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A little bit of planning makes it easier to avoid boredom in the kitchen
The best way to keep meals interesting is to incorporate variety. Easy as it is to serve the same meals regularly, it is more appealing to make diverse choices and avoid frequent repetition.
The uber organized can still use a repeating menu cycle, increasing the length of the cycle from one or two weeks to maybe six weeks. The less organized among us can go about planning meals week by week.
While it takes a bit of mental effort to serve a variety of dishes, it doesn’t require us to make difficult or complicated dishes every day. Much as I like cooking, I want to have time to pursue other interests as well.
I recently remembered a simple breakfast or lunch dish that I learned about during a long-ago Nutrition Month. For each serving, you need a little fat for the pan, 1 egg, 1 large flour tortilla and a spoonful or 2 of salsa. Warm a 25 cm (10 inch) frying pan over medium heat to melt the fat, break the egg into the pan, break the yolk and gently spread the egg into a thin layer in the pan. Lay the tortilla over it and let it cook until the egg is set; this takes seconds. Remove from heat, spoon a little salsa over the egg, roll the tortilla and serve. It took as long for me to describe the process as it takes to prepare the dish.
Last week, I delved back into the world of meals in a bowl, often called Buddha
bowls. You can be as creative as you wish when making these. There is so much room for variation that you could make a different combination every time.
The basic method I use is to spoon a starch, such as rice, another grain or noodles into an individual bowl (like a cereal bowl), top it as artfully as possible with a protein and at least one, but preferably more, vegetables, then a drizzle of sauce or dressing and a sprinkle of nuts, seeds, sprouts or something similar to top it off.
When I last made one, I used warmed (leftover) basmati rice, with a little soy sauce stirred in, as the base. For the protein, I added baked, marinated tofu (recipe follows) and for the vegetable toppings I chopped and roasted a selection of vegetables I had on hand: onion, carrot, Brussels sprouts, part of a big parsnip and grape tomatoes. I drizzled the mixture with a tahini-garlic dressing and topped the bowl with chopped cashews. It was an easy, tasty, one-dish meal.
When I say that the recipe below is adapted, I mean that I substituted similar ingredients that I had in my own kitchen for at least half of those specified in the original.
Ginger-Baked Tofu
Adapted from Kornfeld, Myra and George Minot: The Voluptuous Vegan, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, New York, 2000. 349 g firm tofu (1 pkg of shelf stable tofu)
30 mL (2 tbsp) bottled lemon juice 30 mL (2 tbsp) seasoned rice vinegar 30 mL (2 tbsp) soy sauce
30 mL (2 tbsp) canola oil
5 mL (1 tsp) toasted sesame oil
15 mL (1 tbsp) pure maple syrup 15 mL (1 tbsp) grated frozen gingerroot 2 mL (½ tsp) dehydrated minced garlic
5 mL (1 tsp) dried thyme pinch of cayenne
Place the tofu on a pie plate and top with a second plate. Weight the plate with a heavy can or two and press for at least 30 minutes. Drain. Make the marinade by whisking together all ingredients except the tofu.
Place the tofu cake on its side and cut into 3 thin slices. Place the cake flat again and cut diagonally through all 3 layers to make 6 triangles. Cut the triangles down the middle into smaller triangles. Arrange the triangles in a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) baking dish in a single layer, fitting the pieces together like a mosaic. Pour the marinade over the tofu. Let stand for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight, turning once.
Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Bake the tofu in its marinade for about 40 minutes, or until the tofu is golden brown and most of the marinade is absorbed. Makes 4-6 servings