Spicy tofu with noodles and mushrooms

I could make up an elaborate story about how I decided to make this recipe, but in all honesty, I just needed to use up my tofu before I leave for Florida this week. I have mixed feelings about tofu because I know far too many people who do research on the effects of soy and phytoestrogens on the brain (and it's rarely good news), but I usually manage to put aside these feelings because it's so delicious. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

Spicy tofu with noodles and mushrooms (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

1 cup boiling water

1 oz. dried mushrooms (I used a combination of oyster and shiitake)

4 oz. spaghetti (I used brown rice spaghetti)

1 Tbsp peanut oil

1/2 small onion, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2" piece of ginger, minced

1 tsp Sriracha sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp soy sauce (use wheat-free tamari for gluten-free)

1 Tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tsp rice vinegar

1 lb. firm tofu, cubed

12 romaine lettuce leaves

Combine boiling water and mushrooms in a small bowl, cover, and let sit for 15 min. Drain mushrooms and chop. While mushrooms are soaking, cook pasta according to package directions. Then, heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add mushrooms, both types of onions, carrot, ginger, Sriracha, and garlic and stir-fry for 3 min. Stir in soy sauce, hoisin sauce, vinegar, tofu, and noodles and cook for 3 more min. Put 1/2 cup of mixture into each lettuce leaf. Serves 4.

I really liked this, and it had a good mix of hot and sweet from the various sauces. It paired perfectly with one of my favorite simple veggie dishes - roasted broccoli tossed in soy sauce. My only complaint was that the spaghetti made it hard to eat (it kept making its way into my lap). But perhaps that's only a problem for people who excel at making a mess.

Huevos rancheros (sort of)

I'm tired of hearing eggs get a bad rap. I grew up thinking that they were horrible for your cholesterol, but there's actually very little evidence that dietary cholesterol has any effect on blood cholesterol levels. And guess what? All animal products have cholesterol. But, in my humble opinion, eggs are one of the tastiest. So, this adulterated version of huevos rancheros is my tribute to eggs everywhere (especially those that came from chickens who are happily frolicking about on the pasture... on a farm very near my kitchen). Ok, the thought of chickens frolicking is a bit absurd, but quite fun to imagine!

Huevos rancheros (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (or 1 can)

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can)

1 can (7 oz.) diced green chiles

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

3 eggs

1/4 cup shredded white cheddar

1 green onion, chopped

Combine tomatoes, beans, chiles (including liquid), cilantro, chili powder, cumin, and salt and pepper in a large skillet. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 min. Pour each egg* into a separate cup and gently pour into bean mixture. Cover and simmer for 7-8 min, until eggs are done to your liking. Garnish with cheese and onion. Serves 3.

*I was cooking for myself, so I only cooked one egg in the mixture. When I was ready for leftovers, I brought an individual serving of the bean mixture to a simmer and then cooked another egg.

I really enjoyed this. Of course traditional huevos rancheros involves a corn tortilla, but I left it out because I was eating this with jalapeno cornbread mini muffins. This was the perfect vegetarian dish for a big meat-eater because I swear that it had a ground beef texture to it. And I don't even have any ground beef in my apartment, so I know that I didn't go into a trance and slip some in. I'm a big fan of topping just about anything with an egg, so this made my night. It was incredibly filling, too, and a leftover serving gave me enough iron to be eligible to donate blood this afternoon!

Jalapeno cornbread mini muffins

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. **

Who doesn't love cornbread? And to get real cornbread (cornbread that isn't sickeningly sweet) in Michigan, I have to whip some up myself. I love regular cornbread, but I always had a particular fondness for Mom's Mexican cornbread. It's perfect with a pot of chili... or with black-eyed peas and greens on New Year's Day. So I was especially excited to find a recipe for jalapeno cornbread in May's cookbook of the month.

Jalapeno cornbread mini muffins (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

3 Tbsp whole white wheat flour

3 Tbsp yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

3 Tbsp milk

1/2 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup corn (frozen and thawed is fine)

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp minced jalapeno

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together milk and oil in a separate bowl, and then add this to dry ingredients. Fold in corn, cilantro and jalapeno. Oil 9 mini muffin cups (or 3 regular size ones) and evenly pour batter into them. Bake at 350 for about 25 min, or until they're brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 9 mini muffins (or 3 regular muffins).

