Category Archives: Asian

Energy Boosting Sesame Orzo

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energy-boosting sesame orzo

I kind of failed at food last week. I took a “cooking vacation,” if you will. I went out to eat, grabbed takeout, or made avocado sandwiches literally every night. With everything going on this summer, I just hit a wall where I felt overwhelmed and like I had no time. When this happens, it’s not only fast meals that I crave, but carbs. I just want all the carbs.

When I finally found myself with some time on Sunday, I decided I better step foot in the kitchen and see if I could get back in the groove and make something substantial. While I had no intention of ending my carb bender, I thought adding greens and protein to the mix might be helpful for my dwindling energy level.

Enter beluga lentils. A teeny tiny protein powerhouse that pairs well with just about anything. I figured lentils, broccoli rabe, and a miso-sesame sauce juuuust might bring my energy back up and get my cooking shoes back on.

To be clear, I would be piling all these ingredients on top of pasta, of course…we’re taking baby steps here, people.
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Peanut Crusted Tofu Transformation

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Peanut-Crusted Tofu

Hey meat eaters – stay with me here. I know tofu has a bad wrap outside of the veg world, but the problem is that most people don’t know how to prepare it. Heck, I’ve even had gross tofu in restaurants. Yes, I’m admitting that it can definitely be gross, which is why you should trust me that I can make it awesome.

Another barrier to tofu acceptance – its appearance. I know that the block it comes in looks unnatural, but I assure you that tofu is as natural as it gets. Tofu is simply soybeans, water, and a coagulant of some sort. Then, it’s pressed into the signature block shape. What you do with that shape, well that’s where the fun begins.

I’ve used tofu in a couple of recipes on this blog, but as a supporting ingredient, like in Pad Thai or Lettuce Wraps. In this post, I’m going to give you a way to prepare tofu so it’s the star of the show. Vegetarians should get to have a big chunk of protein shine on their plates once in a while too, you know?

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Rekindling the [Lettuce Wrap] Flame

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Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps

The boy’s place has spoiled me. It’s sky-high, with huge windows that show downtown in the distance, and we can watch the sunset right off his balcony…it’s just beautiful. While I do enjoy taking in these sights of the city when I’m over there, I also tend to focus on, well, a different sort of beauty: the P.F. Chang’s across the street. It’s just sitting there, looking at me, whispering, “What happened to us? Remember in college when you, me, and your friends would hang out and eat lettuce wraps? How can we ever get back to that place?”

It’s not that the boy and I never go out to eat, it’s just that P.F. Changs and I have grown apart. When we dine out, I gravitate towards local eateries, or new restaurants, or diamond-in-the-suburb spots. So, somehow, I ventured away from P.F. Chang’s, and you know what? When I look out that window and across the street to the welcoming, horse-guarded doors, it makes me sad.

We will inevitably venture across the street in the near future, but this week I decided to take dinner into my own hands, literally. I knew I couldn’t emulate the P.F. Chang’s lettuce wrap experience perfectly, because honestly I don’t even know what they put in there (I suspect crack), so I decided to do my own spin. Maybe it wouldn’t fix my P.F. Chang’s relationship, but I’d settle for rekindling my lettuce wrap flame.

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