Tofu Stir Fry with Kale, Mushrooms, and Green Onions

~20 min

It is possible I eat too much Asian food. Probably because it is so delicious and you can make it with just about anything leftover in your fridge. However the key to a good stir fry is to properly cook the vegetables.

 Ingredients:

• Firm Tofu. One package holds about 3 servings
• 4 small Mushrooms per person
• Two leaves of Kale per person (including chopped stems)
• One Green Onion per person
• one clove of garlic per person
• sesame seeds as desired
• sesame oil
• soy sauce
• chili powder as desired about teaspoon a person
• rice vinegar (optional)

Begin by slicing the tofu into small sections about 1/4 inch thick , I usually cut the pieces into 1/2in squares. This ensures the tofu will cook thoroughly inside as well as outside. Soak the tofu in a bit of soy sauce, chili powder and a teaspoon of vinegar per package of tofu. Heat a bit of sesame oil to medium heat in a LARGE skillet or wok (You will have a lot of vegetables so make sure they fit). Once the oil is hot, add the tofu (but not the sauce) and make sure it is all lying flat on the skillet surface. After about 5 min the tofu will be browned. Then each piece needs to be flipped over. I like to use tongs or chopsticks.
It is done when it looks like this:

Remove tofu from skillet, and add a bit more sesame oil. Once hot, add the vegetables. Keep in mind you can use any vegetables or greens you want as long as they all are cut in such a way that they will cook at the same speed.
Stir them all around to evenly coat them oil. Let them sit for a full minute to brown them a bit. Now add the minced garlic, sesame seeds, and chili powder. Stir around and repeat this until the vegetables have cooked for about 7-10  minutes (at this point they should still be crunchy). Now turn up the heat to medium high and cook for about two minutes until the vegetables are properly browned. You will have to stir a bit more at the higher heat, but don't do it continuously or the vegetables won't brown.

When done, remove the vegetables and while still hot add a teaspoon of premixed of soy sauce and vinegar mixture to each serving.

It takes a bit of practice to get the timing right. The idea is to cook the vegetables until they are nearly done and turn up the heat for a few minutes to brown and finish them. Properly stir-fried vegetables are slightly crunchy (not overcooked) and browned.

Serve with rice or noodles. 

 Stir fry is very versatile because you can make it with almost any kind of vegetable. It is better to avoid watery vegetables however, because they will prevent the other vegetables from browning. If you really want to you could probably soak the watery vegetables with salt beforehand which will help draw out their moisture. Make sure to pat them dry before cooking. Keep in mind though, that this will make them quite salty so you probably shouldn't add soy sauce.

For a list of stir-fry vegetable ideas visit my post on Nabemono.

Also a note on soy sauce:

Soy is traditionally made by fermenting soy beans for several months until proper taste is obtained. The bacteria used in the process are beneficial to us, similar to those in yogurt. Because of the length of this process, most commercial soy sauces sold in grocery stores are chemically made. They lack the nutritional benefits of traditionally fermented sauces. Properly fermented foods are extremely beneficial for human health and are very limited in typical American diets. I highly recommend incorporating foods with beneficial bacteria into your diet for optimal health. The nourishing gourmet has a nice post about this topic and brand recommendations. Other sources of beneficial bacteria include: raw milk, yogurt, kombucha, miso, tempeh, and anything lacto-fermented. Make sure to properly inspect labels for inclusion of live bacterial cultures. Not all of these commercially sold products contain live cultures (very sneaky)! These can be killed in the pasteurization process that is used to extend the shelf life of products.

I recently purchased a pasteurized but naturally fermented organic soy sauce myself. I really enjoyed the taste. It was less salty than regular soy sauce and mildly sweet. The taste was much more complex than the chemically produced version. Very much worth it!

Homemade Christmas gifts: Teas

   For Christmas this year I made some homemade herbal teas for the tea-drinkers on my Christmas list. I collected some herbs I found locally and put servings in paper teabags I bought at Teavana.They were a big hit!

I made two different mixes:

    A breakfast tea: mixture of white pine needles (~2 Tbsp), orange peel (pinch), and cloves (5 dried flowers). Did you know that pine is even higher than lemon in vitamin C content? To prepare, cover with boiling water and steep for about 20 min or until the color of the needles is diminished.

