Stuffed Tomatoes w/ Quinoa, Soft Tofu inspired by 101 Cookbooks “Super Natural Every Day”

The sun has been very kind to us over the last week. We had two fabulously warm days to dry out all the dampness that late Winter left behind. Indeed, we’re very lucky to be living in warm Southern California weather where our garden basil is looking fantastic and we are getting some early season tomatoes at the market. And somehow, we got our hands on Heidi Swanson’s new Super Natural Everyday cookbook.

Honestly, today’s post isn’t meant to make anyone envious. We just kinda won the weather, produce & cookbook lottery!

We’ve been nurturing some tender baby basil plants and even this early in the season, it’s never too early to pick a few leaves and indulge in what Summer will soon offer.

It must be from all the vitamin E we’ve been getting from the sun because when ever the warmth arrives, we’re craving tomatoes, basil and whole grains. How perfectly planned was it to have Heidi’s book with a stuffed tomato recipe waiting with our name on it? It’s stuffed tomato karma, that’s what it is.

Heidi’s latest kitchen labor of love is certainly felt in Super Natural Every Day. It’s a gorgeous book that feels so honest and real for her love of natural foods.

Without a doubt, every recipe is sure to be a winner. Each page is filled with her amazing images and nourishing recipes. You don’t even miss the meat when you look at her graceful textures of ingredients and grains. The focus on fresh produce and perfectly spiced flavors sings from every page. Besides, we all should get back to eating more whole grains and vegetables every day. We’ll all feel super natural together!

In Super Natural Every Day Heidi developed a terrific stuffed tomato recipe with couscous. It was hard not for us to not immediately dive into making it. Without looking to see if had all the ingredients available, we started picking some basil from the garden and began the recipe. But shame on us for not checking the list because we didn’t have most of the main ingredients in the recipe.

So instead, we improvised with what we had in our pantry. Heidi’s original list calls for couscous, yogurt and harissa. We didn’t have any of those, so instead we replaced them with quinoa, soft tofu and homemade hot sauce.

The stuffed tomatoes turned out perfectly! The recipe was quite easy to adapt to what ingredients we had on hand and we were so pleased with the results. The tofu added extra protein, and the quinoa gave a satisfying bite, not to mention the great crunch of the top layer of quinoa.

Like we mentioned, we’re not wanting all you cold weather friends to be jealous because we’re certainly envious of all your great snow. But hopefully this recipe will give you something to celebrate in a month or so when your weather brings warmer sunshine, tomatoes and basil.

Enjoy,

Diane

super duper natural ingredients

wonderful meal!

Print This Recipe

Stuffed Tomatoes with Quinoa, Soft Tofu, basil, shallots
adapted from 101 cookbooks, Super Natural Every Day

We substituted the original whole wheat couscous in the recipe with quinoa, which still turned out great. The quinoa on the top layer of the tomatoes became a nice crunchy texture. **The size of the tomatoes will greatly vary the cooking times and how long it will take the quinoa to be fully cooked in the center of the tomatoes. Continue checking the middle of the tomtoes to ensure that the quinoa is cooked.

We also substituted soft tofu instead of yogurt and hot sauce instead of harissa from the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 6 medium-large, ripe red Tomatoes. Each tomato should average about 5 ounces each.
• 1/2 cup of silky soft Tofu
• 1 tablespoon of Hot Sauce, to your preferred taste
• 1 tablespoons of extra virgin Olive Oil, plus a little to drizzle
• about 12 fresh Basil leaves, chopped
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Garlic Clove, finely minced
• 1/2 cup of Couscous or Quinoa
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 350º F and place rack in middle of oven. Butter or oil a medium baking dish or of the size where the tomatoes will fill and just lightly be touching each other in the pan.
2. Carefully, using a serrated knife, cut the tops of each tomato, allowing enough room for you to spoon in the mixture. Work over a large bowl, scoop out the flesh of each tomato. If needed, break up any large chunks of the tomato flesh. Arrange the hollowed out tomato shells in the greased baking dish. Lightly brush the outside of the tomatoes with a bit of olive oil.
3. For the filling, combine 2/3 cup of the tomato flesh & juice, tofu, hot sauce, olive oil, most of the basil, shallots, soy sauce, salt, black pepper and garlic in a bowl. Add the quinoa and stir until all ingredients are combined. Adjust the filling to your acquired taste with salt and pepper. Using a spoon, fill the stuffing in the tomatoes till the tomatoes are almost full.
4. Bake the tomatoes for about 50-60 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked. The tomatoes will start to wrinkle and brown. If this happens before the quinoa is fully cooked, then cover the tomatoes with aluminum foil and continue cooking the tomatoes until the filling is full cooked. The top layer of quinoa on the tomatoes will be slightly crunchy.
5. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and remainder of the basil. Serve warm. Serves about 6.

