I love a good thai peanut sauce and was thrilled when I discovered how easy it is to make one at home.  I chose to use pre-made red curry paste, but you can find multiple recipes for making your own paste.  Using pre-made paste makes the prep time on this sauce less than 5 minutes….and isn’t that always a good thing?

Easiest Thai Peanut Sauce

adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Ingredients –

• 1/3 c peanut butter (natural – smooth or chunky)
• 2 tsp red curry paste (like Thai Kitchen’s )
• 2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• Pinch of salt
• 6-8 tbsp hot water

Directions –

1. Mashing the curry paste into the peanut butter with a fork until thoroughly mixed. Stir in the lemon/lime juice and salt.

2. Then whisk in the hot water one tablespoon at a time until you have a pourable dressing that is about as thick as a heavy cream, or just slightly thinner than your desired consistency, as it will thicken as it cools.

3. Pour over dish = I used udon noodles, broccoli, carrots, black beans, and dried-fried tofu!

Israeli Couscous is a small, round semolina pasta that should not be confused with the tiny, yellow North African couscous; it is a different animal altogether! Sometimes called pearl couscous or maftoul, it resembles barley, or very small, white peas.

After being shaped and rolled into small balls, these semolina pearls are toasted in an open-flame oven. This distinguishes the couscous from most pasta, which is dried but not toasted. Toasting lends the couscous a distinctive, nutty flavor and particularly satisfying mouth-feel, and it also seals in the starch and reinforces the exterior, allowing the pearls to absorb liquid without falling apart. This is why Israeli couscous is ideal for saucy preparations whatever the sauce or reduction, the couscous absorbs the flavor beautifully, and the sauce sticks well to every tiny pearl. - from Adventures in Israeli Couscous

Last night I made the healthy decision to forgo making vegan mexican hot chocolate cookies (though, let’s face it…I’ll still be making them in the coming days at some point!) and instead opted for a simple and healthy couscous dish to split up into lunches to freeze.  If you’ve never tried Israeli couscous you really do need to.  Its got more texture and body than normal couscous and a nuttier flavor than regular pasta.  It makes fabulous cold salads for the next bbq and its perfect for a hot dinner.

Israeli Couscous with Broccoli & Toasted Pine Nuts

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Ingredients –

• 2 cups uncooked Israeli couscous
• 2.5 cups water
• Veggie Broth (You can use whatever broth you’d like here.  I chose Better than Bouillon’s vegetable broth to keep my dish vegan – I used 2.5 teaspoons.)
• 3 cups lightly steamed broccoli spears
• 1/3 cup pine nuts

Directions –

1. The first step is to lightly toast your couscous and pine nuts.  While Israeli couscous is already toasted (see above) you can bring out even more flavor by toasting it in a dry pan over medium heat.  I choose a dry pan to cut down on fat but this means you need to watch it carefully and stir often to ensure it doesn’t burn.  Once couscous is a light golden brown, set it aside and place the pine nuts in the dry pan.  Toast the pine nuts in the same fashion being sure to stir it often.  Remove from heat.

2. Boil water in a medium-sized pot and dissolve bouillon in it.  Add the couscous, cover, and turn down heat to a simmer.  Cook couscous for 8-10 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.  (Note: this couscous taste best when cooked to al dente rather than too soft.)

3. Add broccoli and toasted pine nuts.  The broth gives this dish plenty of flavor but you could also add some sauteed onions or a variety of spices.  I added chili pepper because…well…I add it to everything. 

I got this recipe off of Stonyfield Farm’s website.  It was certainly not your usual thick, creamy, buttery mac & cheese but it did satisfy the craving I had in a much healthier, protein-packed fashion.  I like the idea of using yogurt in this dish, but I think it needs some tweaking before its truly make-again-worthy.  (Maybe even just the addition of some milk?)  Next time I’m going  to try this vegan version of mac & cheese.

I really wanted to love this, but I just didn’t.  None of the parts where quite perfect and the sum of them all left me wanting.  Now, its a healthy vegan version of a dish that is usually laden with fat and calories so it gets bonus points merely for coming in at 300 calories for a decent sized portion.  But there just wasn’t enough flavor for me and the texture of the tofu/collard greens mixture wasn’t amazing.  (Though, this could have been completely my doing since I suspect I slightly over-cooked the tofu drying it out too much.)   This dish just needs a little something extra……maybe after looking at the recipe you can tell me what it is!

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Tomato White Wine Sauce

Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe

Ingredients -

• 20 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano leaves
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves
• 1 cup white wine (I thought this was too much considering you don’t cook it down.  The wine flavor was over-whelming instead of adding a subtle clean taste like I had hoped.  Though it tasted fine after baking on the shells.)

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. In 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans place tomato halves cut side up. Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, and herbs. Bake tomatoes for 2 hours. Check the tomatoes after 1 hour and turn down the heat if they seem to be cooking too quickly. Then turn the oven to 400 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and process tomatoes through a food mill on medium dye setting over a small saucepan. Discard skins. Add white wine, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.

Baked Stuffed Shells

adapted from Terry Walters’ Clean Food

Ingredients -

• 8 oz large pasta shells
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup mirin (I used white wine)
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1.5 lbs fresh firm tofu (I used one 14 ounce package)
• 2 bunches kale or collard greens, chopped (I used 2/3 of a large bag of collard greens pulverized in the food processor.  I don’t like chunks of leaves…)
• 4 cups of tomato sauce (see above for recipe)
• 1 cup grated soy or rice mozzarella (All the recipes in the book are vegan.  If you are not vegan, feel free to use regular cheese.)

Directions -

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees.

2. Cook shells according to instructions on package, drain and set aside.

3. In a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until soft (about 5 minutes).  Add mirin, basil and parsley and stir.  Wrap tofu in paper towels and press to remove excess liquid.  Crumble tofu into pot, mix with other ingredients and cook 5 minutes.

4. Fold greens into tofu mixture and continue cooking until soft.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove from heat and set aside until cool enough to handle.

5. Stuff shells with filling and place in 9 x 12-inch lasagna pan.  Cover stuffed shells with tomato sauce.  Sprinkle top with cheese, cover with foil and bake 20 minutes.

6. Remove foil and bake uncovered 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let set 5 minutes before serving.

Its just a hair over 300 calories for 1/9 of the pan.

Just a recent pic from random downtown ramblings…