Put in mushrooms and saute some more. Keep stirring until mushroom is softer. After opening the can of chick peas, pour in about 3/4 of the can. Add curry powder. Add enough powder to cover all of your ingredients. Then add two tablespoons of water and one tablespoon of soy sauce. Don't add too much. The water will dissolve the curry so that it turns into a bit of a sauce. Add a dash of clove powder. Add some black pepper and sea salt for taste.

Serve over a bed of rice. I pre-cooked some Basmati rice...

I think this one's my favorite!

Spicy Chinese Inspired Scramble

Broccoli, tofu and bean sauce are featured in this dish. It's easy, I promise!

Required: Broccoli, Bean Sauce (you can get this in any Asian grocery store), Spices (black pepper or Sri Ra Cha - pictured here), Sesame Oil or Canola Oil

Optional: Somen Noodles or Rice, Tofu, Peanuts or Cashews, Chili Oil

I always have to have carbs with my dishes, thus the Somen. But you can make this without noodles or rice. If you want to make the noodles, I would suggest boiling the noodles first. If you are making rice, you should prepare it well in advance. The noodles took less than 5 minutes to cook.

While the noodle was boiling. I crumbled the tofu. (After the noodles were finished boiling, I added some Sesame and Hot Chili Oil as well as a little soy sauce to the drained noodles.) You can use a fork for mushing. Then I used about 1 to 2 tablespoons to oil a pan with sesame oil. I let the pan heat up. I added pre-chopped broccoli into the pan and sauteed for a bit. I like my broccoli crispy but not soft; use your own judgement here. After I decided the broccoli was almost where I wanted it, I added the crumbled tofu. I then took another 1 to 2 tablespoons of black bean sauce and added to the mix. Black bean sauce is very salty so there's no need to add salt. (I learned this the hard way once.) After that, you have to push everything around in the pan until the ingredients are mingling well enough. Cook to taste. I added a little black pepper and Sri Ra Cha which is Chinese hot sauce.

This saute went over Somen noodles.

Done in 20 minutes!

Baked Tofu Sandwich

You need bread, baked tofu, some kind of spread, mushrooms, and some kind of leafy green. In this picture I used buttermilk bread. First I prepared the mushrooms by slicing them thinly. Then I sliced the baked tofu into thinner slices. (It usually comes as a block.) I had a difficult time slicing the tofu as you can see from the picture. The bread had a thin layer of mayo before I added the raw spinach. Finally, I topped it off with the tofu and mushrooms! For those of you who are vegan, you can easily substitute mayo with mustard or hummus. You can also make variations using sprouts rather than spinach.

15 minutes to make, 15 minutes to eat. Mmm!