http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/baked-stuffed-tomatoes/

Budget Cooking Tips and Recipes

 

Let’s face it: the economy is not in good shape. With the financial crisis on Wall Street, rising food costs and fluctuating gas prices, we’re not in the midst of the most lucrative times. Making ends meet can be very stressful but we can all get through this with a little help and a little organization. First and foremost, we have to cut back on our spending and one of the best places to start is in the kitchen.

Money-Saving Tips and Recipes after the jump!

Budget Cooking Tips

The following tips will hopefully help you save money on food and recipe costs:

Make a Grocery List

Before you step foot in the grocery, make a list based on your budget. Sit down on Sundays and figure out what you will be cooking for the week.. Keep an eye on grocery deals, sales and coupons when planning your meals. It’s generally better to go to the grocery more often and purchase less food as not to let food spoil and go to waste before you can eat it.
Compare Prices
Take note of the different prices of the products you usually buy at different stores to see who has the best price. Check out stores that will match prices too. That way if you notice a better price at a different store, you can still get that price at the store you’re already at.
Buy Seasonal Produce
The price of produce varies greatly from season to season, so keep an eye on the growing season and select recipes accordingly. Go to farmer’s markets, especially at the end of the day when farmers are trying to clear out their stock. You can buy slightly damaged produce (usually with some completely safe bruising) at a reduced cost.
Ditch Brand Loyalty
Often times the generic brand will be the same as your brand item product. Try out the generic to see if you notice a difference, this will almost always save you money. If you notice a difference, switch back but in the meantime, it saved you money to try.
Buy in Bulk
When you find a good price on non-perishable goods, stock up (unless you don’t have the storage space). Rice, pasta, dried beans, cereal, instant coffee and other items will save you money when bought in bulk. (Note: Dried beans are much more cost effective than the canned variety. Think about the price per serving to keep things in perspective.
Reduce Your Waste
In addition to grocery shopping more frequently, you can reduce waste in your own home in a couple of ways. Keep an eye on recipe yield and adjust to fewer eaters. Practice simple portion control when serving food (this will also help you not to overeat), and favor smaller portions. Freeze any leftovers in meal-sized portions for future lunches or dinners. Also, get comfortable with recycling leftovers into casseroles, wraps, and other dishes.
Freeze Your Food
Freezing food is one of the best ways to save money when it comes to the kitchen. But if you’re just throwing leftovers in the freezer, you’ve got a lot to learn. Our users showed us that there are tons of time-saving tricks and easy tips for freezing and storing food the effective way.

Budget Cooking Recipes

Angel Hair Pasta in Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Easy Crockpot Stuffed Bell Peppers
Budget Casserole
Home Style Meatloaf
Chicken and Cheese Casserole

For more budget cooking recipes, visit Budget-Cooking-Recipes.com!  http://www.chewonthatblog.com/2008/10/20/budget-cooking-tips-and-recipes/

10 Tips To Save Money In The Kitchen

[We asked Nicole of For The Love of Food for money saving kitchen tips for this month's Monthly Mouthful. She didn't just give us one answer...she gave us 10! We loved her advice so much we decided to make a guest post out of it. Please give Nicole a warm welcome and enjoy these money saving tips.]
1. Buy your meats from a butcher, preferably local, and NOT from a store that only sells prepackaged containers of meat. This often leads to people having to buy more than they need and the quality is not always the best. When I was younger my mother used to drive out to a farm twice a year and buy our chicken, which was organic, and freeze it in small portions. This meant that she got a much better price per pound than in the grocery store even though she was buying organic. Many farms in the US even deliver to your home – check out <a href=”http://www.localharvest.org”>Local Harvest</a> to find a farm near you in the US.
2. Buy staples in bulk. Not only does this save driving time, but you will save money – most of the time. Always make sure you actually are saving money before buying in large quantities. The one staple I buy yearly is a 40 Lb. bag of rice from my local Asian store. It costs me €35 ($44.15) for Jasmine rice which is a huge savings because the local stores sell it for €3,50/kilo as opposed to the €1,92/kilo that I pay. I would love to have the space in my apartment to also buy flour and sugar in bulk. Huge blocks of cheese are another great item that you can save money on. I buy 2 a year and cut them into smaller blocks that I can easily hold to shred. Dry Mozzarella cheese is especially expensive here in Germany, but I can buy a 5 kilo block for €3,79 as opposed to a pre-shredded bag of 250 grams at my local grocery store for €1,50. If I bought 5 kilos in those pre-shredded bags it would cost me €30!!! (Note: 1 kilo = 2.20 lb., Find currency conversions here.)

