Vegetable Stir Fry with Brown Rice

I had a week long craving for rice and vegetables so I decided to visit the little market down the street and make it happen. I picked up all of these ingredients (besides the tofu, rice, soy sauce and sesame seed oil) for $8. Like I’ve said before, meals seem a lot easier to make when you have some staple ingredients at home that you can use whenever you want. This may seem difficult if you live in a tiny apartment like me; but knowing you have rice, oils, onions, garlic and some basic spices allows you to get creative in a cheap way. All you have to add are some fresh vegetables, pick your spices and you’re good.

Stir fry is usually cooked at a very high heat where the ingredients are rapidly added and stirred into the dish. It’s fast and easy. And making stir fry at home guarantees a healthier dish than ordering out. And what’s with putting egg in stir fry? I remember always thinking they were unnecessary and kind of gross as a kid- so you wont find any eggs in this recipe.

Things I put in my stir fry:

Mixed vegetable stir fry with brown rice:

• Half package of firm tofu
• Three leaves of kale
• Broccoli
• White mushrooms
• 1/3 of a cabbage chopped
• 1/2 of an eggplant chopped
• Red bell pepper
• Grape tomatoes
• 2 cups of brown rice
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1/3-1/2 onion
• Soy Sauce
• Safflower oil for saute
• Sesame seed oil
• Spices: Black pepper, red pepper, ginger powder

Because tofu and eggplant take longer to cook, I sauteed them in one clove of garlic, onions, ginger and safflower oil until they had some texture. I then added the rest of the vegetables (besides the tomatoes), garlic, and spices until they were cooked. When it looked like the vegetables had about 5 minutes left of cooking time, I added a generous amount of low sodium, vegetarian soy sauce. If you add the soy sauce too early, the liquid tends to evaporate and you’re left with a more salty dish than intended.

Cook over medium heat after the soy sauce has been added for a few minutes. Then add about a quarter sized drop of sesame seed oil.

Assuming you’ve been cooking your brown rice along side of your pan of veggie happiness, you’re almost ready to eat! I topped mine with fresh grape tomatoes. You may want to add the brown rice to the vegetables so it can be cooked in the soy sauce and spices.

Mmmm.

Portobello Pita

If you continue to follow this blog, you’ll notice a developing pattern: I almost always have kale, tomatoes, avocado and onions in my fridge. So moving forward, don’t be surprised. But the perk about having staple foods available is that you can make countless things with them and only have spent $10-$15 for the week. And if you’re poor, like me, this is great news.

A few days ago I got this pack of seven sprouted wheat pitas for $5 at the farmer’s market. And I’ve already made three different pitas: curry tofu, spicy red pepper tofu and today’s portobello mushroom and mixed vegetable pita. Note: I spent about $30 at the farmers market last weekend and haven’t make a trip to the store since. See?

Here’s what you need:

Portobello and Mixed Vegetable Pita:

• One sprouted wheat pita that you can split and open
• One large portobello mushroom sliced into thick strips
• Daiya cheddar style cheeze
• Black or kidney beans
• Kale
• Sweet corn
• Grape tomatoes
• Slice of onion
• Avocado (not pictured)

Spices: Cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, ground mustard

Much like the tofu scramble, the vegetables were sauteed in safflower oil in order of their cooking time: onions and sliced portobello first, then kale, corn and tomatoes.  I kept the black beans separate in another pan and held off adding the avocado and Daiya cheese til the very end.

I don’t like adding too much Daiya to things like this because the cheddar flavor is super strong and I prefer the spicy vegetables to be the highlight. But I did add a little Daiya, melted it in the pita on the stove then added the vegetable mix.

Yum!

Oh and I almost forgot the best side dish anyone could ask for: coffee.

Tofu Scrambles

We’re making tofu scrambles today, ya’ll!

I got to enjoy brunch with a fellow food lover fanatic and close friend this morning. She’s one of my favorite people to eat with because we both become so particular about each and every bite being different, distinguishable, and interesting.

Tofu is a staple way to getting protein in any diet and a great substitution if you are feeling like making a scramble in the morning. The clock is ticking for me to finish all these amazing vegetables in my refrigerator and a meal like this allows me to throw as many different kinds as I want together and it still taste amazing.

So here’s the skinny:

Just like any scramble, you can put literally anything you want in it. These things just caught my eye and needed to be used, so there you go.

