Look what finally arrived!!!  I am re-washing all the things that have been sitting wet in wash baskets all weekend.

Of course when I get a snow day and can be all productive catching up on laundry, and I can’t actually do any.  Oh well – it’s not as bad as last year in Ohio when I had four snow days in a row, that just happened to coincide with the week we were between cable companies – four day break with no TV – painful!

While Casey and our landlord wrestled giant appliances around, I got to work on dinner.  This is one of my favorite dinners to make – a healthy approach to making you own Chinese food!

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 Asian Stir Fry with Ginger Soy Tofu

Ingredients:

• 1 block extra firm/firm tofu
• 1 cup brown rice
• assorted frozen veggies
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

To Prepare:  Start by slicing the tofu and pressing the liquid out – follow the same method shown in the tofu tutorial.  Meanwhile, get some brown rice cooking.  I used 1 cup, and added some ginger powder and Chinese five spice for flavor.  Next, prepare the ginger soy glaze – combine soy sauce, lemon juice, minced ginger, brown sugar, and sesame oil in a small bowl and whisk to combine. 

If I lived in a place where it was sunny all the time and I could pick fresh vegetables at my leisure, I obviously would.  But in reality, the availability of affordable, good fresh produce is very limiting, especially this time of year, so Casey and I rely on a lot of frozen fruit and vegetables.  Research has shown that there is really no nutritional difference between fresh veggies and their frozen counterparts, and certain stores like Trader Joe’s have made frozen vegetables seem just as good as the real deal. 

By using frozen veggies for this stir fry, you will save a ton of prep time too!  Just open bags and dump into a work.  My mix was a 1/2 bag of stir-fry mixed vegetables, Trader Joe’s Harvest Hodgepodge (another medley), 1 cup edamame, and 1 cup mixed bell peppers.

Add about 1/2 cup water to these, cover, and let simmer until heated through.  Then uncover and drizzle with soy sauce – simmer another five minutes so that moisture evaporates.

Once the tofu is nice and browned and almost finished, pour the soy marinade over top and let it sizzle!  Stir the tofu to coat in the sauce.

Hopefully your rice should be done by now too!  Fluff with a fork, and serve!

This was absolutely delicious, and a million times healthier than Chinese take out.  And since frozen veggies are used, you save a lot of time and prep work, making this an easy weeknight dinner.

Off to day 2 of Stocks, Soups, and Sauces – hopefully we’ll actually cook this time!