Curried Sweet Potatoes & Tofu

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curried sweet potatoes

OK, I know I have been really bad about posting recipes this week, but it is my last week of my first rotation and it has kept me so busy! Tomorrow is my last day, then I have a short break before the next. I actually don’t have any plans for my week off, but sometimes that is the best – to have a week of having absolutely NO PLANS! :)

This curried sweet potato and tofu dish is really easy to make during week nights, and perfect for “Meatless Monday” or any other time you are in the mood for a vegetarian dish. I love sweet potatoes, and I love curry, so this is one of my favorite dishes to make for lunch or dinner. It is not very spicy, but it is easy to add more spice to it if you wish. I used one NatureBox’s Taj Mahal Snack Mix, which has curried nuts and raisins, to give it some more texture and flavor. You can see this recipe on the NatureBox blog here!

Are you a fan of curry? What about tofu? I used to dislike tofu, but it kind of grew on me! In fact, the other day I made some low-fat chocolate mousse made out of…you guessed it, tofu!

tofu

5.0 from 1 reviews

Curried Sweet Potatoes & Tofu
 
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Type: Main
Serves: 2

Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
  • ½ cup NatureBox Taj Mahal Snack Mix (www.naturebox.com)
  • 2 tbsp curry powder
  • ¼ tsp ginger powder
  • 1 cup light coconut milk
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • ½ package (7 oz) extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed
  • Fresh cilantro for garnish

Instructions
  1. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  2. Add sweet potatoes, onion and garlic and simmer for 7 minutes, until onions are translucent.
  3. Add the curry powder, ginger, pepper and coconut milk.
  4. Stir well and simmer for 15 minutes.
  5. In the meantime, heat 1 tbsp oil in a separate skillet over medium heat.
  6. Add tofu and sprinkle salt on top. Stir occasionally while cooking for 4 minutes.
  7. Remove from heat and set aside.
  8. After the curry is done simmering (after about 15 minutes), potatoes should be tender.
  9. Once done, add the tofu and Taj Mahal Snack Mix and stir well.
  10. Serve immediately over jasmine rice and sprinkle freshly chopped cilantro over the top for garnish.
Serves 2

 

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Sunday Trip to Tara Firma Farms & Wine Country

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tara firma pigs

Living in San Francisco, I am only 1 hour away from wine country, yet I have never explored it this whole time I have been living here. My friend and I decided to start our Sunday by taking a tour at Tara Firma Farms, a sustainable, chemical-free, free-range farm in Petaluma, CA, followed by wine tasting in the afternoon at Benziger Family Winery.

My husband wasn’t anywhere near as excited as I was to take a farm tour, #1 because I am the major foodie in our relationship and #2 he grew up in Germany where there is beautiful “farm country” almost everywhere! Growing up as more of a “city girl” and being all about organic, free-range, local foods, I was so excited to learn more about this rare sustainable farm.

tara firma

The farmers we met were all extremely friendly and enthusiastic about the way their farm operates, as it is very different from conventional farms. Have you seen the documentary Food Inc.? After watching that, I began to take more of an interest in where my food was coming from. It was so great to see all of the chickens, pigs, and cows being able to roam around the grass freely – every animal I saw looked so peaceful and happy, and they all lived in healthy, comfortable conditions. This is the food I would prefer to eat over the meats coming from animals caged in tiny, dark spaces on top of each other and being pumped with antibiotics and being fed unnatural foods.

I loved everything about the way the farmers at Tara Firma operate their farm.

tara firma chicks

tara firma hoop house

tara firma chick

tara firma farms

tara firma hens

tara firma pork

tara firma pig

tara firma hen

After the farm tour, we headed over to Benziger Family Winery, where we took a tour of the facilities and tasted some of their wines.

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me

It was a perfect Sunday.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun, or just have a relaxing weekend at home?

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Vegetable Purses

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vegetable pursesAren’t these the cutest? I found this recipe from Cooking Light and thought they were just the cutest things ever! I think if my vegetables were served in these as a kid, I would have been way more excited about eating them. I made my phyllo dough from scratch, but the store-bought kind will cut down the time it takes to make these vegetable purses. For the ties, I wanted to choose something edible, so I tied them with chives from my herb garden. I also discovered a delicious sauce that goes great with these – red bell pepper sauce! This is also easy to make, just add red bell pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a blender and wa-lah! I added feta cheese, artichoke hearts, chopped red bell pepper, zucchini and butternut squash, but let your imagination run wild. You can serve these vegetable purses as an appetizer, side or light main dish.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, Phyllo Purses with Roasted Squash, Peppers and Artichokes.

