amused anyway, the featured recipe today is something I call Make-Shift Lasagna... It's something I came up with one day and ended up really liking it... it's certainly nothing fancy, but has become a standby for me... also pretty well balanced nutrition-wise...
Make-shift LasagnaSri Racha on pasta seemed a little strange to me at first... I loved sri racha, but when I saw my old room mate putting it on pasta with marinara sauce one day, I wasn't sure what to think (well first I was surprised because I had never met anyone other than myself who knew, loved, and regularly used the stuff) but was intrigued. It ended up being FANTASTIC and now I can't help but feel that pasta is a little bland without it...
2 oz dry pasta, preferably whole wheat and preferably something small like penne, bowties or macaroni...
3/4 c of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 block firm silken tofu (i use mori-nu)
miscellaneous optional yummies:sri racha hot sauce (a.k.a. rooster sauce)(I always use generous amounts of this, on just about everything)Go ahead and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. (As a side note, I did find a nice way to make pasta in the stove-less dorm: Boil water in my electric kettle(what would I do without it?) and immediately pour it into the rice cooker and set it to "cook" it then just takes a few minutes to come to a nice full boil and then the pasta can be cooked as it would be on the stove...) Heat the sauce if you like, while you wait. (usually I just let the hot pasta warm it up, but if you aren't feeling lazy, go ahead and heat it on the stove or in the micro) When the pasta's done, put it in a nice big bowl or some kind of eating trough, plop that block of tofu in there, and pour the sauce over it all. Take your handy-dandy fork and mash the tofu in with the sauce and mix it all around with the noodles (if you have tubular guys like penne, this will get all up in them and be delicious!). Mix in any of the optional yummies(suggested: copious amounts of Sri racha, ~ a tsp each of basil and oregano and a squirt of lemon juice, and generous amounts of S&P) and voila!
basil, oregano, and the like
a squirt of lemon juice
salt y pepper
This is easy, and filling, has lots of protein, and is delicious. It kind of reminds me of leftover lasagna, which is the reason for the name; the silken tofu reminds me of some melty ricotta or cottage cheese or something. If you add the lemon juice, it gives it a lil tang, and the sriracha gives it an unbeatable zing!
Also, as a kind of teaser for posts to come, there are several things I can think of off the top of my head that I need to post about that I never got around to: TVP burritos(as if I need any more burritos on here... sheesh), lentil-pumpkin stew/soup/dal, chili, warm beverages(chai, coffee, tea, I am quite the afficianado...)and much more... I'll try to post at least a few times a week, either with new things I think of and try or with something I;ve done in the past and haven't written about yet.