Category: Tofu - feeding my ohana

What's Cooking This Week--May Day

4/27/2014

This was a good weekend as long as we do not speak of hockey. Instead, I highlight

Well-organized Sunday
Tomato and melons planted. Broad swaths of front yard weeds pulled. Stove and counters cleaned from the weekend sticky-sugary chemistry experiment. 4 boys making rock candy. Need I say more?!

Another batch of homemade Granola Mola. We have relied on store-bought granola only once in the past two months (purchased by the husband in a moment of weakness). And here's what's cooking this week.

The first outside dinner of the season

Meatless Monday
Summer Soba Salad. How I've missed this. We could have eaten this during the extremely mild winter, but it just didn't seem right.

Crock Pot Tuesday
Crock Pot BBQ Port Sliders with sweet bread rolls and salad. We will use the extra for leftovers roulette.

Fish on Wednesday
Omi's Shoyu Fish, rice and some kind of TBD green vegetable, probably broccoli. Another dinner I've been missing.

Thursday
Mango Chicken. Again, because it's been too long and this recipe needs a photo.

Leftovers Roulette Friday
A variation on BBQ Chicken Pizza. Using a flatbread, pulled pork, tomatoes, red onions and mozzarella cheese (instead of the usual Gouda). Definitely has potential.

Happy May Day to all this week!

What's Cooking This Week--Chez Dorm

4/13/2014

This week's menu is compliments of Birdie #1, who crafted a dorm-friendly Feeding My Ohana weekly menu from a combination of dorm food and a few items from the grocery store.

For all birdies out there far from the nest, this one's for you.

No more snow...

Birdie #1 reporting from finally-warm again New England. Warm weather means it's bearable (and even nice) to be outside again, and walking to the grocery store is finally an option. Birdie does not do the whole “walking two miles in the snow just to get to a grocery store” thing.

Dorm food is great, but you can only eat mass produced meat and veggies for so long. So after months of stalking Mama Birdie’s blog, I decided to bring Feeding My Ohana to the dorm room.

Make-it-at-the-Dining-Hall Meatless Monday
Class ends at late, but making On the Fly Orzo Salad in a dining hall isn’t too hard. Delicious, no cooking and only assembly required.

Sandwich Tuesday
Great left over sandwich and some fruit from the dining hall. As a bonus, it was free cone day at Ben and Jerry’s.

Kale Chips and Laundry Water?

Experimental Wednesday
Tried a new soup recipe off Buzzfeed and Kale Chips. Looks a little like pond water, but hey, it beats dining hall food.

Note from Ohana Mommy--It is very, very easy to make Kale Chips in a dorm. The soup includes beans, red onions, kale, ginger, vegetable broth and cilantro, and I make no claim on it.

Birdie rocks tofu!

Tried and True Thursday
Tofu "Cubed" Steak. Tofu and Sriracha provided by the dining hall. Yes, you read that correctly. Tofu and Sriracha are regularly available items in a college dining hall. Added spinach as a bonus.

Fried Rice Friday
My (Poppa's) Fried Rice with left over rice from Thursday, plus whatever add-ins I can obtain from the dining hall.

Shout out to my Birdie family back home.

I miss you all (really, I promise), and can’t wait to see you this summer.

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week for Halloween

10/30/2013

We will not be having chocolate for dinner. But dessert is pretty close on its heels.

No. This is Not My House.

Meatless Monday
Simplest Spaghetti Sauce.The husband made this in a wok this time and it was a successful cross between spaghetti and pan-fried noodles. Unconventional, but it worked.

Minimally Meaty Tuesday
Chicken and Bok Choy stir fry. Just a little oyster sauce. Thirty minutes, start to finish, including making the rice.

Wednesday
Ma Po Tofu. Another 30 minutes start to finish.

Happy Halloween Thursday
Braised Kabocha and My Mom's Miso Soup. Just because it's funny to have pumpkin on Halloween. And we shall have no dead flesh for Halloween either. And hopefully some leftover Snickers, Hi-Chew, Three Musketeers and Milky Ways.

Friday
Okonomiyaki, with char siu.

