Tofu and Kale Stir Fry
Stir fry is a staple of my diet, mainly because it’s so versatile. I tend to make it with tofu, but chicken would work just as well. Also, almost all of the vegetables that I usually have on hand in my kitchen work well in a stir fry - mushrooms, onion, carrots, spinach, asparagus, etc. I’ve heard many good things about kale, but was a little wary of making it myself because I wasn’t quite sure how to use it. I figured that a stir fry would be a good place to start because you can’t really go wrong. I found this stir fry recipe in the New York Times food section and changed a couple things around, to use what I had available in my kitchen already. Not to mention, kale is an excellent vegetable, full of calcium, vitamin 1, B6, C and K. This recipe is naturally gluten free and vegan.
TOFU AND KALE STIR FRY
- 1 bunch or bag of curly kale, chopped
- 14 ounce package of firm tofu
- 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry
- 1/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons canola oil or peanut oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
[for those gluten free: some soy sauce may contain gluten]
- Pour water and a couple pinches of salt into a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add chopped kale and cook for one minute. Place kale into a bowl of cold water and then drain it out.
- Cut tofu into rectangles, place between two paper towels and push down to squeeze excess water out.
- In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, stock, and cornstarch.
- Heat a large skillet over high heat and add canola of peanut oil. Add tofu and cook for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook another 2 minutes.
- Add garlic, bell pepper, and onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until pepper and onion soften. Add kale, salt, pepper, and sugar and mix.
- Pour in soy sauce mixture and cook for 1-3 minutes or until the tofu soaks up some of the sauce.
- I served this stir fry with rice noodles, but rice is another good option.
Enjoy!
Rice Pudding
The other day my sister and I decided that we wanted to make some rice pudding. We found a simple and pretty crohn’s friendly recipe at allrecipes, but I still wanted to play around with it. Because we had some people coming over for a taste test, we decided to make a double batch - one following the recipe and another that I modified. I replaced the regular milk with almond milk and left out the butter to make it more tummy friendly. I also added some extra vanilla extract and chocolate chips because chocolate chips make everything better. While both of the rice puddings ended up being delicious, the recipe I modified ended up being the winner. This recipe is naturally gluten free and nearly vegan.
RICE PUDDING
makes 4 servings
- 3/4 cup uncooked rice
- 2 cups almond milk [any flavor will work]
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, whisked
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- handful of chocolate chips [optional]
[for those gluten free: make sure to use pure vanilla extract as others may contain gluten]
[for those vegan: omit egg and replace with extra almond milk or a little vegetable oil]
- Place 1 1/2 cups water into saucepan on high heat. When water begins to boil, add rice. Turn heat down to low and cover the pan. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so rice doesn’t stick to the pan.
- If rice is sticking to the bottom of the saucepan, pour into a clean one. Add 1 1/2 cup almond milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until creamy, about 15 - 20 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup almond milk and whisked egg and cook about 2 minutes more. Mix the egg in quickly, so it blends into the rice mixture instead of cooking into pieces.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla and chocolate chips. [I couldn’t wait until the pudding cooled all the way to mix in the chocolate, so I put it in when it was still hot and it created ribbons of chocolate.]
Enjoy!
Spanish Rice
Mexican food is delicious, but often poses problems. Since a fair amount available in restaurants is either fried or contains a lot of beans, it can be hard to find Mexican food that I can eat. This is my grandma’s recipe and a staple at our home. Nobody has ever written it down before, it’s just been taught to one person by another. Because of this, most of these measurements are approximations, but are very close. This meal has meat in it, which makes it a well rounded main dish, but I’m sure could be made without to turn it into a side dish. We always eat this with corn, but it would go well with many side dishes. This recipe is naturally gluten free - details below.
SPANISH RICE
- 1 lb of ground beef [ground turkey or tofu could work as well]
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 1/4 cup rice
- 2 1/2 cup water [water should be twice the rice]
- 6oz can of tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
[for those gluten free: Worcestershire sauce may be gluten free depending on the brand]
- Place a large pan on medium heat and add meat, garlic, salt and pepper. Break meat into small pieces as it’s cooking. Saute meat until cooked all the way through, about 6-8 minutes.
- Push meat to one side of the pan and pour chopped bell pepper and onion into the open space. Saute vegetables about 5 minutes, or until soft, turning every so often.
- Mix the meat and vegetables together, then push to the side again. Pour in rice in the open space and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mix the rice with the meat and vegetables and cook another 2-3 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, water, and Worcestershire sauce. Place the flat side of a spatula parallel to the pan and move in circles to mix together everything in the pan. Put a lid on, bring to a boil [about 4-5 minutes], then simmer. Stir every 3 - 4 minutes so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- If the rice is still not fully cooked after about 20 minutes, add another 1/4 cup of water [and some more garlic, salt & pepper] to help it cook down further.
Enjoy!
