Baked Tofu & Almond Stir-Fry

This is an easy vegetarian stir-fry that is high in protein.

Ingredients:

Broccoli
Carrots
Baby corn
Cabbage
Water chestnuts (sliced)
Yellow onion
Tofu (firm, cut in cubes, marinate in Teriyaki sauce)
Sliced almonds
Garlic
1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil (to stir-fry veggies)

Sauce:

1 - 1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. Bragg's liquid amino's
Sea salt
Hoisin sauce (about 2 tablespoons)
Flour or xantham gum to thicken sauce

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Place tofu on a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat or olive oil spray.
3. Bake until browned, turning once (about 15-20 minutes)
4. Rinse, cut, and prepare veggies.
5. Stir-fry on high until slightly tender, turn off heat (add a little sea salt to them).
6. In a small bowl or measuring cup add all sauce ingredients (except thickener).
7. Turn veggies on medium to low heat, and add half of the sauce.
8. To the other half of sauce add your choice of thickener (I use a little white flour). 
9. Add the thickener sauce to all ingredients and simmer until thick.
10. Add tofu and almonds last and toss.

Serve over brown rice.

Step 1 - Stir-fry veggies

Dairy-Free Seafood Bisque

I absolutely love a good seafood bisque, however; because I have problems with allergies and mucous...I had to come up with a dairy free bisque.  This recipe turned out really good, is low-fat, low-calorie, dairy-free, and low in carbs too, it also has high vitamin content.

Ingredients:

2 cups Almond milk (I use Almond Breeze original unsweetened, 40 calories per serving)

1/4 cup soy creamer

1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil (for sauteing veggies and herbs)

Chopped fine and fresh herbs and veggies:

Parsley

Yellow onion (1/2)

Chives (green onions - aka scallions)

Garlic

Seafood mix:

Pink raw shrimp - not peeled (boil for 3-5 minutes, rinse, drain, peel)

Crayfish tails - can be found in your local seafood freezer, or fresh if you prefer

Sea scallops - toss in with shrimp and let boil for a few minutes.

Seasonings:

Paprika

Sea salt

Cayenne pepper (just a dash)

Honey (to taste)

Bragg's Nutritional Yeast (1 TB)

Flour (1 TB) (as a thickening agent - or you can reduce it, use corn starch, or xantham gum)

Directions:

1. Prepare all veggies and herbs, saute with your chosen seasonings (I used a little olive oil, and McCormick's Smokehouse Maple.
2. Prepare seafood (as directed above)
3. Finely chop seafood, or leave whole at your discretion (I finely chop mine).
4. Add to sauteed veggie mix and toss to blend flavors.
5. In a saucepan, add almond milk, soy creamer on medium heat.  Add seafood, veggies, and herbs to the pan.
6. Add Paprika, cayenne, sea salt, and honey.  
7. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so.
8. Taste, and modify seasonings to your liking.  Add Bragg's Nutritional Yeast (see below for nutrition info on Bragg's).
9. Add thickener of your choice to consistency of your liking.
10. Enjoy!

sauteed veggies and herbs

Crayfish, scallops, and shrimp

Crayfish, Shrimp, Scallops, mixed with herbs and veggies

Bragg's Nutritional yeast is non-active yeast that has a very high vitamin count.  It adds a great cheesy flavor without the problems that active yeast provides (mucous, digestive issues, etc.).

Bragg's Nutritional Yeast Nutrition Information

Spinach, Crayfish, & Roasted Tomato Roulade

I discovered this recipe from Rose Elliot's The Classic Vegetarian Cookbook.  Although I have been working on removing cheese and eggs from my diet, this looked so beautiful in the cookbook - I had to give it a shot.  Of course I modified it...

First, I will list the original version and then note my replacements.

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
4 eggs (separated into different bowls)
1 tablespoon butter
Salt - Pepper - Nutmeg

The filling

2 roasted red peppers (roasted in the oven while roulade is cooking - cored)
1 cup cream cheese
Milk (to make cream cheese spreadable or use store bought spreadable)
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400.
2. Line a 9x13 shallow baking sheet with wax paper (mine stuck a bit, so adding a little olive oil spray may be helpful), leave extra paper up the sides.
3. Rinse and saute spinach until tender (using only the water still clinging to the leaves).
4. Drain.
5. Add spinach, butter, and egg yolk to processor and blend till smooth.
6. Transfer it to a large bowl and add salt, pepper, & nutmeg.
7. Whip eggs until stiff .
8. Fold in stiff egg whites to the spinach mixture bowl.
9. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of Parmesan on the wax paper prior to pouring in mixture.
10. Pour in spinach mixture and smooth to edges.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes until firm to touch and toothpick comes out clean.
12. While this is baking, roast the peppers on the bottom rack of the oven.
13. While they are baking, prepare your cream cheese with a mixer and a little bit of the milk until spreadable.
14. Remove roulade from oven and let cool while you get another piece of wax paper and lay flat next to roulade.  Sprinkle that piece of wax paper with Parmesan and transfer roulade face down on to the new sheet.
15. Removed the wax paper from the top of the roulade (tricky, mine was a little sticky, however I used a spatula to ease the paper away without tearing the roulade).
16. Spread cream cheese over entire surface.
17. Arrange red pepper over the top in widely spaced stripes (it will look like a red and white stripes).
18. Roll it up from the short sides (example).
19. I served mine warm over butternut squash soup.
20. Cut with a serrated knife.

The roulade refrigerates well and is good for up to a week.

My variations:

I replaced:

Butter with olive oil

Parmesan cheese with finely grated (in the food processor) raw almonds

Red pepper with Roma tomatoes.
Milk with almond milk

Added crayfish lightly sauteed with seasonings.

The next time I make this I will try out using this egg replacer instead.  It is gluten free, soy free, etc.

The butternut squash soup I used as a base can be found in your local organic section, they also have other great soups that work great as replacements for oil in sauteed vegetables or over tilapia.  The carrot ginger is one of my favorites!