I have one complaint: these were not hot enough. They would be great if you avoid spiciness, but I could have used 2-3 times more jalapeno. Otherwise they tasted great. They had a really great texture, even without the egg (I left this out because I quartered the recipe and didn't feel that a quarter of an egg would make much of a difference). If you're making a bigger batch, go ahead and add an egg in with the milk and oil for good measure. They didn't quite compare to Mom's cornbread, but it's a good starting point, and adding more pepper would make the competition a lot closer.

Barley with sausage and potatoes

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. Brown rice would be a great substitute for the barley for a gluten-free option.**

This recipe provided a great meal, but also taught me an important lesson: ALWAYS sort through your grains. I normally make a point to look through my grains for rocks or other small objects, but of course this was the time that I forgot. Sometimes I find some rocks (particularly in brown rice, for some reason), and sometimes I don't, so I was hoping that I would luck out and have a batch without any "impurities." But, as I was enjoying my dinner, I heard a loud crunch and thought that part of my tooth might have fallen off (luckily this was not the case). I then discovered a small rock in my mouth... and apparently I have a strong jaw because I managed to break it in half. I really hope that this was the only one, but I'll probably be more careful when I eat the leftovers. And I will DEFINITELY remember to sort through my grains next time.

Barley with sausage and potatoes (adapted from 80 Breakfasts)

1 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt

1/2 cup barley, sorted and rinsed :)

1 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, sliced thinly

1 large Russet potato, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp dried thyme

8 oz. smoked sausage, sliced

Bring water and salt to a boil, then turn off heat and add barley (barley has a tendency to boil over). Bring back to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 min. Drain barley, return to empty pot, cover, and let steam for 10 min. While barley is cooking, heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add onion and potato and cook until they start to brown (about 10 min). Add garlic and thyme and cook for another minute. Stir in sausage and let cook until it browns. Finally, stir in the barley. Serves 3-4.

I really liked this... even with the extra crunch. I'm not a huge fan of most meats, but sausage is an exception. I brought this back from Tallahassee, and I'm convinced that people from North Florida/South Georgia know how to make the best sausage. Perhaps I'm biased (and I've never conducted a thorough double-blind taste test), but I'm fairly sure of this belief. And that taste test is sounding tempting... anyone want to join me?

Roasted veggie and cheese pasta

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. Use brown rice pasta and a gluten-free flour for substitutes.**

Apparently I've been craving pasta and cheese dishes. I made mac and cheese with tofu a couple of weeks ago, and then loved the sound of this recipe when flipping through the cookbook of the month.

Roasted veggie and cheese pasta (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

1 small eggplant, diced

1 small zucchini, diced

1 bell pepper, chopped

4 oz button mushrooms, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup whole white wheat flour

1 1/3 cups milk

3/4 cup shredded provolone

salt and pepper to taste

6 oz. whole wheat pasta (any small shape), cooked according to package directions

2 Tbsp shredded parmesan

pinch of paprika

Combine all veggies (eggplant through garlic) and olive oil and spread out in a large baking pan. Roast at 450 for 20 min, stirring occasionally. While veggies cook, add flour to a small saucepan. Slowly whisk in milk, and then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until milk thickens (about 8 min). Add provolone, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook until cheese is completely melted (1-2 more minutes). Combine pasta, cheese sauce, and veggies in a large bowl and pour mixture back into baking pan. Sprinkle parmesan and paprika on top and bake at 375 for 20 min. Serves 5.

This was amazing. I liked the mac and cheese with tofu, but this recipe was definitely more similar to authentic mac and cheese. It still wasn't too heavy, though, because the veggies diluted the intense cheesiness and gave it a fabulous flavor. During the past year I have completely fallen in love with roasted veggies of any sort, and this was a perfect use for them.

Most of the recipes that I make are fairly simple (including this one), but for some reason making a béchamel sauce (or a knock-off without butter) makes me feel like I'm really doing something complicated... in a good way. I'm pretty sure that I could teach a 2 year old to stir together flour and milk, but I suppose that it's because this sauce is the basis of many extremely complicated dishes. It's nice to be able to make something easy but feel like you've really accomplished something :).