3. Plant a garden / Plan your garden. Planting more expensive fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, berries, and other exotic produce helps alleviate the budget in the warmer months. Planning your garden before you buy seeds or plants is extremely important so that you don’t end up with too much or too little of foods you like or don’t like so much. Measure your garden, draw it out on paper, decided what you want to plant, and then realistically positions them in your garden sketch so you know how many to buy. Then stick to your plan!
4. Learn to can and then do it. This is a time consuming process, but can all be accomplished in 1-2 days at the end of the summer. I like to can tomatoes and tomatillos from my garden because they all seem to show up at once. Other foods I like to can are: homemade pickle relish, homemade pickle slices, homemade, tomatillo salsa, homemade Rotel, homemade ketchup, homemade BBQ sauce, and homemade jellies. Not only does this ensure I will be eating my own delicious foods the whole year round, I save a pretty penny doing this too!
5. Make your own condiments and spice mixtures. As you may have picked-up in #4, I make most of my own condiments. The money I save is about 50% of what it would cost to buy in the grocery store and I have yet to find a ketchup that tastes better than mine – and anyone who tastes it agrees! In the summer I turn a few batches of ketchup into BBQ sauce with a minimal price increase and have a delicious flavor. I also mix my own season salt and Italian seasoning because, well, it’s cheaper!
6. Make your own salad dressings. Not only is this MUCH healthier than store-bought dressings, it’s cheaper, and I can make a new one every day/season for variety. This also ensures that you have tons of room that all those bottles take up in your refrigerator. My base ingredients are always: assorted flavors of vinegar, assorted flavors of oils, different dry or fresh herbs, salt, pepper, and often cheese like Parmesan or feta. For those of you who need to have that Ranch salad dressing, there are plenty of recipes and copycat recipes online to help guide you.
7. Wash your own lettuce. Bagged lettuce is EXPENSIVE!!! Yes, it is better for you who would otherwise not touch a vegetable, but the expense is enormous. A head of lettuce costs nothing in comparison to a bag of pre-washed/pre-torn lettuce. If you enjoy the ease of this and would still like to save some money, wash and tear and entire head of lettuce at once, dry it, and bag/tupperware it and take out what you need throughout the week. Tupperware will keep it crisp the longest.
8. Cook from scratch. Cooking food from basic elements is not only cheapest, but healthiest. For example, spaghetti sauce for a family of 4 costs €0,65 to make without meat, with meat €1,65. You can season it the way you wish, add whatever you like, and it only takes a few minutes to prepare too. My spaghetti sauce is always done before the spaghetti has even finished boiling! Alfredo sauce goes even quicker. If you don’t have time to cook everyday you can do what my mom does, cook on the weekends and freeze portions in the freezer, then defrost as you need them. You can even freeze homemade beans instead of buying canned beans.
9. Buy in season. Everything costs less when it’s in season and even less when it’s local. The less distance it has to travel, the less money that has to be added to the base price of the item. Fruits and vegetables also taste much much better in season. Have you even noticed that tomatoes taste grainy in winter and juicy and flavorful in the summer? Or, how strawberries taste like water in the winter and like candy in the spring/summer? When they’re not in season, they’re not meant to be eaten. If you still have a craving for a strawberry in the dead of winter, buy them frozen. They are less expensive and bagged and frozen at the peak of strawberry season.
10. Plan ahead / Make a grocery list. This is the most important tip I can share with you. Make a menu of what you want to eat for the whole week and make a grocery list with all the missing ingredients plus whatever other items you ran out of during the week. Deciding what you want to eat once you are at the grocery store will not only cause you to buy more than you need, or double-buy ingredients you already have at home, but you will often chose less healthy/more expensive foods.  http://www.chewonthatblog.com/2009/03/04/10-tips-to-save-money-in-the-kitchen/