Marinated Tofu with Broccoli

I just had a foodgasm so ridiculous that I will forever be craving tofu for lunch. I'm not sure if it's because I went to my local food co-op, Honest Weight, and got fresh tofu or if it's the recipe, but this knocked my imaginary socks off. And my imaginary friend's imaginary socks. You get the picture.

So, I was browsing around tastespotting.com when I decided that I needed to figure out how to perfect my tofu making skills. (This is the third time in my life cooking with tofu.) I found this Marinated Grilled Tofu Recipe and decided that it was simple enough, so I'd give it a go. Here's what I did (my version varies a bit from the original recipe due to me lacking ingredients/a grill):

Ingredients:

1 block of tofu (fresh, if available)
1 small handful of frozen chopped broccoli (or fresh, just watch cooking times)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder (less if desired) + 1 pinch for broccoli
1 large pinch of powdered cayenne pepper
1 tsp EVOO + some for coating pan
1 pinch salt

Directions:

1) Drain tofu for at least 10 minutes by placing it on
a plate with paper towels and put your pan on top
to add pressure.
2) Mix together soy sauce, honey, ginger, 1tsp garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and 1 tsp EVOO in a bowl.
3) Put tofu and marinade in a ziplock bag and flip after 10 minutes. Let stand for a total of 20 minutes (or more, if desired).
4) Chop tofu into bite-sized pieces and fry on medium heat until one side is golden brown.
5) Add broccoli to frying pan. Sprinkle a little salt
and garlic powder directly on broccoli.
6) Make sure all sides of tofu are golden brown and remove piece by piece onto dish. When broccoli is ready (I tasted to make sure :p), do the same. With less things in the pan, the slow cooking bits heat up faster.
7) Pour approximately half of the marinade over your completed dish, if desired. And yes, you'll desire to do so.

Serves 1, unless you serve it with rice... then possibly 2.

Ginger Basil Veggie Chick'n

Oh, ginger basil veggie chicken... The reason why I started this blog. The facebook status that got my friends to question my vegetarianism. The "chicken" that I used was actually veggie patch's "chick'n" nuggets and I will forever remember that distinction.

So, normally, I would never ever ever used ready-to-eat-as-soon-as-you-nuke-it sort of things in my recipes, but I was inspired by a very special burrito. This burrito was not gingery or basily, mind you, but it did have chick'n nuggets and barbeque sauce in it. For anyone who has ever been to Albany, you know that I'm talking about the burrito from Bomber's Burrito Bar. Simply marvelous! So, I thought I'd give the nuggets a shot in a stir fry.

It came out pretty yummy. I really liked certain aspects, while others I need to tweak. I'll save my criticism for the end. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

5 Vegetable Patch chick'n nuggets, halved
1/2 valida onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, sliced and halved
10 baby carrots, sliced
2 medium handfuls of bean sprouts
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 handful of fresh basil leaves
ground ginger, to taste
approx. 1-2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup World Classic's stir fry sauce
1 boop of Kikkoman low sodium soy sauce
1 boop lemon juice
olive oil, for frying
1 cup of jasmine rice (Prepare as stated on package. Hopefully you know this.)

Directions

1. Cook onions on medium heat until clear-ish.
2. Throw in chick'n and green pepper; cook for two minutes.
3. Add carrots and cook for two minutes, stirring regularly.
4. Now add bean sprouts and garlic.
5. When you begin to smell the garlic cooking, add cumin, lemon juice, ground ginger, and then stir fry sauce shortly afterwards. I also added the basil here, which was a mistake. Instead, add basil shortly before turning the heat off or after it's off and stir it around. Stir consistently because the sugars in the stir fry sauce will burn.
5. Honey, if your rice isn't done by now, throw in the dish towel already.
6. Enjoy!

Serves 2.

Things I liked about this dish:

1. It was spicy
2. The chick'n went surprisingly well with the Asian flavors
3. I love bean sprouts with a burning passion

How it could be better:

1. Too much ginger
2. I don't know if it was the premade sauce, but something in it was off. I need to make my own sauces from now on.
3. The basil went too wilty and I couldn't taste it, as mentioned above

I ate every last bit of it, but I recognize how I could have improved. Let me know if you've tried this before and can share some tips on veggie stir fries!