Seared Tofu with Gingered Vegetables

This recipe is from Cooking Light (thanks for the link Kelly!) It was very easy and unlike past attempts with tofu, this one turned out well. I used cubed extra firm because that's all I could find at the grocery store. You could easliy substitute chicken.

I wish the ginger flavor had been a little stronger - I might double it next time or maybe marinate the tofu in a ginger sauce. I also used chili sesame oil, which was HOT. Next time I'll use regular sesame oil and it might not mask the other flavors. There also wasn't a lot of sauce to it, which left the the rice a little dry, so I added extra sesame oil and soy sauce to the finished dish.

Here's the recipe with a few minor modifications:

Ingredients
1 pound extrafirm tofu, cubed
1 cup brown rice (uncooked)

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil, divided
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 tablespoon bottled ground fresh ginger
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced green onions, divided
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Place tofu on several layers of paper towels; let stand 15 minutes.

Prepare rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to rice; fluff with a fork.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, and bell pepper to pan; sauté for 5-8 minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup onions, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons soy sauce; cook for 3 minutes. Remove from pan.

Wipe skillet with paper towels; recoat pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Place pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle tofu with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Add tofu to pan; cook 10-15 minutes or until golden, turning to brown on all sides.

Return bell pepper mixture to pan, and cook 3-5 minute or until thoroughly heated. Drizzle tofu mixture with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce; top with sesame seeds. Serve tofu mixture with rice; top with remaining 1/4 cup onions.

Macadamia Butter Cookies with Cranberries

I made these today and they turned out really good! Lisa, I think you could have these because they don't use butter, but instead you grind up the macadamia nuts into a butter.

Macadamia Butter Cookies with Cranberries

Vegan Best Banana Bread

This is really good, Very Moist, and SO EASY!! Great too for those days you want to bake but find that you are out of eggs :o)

1 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/3 c oil (I used Canola)
1/2 c brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 c mashed banana (I used 3 med bananas, very ripe)
1/3 c milk (I used rice milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl combine oil and brown sugar. Add bananas and milk and stir to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spread batter in the loaf pan and bake for 43 to 48 minutes, until bread is golden and a toothpick comes out clean (I did find that it needed to bake a bit longer than the 48 minutes to be done all the way through).

Old-Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

I was looking for a yummy cookie recipe today and found this - they turned out very yummy! They are really soft.

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?id=32364

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls

These are the first recipe that I'm going to make from the Pioneer Woman Cooks that Lisa gave me for my birthday day - Cinnamon Rolls. She has the recipe on her blog:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

Flax ~ a handy substitute for eggs, butter & oil

I thought this was a somewhat handy tip. Perhaps you already are aware of it, but it was news to me today so I thought I would share.

Milled Flax can be used in many recipes by substituting for eggs, butter & oil.

Flax Seed Substituting for Fat:
3 Tablespoons ground Flax Seed = 1 Tablespoon Margarine, butter or cooking oil. Substitute for all or some of the fat depending on the recipe.To substitute for all of the fat with flax seed, increase liquid by 75% as ground flax absorbs liquid. Baked goods brown more quickly.

Substituting for Eggs:
1 Tablespoon of ground Flax Seed plus 3 tablespoons water for each egg. Substitute a 1:3 ratio of ground flax seed and water mixture for each egg in recipes for pancakes, muffins and cookies. Allow to sit for several minutes together before adding to your recipe.

I haven't tried it yet, but will let you know when I do. More info at: www.flaxusa.com

Hummus Recipes??

Mom's looking for an easy Hummus recipe ~~~