Finished Dish - Rice and Tofu

This was a really simple dish which I was surprised that I got the kids to eat and enjoy pretty easily.  There is a little cooking involved if you count the rice, but hopefully that is easy enough.

I have also tried to get a little fancy with the sauce which I cook in a small pot on the stove.  Even with these two things though, this is still a very simple dish.

I have gotten in the habit lately of making rice once or twice a week and have it figured out pretty good.  I use two cups of dry rice so I get enough for leftovers for use the next few days.

First start a pot or rice-maker of rice going.  This is the longest part of the dish.

Then start the tofu by pressing the water out of a block of extra-firm tofu.  I have found several organic brands at different stores here, but find that extra-firm is the easiest to work with for dishes like this.  I wrap it in a few layers of paper towel and then place a bowl on top with a can or two from your pantry in the bowl to add weight.  If you do this about the time you start the rice, then the timing works out pretty good.

For sauce you can use just plain soy sauce or something similar.  Lately I have tried experimenting with cooking a sauce on the stove.  I start with a few cups of vegetable broth and add whatever I have on hand – soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, etc.  The kids have liked the sauces, but my wife hated them and suggested I take a sauce-making class before continuing to experiment!

Tofu and Rice being assembled

When the tofu is sufficiently pressed, cut it into cubes.  Then take a big microwave-safe bowl and put the tofu in.  I also happened to have a zucchini so I sliced that and added it as well.  Pour the sauce over the tofu.  Then heat it in the microwave for several minutes until it is nice and hot.  Stirring in between will help to get the tofu thoroughly coated and soaked with the sauce.  Then simply plate some tofu and sauce over a bed of rice.


Even though this one involves a little more cooking than some of my other meals, I have found myself making this fairly often lately because it really is simple once you get a system down.  I also feel good serving my kids rice and a simple tofu dish like this instead of another Morningstar Farms chik patty or something overly processed like that.  It is a simple, healthy dish and then I end up with leftover rice which I can use for the next mealtime.

When I actually figure out some sauces that work I’ll try to write up that as well.  Until then, you’ll have to experiment yourself.

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Build your own taco bar

Build Your Own Tacos

This is a very simple idea and was a really big hit with the kids.  I called it a “build your own taco bar” and they were sold instantly.

I think the idea that they got to choose and assemble the tacos themselves really worked.  After a particularly hard period of at least one child complaining about something I tried to serve, I decided to put the choice into their hands and it worked well.

I found hard taco shells that are flat on the bottom so they stood on the plate while we filled them up.  This would also work with tortilla shells as well.

Taco Filling

Taco shells, rice and beans, black olives

Find something good for the main filling.  I had some leftover rice so I mixed in part of a can of black beans.  My kids really don’t like black beans so this was barely passable, but the rice made it ok.  If yours like beans, then cooked black beans or other beans would make a good base filling.

Also pictured here are black olives.  These would make an acceptable main taco base in a pinch.

You could get fancy and cook up some meatless ground beef or something like crumbled tofu or seitan as well.  I was going for speed and using what I had on hand.

Taco Toppings

Then I put out bowls of taco toppings for them to choose from.  Here are guacamole and lettuce.  I made a rule that they needed to pick at least one green item for their tacos.  One of my sons loves guacamole, but the other two kids hate it.

Finally, some cheese (or cheese substitute if doing vegan) and some salsa.  Here I’ve got some Pace organic which is really good and has been popular with the kids.  They aren’t big on spice, so this is the mild, but after they rejected several other salsas, I was happy to find one they liked.

Thoughts

This was simple and involved no cooking at all.  I mixed beans in with the leftover rice and heated it in the microwave.  The rest was just assembling the different ingredients.  It wasn’t all that different than burritos that I serve fairly often, but the kids really liked the do-it-yourself aspect.  From that point of view it seemed like a completely new idea to them.  I plan on using this one again, and also using the “assemble yourself” idea for other meals as well.

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