Tofu Shapes

Every once in a while I have an unusually satisfying success. Yesterday afternoon was one of those times.

I am always hoping to find more foods are both nutritious and easy to eat, especially if they don't involve bread or cheese. I also like recipes that are easy to make and to clean up afterward.

Several years ago, I stumbled across the Vegan Lunch Box, a blog written by a Washington mom with lots of great ideas. (I also have her first cookbook and am hoping to soon purchase her second.) She has a recipe for Tofu Fish Sticks that always interested me, and now I have a child old enough to eat them.

However, I myself hated fish sticks as a child, so I wasn't interested in making anything that tasted remotely fishy. I also have a daughter who doesn't like strong flavors right now, so I needed to make a plainer version than what Jennifer has on her blog. I ended up designing my own recipe, and it worked very well!

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes (read here if you don't know what these are)
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 T sesame seeds
1/2 cup plain unsweetened soymilk
1 lb firm tofu

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare a cookie sheet. (I like to use a Silpat.)
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a cereal bowl or pie pan.
3. Pour the soymilk into a shallow bowl.
4. Cut the tofu into slices about 1/2-inch thick. Then use a cookie cutter or knife to create your desired shapes. You'll probably have leftover scraps -- they can be used, too!
5. One at a time, dip each piece of tofu into the soymilk and then the cornmeal mixture and cover both sides. Place on the cookie sheet.
6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes on each side.
7. Let cool before serving, depending on the age of your child.

Nora didn't like these when I served them at 2pm, but when I served them again at 3:30, she ate three of the heart shapes! Robert ate about ten of the scraps, and I ate a few myself, dipped in ketchup and mustard.

It is somewhat time-consuming to do all the dipping in the two bowls, but I was able to complete most of it while Nora sat in her booster seat having a snack. Then she napped while they cooked in the oven.

Nora Eats Spicy Tibetan Noodles

We try to have family meals together at least three nights per week. This means preparing food that everyone can eat, at least in some form. I also try to make a new recipe at least once every week or two.

A couple of weeks ago, I chose a recipe for Tibetan-style noodle curry from my Passionate Vegetarian cookbook. It has noodles, chopped vegetables, tofu . . . lots of Nora's favorites. During the cooking process, I must have thrown in a little too much cayenne powder because it turned out spicier than I intended. But having worked hard to get everything together for a nice Sunday dinner, I figured we might as well try it anyway.

To my surprise, Nora loved it. She not only loved it for dinner that night, but she loved it for lunch for the next two days. She just kept shoveling it in. And I thought it was pretty good myself.

Baby Stir-Fry

In search of a combination of finger food, vegetables, protein, and grains? Try a baby stir-fry. Easy and nutritious!

For protein, I have used cubed tofu and halved black beans. I think other beans would work as well.

For grains, I have used brown rice, brown rice spaghetti, and assorted quinoa pasta shapes. Her hands-down favorite is the brown rice spaghetti, despite its nutritional deficiency as compared to the quinoa pasta. I think she likes it because it clumps together nicely and she can actually get it into her mouth.

For vegetables, I like carrots, broccoli, green peas, onions, and green beans. Last night she had a bit of red bell pepper and mushroom. I keep the vegetables at an adult bite-size for the cooking, but cut them smaller before I put them on her tray.

I found a wheat-free tamari sauce (San-J brand) at Safeway. Of course, not wanting her to have too much sodium, I try to keep the tamari to a minimum. But she seems to really like it, especially on the tofu.

1) Cook rice or pasta according to package directions.

2) Chop all ingredients to desired size. (For stir-frys, a thin slice or dice is appropriate.)

3) Heat canola oil over medium or high heat. Fry tofu (if using) until golden. Spoon out and set aside.

4) Fry vegetables. Start with the hardest (e.g. carrots) and add additional vegetables every minute or two. End with the softest.

5) Mix all ingredients together. Let cool before serving to baby.

Porridge!

Life has been very busy lately, with little time for blogging. But I will try to do some more baby food entries before Nora becomes a toddler! She's now a very busy 9 1/2-month-old. Crawling, climbing, and dancing are some of her favorite activities!

There have been many new foods over the past couple of months, and a daily staple is "porridge." Porridge takes many forms, but always includes one or two grains*, a protein, and at least one fruit or vegetable. I mix it all together and serve it warm, and she usually loves it.

Some common combos include:

oatmeal - egg yolk - squash
oatmeal - egg yolk - banana
barley - tofu - broccoli - squash
millet - tofu - pumpkin
barley - tofu - broccoli - sweet potato
millet - garbanzo bean - green bean - peach (yes, really, she ate it!)
barley - lentil - green pea
barley - lentil - carrot

As long as you've got the basic ingredients on hand, you can make a quick, healthy meal in a short amount of time!

* I usually sprinkle a tablespoon or two of Earth's Best organic iron-fortified cereal into the porridge to increase its iron content.

Thanksgiving Tofu

The vegetarian baby turned 8 months on Friday, so we decided to give her her first "protein" food for Thanksgiving dinner. I mashed up some organic extra-firm tofu with organic canned pumpkin and added a pinch of cinnamon. She seemed to like it! I also gave her a few tiny cubes of tofu for finger-food practice, most of which ended up somewhere in the depths of the high chair.

Fat-Free Stir-Fry

Finally having recovered from my delivery & postpartum complications, I decided it was time to work on losing the pregnancy weight. I gained a rather astonishing 45 lbs... of which the baby was less than seven. Three months of breastfeeding and limited exercise enabled me to drop 25lbs, and finally at the beginning of July I felt ready to start focusing on diet.

I lost 30 lbs on Weight Watchers in 2004 and I am a big fan of the program. I find it works very well with being vegetarian. Since starting to count points and increase my exercise in the middle of July, I have dropped another five pounds. This recipe for fat-free stir-fry has become one of my lunchtime favorites over the past couple of weeks.

Points Value: 6 (without egg) or 8 (with egg)
All ingredients are Core

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked brown rice or whole wheat pasta
1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables
1/5 block of firm or extra firm tofu, diced
vegetable broth
soy sauce

Optional: chopped onion, minced garlic, chopped hard-boiled egg, cayenne pepper, whatever else you want to throw in

1. Heat a frying pan and spray it with cooking spray. Saute the onion and garlic, if using, until the onion is starting to soften.
2. Saute the tofu until the sides are starting to turn golden. Add vegetable broth as needed to keep the tofu from sticking to the pan.
3. Add the frozen vegetables and saute until cooked through. Add more vegetable broth as needed, and soy sauce for flavor.
4. Add the cooked rice or pasta and saute until heated through. Add more soy sauce as needed.
5. Remove from heat and turn onto a plate. It will be a large pile of food! Mix in the egg, if using.

Hints: When taking care of a baby all day, I don't have time to spend cooking rice or chopping vegetables. I'll make a large pot of rice one day to keep in the refrigerator and use for several days. Same goes for eggs - boil a bunch at once and then eat over several days. The frozen vegetables are a big time-saver, and are often more nutritious than fresh ones anyway. I like the vegetable broth that comes in a rectangular carton that you can keep in the refrigerator, just using as much as you need at a time.