Guest Post for Lazaro Cooks: Tahini Soba Noodles with Caramelized Jumbo Sea Scallops

I've been a fan of Lazaro Cooks since I started blogging a few years ago. His cooking style is what mine used  to be 3 or 4 kids ago. His take it or leave it  personality mimics mine and I love to read his blog while sipping a glass of red wine and longing for the day when I can cook amazing, grown up food with actual spices in it without having to clean it off of the walls afterwards.






I  love ethnic foods. Especially when it involves exotic spices and seafood. I also have a serious addiction to veggies and seafood. Even as a child I adored giant sea scallops and requested them for my birthday every single year along with Kahlua cake. My mom used to put cayenne in EVERYTHING from spaghetti, mixing it into peanut butter and sprinkling it on top of cottage cheese, so I grew up being accustomed to spicy foods. I have to hold back a bit on the spices with my little ones but am trying to build up a tolerance as we speak.

The kids loved this Tahini soba noodle dish slightly sweetened with honey and which I served to them with cubed chicken and saved the spicy-sweet jumbo sea scallops for my husband and myself. Tahini is a wonderfully mild paste made from toasted sesame seeds and commonly used in hummus. I've never been a big fan of peanut butter but love tahini's unique taste. Feel free to use peanut or almond butter in this if you wish.

Please head over to Lazaro Cooks for the recipe, it's simple, delicious and you'll  love  Laz's collection of recipes, I promise.

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Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp

Nothing makes you feel better on a cold and crummy day than a bowl of piping hot soup. O.K. maybe a hug helps too, but soup is the best. Take this hot and sour soup for instance, tons of good for you veggies and a sweet and tangy broth you'll want to slurp up every last drop of. 

Sorry about the crummy pic's guys. I've been feeling icky and all I had in me was a handful of half hearted shots. I'll tell you though I'm SO glad I saw this thing coming and made this soup yesterday so I could have some today in between naps. O.K., my mommy made it for me. You're never too old for your mom to make you a bowl of home made soup right?

I almost always make home made chicken and veggies soup with tons of fresh herbs when I'm feeling  sick but something about this sweet and sour one I saw on Eats Well With Others really caught my eye. The broth is spot on with fresh ginger, a bit of tamari and a splash of rice vinegar and I love all of the healthy veggies in here. If this doesn't snap me out of my head cold, nothing will. 

For an extra kick in the head, sprinkle in a few drops of Sirachi Hot Sauce! That'll clear ya up!

recipe adapted from Eats Well With Others

TIME        20 MINUTES           SERVES       6

Ingredients

3 tbsp sesame or peanut oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and sliced very thinly
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 cup diced carrots
½ savoy cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 lb medium size shrimp, peeled, deveined
2½ quarts water or vegetable broth
½ cup tamari sauce
⅓ cup Organic rice vinegar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
½ cup cold water
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced thinly
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 cups bok choy, chopped
14 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Hot Pepper Flakes to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the onions, ginger, and chiles and cook for a few minutes, stirring. Add in the sweet potato, carrots and cabbage and bok choy. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes, or until cabbage starts to wilt. Add in the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt, pepper, cold water, and cornstarch in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Add the mushrooms and bell peppers to the pot. Simmer until the veggies are tender, about 8 minutes. Add in the soy sauce mixture and stir until the soup thickens, about 8 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and bring the soup back to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil.

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Bok Choy Stir Fry with Asian Marinated, Grilled Tofu

" Give a Kid Some Chop Sticks!"

This was so light, crisp and delicious. I love eating fresh, light meals when it's so hot outside.  My mom made this dinner for us last night and we all loved it. Every one of the kids gobbled it up. Give a kid some chop sticks and meal time, even with veggies and tofu becomes fun!

The trick with this dish is pressing the tofu so it's not soggy. You simply take a cooling rack (like one you put cookies on to cool) and line it with a single layer of paper towels, then set your tofu on that, cover with another sheet of paper towel and set a cast iron skillet or something heavy and flat on top of the tofu (even a bowl with a heavy can will work). Let it set over a sink being pressed for about 30 minutes.

"GIVE A KID SOME CHOP STICKS"

For the Tofu and Marinade You Yill Need:

2- 14 oz packages of organic, firm tofu

1/3 cup Tamari (fermented, light soy sauce)

1 tabelspoon grated gingeroot

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tabelspoons sesame oil

sesame seeds

Whisk ingredients together and put into a bag with sliced, pressed tofu. Marinate in refridgerator for 30 minutes.  

Place marinated tofu on a baking sheet and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, flip tofu over and bake another 15 minutes.   Drizzle with more marinade and bake another 15 minutes being careful not to let get to dry.

For the Stir Fry You Will Need:

2 Carrots, sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 stalks celery, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 small onion

1 head bok choy, chopped

2 baby portabella mushroom, sliced

1 cup shitake mushroom, sliced

1- 5 oz. can baby corn

1- 5 oz. can  sliced water chestnuts

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tabelspoon ginger root, minced

Putting it all together:

Put white part of chopped bok choy, carrots, celery, onion in a bowl.

Put green part of chopped bok choy, mushrooms and garlic into another bowl.

Open cans of water chestnuts and corn, drain and set aside.

When tofu is in it's last 15 minutes of baking, put 2 tabelspoons of coconut oil ( c. oil has a very high smoke point and is ideal for stir fry's)  in a large Wok that has been preheated over med-high heat for several minutes. 

Add carrot mixture and stir fry for about 4-5 minutes. Take out of Wok and put back in bowl.  

Add another 2 tabelspoons coconut oil and add mushroom mixture. Stir fry about 2-3 minutes. Add corn and water chestnuts and Tamari and ginger. Stir fry another 1-2 minutes. Gently combine all veggies together and toss to coat.

Serve tofu on top of veggies

Serve with brown rice if desired. We like to eat this with pickled cucumber salad on the side. YUM!

 

PRINT THIS RECIPE!

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