Panang Foo Curry Tofu

I had been making my standard curry so often that Bryan and I were getting sick of it for sure. So I haven't mad it now in a pretty long time. Last night I wanted to get creative in the kitchen so I grabbed one of the Panang Curry packets that Anna had sent me down from Atlanta and started pulling ingredients out of cabinets for my creation. And here I will share it with you...

Ingredients:

• panang curry packet (or any curry paste)
• 1/2 sweet yellow onion
• 1 pkg firm tofu
• 2 T evoo
• 1 can artichokes
• 1 package ramen noodles (throw out spice pack)
• veggie broth
• 1 t peanut butter
• chopped peanuts
• red pepper spice

Steps

1. Chop onions and saute in evoo
2. Chop tofu into bite sized pieces and saute with onions 
3. Once the tofu starts to brown on the outside add in the artichokes
4. Coat with curry paste mixing around well 
5. add a teaspoon of peanut butter and some scoops of raw peanuts
6. Continue to sautee under all pieces are browning/cooked to your liking
7. Add 1 can of veggie broth and spice with splenda, pepper and anything within reach
8. Add broken up package of noodles and let the sauce come to a short boil 
9. Lower heat but continue stirring and heating
10. Once noodles are soft you are done
11. Serve

*Note: given my mouth of steel I like things hot - so if you have a more tender tongue you may want to lessen your spicing and paste

Tikil Tofu

I made this this week after cooking up some habesha dishes and desiring something with tofu. It definitely added some color and made the dish more filling as well.

Ingredients

• a spoonful tikil gomen
• cubed tofu
• 1T evoo
• 1T berbere

Steps

1. Rub the tofu in berbere and then cube it
2. Throw the cubed tofu in a pan with evoo
3. After a few moments of sizzling throw in a spoonful of tikil gomen and spread it around
4. Once the tofu has a crispier exterior (or cooked to your content) remove from heat
5. Serve and enjoy

Lentil Veggie-Burgers

Recently the smell of lentils reminded me of the veggie burgers I used to buy back in the day, before Publix carried such things as boca and garden burgers. I decided I wanted to try to recreate them so I did this weekend. I made a batch, froze the ones I didn't make right away, and have been enjoying the heck out of them all week. I have decided to make these regularly and vary between them and boca to both save money and try something different.

• 1 Cup lentils
• 2.5 Cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 celery sticks chopped
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 egg white
• handful of shredded low fat cheese
• ketchup
• hot sauce

1. Boil lentils until soft in salted water
2. Sautee garlic, onion, and celery
3. Once cooled enough to work with but still warm mix all ingredients together
4. Once evenly distributed, work into balls and flatten into patties
5. At this point you can freeze them individually or cook them
6. I grilled them at this point on my george foreman but you can also sautee in a frying pan or in the oven
7. Enjoy either standalone or on a bun with veggies and cheese, be sure to add your favorite condiments (my favorite is lite mayo and no salt hunts ketchup mixed together)

Sweet Ginger Couscous

This past Saturday I was scrounging up a meal for my husband and mother in law when I came across my couscous in the pantry. Normally I would throw some Parmesan in and be done with it but I wanted to try something a little different.

• 1 cup dry couscous
• 2.5 cups water (can substitute chicken/veggie broth for more flavor)
• ginger paste
• splenda (or sweetener of your choice)
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Bring water and salt to a boil in a small saucepan
2. When boil is reached pour in couscous
3. Remove from heat
4. Add in a small squeeze of ginger paste and some splenda to taste and mix well to distribute evenly
5. Cover and let it sit about 10-20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed into couscous. Should be a fluffy not sticky consistency.
6. Serve and enjoy :)