Sweet and Sour Tofu, Tomato Basil Salad, Rice and Bread

Date:10/06/11

Cook:  Jen G.
Menu:  Sweet and Sour Tofu, Tomato Basil Salad, Brown Basmati Rice and A Loaf of Bread

I don't eat raw tomatoes, but a pretty little salad like this one makes me wish that I did. Also, I don't have a great track record with rice preparation but this batch came out well!

The tomato basil salad was fresh from our little garden. The basmati brown rice was fresh from the shelf of a nearby Trader Joe's. The sweet and sour tofu recipe was from The Vegan Slow Cooker. (I slow cooked it a little too long so it was somewhat on the mushy side, but the flavors were still delish). 

One hard working slow cooker. Note that my meal somehow didn't look as nice as the photo in the cookbook. Paging my food stylist...

And the bread....I always love to talk about how much I love the No Knead Bread recipe published a few years ago in the NYT. It is nearly foolproof and I have proven this a few times by seriously mucking up the directions. I heartily and nerdily enjoy coating it with different seed/grain combos each time (um, btw: wheat germ kind of burns in the 450 degree oven). Today I used half whole wheat flour and half white for the dough and chose to coat with some Irish oatmeal mixed with a bit of coarse sea salt and black sesame seeds. Our loaf came out really nicely.

My love for the No Knead Bread knows no bounds.

Veganize It, Don't Criticize It -- Flashback to a Fave

Today is Wednesday and it is Rachel's day to cook. However, since the third member of our triumvirate is off having a lush, gorgeous trip exploring beautiful places that are neither suburban nor Garden State-ish, Jen C. and I are on our own for dinner tonight. I thought that I would take this opportunity to reflect on one of my favorite meal share dinners to prepare -- it was a lemony pasta dish that was featured in one of this summer's Vegetarian Times. I was unsure about whether or not the lemon flavor would be overwhelming, but I (and therefore we) gave it a try anyway. I was really pleasantly surprised at how quick, and tasty, this dish was...and, important for meal share purposes, it was easy to double!

The recipe is very basic; I like to accessorize most of what I eat with legumes and this dish was no exception. I added both garbanzos and some finely chopped greens. Delicious! Next time I might even add something from the milder side of the allium family - I'm thinking chives or lightly sauteed leeks or scallions would be very tasty indeed without overpowering the light, creamy lemon flavor.

Finally, I am also a big fan of veganizing non-vegan recipes and of course, that is just what I did - easy to do in this recipe by simply using a vegan cream cheese.

Without further ado: the recipe for Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce. If you try it, let us know how you liked it!