Ok, tonight I wanted to post something a bit different then I normally do. For a while I have been thinking about posting a food recipes with the focus of being healthy, vegetarian, and yummy. In my experience most people (Sikhs included) don’t eat very healthy food. These days so much of what you buy in a normal grocery store (in Western Countries like USA, UK, Canada, etc) is extremely processed and not very healthy. We have gone from small time farming and productions to mass-production which is meant to maximize profits for the corporations. Kids these days start their day with major doses of sugar in their cereal, then drink caffeinated colas, sodas and artificially flavored sugary drinks instead of water and more natural choices. Whenever I go to a restaurant to eat and I see lemonade on the menu it is almost always some artificially flavored drink. How hard is it to squeeze a lemon and add a bit of sweetener??
Much of the vegetables and produce that is in the stores is sprayed with chemical pesticides. Cows given growth hormones that are designed to increase milk production and are hooked up to machines that just pump us much milk out as they can. Who knows how this is effecting humans who drink this milk and eat these vegetables. There is much online to read about this but I won’t go into it today. We are far from the days of the small family farm where we used to get fresh organically grown food and animals that lived humanely on the farms. (You can however get organic produce and more healthy foods from Health food stores which are now all over the place.)
It is important that we educate ourselves on eating healthy, since most of us want to live long and health lives. I was lucky to have been raised in an environment where I learned a lot about healthy eating and taking care of my body naturally. I stay away from processed foods, sugars, stimulants (yes…coffee and indian tea) and try to eat as much fresh foods.
For now though I just wanted to share some simple healthy vegetarian recipes that most of you should be able to use. I’ll start with recipes of things that I like and eat often.
As a vegetarian my source of protein comes from many sources. One of those sources is the wonderful Tofu! Tofu can be made into so many different kinds of dishes. Here are two different recipes for things that I like.
Scrambled Tofu
Scrambled tofu can be used as a topping or side dish for steamed or sauteed vegetables. Serve it with toast if you have for breakfast.
- 2 Lbs. Chinese style tofu
- 1/4 cup ghee or sesame oil
- 1 tsp. minced gingerroot
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric
- dash of pepper
- 1 bunch of green onions chopped.
- Tamari sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos
- Lemon Juice
Drain tofu and cut into small cubes. Set aside. Heat ghee or oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute gingerroot for 3-4 minutes. Add turmerica and pepper and saute 1 minute longer. Add tofu and green onions. Stir and heat thoroughly (mash tofu with a fork if you wish), cook out extra water until desired consistency is attained. Season with tamari, Bragg Liquid aminos or lemon juice to taste.
Recipe from the cook book "From Vegetables with Love" by Siri Ved Kaur Khalsa
The above recipe is just one of many variations that you can make. I normally just put some ghee in a pan, chop up garlic and onions and add to the pan. Fry them till they are cooked. Then I add tofu and any vegetables that I have in the fridge (broccoli, peas, corn, zucchini squash, etc). I squeeze some lemon in which makes it taste good and also helps with digesting the tofu. I pour in some Bragg Liquid Aminos (available at most health food stores and is healthier than soy sauce). You can also do a variation by cutting up tomatoes and adding to it. It makes it more saucy and gives a different flavor. Stir…stir….Hmmm…I can already smell it. When I was single this was a quick and easy dish that I made often with fresh salad and some toast. I also like to steam some basmati rice and put this dish right on top!
Baked Tofu
Ok…I don’t have an exact recipe for this one. It’s simple enough to just experiment with. I’ll just write out how I normally make it. It’s great to eat with other dishes or I sometimes use in sandwiches for lunch.
Get a large baking tray and spread ghee/oil on the bottom so that it is all over the bottom. You don’t need to make it like a pool….but enough to cover the bottom. Drain tofu and cut into 1/2 inch slabs (Any size is OK). Place the pieces individually on the bottom of the baking tray lined up next to each other. squeeze the lemon juice over all the tofu pieces. sprinkle on the garlic, cayenne or any other spices that you like over all the tofu. Pour some Bragg Liquid Aminos or Tamari over the tofu. I normally flip the tofu over at this point so that both sides have been covered with the liquids.
If you want to experiment with other tastes you can add some different things to some of the tofu (like salad dressing, or nutritional yeast). Bake in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (About 190 Celsius) for 30-45 minutes. Baking time may vary depending on how much liquid ingredients you have added. The tofu will start to crisp up a bit. Bake till it is lightly crispy and browns a bit. You can vary the making times to your preference of soft or crispy-ness.
- 1-2 packs of firm Chinese style tofu
- Juice of one medium sized lemon
- Bragg Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
- sprinkle of cayenne
- Garlic powder
- Oil or Ghee
Optional Variations using:
- Nutritional Yeast (yellow powdery flakes which are high in B-vitamins and make it taste yummy!)
- Salad dressing (you can experiment with different kinds for different tastes)
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