Tofu Migas

All weekend I wanted to go out for breakfast at a local restaurant that we like a lot, but we have been trying to save our money by not eating out. So I decided to try and replicate the dish I wanted to order from there. Migas seem to be on the breakfast menu of most New Mexican style restaurants here though they are usually made of eggs. It's a mixture of scrambled eggs, crispy corn tortilla strips, tomatoes, chiles, peppers and spices. I saw a similar recipe in Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison that I flipped through at soccer yesterday (a friend had brought it) for tofu migas which was right up my alley since I had a couple tubs of soft tofu to use up. I normally don't buy soft tofu (I'm an extra-firm type), but a friend had brought them over and then left them for me.


Here are my ingredients - tofu, corn tortillas, chipotle sauce*, scallions, cilantro, serrano peppers, paprika, turmeric, salt, tomatoes and a can of beans. *The recipe called for using a tiny bit of chipotles in adobo sauce from a can, but I can never use up the rest of the can before it goes bad so when I saw this sauce at Whole Foods, I thought that I would try it. It was good! Not that spicy, but added that smoky flavor of chipotles.

First I sliced the corn tortillas into bite size pieces and then put them in a frying pan with some olive oil to get crispy. I also sprinkled them with salt as they were cooking. I think that one of the main reasons that people decide that they don't like tofu is because so many people and restaurants (Asian restaurants being an exception) don't flavor the tofu properly while cooking. Tofu itself really doesn't have that much flavor, so you need to add salt, spices and herbs in generous amounts to get the flavor.




Once they were done I took them out of the pan and hand crumbled the tofu into the already hot pan. I let some of the water boil away and then added the spices. I didn't measure, but it was probably about 1.5 teaspoons of paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and 1.5 teaspoons of salt.


Mix it well and continue it cooking until all the water is gone.


Meanwhile, chop the peppers and the scallions and once the water is out of the tofu, add them to the pan. I took the seeds out of the peppers so it wouldn't be too spicy for DH. I really love spicy food, but he has a tendency to get heartburn if he eats something too spicy, so I was trying to keep it a bit tame - though I knew it was going to be too spicy for the kids.



Here's my puppy who was surprisingly helpful in the kitchen. ;-)


Once the scallions and chiles have cooked for a few minutes, add some chopped tomatoes and stir well. Let that cook for about 5 minutes.


While I was doing this, I warmed up some beans (from a can) but I didn't get pictures of that. Right at the end, add about 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro and stir. Turn off heat.

Here's what the kids ate.

And here is my plate. It was really yummy and I am glad there are leftovers.

This one was a bit of a flop, but I'm sharing anyway

We got a gift certificate to an Indian restaurant here in town from one of my husband's business contacts so a couple weeks ago we went and ate really yummy Indian food. They brought us some kheer for dessert and the kids really liked it and have been asking me to make it at home since then. Kheer is a really sweet rice pudding that is made by cooking a small amount of rice in a lot of milk that has been sweetened with a couple of spices. I have made it before, and it takes a really long time of standing at the stove stirring and stirring and stirring and I didn't have time for that, so I thought I would try it in the slow cooker. I had some milk that was close to expiration, and my brother and his family were coming for dinner, so Wednesday was the day. I also wanted to make some substitutions to try and make it a bit healthier, and I think that was my downfall.

Here are my array of ingredients. I counted out the cardamom pods and the cloves so that I could pull them out again at the end. It's no fun to take a bite of kheer and get a clove when you least expect it. Milk, brown basmati rice (it's usually made with white rice), agave nectar (it's usually made with sugar or even sweetened condensed milk) and the spices.


I forget the exact measurements I used - I think it was 1 cup of rice and 5 cups of milk and 2/3 cup of agave. Whatever it was, it didn't turn out great so it probably doesn't matter anyway. I stirred everything together in the slow-cooker, turned it on, and left it for the day while I homeschooled the kids, did laundry, washed dishes, made lunch, made dinner, took kids to classes, talked on the phone, did laundry, made the bed, wiped a butt that wasn't my own, washed my hands, more homeschooling, etc. etc. etc. Get the picture? I wasn't standing over the stove and stirring and stirring so that the milk didn't burn on the bottom of the pot (that part comes later).

