Busy Day Stir Fry As Good As Take-Out

Every Christmas I ask myself the same question: If Santa has elves to help him get ready for the big day, why can't I? I never receive an answer, so this year I took myself seriously and began hunting for elves for rent.

I looked in the yellow pages, the want ads, Googled elves for rent, put an ad on Twitter and posted my desires on Facebook. Not a single elf to be found. I suppose Santa has them all tied up this time of year. Personally, I think that's being selfish. But then again, the elves are likely thrilled. Seems they are the only ones who never have to deal with being unemployed.

My wishes were few: elves to make the presents or shop for the presents; wrap the presents; write the Christmas cards and get them in the mail; fill the candy dishes with goodies; put up the tree and decorate it; then make the cookies for Santa and make sure they were on the table Christmas Eve, along with a glass of milk. After all, sliding down chimneys has to be hard work.

After reaching the conclusion that no elves were available, I picked myself up and decided to do things myself. Just like always. I'm busy, busy. Just like all of you. That's why I dug out a favorite vegan cookbook and stirred up a favorite recipe. I like Robin Robertson's "Vegan On The Cheap", not only for its tasty offerings, but because everything in it is economical to make.

Since I love Chinese food, and Robin's recipe for stir fry that's as good or better than take-out is not only a favorite dish, but quick to make, I thought you might like to give it a try during this busy season. I made a few adjustments, as I always seem to do. You know me by now. I always have to change something for my own palette. You can do the same. Oh, and by the way, if you hear of any elves for rent in your neighborhood, send me a note so I know where to find them next year.

BETTER THAN TAKE-OUT STIR-FRY

3 cups broccoli florets, cut small

1 large carrot, thinly sliced

1 pound extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbs. cornstarch

4 green onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 tsp. grated fresh ginger

1 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbs. brown sugar

2 Tbs. rice vinegar

2 Tbs. dry sherry (I left out since I didn't have it on hand)

1 Tbs. ketchup

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp. Asian chili paste

2 Tbs. water

Freshly cooked rice

I used my big wok since it makes stir-frying a cinch.

The recipe calls for steaming the broccoli and carrots until tender, but I don't care for steamed veggies, so I stir fried them and placed them aside till later in the recipe.

Cut the tofu into small dice and place in a medium bowl. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of the corn starch over the tofu and toss to coat.

In the wok, place a thin layer of vegetable oil and set the heat to medium. Add the tofu and cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Remove the tofu from the wok and set aside.

Heat another tablespoon of vegetable oil in the wok set over medium heat. Add the green onions, garlic, ginger, and cook till soft. Stir in the stock, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sherry, ketchup, sesame oil, and chili paste. 

Combine the remaining 1 Tbs. of corn starch with 2 Tbs. of water and pour into the wok, stirring to thicken. Add the tofu and cooked vegetables back into the pan and cook long enough to heat everything through. Serve over hot rice.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do. Even the non-vegans I've served it to always go back for more.

Serves 4

These are the non-vegans who ate my stir fry. Don't they look happy?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tipsy Baked Caramel Apples--Oh My!

Sometimes when I'm experimenting in the kitchen, things go terribly wrong. I just don't tell you about them. Yet every so often, my experiments turn out better than I'd expected and today's recipe is one of those.

Last week I baked some apples. They were plain old apples done the plain old way. And while I thought they were delicious, I began wondering if I could step them up a bit. Later in the week, I bought a caramel apple and enjoyed every sticky bite. Then I got to thinking. Could I come up with a baked caramel apple? How would I go about it? Would it be successful or toss in the garbage bad? The only way to know was to give it a try.

I thought on it for three or four days before I decided to try my luck. Surprisingly, I came through with a happy discovery that I'm passing on to you. And even though I'm still trying to figure out how to step-up the caramel taste, this is as close as I've gotten for now.

I would have to say that if you are a baked apple lover, you're going to like this recipe. Those wanting more caramel can experiment themselves or wait for me to come up with a better plan. In the meantime, try these apples that are stuffed with fruit and nuts, topped with gooey caramel, and baked in rum-infused apple cider. You won't be sorry. I promise.

This is NOT my baked caramel apple but a stand in. I cannot find my camera, though I've looked everywhere. Imagine this apple covered in caramel. Can you see it?

