Today’s recipe incorporates two of my foreign ingredients: eggplant and tofu.  I consider them to be “foreign” because I don’t exactly feel comfortable preparing them.  As a result, I tend to avoid them.  (I think I may have mentioned that already here and here 😉 )I’ve been trying to be better about getting out of my recipe rut, though.  Let me just tell you that this recipe is so worth it!

Hubby always calls when he’s on his way home from work.  He has about a 45 minute drive, so a lot of times, this is my cue to start or finish dinner.  We almost always sit down to eat dinner as a family when he walks in the door.  It’s a fun routine of ours, and I think it’s one of the reasons Munchkin enjoys mealtime so much.  Tonight when Hubby called, he asked what was on the menu for dinner.  When he heard the words “eggplant” and “tofu,” he said, “Sounds delicious!”  (Please imagine the most sarcastic tone here!)  When he walked in the door, though, he said “It smells good in here!  I could smell it from the driveway.”

We each took a bite and both agreed that it was, in fact, delicious.

Thai Basil Eggplant

(Adapted from Vegetarian Gastronomy)

Ingredients

1 eggplant
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 white onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 14-oz. block firm tofu
2 cloves garlic, minced
basil leaves
EVOO

For the sauce

4 1/2 TBS Plum sauce
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tsp sweet chili sauce
2 tsp whole wheat flour

Directions

To Prepare the Eggplant

Cut off the top and bottom tips.
Slice the eggplant into strips 3/4 inch wide by 2 inches long.
In a large skillet, heat 2-3 TBS EVOO on medium heat.
Add the eggplant pieces and toss to coat them in oil.  Add about 1/4 cup of water, reduce heat to simmer, and cover.
Check the eggplant every 5 minutes. Stir the eggplant and add water or oil as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Once eggplant is cooked, but not mushy, turn off the heat and set aside in the pan.

To Prepare the Tofu

Cut the tofu block in half. Place each half in a clean paper towel one at a time and squeeze gently to remove excess storage liquid (without breaking up the tofu).
Cut the tofu into 1/2-Inch cubes.
In another skillet, heat 2 TBS EVOO over medium heat, and pan fry the tofu until golden brown on all sides.

To Prepare the Sauce

Whisk all sauce ingredients until flour has completely dissolved.
Once the tofu is done, set it aside in a separate bowl.
In the same skillet, add 1 TBS EVOO and heat on medium-high. Add the thinly sliced onions and bell peppers. Saute until they are cooked but still firm. Add the minced garlic half way through.

To Prepare the Dish

Add the cooked tofu and veggies to the pan with the cooked eggplant. Turn the heat up to medium and stir in the sauce.
Once the pan is hot, turn the heat down to low-medium and mix frequently until the sauce slightly thickens and coats the eggplant and veggies. This should only take a few minutes.
Turn off the heat and add some freshly chopped basil. Mix once more and serve hot with some quinoa or brown rice!

Bon Appétit!

A couple months ago, I finally branched out and tried a cauliflower dish for Meatless Monday.  I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it that I’ve been trying to be better about breaking out of my comfort zone.  Especially when it comes to Meatless Monday, I find myself preparing the same dishes, mainly because I’m not quite sure of how to fix it.  (This week, I’m attempting tofu AND eggplant in the same dish 😉 )

Last weekend was a little bit of a doozy.  Munchkin was up all Saturday night with a dry cough (Thanks, allergies!), and it took him a couple days to get over it, which meant little sleep going on in this house.  Monday, I just couldn’t get both of us out of the house, and I was scrounging for a meal.  Hubby had made a Costco run and had stocked us up on veggies, so I knew I could throw something together for dinner.  Then, I remembered that we had tortillas and cauliflower in the fridge.  That combo sounded intriguing.  Again, I was surprised by how GOOD cauliflower can be!  And, let me just tell you about the tortillas.  Hubby found these at Costco, and let me just tell you that they are AMAZING!  With only five ingredients, they have got to be the closest thing to homemade that you can get from a store.  (I keep thinking that I’ll try making my own from scratch, but don’t hold your breath!)  These are actually uncooked, and all you do is heat them in a dry pan for about 30 seconds each side.  Easy Peasy!

Hubby and I FINALLY managed to prepare our taxes last Monday night (Nothing like waiting until the last minute!), so I didn’t have time to blog, but I did want to share this recipe with you.  (Better late than never, right?!)  Hubby purchased turbo tax about a month ago, but when he went to install it on our iMac, he learned that our OS was outdated.  Ugh!  I love Apple products, but I’m getting really frustrated with our iMac.  There are several updates that we don’t qualify for with this particular OS.  We either have to purchase a new OS or a new computer.  Aggravating.  We ended up borrowing our neighbors laptop (Thanks, K!), but we’re definitely going to have to figure out something for next year.  Part of me wants to go back to the laptop, but I just can’t decide.  😉

Cauliflower Tacos

Ingredients

2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
Juice of 1 lime
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS water
1 cup of chickpeas (I had some in the freezer)
1 small head cauliflower, washed and cut into bite-size florets
Tortillas (Seriously, try these!)
Greek Yogurt (Fage is my favorite to substitute for sour cream as a topping)
Shredded cheddar (Buy a block and shred it yourself!)
Sriracha

Instruction

Cauliflower Tacos