Green Beans on Thursday

Green beans. I always shudder at the thought of limp, olive green colored, over salted, over cooked green beans. I can't believe people can actually eat them..out of a can! ack! It seems a travesty to the fresh crunch of green beans when prepared properly!

So check out this lil dish i whipped up. It's fresh, healthy, and a bit of a different way to have your green beans.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb green beans
• 1 small can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 block firm tofu cubed
• 1/2 TB dried basil
• 1/2 TB sugar
• 1 TB minced garlic
• garlic salt, pepper
• 1 egg

1. Clean beans and chop off ends and chop in half

2. Heat 1 tb olive oil in a pan til hot. Sprinkle garlic salt/pepper in the pan. Toss in tofu and stir to cook about 5 min.

3. Drain can of tomatoes and add to pan. Add dried basil and sugar. Cook on high til reduced, stirring, about 7-10 min. Remove from pan and set aside.

4. Put pan back on heat, add 1 TB olive oil, and minced garlic. Once hot, add green beans, garlic salt and stir to cook. Beans are done when a bright green color – about 5 min. It’s ok if they are a little on the undercooked side.

6. Add the tofu/tomato mix back to pan and cook another 5 min, tossing to combine. Add any extra salt/sugar/pepper to taste.

7. To serve, fry and egg over easy and top a plateful of the green bean dish. MMMMM! There’s the crunchy beans against the soft tofu and tomato; the slight sweet of the tomato against the salty egg. All these flavors play so well together!

MMM....Fall

The other day I went to Bolsa Market and was treated to a sweet espresso cup filled with creamy butternut squash soup, topped with a homemade toasted marshmallow and carmelized hazelnuts....oh my LORD!! it was the most amazing thing i've tasted in a long time!! so many flavors and textures wound sensuously around my tongue. The marshmallow's sweet fluffiness was the perfect complement to the delightful weight of the soup. If you guys have a chance, definitely check out Bolsa Market in Oak Cliff. They have super fresh ingredients, and open kitchen, and seasonal menu items that change each day. Awesome!

Anyway, I was kind of obsessed with butternut squash soup now and had to give it a try. I remember also a carrot ginger soup I had while at Devi in NYC and thought that combination of curry and ginger flavors against the squash would make for a lovely soup -- check it out:

Ingredients: (8-10 small bowls of soup)
- 1 butternut squash soup
- dash ground nutmeg
- dash sea salt
- dash olive oil

-1 onion chopped
- 2 carrots chopped
- 1 inch thumb ginger peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 block tofu cubed

- 2 TB butter
- 1 TB curry powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- dash tumeric
- 1 tsp sea salt


- 2.5-3 14.5oz cans msg free chicken broth
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 TB sugar

1. Roast the squash by cutting in half lengthwise, sprinkling with nutmeg, seasalt, olive oil and placing in a baking dish with 1 cup of water in the bottom. Place the dish in an oven at 450 for about 30 min.

2. Chop all the veggies

3. When you can scoop squash out with a spooon, it is done. Scoop out all the flesh and discard the skin. you may have to get a knife in there to get all the skin off. Chop up the squash.

4. Heat a large pot to med-hi and add butter. Add ginger and fry about 2 min. Then add onion, carrot, garlic, squash and stir to cook. Add curry powder, paprika, tumeric, sea salt and cook some more -- about 5 min or when onions go translucent.

5. Add the chicken broth and bring to boil. You may add more or less soup to get it more or less thick. When it boils, add tofu, sugar and black pepper, and bring down to medium to simmer for about 15 -20 min. Taste soup and add more salt/sugar/curry as needed. Should look something like this:



6. Get out another pot to hold soup. Take soup by about 3 cups at a time and blend in blender. Blend until smooth consistency. Make sure the tofu is all blended in too! Transfer blended soup to new pot and continue until all soup is blended.

7. To serve, ladle into a small bowl and add a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.

I really enjoyed the flavors and textures of this soup. I'm normally more into brothy soups, but this was great cold weather soup that was rich and hearty. In addition, the tofu gives you a healthy protein punch!

I did a quick calorie-count.com estimate of the nutrition per serving (minus the sour cream):
Calories: 180
Fat: 8
Carbs: 18
Protein: 11

:-)