Kale, Tofu & Sweet Peppers Stir Fry

My hubby daily takes his lunch from home. So, everyday it's a pack of 5-6 boxes in his lunch bag. He wants me to give him healthy food - green vegetables, sprouts, less oil food, salad, nuts and fruits. Most of the time, he chooses the vegetables he wants to eat. He is fond of green vegetables and he gets Kale & Collard Greens mostly.

Kale & Collard Greens. I have never seen these vegetables in India. I didn't know how to cook them and frankly speaking, I didn't like their strong taste. But he had eaten it elsewhere, and liked it. I tried different recipes, but I didn't get good results.

Recently, he got one big pack of Kale. I was thinking that what should I do now. First, I tried to make Kale chips in little quantity. Not good. Now, what to do? I did a little research on internet and saw different recipes. Then, I made my own recipe with available ingredients and it was the best ever.

Ingredients:

5-6 Small Sweet Peppers (Red, Orange, yellow)

1/4 lb. block Tofu

1/2 lb. Kale leaves

1 Small Onion

1 tbsp Canola Oil

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Vinegar

1 tsp Sesame Seeds

Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Wash the Kale leaves. Chop them and blanch them. (Blanching method - boil the water and put chopped kale into it for 3 min., drain all the water and then wash kale again with cold icy water.)
2. Chop tofu in small cubes, chop the onion and pepper in small pieces. 
3. Heat oil in the pan and put the sesame seeds into it. Once seeds are sizzled, stir in the onion. Cook the  onion till it is golden in color. Stir in peppers and cook it for 2-3 min. Stir in tofu and let pepper and tofu cooked nicely.
4. Put the blanched kale and salt into it and cook it for 3-4 min more. Mix in the soy sauce and vinegar into it and cook for more 1-2 min.
5. Serve it immediately with rotis or paranthas.

Comments: - Earlier, I didn't like to eat kale because of its strong flavor. But with this recipe, its strong flavor is reduced and now it is edible. I liked that.

Roasted Okra / Lady Finger / Bhindi

Ingredients -

1 pound okra pods

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp chopped onion powder

Salt & black pepper according to taste

Method -

1. Preheat oven to 450F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet or roasting pan.
2. Trim the ends of okra and slit them into two pieces. Combine the okra, salt, black pepper, onion powder and oil in a large bowl and toss to coat well. Arrange in a single layer in the pan or sheet.
3. Roast for about 15 minutes, until the pods are well browned, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking.
4. Transfer the okra to a serving bowl. Serve immediately.

Bread Pizza

Yesterday, I was looking for recipes in the GFCF group and I found recipe for GFCF pizza. Actually, my son never liked pizza when he was not on GFCF diet, so I didn't try to give him GFCF Pizza. He mostly eats dosas, pancakes & rotis. So, I thought I should give a try to add some variety. I haven't made any GFCF pizza at home. So, I thought I should make a small pizza and see how it goes.

Bread Pizza

So, I made a GFCF bread pizza. And I was shocked to see that Tanishk didn't resist to eat and he ate whole pizza. He liked it very much. I also tasted it a little bit and that was yummy. I had put everything what Tanishk likes.

Ingredients:

2 GFCF Bread Slices (Any GFCF Bread - I took homemade)

1/2 small Onion
1/4 cup Frozen Peas
1/4 cup Frozen Corn
1/4 cup shredded Daiya Cheese
1 tsp Oil
1 tbsp Casein Free Butter
1 tbsp Tomato Sauce
Salt according to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. I used toaster oven. Heat a skillet and heat the oil.
2. Fry onion till little brown and then mix peas & corn in it. Pour the salt and cook till peas are tender. Put the mixture aside.
3. Apply some butter on both slices and put some tomato sauce on it.
4. Put the peas & corn mixture equally on both slices. Spread the shredded cheese on top of it.
5. Put both slices in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Serve them immediately.

Bread Pizza

Banana Walnut Bread

Banana Walnut Bread - Behind is the bread machine

One day I saw a recipe for Gluten Free Banana Walnut Bread on internet, and wanted to try it. This recipe uses Bread machine. My hubby also told me that he likes Banana Walnut Bread. But he used to eat the regular Banana Walnut Bread, not Gluten Free. So, I decided that I should give a try.

Yes, that was yummy. That was definitely delicious. Everyone liked the bread, even my both kids. And it was all finished in 2 days only.

But there was one ingredient which I wanted to avoid - yeast. So, I again tried to find another good recipe for GFCF Banana Walnut Bread. I found a recipe - Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana Bread from 'Book of Yum'  I tried that recipe. It was good. I modified the recipe according to our taste & also to make Banana Walnut Bread. So, here is the recipe. I hope you all will like this.

Ingredients:

2 cups Brown Rice Flour or Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup chopped Walnuts, toasted (See below)

1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

2 Eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups mashed, ripe bananas

1 cup Sugar

Few drops of Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Canola Oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray medium bread pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine dry ingredients except sugar in a small bowl.
3. Mix other eggs, banana, sugar, vanilla extract and oil in a large bowl.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix it to make a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the pan.
5. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool for a few minutes before removing from pan and then cool on a wire rack.

Toasted Walnuts - Place the walnuts on a cookie sheet and bake them at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.