Extras from the Trader Joe's run
1) Simply almonds, cashews and chocolate trail mix with unsalted pistachios mixed in
2) Coconut cashews. Good with milk and granola or mixed in with work-oatmeal.
3) Maple pecan granola.

Happy Halloween to all!

What's Cooking This Week--Better Than It Looks

10/1/2013

Not so pretty, but a good balanced taste

Like the pond scum drink from awhile back, green curry is one of those things tastes so much better than it looks. And this is how we start October.

Meatless Monday
Green Curry with Tofu. Let's just say green curry doesn't photograph very well, even with A Lot of Filtering (see left). And tofu does it no favors. However, this was a Very Tasty Dinner. Green curry paste, a squinch of fish paste and a can of coconut milk. Plus nuts and dried cranberries. Yum.

Tuesday
Tonkatsu, namasu, shredded cabbage and rice. Everything about this makes for a happy weekday dinner.

Ad-Hoc Wednesday
No recipe needed for dinner. A sturdy meal of pasta with turkey sausage and arugula. Seasoned with white wine, chicken stock, pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

Thursday
Sloppy Joes from Scratch, with ground chicken instead of hamburger.

Fish on Friday
Misoyaki Butterfish and Edamame Rice. A lovely way to end the week. This seems to be an Ohana favorite and photographs much, much better.

Happy October!

What's Cooking This Week--Back to School

9/4/2013

Everybody is officially back to school today. I love the cadence of the academic year, so here's to new beginnings with meals we haven't had in the rotation in quite awhile.

Tart-style with fresh veggies!

Meatless Monday
Rat-pa-tooty. We haven't had this in such a long time. Long overdue with all the summer veggies in season.

Cured Meat Tuesday
Sanny's Spam and String beans. Another long-lost favorite. We're trying to save Spam for 'special' occasions. Like the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Wednesday
Chicken Shawarma. Birdie #2 really likes this, and it's not easy being the newly only child.

Love me some Shoyu Fish!

Meatless Thursday
Summer Soba Salad. It's supposed to be 90 degrees out, so we shall not use the stove or oven.

Fish on Friday
Omi's Shoyu Fish. Finally nice fresh fish. Halibut, cubed and dunked. I'm also trying to make mounds of cabbage and the dressing we had at the tonkatsu restaurants in Japan. This will make Birdie #2 happy as well.

Is it September already?! Have a good week all and to those celebrating the new year.

What's Cooking This Week--Husband Cooks!

6/25/2013

OK to eat cold. Way better grilled!

It's been a hectic couple of weeks and summer meal planning always gets a little bit ad-hoc. Lately, the husband has been cooking quite a bit (Thank you!!), so here's what he is making this week.

Meatless Monday
Tofu Steaks. Easy to grill. Best of all, tofu means that you can use marinade as dipping sauce too!

Tuesday
Myles' Last Resort Meatloaf. We forgot shredded carrots, so the husband is adding a jalapeno pepper instead.

Wednesday
Chicken/broccoli/sun-dried tomato pasta with parmesan cheese. This is a very simple, toss-it-all-together and not really need a recipe kind of dinner.

Meatless Thursday
Summer Soba Salad. No cooking required again when the weather heats up.

Friday
Tonkatsu. Rice. Salad. Nearly a plate lunch. Make sure you have lots of Bulldog sauce.

Extras
Blueberries are in season! Sour cream blueberry muffins. Please note that 450 is indeed the right temperature for baking. A friend of mine thought that surely this was a typo, but high heat is required.

The kids also made blueberry pancakes and we had yet another cobbler.

Eat Well and Happy Summer!

What's Cooking This Week--Relatives to the Rescue!

6/2/2013

My relatives are visiting! This means Ani's Sweet Bread, a new stock of li-hing powder, coffee, macadamia nuts and rock salt plum are on their way too.

All in return for shopping trips to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and JC Penney's.

So here's what I think we're eating, subject to relatives' OK.

Meatless Monday
Mom's miso soup and tofu. Light yet filling and comforting. Just like home!

Leftover Tuesday
Huli-Huli Chicken. We made a batch of this over the weekend and will take advantage of leftovers today.

