Tuesday Yummyness

Chinese Sesame Salad. I will come back later to post the picture of this dish. It is so good and a favorite. I make everything from the dressing to the baked tofu. It's very easy.

Baked Teriyaki Tofu

Preheat oven to 375. Toss all three in a bowl. Cover tofu with liquid. Spread evenly on cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes:
16 oz firm tofu
2 Tbsp soy sauce (or Braggs)
1 Tbsp sesame oil

The Dressing

Mix together:
1/2 cup vegan mayo
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce (or Braggs)

The salad is:

Iceberg lettuce sliced thinly (or I like to use cabbage, either red or green)
1 red bell (diced)
1/2 bunch green onion (sliced)
1/2 bunch cilantro (chopped)

I prepare all of these early, then at supper time, I put all the ingredients together and add:
1/2 cup of sliced almonds

That's it. Easy Peezy. Tomorrow is Number 3's 9th birthday. We are having sourdough pancakes with sliced strawberries and bananas and real whipped cream that I will whip myself. That's the only part not vegan. I will post that recipe tomorrow. For now, I am off to the Farmer's Market in Flagstaff to get $.79 strawberries and other fruits for the fruit kabobs little man is sharing with his class.

Ask And You Shall Receive

I posted a picture yesterday of the dinner I made. I made lentil soup served in a bread bowl. One person asked me for the bread recipe and when I went to pull up the blog for where I posted it, I realized I never did. So I will. Someone else asked me to post the recipe for the soup, so I'll do that too.

The bread recipe was published in Mother Earth News a few years back. I love that magazine, so if you ever want to know whet to get me for Christmas, a subscription to that would be grand. It's the easiest bread I have ever made and I have made a lot of bread. It takes 5-10 minutes to make, then a couple of hours to rise on it's own, then a minute to form, 40 to rise again and thirty to cook. You spend less than 10 minutes with the dough itself. How cool! Each batch makes four good sized loaves and the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it tastes. You can even get crazy and make sourdough bread and pizza crust. Last nights bread bowls were Italian herb.

The lentil soup recipe is as follows:

Boil for 1 hour:
1 cup rinsed lentils
4 cups of vegetable broth

Saute` until tender in different pan:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 diced celery ribs
1 carrot sliced
1/4 onion diced

Reduce heat of veggies, add: (Then saute` two more minutes)
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp. garlic
1/4 tsp. thyme
pinch of cayenne (I don't like spicy, so I don't add this)

Add veggie mix to lentils then add:
1/4 cup tomato paste

Simmer for 5 minutes; add salt of you need to.

Tonight we are having vegan Chinese Sesame Salad. I will post that in a second. Now that classes are done for the semester, I have more time to cook and more time to blog. On Sunday, after Tris left for work, I made a meal plan and a shopping list. I figured out what I had and what I needed for my fare, so I only spent $62 for 7 dinners with leftovers!! I hadn't meal planned before, but I am going to start, after this weeks savings and delicious dinners. Most of dinner is finished before the kids even get out of school. I am even ahead on Wednesdays meal. Eating well feels good!!!