Meatless Monday: Tofu Tacos!

We’ve been having various Mexican-inspired dishes in my house lately. Here’s one for all the vegetarians that even meat-eaters will love!

Tofu Tacos

Ingredients:

Filling

1 14oz package of firm or extra firm tofu, drained

½ cup water

½ cup tomato sauce

1 small onion, finely diced

1 tbsp olive or canola oil

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Wraps and Toppings Suggestions 

Wholewheat tortilla wraps

Shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey Jack, pepper jack, queso fresco)

Diced tomato

Diced onion

Shredded lettuce

Baby spinach

Sliced avocado

Corn

Guacamole

Salsa

Sour cream

To drain the tofu, remove from packaging and wrap in two paper towels, then place on shallow plate. Place another plate on top of it and leave it for at least 30 minutes up to an hour. If possible, do it over night for best results. The pressure from the plate will slowly drain the liquid from the tofu without putting too much weight on it. Once drained, unwrap and then cut into cubes, slices, or just crumble it up into small chunks.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet then add the onion and brown. Add the tofu and cook over medium heat until lightly browned on each side; press tofu occasionally to enable any leftover liquid to seep out. Turn after 5-7 minutes to brown on each side; if using crumbled tofu, stir and sauté in the pan frequently so as not to burn it or allow it to get stuck to the pan. Once tofu and onions are good and brown, add the water and tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, then add all the seasonings. To save time, mix the seasonings in a Ziploc bag or bowl ahead of time then add altogether at once. Here’s another thought: make triple or quadruple the amount of seasoning and store the extra for future use!

Cook it all for about 5-10 minutes, adjusting seasoning as you deem fit. Scoop tofu into wraps and add the toppings of your choice. Serve with beans or a salad. Delish!

This became a family favorite a while ago, and it is the only way Lily will even eat tofu at this time. She really likes spicy food! So, if you have a picky eater who you’d like to get into eating tofu, give this recipe a try and see how it goes. This recipe can also be used for beef, chicken or fish, and probably even pork though I wouldn’t know since I don’t eat pork.

For baby: mash tofu with cheese and/or tomato sauce and optionally add veggies your little one eats at their age, such as corn, avocado or spinach. Ole! If you want to learn more about the safety and health issues involved in eating soy product, please read my previous post Somethin’ Sweet ‘n Spicy. 

I do not recommend the use of non-stick pans that you may think would make frying tofu easier. Most people are familiar with the danger involved in using such cookware, but if you are not, read here to learn more. Carcinogenic toxic fumes that are very cancerous can emit from the pans with non-stick coating as you cook with them. You can inhale these fumes and they will also leak into your food! Pans that get burned cause a higher risk, so if you have any that have been damaged from cooking, throw them out! In fact, get rid of any non-stick cookware you own- it’s not worth the risk. Use glass or stainless steel for safest cooking.

 Enjoy, and have a good week!

What I made for dinner tonight: a healthy vegetarian meal for 2

June was a jam-packed month for my family and I, and July ain’t looking much different. The move to a bigger place was successful, most of the cleaning and organizing has been done, and we are starting to really like our new home. My sister had her baby, a healthy baby girl :) Summer is just getting started, and I know it will be gone in a blink of an eye so I am trying to take as much advantage of the time I have.

For today’s Meatless Monday recipe, I once again featured my favorite root vegetable in the starring role: the beet. Paul went to the store and selected a nice looking bunch so I popped 2 in the oven and threw what else we had together to make quite a tasty and low fat meal. This would be a great way to recover from a 4^th of July weekend filled with hotdogs and hamburgers.

Oven-roasted Beets with Green Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

2 Large beets, peeled and trimmed

2 handfuls of green beans, trimmed

1 cup white rice

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp butter (I used regular, but you can use margarine)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dry parsley or 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

Preheat your oven to 450. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil completely, then put on tray into oven for 45 minutes or until tender enough for a knife to slide right in. Meanwhile, cook the rice for 10 minutes and steam the green beans for 5-7 minutes, depending on how tender you like them. When the beets are done, set them aside to cool and fry the garlic in the olive oil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until brown and fragrant. Mix the butter, parsley, salt and pepper into the rice. Set each item onto 2 plates and top the green beans and beets with the garlic and oil and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and parsley. Serve with a nice white wine if available.

You can, of course, substitute the white rice for brown and slice up the beet any way you choose. I went with the "sliced orange" style, which is appealing to the eye and looks a little like a rose. You can also skip the butter to lower the fat even more and just mix any excess garlic and olive oil into the rice instead to give it a little extra flavor.

 

We gave some of the beet to Lily to try. I think she ate about 2 small pieces, then threw the rest on the floor. These were very sweet and soft beets, so we were surprised she didn’t like it. Oh, well. Its normal for a tot to be a picky eater as we all know, but do feel free to offer it up to your little one all the same. She liked the rice of course, and she also had:

2 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese

2 tbsp steamed mixed peas and chopped carrot

For baby:

1-2 tbsp pureed peas or carrot (4 months+)

or

1-2 tbsp pureed beet (8-10 months)

Parsley is typically the underrated herb that you normally find as a garnish on your plate in some restaurants. Yet, parsley is packed with vitamins A and C and especially K. Parsley has been shown to benefit the heart and contains antioxidant flavonoids such as luteolin.

A lesser known benefit of parsley is it’s “chemoprotective” properties; it contains oils that can neutralize cancerous carcinogens. Add it to meats when you’re grilling to utilize this effect.

One of the best things about parsley is it’s cheap! You can get a nice bunch from just about any supermarket for $.50-$1.00. Smells great too!

And, it being the 4^th and all, I couldn’t get away without posting some kind of healthy grill recipe. We’re all familiar (I believe) with grilling vegetables, but here is a simple and tasty less-traditional way to grill corn on the cob.

Ingredients:

6 ears of corn

6 tbsp queso fresco, divided

6 tsp chili powder, divided

2 limes cut into 6 wedges

Extra lime wedges for garnishing

Rub each ear of corn with a lime wedge and sprinkle with a tsp of chili powder. Wrap each ear in tin foil and cook on grill until brown but not burnt, turning every 5 minutes for 20 minutes. When ready to serve, sprinkle each with about a tbsp of the queso fresco and an extra lime wedge if desired. SO GOOD! Enjoyed best with an ice cold Corona Light.

I first had grilled corn this way at a small, but very popular Mexican diner in the Chelsea area of NYC. I wish I could remember the name of the place; I only recall that it was on a corner near the 23^rd Street Path Train station. You can use this seasoning for other vegetables as well. I’ve tried it on asparagus and tomatoes and it was awesome both times.

Note: Queso fresco is a light, crumbly, slightly acidic Mexican cheese. If you can’t find it or queso blanco, you can sub with feta, Monteray jack or cheddar.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!!!