Soup on Wednesday
PDQ Hot and Sour Soup. As requested by one of the teenagers.

Almost Meatless Thursday
My Daddy's Killer Fried Rice. With the last bit of char siu (not chashu).

Family Friday
TBD, depending on what Mom, Aunty, Mother-in-law, sister or children determine. Should be fun and guaranteed to be good!

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking this Week--When It's Hot as ....

4/22/2013

Today it is 88 degrees and sunny. Very hot for the Bay Area, so no stoves today. This week is all about cool, quick dinners. We may even eat outside! Here's what's cooking this week.

Cooking not required

Meatless Monday
Na-omi-take tofu. Temperature in the 90s in the Bay Area means no stove. A cool meal for this temporary blast of summer. We may even be in the pool today.

Tuesday
Chicken Tikka Masala. Trying out Safeway's brand of starter sauce as the Seeds of Change brand can be harder to find.

Meatless Wednesday
Simple Spaghetti and a simple salad. A Feeding My Ohana Like-er recommends adding slivered almonds to salad. Genius! I'll probably toss in some dried cranberries as well. Pasta and salad is one of the best weekday dinners.

Fish on Thursday
Stuffed Tuna Melts. Again, minimal cooking.

Plate Lunch Friday
Bulgogi, Wonbok coleslaw and rice. Short ribs cook really fast and with more daylight, Friday night grilling is on!

New recipe posted
My Daddy's Aburage Thingy
The first time I made this, it was a little too much everything--sweet, salty, liquid-ey. Not Feeding My Ohana-worthy. However, I fixed all the above-noted troubles. It is now family-approved.

Working on a couple of new recipes this week. Stay tuned for mid-week posts!

What are YOU cooking this week?

What's Cooking This Week--Going Global

4/8/2013

This week's menu goes around the world in 6 days--tofu, Alfredo and jambalaya. We are meatless x2 during the week with a bonus Meatless Sunday.

Be vegetarian, at least for a day.

Meatless Bonus Sunday
Tofu Steaks, edamame and rice. Can you say "soy"?

Monday
Basil Chicken. With tofu steaks last night, there is lots of extra basil.

Meatless Tuesday
Almost Alfredo Pasta, with broccoli instead of spinach.

Homemade gyros

Wednesday
Gyros, to use the last of the feta cheese from Grapefruit and Manoa lettuce salad.

Thursday
Jambalaya. Besides tofu steaks, we had Japanese Chicken Curry over the weekend and there is some leftover celery.

Meatless Friday
On the Fly Orzo Salad. Reasonably sure the husband will tolerate the third meatless day in a week.

Extras
Haupia from scratch. In this context, 'from scratch' not using the 'just add water' packet, but using coconut milk and cornstarch. It does not mean pounding coconut and arrowroot. I'm hoping for a smoother texture than the packets version. I may even make this tonight!

Li Hing Kettle Korn. My cousin told me I took Kettle Korn and made it even more addicting. If you see my relatives or me with the tell-tale red fingertips, you'll know why.

What are your favorite snacks?

What's Cooking This Week--Meatless x2

3/24/2013

Hello warm weather!

With apologies to Midwest and East Coasters, who should kick the tar out of Punxsutawney Phil and his entourage for incorrectly predicting an early spring, we are going with warmer weather dinners this week.

Meatless Monday
Summer Soba Salad. Something quick and light for a piano lesson and soccer practice evening.

Processed Meat Tuesday
Spam and String Beans. I grew up in Hawaii and make no apologies for Spam. However, I do draw the line at Vienna sausages. Blech!

Meatless Wednesday
From Scratch Falafel. I shape them more like a hash pattie so I don't have to deep fry.

Experimental Thursday
Thai Chicken Pizza Take 1. Aiming for the CPK Thai chicken pizza, but adding more veggies--bean sprouts, carrots and red peppers. Plus a little more zing with lime juice. We shall see.

Good Friday Fish
Shoyu Fish Sandwiches and Spicy Asian Coleslaw.

The pasta with soy-rizo worked out well last week. No photos, but will post the recipe later this week.

Hang in there with the last bit of cold. Spring is on the way!