veggie-purse-1veggie-purse-2veggie-purse-3veggie-purse-4phyllo purse

5.0 from 2 reviews

Vegetable Purses
 
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Type: Appetizer
Serves: 4

Ingredients
Phyllo dough
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ⅔ cups warm water
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Chives (to tie – optional)
Filling
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large organic zucchini squash, quartered
  • 1 cup cubed butternut squash
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • ½ cup artichoke hearts, chopped
  • ½ cup light crumbled feta cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper sauce
  • ½ red bell pepper
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp basalmic vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, add vegetables and olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
  4. Transfer to a greased baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.
  5. Remove from the oven and lower heat to 350 degrees F.
  6. In the meantime, add phyllo dough ingredients to a stand mixer with hook attachment and mix (or mix with a wooden spoon by hand).
  7. Knead for 10 minutes.
  8. Cut into four equal pieces, and roll out as thin a possible.
  9. Divide the filling among the sheets of phyllo dough, placing the filling in the center and then topping with feta cheese.
  10. Gather the four corners of each phyllo sheet and bring together. Press in the center and twist.
  11. Bake for 30 minutes, until slightly golden brown.
  12. Remove from the oven and tie each purse with one chive for decoration.
  13. For the sauce, add all ingredients to a blender and blend to desired consistency.
Makes 4 purses

 

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Low-Fat Dark Chocolate Mousse

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dark chocolate mousse

Once I finished my work at the hospital today, I was craving something sweet. The entire way home, I contemplated if I should make cookies or not. Basically, the debate was over making something healthy like a fruit bowl vs. buttery, fattening, no-good-for-you cookies that I wanted so badly!) to satisfy my craving for sweets. Usually when I crave an unhealthy dessert, I try searching the web for a lower fat version. After an unsuccessful search for a low-fat cookie recipe (I couldn’t convince myself cutting the calories was worth ending up with for a suboptimal taste), somehow my mind went to chocolate mousse. I know what you are thinking. Mousse is way worse for you than cookies! All of that heavy cream…arrghhh. I thought, no way is there a low-fat mousse recipe out there, but I gave it a shot and searched for one anyway.

I found a recipe by Ellie Krieger, and immediately I thought to myself, “Ellie Krieger has a mousse recipe?!…it must be low fat!!” I was right – she used TOFU of all things as the base. Just like the black bean brownies I tried the other day, I was really skeptical about using tofu for mousse. Her recipe has so many high reviews, I just had to give it a try. I used even less sugar than she did, and it came out perfect. I was completely amazed. I don’t think I will ever make mousse the traditional way again – who needs all of that fattening heavy cream when you can’t even tell the difference swapping it with tofu? It was so easy too, the hardest part is waiting for it to chill (I didn’t and it was still amazing!). You seriously have to try this…

mousse-1chocolate moussechocolate mousse

5.0 from 2 reviews

Low-Fat Dark Chocolate Mousse
 
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Type: Dessert
Serves: 4

Ingredients
  • 6 ounces tofu, drained and cubed
  • 3 ounces semi-sweet Baker’s chocolate, chopped
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • Light whipped cream for topping, if desired

Instructions
  1. In a blender, pulse tofu until smooth.
  2. Add chocolate and sugar to a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds x3 (or until melted). Do not microwave all at once without taking breaks or it may burn.
  3. Transfer the chocolate to the blender and add the cocoa powder.
  4. Blend until smooth.
  5. Transfer to dessert dishes and chill for 1 hour.
  6. Top with light whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings if desired.
Makes four 3-oz shot glasses

 

Recipe adapted from Ellie Krieger, Dark Chocolate Mousse, 2005

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#ILoveAvocados For Cinco De Mayo Sweepstakes

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Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner! Are you doing anything special? I usually indulge in homemade Mexican food every year to celebrate. FLASHBACK! Two years ago around Cinco de Mayo, Fabi and I were hiking in Yosemite with our families :) It was so much fun! The time is going by so fast.

Although this vegetarian chili baked potato isn’t a “typical” Mexican dish, it is topped with some traditional Mexican food ingredients, like sour cream and freshly chopped, ripe avocados – yum! You can get creative with the toppings :)

Chili Baked Potatoes
 
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Type: Main
Serves: 2

Ingredients
  • 2 large potatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 can vegetarian chili (or your favorite homemade recipe!)
  • 1 ripe avocado, pitted and diced
  • 2 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh chives

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Wash and dry potatoes, then rub with olive oil.
  3. Using a fork, pierce holes into the potatoes in multiple places.
  4. Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 1h 30min.
  5. Once done, heat chili in a saucepan over low heat, then use a knife cut open the potato.
  6. Squeeze the sides in to open the potato more, forming a bowl.
  7. Add the chili, then top with cheese, sour cream, chopped avocado and chives.

 

April has been a fun month, there have been so many contests and giveaways I have been able to share with you guys! I have another fun contest to tell you about before the month ends. This year for Cinco de Mayo, Avocados from Mexico and Avocado will be hosting a fun photo sweepstakes! All you need to do is post a photo of you and your significant other celebrating Cinco De Mayo with your favorite dish made with Avocados from Mexico, or the avocado dish on the entry page. You can enter the sweepstakes via the I Love Avocados For Cinco De Mayo sweepstakes page on their web or mobile site, or through either Avocados from Mexico on Facebook.The prizes are as follows:

Free premium version of Avocado app and:

1st place: $1000

2nd place: $500

3rd place: $250 Continue reading →

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