Here's my son with my newest niece. Isn't she cute? And he loved holding her, she wasn't as thrilled.


And my youngest and my older niece folding napkins to help set the table. My other daughter was at art class during all this excitement and got home just in time for dinner.


At some point during my dinner prep, I opened the slow cooker to taste the kheer and realized that there was no way it was going to be done in time. So I put it in a regular pot and put it on low on the stove to see if I could get it cooked to serve for dessert. At this point I also added some golden raisins to the pot because my brother said he liked it better that way.


But, it wasn't ready until about 9pm when my brother and family had gone home sadly dessert-less and my kids were in bed. But that meant I could enjoy a bowl in the quiet of my house. It actually ended up tasting pretty good, but it was way thicker than kheer usually is. I am not sure if that was because of the brown rice or what. I am not sure I will be making kheer again or not, maybe we will just go out to the Indian restaurant when we want some.

I need ideas! Want to help?

My (almost) 8 year old daughter is having some of her artwork shown at a gallery here in Santa Fe tomorrow evening. She is so thrilled about it and has been planning what to wear for days and days. There are other children from her art class showing stuff at the same time so each parent had to sign up to bring some food. There were categories for drinks, appetizers and main dishes. By the time I got to the sign-up sheet there were tons of people listed in the drinks and appetizers section, and barely any in the main dish so I felt like I had to put my name there. But now I have no idea what to bring. There are no tables and chairs so it has to be something easily eaten while standing and holding your plate, but not too appetizer-y (that's not really a word is it?). Any ideas? Thanks!

Quick and Dirty Hot and Sour Soup

This is one of my comfort meals. MMMMMMM! I think one of the reasons that I like it so much is that I am the only one in my family who likes it, so I get to eat the whole pot all by myself (not in one sitting) and I don't have to share.

The veggies always are different depending on what I happen to have in the house. Bok choy from the farmer's market in the summer is especially yummy, but it's not in season right now. Here are the ingredients I used today.


Veggie broth, cabbage, onion, carrots, tofu (I splurged this week and bought the already seasoned kind just because but plain old tofu is fine too), tamari, rice vinegar, sesame oil, curry paste and garlic. Not pictured (yet!) are the soba noodles that I added towards the end.

Pour a 32 oz. box of veggie broth into a big pot. This is my new 5 1/2 quart saucepan that I just bought to replace the one I had been using for 13 years since we got it for our wedding. This was a perfect size. Add another 2 cups of water. Turn on to about medium to get it heating up.

My measurements are just approximate because I almost never measure out things like spices, I just do it by taste. I stirred together equal parts (maybe 3 Tablespoons each) of tamari and rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 4 cloves of garlic and about 1/2 a teaspoon of curry paste and poured it in the pot. I ended up adding a bit more of most of these things (no more garlic or oil) towards the end after tasting the broth.


Chop the tofu, carrots, and onions into bite size pieces and then add them to the pot.


Then chop up the cabbage and add that to the pot.


Here's what it looked like in the pot at this stage.


Mix it well, cover and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat down and let it cook for about 15 or twenty minutes until the carrots are soft. This was the point that I tasted the broth and added a bit more flavorings until it was just the amount of hot and sour for me (and my friend Jennifer who I was willing to share with today).



Then add the noodles and let them cook through - that took about 5 minutes for the kind of noodles I used.


Dish it out into the biggest bowl you have that can decently be used as an individual bowl rather than a serving bowl and dig in!

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.....

I have really been enjoying taking pictures and writing about the food I feed my family, so I thought that instead of boring my online communities over and over again, I would just make a blog. So here I am!! I am not sure how long I will keep the momentum going here, but as long as I am having fun, I will keep going.