The last Farmer's Market in my town was on Tuesday night and I'm a little torn up over it! It has basically ruined grocery store produce for me, not to mention how nice it was to meet up with my boyfriend and good friend after work for a little stroll around downtown. *Sigh* In an effort to use up the veggies we bought from last week's market, I decided on a Tofu Stir Fry for dinner on Tuesday night. My boyfriend has been working graveyard shift all week, so it was nice to sneak in a tofu dish instead of meat or seafood. He likes tofu okay, but I try to limit the meatless meals to once a week, and those don't usually have tofu either. I had a bunch of green beans and a half head of green cabbage left-over from last week's Green Bean Carbonara and Salt & Pepper Shrimp dinners. Here's the recipe, adapted from Eatingwell.com.
Szechuan Tofu & Green Bean Stir-Fry (~4 servings)
Ingredients
1/2 cup water, divided
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 14-ounce package light tofu, drained
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
3 cups green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1/2 small green cabbage, shredded
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
Preparation
1.Whisk 1/4 cup water, soy sauce, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, crushed red pepper to taste and 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside. Cut tofu into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes and pat dry. Toss the tofu in a bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons cornstarch to coat.
2.Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and spread out across the surface of the pan. Let cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Gently turn and stir. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and crispy, 3-4 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.
3.Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add green beans, cabbage, garlic and ginger; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the remaining 1/4 cup water, cover and cook until the beans are crisp-tender and the cabbage is wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir the reserved soy sauce mixture and pour it over the green beans. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Add the tofu and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 1 minute more.
Nutrition (Eating Well's version - my version has a little bit of extra veggies and less sugar but I didn't recalculate the nutrition)
Per serving: 218 calories; 11 g fat ( 1 g sat , 6 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 20 g carbohydrates; 2 g added sugars; 12 g protein; 5 g fiber; 672 mg sodium; 364 mg potassium.
Showing posts with label farmer's market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farmer's market. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Farmer's Market Tuesday
Never before have I had a fondness for Tuesdays until just last month! Well, I might have to take that back if Lost ever aired on a Tuesday during it's time in the sun. I digress... today is Tuesday! And for me, that means I get to stock up on fruits and veggies for the week at the Farmer's Market downtown after work. We've been buying cherries as our fruit for the week, so when we had to grab some extra for our Memorial Day camping trip (in the snow??? whaaaaa???) from Safeway, we were extremely surprised at how AWFUL the grocery store cherries were in comparison! I don't think I can ever buy cherries from anywhere other than the Farmer's Market again. They were so... blah! Tasted of... nothing at all! So today is cherry day, hooray! We also stock up on: organic strawberries, spinach, crimini mushrooms, onions, and oranges. This week, I'll be grabbing garlic, shallots, green beans, and broccoli too. They don't have asparagus at our Market, unfortunately, or I'd be buying bunches of the stuff! Or corn. Sad face. We also got wheat pita bread last week, which was delish - think I'll buy another package of that too. We try and make Tuesday night our eat-out night for the week and support one of the local downtown restaurants. We've almost made it through all the ones along the strip where the Market takes place. Maybe it'll be crepes tonight?
I remembered to bring my lunch today, phew! I had Strawberry non-fat greek yogurt and coffee for breakfast (120+10=130 cal), 2 carrots and 3 Tbsp of Avocado&Cilantro Hummus from the Farmer's Market last week for a pre-lunch snack (40+80=120 cal), an adaptation of Rachael Ray's Baked Potato Soup for lunch (see recipe below, 376 cal with all the fixin's), and a Tbsp of chunky peanut butter for my post-walk-around-the-block snack (90 cal). That leaves me with about 500 calories for dinner. Should be plenty, if I'm careful about what I choose to eat (and make sure to not eat all of it - since portion sizes at restaurants are generally super-sized, I shoot for only eating half).
No gym today, Tuesday is my (only) day off. Took that 20 minute walk around the block, but no intense cardio or strength-training today. My muscles need the day off! As promised yesterday, I did wind up going to Pilates class (55 min), followed by some arm strength training with 8 lb dumbells on the Bosu (15 min), and finally did those 20 second Tabata Intervals I was telling you about (16 min total - 2 min Bosu exercises, 2 min jumping jacks (x2), 1 min break, repeat.
Here's my recipe, adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray (see her original version here)
Baked Potato Soup, serves 4
Ingredients:
3 medium red potatoes—peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
3 cups 2% milk (we use lactose-free milk)
Salt and pepper
1/2 head cauliflower, cored and chopped
10 crimini mushrooms, sliced
4 scallions, white and green portions thinly sliced separately
4 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup shredded low-fat (2%) cheddar cheese
1/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
Directions:
1.In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, 2 cups milk and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the cauliflower and scallion whites, cover and simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup milk, then puree the soup. Season with salt and pepper.
2.Fry the bacon, adding the mushrooms when some of the fat has rendered.
3.Divide the soup among 4 bowls and top each with 2 Tbsp shredded cheese, 1 Tbsp plain yogurt (or nonfat sour cream), crumbled bacon, mushrooms, and scallion greens.
I remembered to bring my lunch today, phew! I had Strawberry non-fat greek yogurt and coffee for breakfast (120+10=130 cal), 2 carrots and 3 Tbsp of Avocado&Cilantro Hummus from the Farmer's Market last week for a pre-lunch snack (40+80=120 cal), an adaptation of Rachael Ray's Baked Potato Soup for lunch (see recipe below, 376 cal with all the fixin's), and a Tbsp of chunky peanut butter for my post-walk-around-the-block snack (90 cal). That leaves me with about 500 calories for dinner. Should be plenty, if I'm careful about what I choose to eat (and make sure to not eat all of it - since portion sizes at restaurants are generally super-sized, I shoot for only eating half).
No gym today, Tuesday is my (only) day off. Took that 20 minute walk around the block, but no intense cardio or strength-training today. My muscles need the day off! As promised yesterday, I did wind up going to Pilates class (55 min), followed by some arm strength training with 8 lb dumbells on the Bosu (15 min), and finally did those 20 second Tabata Intervals I was telling you about (16 min total - 2 min Bosu exercises, 2 min jumping jacks (x2), 1 min break, repeat.
Here's my recipe, adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray (see her original version here)
Baked Potato Soup, serves 4
Ingredients:
3 medium red potatoes—peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
3 cups 2% milk (we use lactose-free milk)
Salt and pepper
1/2 head cauliflower, cored and chopped
10 crimini mushrooms, sliced
4 scallions, white and green portions thinly sliced separately
4 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup shredded low-fat (2%) cheddar cheese
1/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
Directions:
1.In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, 2 cups milk and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the cauliflower and scallion whites, cover and simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup milk, then puree the soup. Season with salt and pepper.
2.Fry the bacon, adding the mushrooms when some of the fat has rendered.
3.Divide the soup among 4 bowls and top each with 2 Tbsp shredded cheese, 1 Tbsp plain yogurt (or nonfat sour cream), crumbled bacon, mushrooms, and scallion greens.
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