Vegetarian Main Dish | Healthy and Sane

Healthy and Sane flashback: tomato goat cheese strata

January 12th, 2012

Healthy and Sane flashback is where I share some of my favorite recipes enjoyed in the past – but with better pictures

“Old” tomato goat cheese strata (yikes!). Visually improved tomato goat cheese strata:

Same delicious recipe from Cooking Light. Now hopefully you’d actually want to make it Winking smile

How is your week going so far?? Mine is flying by and I’m not too happy about it. I have things to accomplish!! Winking smile Although now that I think about it, this weekend I’m going to NY to go wedding dress shopping with my sister (and hopefully celebrating my best friend’s 30th birthday… if I can get a hold of her!) so it’s going to be a good one. So I guess it’s ok that it’s coming so soon.

As I mentioned in the my previous post, my sister’s wedding is definitely motivating me to get a little more serious about healthy eating. I’m not going on any crazy diets but I am being a little more mindful about what I’m eating. I put up a big calendar on the fridge reminding me of the “big day” (sort of funny saying that since it’s not my wedding) and a few pictures of myself at a lower weight for motivation. It’s only been 1 day, but I feel like I’m approaching this in the right way and feel good about weight loss results that are sure to follow!

The best part? I have a few old favorites to ensure I’m eating satisfying healthy meals. Like this strata. It comes together quite quickly, uses ingredients I always have on hand (well, I happened to have fresh sage on hand this time, but I’d just use dried if I didn’t) and it’s so warm and comforting. It has (whole wheat) sourdough bread and goat cheese. You can eat it for breakfast or dinner. And one quarter of the pan is a serving. Really, what’s not to love?!

Diets, shmiets. I’ll stick to this! Open-mouthed smile

What are your favorite healthy and satisfying recipes? Please share with me in the comments!

Crispy tofu tacos with lime cream sauce (+giveaway!)

December 5th, 2011

Are you guys tofu fans? Over the years I’ve become quite a fan and made Adam a convert too. I find it so versatile!

A few weeks ago I received an email from Daria who does PR for Nasoya. She wanted me to check out their new Nasoya Tofu U website (U stands for university) – a destination of all things tofu (recipes, games, instructional videos, and contests). She also told me about some of their newer products, like the organic sprouted tofu and TofuPlus which is fortified with additional vitamins, and offered to send me coupons to try them out. Of course I jumped at the chance (and asked for somethin’ somethin’ for you too!!).

I browsed through the Tofu U “cafeteria” section and found an interesting looking recipe for crispy tofu tacos with creamy jalapeno lime drizzle and decided to give it a go.

It’s important to press water out of your tofu if you want crispy results. Thanks, Lindsay, for sending me this awesome press!! Smile The tofu pressis not a must though. Here is my previous “tofu-pressing system.”

This recipe was unusual to me because instead of flour, you covered the tofu pieces in cornstarch before stir-frying. I was really happy with the results, though – it created a real crust on each piece and the Worchester sauce gave it a lot of flavor!

Don’t forget the fantastic toppings! This was the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, crunchy and creamy with mango, jalapenos, bell pepper and avocado.

I turned the tacos into refreshing burritos… sort of Winking smile This recipe is a winner!!

Ready to win some Nasoya swag? One lucky winner will get 5 coupons for any free Nasoya product and a Tofu U t-shirt.

Here are the rules: there are plenty of ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Tell me anything tofu related.

2) Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (a link to this post must be included to qualify)

3) Take the Nasoya Tofu U pledge. You’ll automatically get Nasoya coupons and tofu recipes.

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Link to this post on your Facebook page.

7) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

8 ) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each qualifying entry. This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry!) and ends at midnight on Sat, December 10. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org and announce him/her the following Monday. Good luck!

PS – I created a Favorite Recipes page over the weekend. This recipe will be added to it as well. Please check it out and let me know what you think!!

Meatless meals

February 9th, 2011

Last post was a bit heavy so I’m going to keep this one a bit lighter. Actually I need your help!

We’ve been spending waaaaaaaay too much money on groceries lately and since I refuse to reduce my quality of food standards (and I do plan on continuing cooking!), there is only one way to save money. Less meat. [We bought over 3lbs of raw meat this past week, plus bacon and deli turkey – that really added up!]

The problem is that I always feel like if I’m going to make something vegetarian, it has to be super comfort foody (yes, I just made up that word) to make up for the lack of meat. I feel like a vegetarian dish has to prove something, which can only be made up by excessive amounts of cheese or crusty bread. Lean (meat or seafood) protein just seems so much healthier in comparison!

So I’d like to build a library of healthy meatless meals that I can make over and over again. Adam said that because I rarely cook anything twice, he’s always a little scared before I serve dinner (especially if it’s vegetarian). Here is this week’s meatless contender…

Kale and bean enchiladas with sweet potato sauce (which Natalie actually linked to in my go-to recipes request post… see, I listen to your suggestions!!).

I didn’t have any zucchini on hand (and of course omitted the onions) but I had mushrooms and a bell pepper so I tossed those into the mixture. I also used black beans because Adam has a not-so-secret obsession with them. Lastly, Natalie’s pumpkin sauce became a sweet potato sauce because Adam is also not a fan of pumpkin (although I really think it would work well here… and it would be zero points!) Side note: have you ever tried pureed canned sweet potatoes? This was my first time and I’m IN LOVE. So sweet and amazing. I think I’m going to buy a few cans and eat it straight up for dessert) The result:

OMG, you guys. This was seriously incredible!! I used Trader Joe’s low carb tortillas and the recipe made 7 enchiladas for me (they were basically like mini-burrito sized) – 5 Points Plus each (I reduced the amount of cheese to a little over 1/2 cup and used light cheese). The greens, bean and veggie mixture was super garlicky and the sauce was creamy, slightly sweet with a bit of heat… and more garlic. I LOVED this. Adam said it was good but does not deserve to be on the favorites list. Ugh. I could eat it every day, but you know – I have a husband to please. Winking smile