     A night time tea or warm milk infusion: place a mixture of lavender (1/2 Tbsp) and roasted hazelnuts(1/2 Tbsp) in hot water and steep for about 15 min. Lavender can be a very effective sedative for certain people, so take about a half hour before bed.

I also thought about making a dried version of my Rosemary-Strawberry tea but never found the time. This is a great combo for anyone feeling unmotivated or lethargic. I find it gets me unstuck and moving even if I am doing something monotonous. It also makes a great iced tea with a little honey.

 

Additionally I like to make an infusion of Tagetes (African marigold) with ginger and apple. Again I didn't get around to making a dried version of this either. I dried the Tagetes I grew this summer and stored it for use. However this tea is best warm because the marigold is very earthy regardless of its brilliant color.

    According to several well known herbalists: drinking about a quart of strong herbal teas from fresh ingredients (infusions) every day, can broadly improve overall health. These mixtures can also help treat acne according to an apprentice of Susan Weed. I hope to grow enough herbs to try this approach in the spring. Right now it is hard for me to find fresh herbs due to the amount of dogs in all of the green spaces where I live.

Do you have a favorite herbal tea mixture you drink?

Nut Butter Bread (GF) and my Blogging Story

    So.....it seems I've come down with some sort of virus. Low grade fever, chills and sore throat. So boo about that but also yay because I can blog again! Since I tend to primarily include recipes here, I thought I might write a post about myself and my story for being here.

     I am a university student with a passion for experimentation and creation of all types. Most bloggers have a story behind the birth of their sites. My motivation was to cure my acne issues. Additionally it offered a great way to save recipes for later use and encouraged my cooking creativity. After visiting many doctors and doing my own research, the only issue I have found that might cause my acne is probably a hormonal imbalance of low progesterone. Other than my acne symptoms, I sometimes have mild bouts of depression and excess energy. Both of which I have learned how to cope with and correct. However the acne is another story. It presents itself severely around my mouth and cheeks and flares near my cycle. I've had it since puberty and have been prescribed many topical and oral medicines for my condition. Everything I have been given such as antibiotics, steroids, and even dried chinese herbal supplements have had significant and sometimes debilitating side effects. I am hesitant to try synthetic hormone replacement and hope that I can cure myself through self diagnosis with topical and oral herbal medicines, and diet changes. I have always eaten relatively healthy because my mother has always fed our family well. However, it doesn't seem to be enough and I hope to record any other successes I might find on this site. I know many other people are struggling with severe acne and realize that treatment for every person is extremely unique. I feel as though most treatments I have received have been blanket diagnoses that are assumed to work for everyone with the same symptom even though the condition arises from different sources. I hope one day to find a way to fix my condition and not my symptoms and do so with tolerable side effects.

   I have tried implementing several changes in my lifestyle that are well known for curing acne.
Of these are:

• Eliminating food groups (gluten, dairy) to find allergies: none were found
• Eliminating junk food (such as chips, sugar and all natural sources of sugar such as honey, certain fruits and etc.). The results: I lost weight. No change in acne and it was very difficult, meaning it was something I probably could not maintain. I still avoid these foods as much as I can, just not entirely.
• Different levels of regular exercise (moderate to very intense): Again I lost weight. No change in acne.
• Washing my face several times a day with many topical treatments. Including not washing my face. I've had mild successes.
• Oil Cleansing Method with hemp oil: probably the most successful thing I have tried, however it is nowhere near strong enough to deal with PMS acne. I apply it at night before bed for optimal suppression of facial oil production.
• Currently I am experimenting with seed cycling to regulate my hormones, but results are supposed to take several months to appear.

So that is my story and why I am motivated to make changes in my lifestyle. My blog here is a chronicle of my journey and I hope it might help others resolve their own issues.

Now for that recipe as promised:

Gluten-Free Nut Butter Bread

 ~50 min

Adapted from Choisis La Joie's recipe for walnut butter bread (which I can't wait to try). I used simple unsweetened peanut butter and made small cupcake sized breads to test the taste. These took around 25 min to cook in the oven instead of 40.

 The taste and texture of this bread was wonderful for a gluten-less recipe! It very strongly tasted of peanut butter, but it was very simple to make. I can easily see myself buttering a slice for toast in the mornings.