Ingredients in today’s scramble:

• One package of tofu (firm)*
• Safflower Oil
• Three leaves of red chard
• Two leaves of kale
• Broccoli
• Slice of chopped yellow onion
• Clove of garlic
• Quarter of a red bell pepper
• Few slices of tomato
• Avocado

Spices: black pepper, few pinches of salt, red pepper, paprika, lemon zest, garlic salt.

**Usually for tofu scrambles I use Silken Tofu and not firm tofu. You can find it in the non-refrigerated section, usually in a little cardboard box. It tends to be non-GMO and breaks up into small little granules that make it easier to scramble. Both work fine, it just depends on the texture you prefer. Don’t expect firm tofu to break apart in the pan so break it up, people!

Scrambles are easy. Just sort of chop up all of the ingredients and add them in order of their individual cooking time. We caramelized some onions and garlic first then added our diced tofu, followed by the broccoli, then the pepper, chard and kale. I added the tomatoes last because I love raw tomatoes.

Making progress on the stove. Veg filled heaven.

And here’s the final product:

And us being happy:

Make your own version and be happy too!

Taco Salad FTW!

I made a super delicious taco salad today. Salads are the easiest thing to make, ever. As long as you find good produce and don’t drench it with dressing, they are generally great for you and there are thousands of combinations. The other great thing about adding a ton of different vegetables is that often you don’t go through ingredients very quickly. Slice of red pepper here, a few grape tomatoes there, a few leaves of lettuce- so cheap and endless! You can use any type of lettuce you want but I’m a fan of mixing different types and textures. For this salad I mixed raw kale and red leaf lettuce. 

I was craving all of these things in my fridge individually so I just cut them up and piled them all together.

Ingredients (salad):

• Red leaf lettuce
• Kale
• Grape tomatoes
• Uncooked, sliced corn
• A slice of red bell pepper
• Cilantro
• Kidney Beans
• Black Beans
• Veggie and flax seed tortilla chips
• Avocado

Ingredients (dressing):

• Juice of one lime
• Two tablespoons(ish) of olive oil
• Black pepper
• Red pepper
• Onion Powder
• TAPATIO 

 

Super easy, super healthy, and it includes three of my favorite things on the planet: tomatoes, avocado and Tapatio. Success.

 

Food Lovers and Beautiful People

This is the first post in what will hopefully be a fruitful (pun intended) adventure. First things first, I am no chef and I don’t intend to be one. But I’ve always been a foodie. I love eating food, thinking about yummy stuff, and planning new meals with my friends and family. There is something so comforting about sharing a meal or a cup of coffee with people that mean something to you.

I don’t know when my taste changed or if it was always this way but I largely enjoy healthy food over the alternative. After living in San Francisco for almost six years, the thought of fast food is just pretty gross. There aren’t many fast food places here and healthy, awesome food is available everywhere and super cheap.

I like to think I have a healthy relationship with healthy food.

My recent decision to begin a vegan diet has transformed my relationship with food, health and the living things around me. Not having consumed red meats since junior high school and having done the vegetarian thing on and off, I figured it was time I tried something new. After doing a lot of reading, I found that veganism wasn’t as much of a drastic change as I thought. I can’t tell you the last time I bought a carton of milk or bought meat home to cook for myself. Cheese even, was rarely in my refrigerator. One thing I did notice was while meat was not a large portion of my diet, almost everything I consumed outside of my home had some form of animal product in it. All of the plentiful “healthy”, “organic”, “local” food still almost always contains products derived from animals. Although cognizant of the absolutely horrific conditions in our massive slaughter houses, I lazily continued to choose convenience over ethics. It’s easy and tastes good, I’m with you. But I knew with a little challenge and creativity, I could learn how to make a vegan diet delicious and convenient too. Now, I’m still learning everyday how to be more strict with myself, but I do think I’m starting to get the hang of this thing (a little bit)!

What I did not expect, was the support and excitement I received from the fantastic people around me. During the holidays I was able to cook for my meat-loving Texan family who humbly embraced my unfamiliar meals simply because they wanted to support my decision. I’ve shared and received recipes and cook books with others who seem just as excited as I am about the change. I’ve acquired new friends who inspire me to expand my knowledge and continue to challenge myself. Truly, the response has been beautiful.

Consuming food is and should be a communal activity. It is the practice of making art, bonding over shared creations and a lesson understanding our connection to fellow living things around us. Although food is overly abundant in our American culture, we have lost our relationship to it, our awareness of its origin. And in an effort to reconnect, it is important that ethically produced food be repositioned as a centerpiece in our communities. I am excited to share my tiny little attempt at this with you rad people.