BAKED CARAMEL APPLES

Mix  together in a small bowl:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped nuts of choice, lightly toasted

1/4 cup raisins

Zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

Core 8 apples of your choice; I used Fuji. Stand them in a baking dish that is no more than 2" high. Fill each apple with the brown sugar/nut mix. If some falls to the bottom of the pan, leave it.

Pour 2/3 cup of apple cider into the bottom of the pan along with 1 jigger of rum. I used spiced rum. Toss about 6 whole cloves into the liquid. They won't be edible, but they'll give the juice a lovely fragrance.

Top the apples with a spoonful of the vegan caramel sauce (recipe follows)

Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes. To serve, ladle some of the cider/rum sauce into a bowl, add the apple, and top with a bit more of the caramel sauce. Add vegan whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Serves 8

VEGAN CARAMEL SAUCE

Into a saucepan put:

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup agave nectar or white corn syrup

Bring to a low boil, swirling to keep things moving. Do NOT stir with a spoon. Cook about 12 minutes.

When the mixture is a golden brown, stir in:

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 Tbs. vegan margarine

pinch of salt

Stir carefully as the golden caramel mixture will bubble up. That is how it should be. Turn off the heat and let the caramel cool a bit before using.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

Psalms 100:4

A Seedy Tale

It's just about everyone's favorite snack. But it's also a flower, a vegetable, a clothing dye, an ointment, and a snake bite remedy. It can grow to 20 feet high and produce a flower 2 feet in diameter. It has a brown center that's packed with seeds. What is it?

If you guessed Sunflower, you're right. Although the plant is native to North America, it is now grown all around the world. The seeds are large, sprout easily, and do their best when sown directly in a hot, sunny spot.

The resultant plant does well in nearly any kind of soil, fends for itself during drought, and seldom has disease or insect problems. The large, yellow flowerhead with its center of brown seeds numbering in the hundreds is attractive to birds, squirrels, mice, and any other seed-eating critter poking around the garden--including man.

It's the seeds that man and beast fight over. They are miniature power houses packed with unsaturated fats, protein, fiber, vitamin E, copper, zinc, selenium and high in magnesium and contain absolutely no cholesterol. The seeds are considered to be a great energy source and according to nutritionists, a single handful will temporarily satisfy a person's hunger.

One year when my kids were quite young, I bought a pack of sunflower seeds and sent them out to the garden to plant them wherever they wished. Weeks later, I began noticing sunflowers sprouting all around the house. I suspected more than a few seeds had been dropped on their way to the garden, even though the kids claimed only to have planted them where they'd been told.

Almost overnight I was awash in gangly green plants that hovered over everything else in the yard, and looked more like scrawny scarecrows with bright yellow heads than the prim plantings one would expect in a suburban home. It didn't take the birds long to begin noticing the seed-maturing stage. They checked daily to see how things were progressing, but no more than did my own kids who thought the minute the flower appeared it was time to cut it off and eat the seeds.

It was a daily ritual to check the seed production and I tired of the game way too soon. At my wit's end with all the begging to get the seeds into their stomachs, I finally gave in and cut the flowerheads off.

We were supposed to let them dry for at least a week but the kids wouldn't hear of it. So I spread newspapers on the kitchen table and let them have at it. We had seeds and fluff and a general mess all over the kitchen, but once the seeds were pretty much separated out, we gave them a good rinse and laid them on a cookie sheet.

I sprayed them with salt and olive oil and roasted them to a golden brown. They were crispy and nutty and doggone addicting. All 4 dozen of them. I had told the kids it was too soon to pick them. Sometimes a visual lesson is a better teacher than any verbal argument.

Sunflower, Cranberry & Oat Granola Bars

1 1/2 cups quick oatmeal

3/4 cup sunflower kernels, roasted and salted

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Stir to combine and set aside.

Mix the vegetable oil, brown sugar and agave nectar and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir till everything is well coated. Press the mixture into a greased 8x8x2 inch square baking pan. Sprinkle with additional sunflower seeds and coconut if desired. Bake 25-30 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven. While the bars are still warm, press the surface gently with the back of a spoon to flatten them. Score into bars with a knife. Let cool completely.  Makes 24 bars that are easy to carry in a purse, pocket, or briefcase.


Copyright 2011 by Sandra L Keith, All rights reserved