Tofu and Rice Stuffed Peppers

It has been a long time!! We (the baby and I) are doing well so are back blogging.

If you have leftover rice, this a great way to use it. Low fat and excellent with fresh herbs. I suggest using yellow peppers for a milder taste.

Tofu and Rice Stuffed Peppers

• 3-4 yellow/green peppers
• 300 gr. firm tofu
• 2 cups cooked (brown) rice
• 1 fresh garlic clove
• salt/pepper/paprika to taste
• tomato sauce (about 1-1.5 cups)
• 1 medium onion
• 2 stalks of celery
• 2 teaspoons oil
• fresh parsley and basil to taste

Mix crushed garlic, crumble the tofu, cooked rice, and tomato sauce. Add salt. Chop onion and celery in finely in the Tmix. Saute the onion and celery in the oil. Should be soft but not brown. Chop fresh herbs. Mix onions, celery and herbs with the tofu rice mixture. Add the other spices. Cut the peppers in half and add to the frying pan you used to cook the onions. Add water and steam for 5-8 minutes. Bake in the oven on 350 for 40 minutes. If you have extra mixture you can just bake on the side.

Sweet and Sour Tofu and Eggplant (in a crockpot)

That's what I'm talking about!

I have been craving tofu for the last few days and finally decided how I felt like eating it… in a sweet and sour sauce:) I have never made a sweet and sour sauce so I looked things up on the internet. I was quite disappointed. If you want vegan/fat free ideas they have them but that didn’t interest me (or my pallat:). So I figured I better search for Sweet and Sour Pork… those people know how to eat!!! That gave me better results but I still found many recipes that called for bottled sweet and sour sauce. I looked at about 10 recipes and then just decided to make my own version. One version I really liked and took the tofu idea from was a girl who made it her goal to use her crockpot everyday in 2008! Here is the version I made up , with the minor alterations I would make next time

Sweet and Sour Tofu and Eggplant

• 2 onions chopped
• 2 peppers (i used one green and one yellow)
• 1 clove garlic chopped or pressed
• 1 15 oz can of pineapple with juice
• 1-2 tablespoons tomato paste 
• 2.5 Tbs vinagre
• 3.5 Tbs sugar
• 3-5 Tbs water (start with 3 and add more if you need it at the end)
• 1+ Tbs corn starch
• 1/2 chili pepper chopped (mine only had a few seeds so you might want take some out)
• _______________
• 20+ oz tofu
• corn starch to coat tofu
• 1 eggplant and oregano (optional)
• salt

Add all ingredients up to tofu in the crockpot. Let cook at least 5 hours on high.

When you are about 30 minutes from eating: 

Chop the eggplant in medium sized slices. In a baking dish coat them with about 1 tbs oil and sprikle them with salt and oregano.  Cook on about 400 for 15 minute or until soft. Add to the crockpot mix. Next, coat the cubed tofu with corn starch. Add a little salt. Then fry the tofu in about 3 Tbs of oil on high heat. Don’t stir them to much, just flip them once to make sure they are golden on all sides. Add the fried tofu to the crockpot mix.

Serve with rice

How to freeze peppers

Red, Orange, Yellow and Green

If you have extra peppers, they can be perfectly be preserved in the freezer. You just need to cut in slices, put them in a plastic bag and freeze them. The lady who sells us veggies told us the trick. Carlos’ sister, Raquel, confirmed it’s not a good idea to freeze a whole pepper.

Ready to freeze