Desert Recipe of the Week: Ginger Lemon Oatmeal Cookies (and some pictures from the quarry)

~30 min
This recipe made very soft and flavorful cookies. I might have put more ginger and lemon in than the recipe called for. It was totally worth it. Very delicious.

See the recipe here

Took a hike around the quarry the other day and took some artistic pictures.

The weather has been lovely :(

Strawberry Purple Dead Nettle Salad

~10 min
So I've had a really stressful semester at school (should be noticeable from the lack of posts >.<)... I finally snapped the other day and just went hiking. I missed an appointment I had, but it was totally worth it to be outside and moving for once.

While I was out I found some delicious looking purple dead nettle and brought it back home with me. Food resulted:

Ingredients:

• Purple dead nettle
• Strawberries
• honey (2 parts)
• apple cider vinegar (1 part)
• healthful oil of some type ( I used hemp seed) (1 part)

As always with foraging, you should be very certain you can identify the plant you have picked before you eat it. So be sure you can distinguish between these:

 Purple dead nettle:                                       image source

 

Poisonous look-alike:                                 image source

Purple dead nettle (PDN) is a relative of the mint family and has a hint of mintiness and very soft leaves. It paired great with strawberries. 

To assemble the salad: cut up your strawberries, clean and trim PDN leaves, and add them to a bowl. Mix the honey, ACV, and oil  together in a separate container in a 2:1:1 ratio. Coat salad and toss.

It also never hurts to taste the dressing before applying it to make sure the mixture tastes good to you. Happy trails :)

Open-faced Ham and Avacado Breakfast Sandwiches (Gluten- Free)

~15 min

To make these delicious breakfast sandwiches you will need the following:

Ingredients:

• pre-cooked ham slices
• sliced mozzarella cheese
• half an avocado per sandwich
• masa harina for tortillas
• beef grease or any other high temperature oil, vegetable is fine

First prep the tortillas. Use about three tablespoons for a 4 inch wide tortilla.

 Add just enough water to get the flour to stick together in a ball. About 1 tablespoon.

Now go ahead and make a ball of the dough to see if you need more water or not. Adjust accordingly. It should stick together like this:

On a cutting board press the ball as flat as you can get it without it breaking. Using a broad flat knife (like this Santoku) scrape the tortilla off of the cutting board. At this point I usually flip it over and press it again to make it flatter. I'll usually repeat this flipping and pressing about four times until it is about 2 cm thin. (It goes quickly once you get the hang of it)

 To cook, generously grease a skillet with beef drippings or any other high temperature oil and turn the heat onto medium high. Once pre-heated, toss in the tortilla to cook for about 2-3 min each side. You'll know its done when it looks like these pictures:

Remove tortilla when cooked and throw in the ham to brown.

Now melt some cheese on top of the browned ham.

Cut up some avocado slices...

And have a lovely breakfast.

Homemade Beef Stock/ Bone Broth

      The weather at night has officially hit below freezing here. As such it felt appropriate to post about soup broth to help banish those winter cold shivers. Homemade soup stock is a wonderful source of essential vitamins and minerals. Store bought broths are not as good for you due to the quality of meat and lack of bones ( no bones in bone broth?!) commercial makers use. Store brands also tend to supplement their products with  copious amounts of "flavoring"=MSG in the mix to help reduce costs. If you need more incentive to make your own stock, also note that Bone broth is a superfood! It is a wonderful source of nutrition and perfect for anyone with sensitive tummies that might be upset from illness. It is an essential food in many diets such as GAPS that work to restore proper gut flora to people that have poor digestive stamina.

I followed the recipe located at this site. Instead of Apple cider vinegar ( I don't like the taste of it) I used tomatoes and some rice vinegar to help draw out the nutrients from the bones.

I have been using my leftover beef grease drippings a lot these days, so I basted the bones and veggies in it and also made some Yorkshire puddings to eat with the broth. The puffy puddings turned out really lovely. Thanks to Closet Cooking for the recipe. 

Coated with beef grease drippings

The roasted Mirepoix and bones all together

 The herbs and sachet I made out of a slow cooker lining bag. My herbs are still vibrantly alive even after our first frost.

 After 8 hours it is dark outside and time for food.

 Grease drippings yum!

 These were as delicious as they look. They were marvelously puffy with a soft hollow interior and crunchy exterior shell that tasted great with the stock.