Chip's lunch: June 10, 2010

This lunch features leftovers from tonight's dinner. I got this month's Clean Eating Magazine last week, and finally cracked it open yesterday. There are several vegetarian recipes that look tasty, and a few more that can be vegetarianized. I decided to make the Ginger Tofu Stir-fry Rice Bowl, and it turned out way better than I expected! We both loved the delicate flavor and the spices with the tofu.

Some of the veggies we used came from Nature's Garden Delivered. This is a pretty neat service. They call themselves an online farmers' market. You sign up to have produce delivered weekly or bi-weekly, and a few days before the delivery, you get a list of what will be in your box. This week we got 5 potatoes, 2 bunches of lettuce, 3 limes, 4 huge apples, 5 carrots, 4 bananas, 1 cucumber, 1 tomato, and 2 Valencia oranges (everything is organic). They do their best to source local produce, and everything that's not local is organic. It was really convenient to do everything online, and this morning when we woke up, our box was on our front porch. We got a coupon to try this out once, and while we enjoyed it, we won't do it again since we already signed up for a CSA (and we get our first box of that on Saturday). But for those who don't have time to go to farmers' markets or shop around, I think this is a great service.

Here's the recipe for the stir-fry (Clean Eating Magazine, July/August 2010, page 69):
-1 1/2 cups brown rice
-4 tbsp whole wheat flour
-1 1/2 tsp onion powder
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
-2 tsp ginger powder, divided
-14 oz. extra firm tofu, cubed
-Olive oil cooking spray
-1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
-1 carrot, peeled and julienned
-1 stalk celery, chopped (I subbed in asparagus)
-1 yellow onion, diced (I cut it in 1" squares instead of dicing)
-6 ounces snow peas (I used regular frozen peas and corn)
-2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
-1 tbsp rice vinegar

1. Cook brown rice according to package directions.
2. In a shallow bowl, stir together second through fourth ingredients, plus 1 tsp of ginger powder. Dredge each tofu cube in this mixture and set aside.
3. Briefly heat large nonstick skillet (I used a wok) over high heat. Mist with cooking spray and heat for one minute. Reduce heat to medium high and saute tofu until lightly browned. Remove tofu and set aside.
4. Mist same pan with cooking spray, saute veggies until cooked.
5. In another bowl, whisk together 1 tsp ginger powder, soy sauce, and vinegar. Reduce heat of skillet with veggies to medium low and pour soy sauce mixture on top of vegetables. Add tofu and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve 1 cup vegetable-tofu mixture over 1/2 cup rice in individual bowls.



Ginger tofu stir-fry (with organic tofu, organic red pepper, organic carrot, organic onion, local asparagus, organic corn, and organic peas), steamed organic brown rice, half of a PB&J on local whole wheat bread, Kashi peanut butter chewy granola bar, organic banana, and an organic Fuji apple.