Vegetable Stock

Anne loves to have blocks of frozen vegetable stock in the freezer to use whenever a recipe calls for some. The way they accomplish this is to keep a silicone bag in the freezer and as they cook they put all the scraps of veggies that would be tasty in stock in this bag. Once every couple of weeks they dump the bag of collected scraps into a large stockpot and create the stock and then freeze it. Cooking stock in this way is really nice because it uses up most of the bits that are leftover after cooking other meals.

Here are some kitchen scraps that make really nice vegetable stock:

mushroom stems

onion ends and skins

garlic ends and skins

chard and kale stems

carrot ends and tops

squash ends

broccoli stems

ginger peels

cauliflower stems

Here are some items we don’t recommend for stock (although feel free to experiment and find what works for you):

bell peppers

any moldy bits of vegetables that you cut away

fruit

green bean ends

pea pods

Once you have a filled bag of vegetable trimmings, put them in a large stock pot and cover with hot water. Bring it up to a boil. Add 4 to 6 peppercorns, a generous pinch of salt, a bay leaf, and any fresh or dried herbs you have around (it’s ok to omit these if you don’t have any, but we really like rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley for this purpose). Turn the pot down to a simmer and allow to simmer 20 minutes. Strain the liquid. Use hot, or allow to cool before freezing into small or large cubes.

Lettuce Wraps

We love how the crunchy, sweet lettuce pairs with this soft and savory tofu in these wraps. The combination of textures and flavors is as satisfying as the dish is pleasing. Camille’s favorite lettuce varietal is black seeded simpson lettuce and that is what we recommend, however these taste delicious with any lettuce varietal.

Serves: 2

Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 package of firm tofu

1 tbsp corn starch

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 very small onion, diced

1 cup minced mushrooms

1 cup finely cut cabbage

1 cup grated carrot

2 green onions, sliced

1 head lettuce

salt and pepper

for the sauce:

1/4 cup tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 inch ginger, peeled and minced

1/2 tsp maple syrup

1 tbsp almond butter

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Whisk the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl until the almond butter is broken up. Mince garlic and ginger, and dice onions and stir into the sauce until coated. Set aside.

Heat a pan to medium high heat with sesame oil. Once hot, crumble the tofu into the hot oil. Sprinkle with corn starch and stir to coat. Let cook about 7 minutes, until the bottom of the tofu has started to brown. While tofu is cooking, cut the cabbage and mushrooms and grate the carrots. Add the mushrooms and cabbage and cook with the tofu, stirring regularly until the cabbage softens about 7 minutes. Then stir in garlic, onions, ginger and sauce mixture. Cook until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in carrots and green onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Wash the lettuce and pull apart into individual leaves. Scoop tofu mixture into lettuce leaves and enjoy!

Quick Stir Fry

We all have nights when we have not planned for dinner and have not shopped for a particular meal. One of the benefits of cooking regularly is that there are often some veggies or a block of tofu in the fridge. This recipe was cooked on such a night and used various left-over veggies. For this reason, any of the ingredients can be subbed out for whatever is in your refrigerator.

Serves: 4

Time: 30min

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1 block tofu

1/4 cup corn starch

1 tsp salt, divided

1/2 onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger, minced

1 bell pepper, sliced

3 carrots, thick julienned

1/4 purple cabbage, sliced

1 small head broccoli and stem, broken into florets and slice the stem

5 tbsp, divided neutral oil like avocado, sunflower, or canola

1 tbsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or coconut aminos

For the sauce:

2 tbsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or coconut aminos

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1 tsp agave

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Cook rice with 1 tsp of salt, for a more flavorful rice, add 1 tsp veggie bouillon to the water. While rice is cooking, put the cornstarch and 1 tsp salt in a small bowl.

Cut your block of tofu in half so that you have two, one inch thick rectangles. Press tofu between two kitchen towels, placing a cast iron pan, or something heavy on them to remove some of the liquid. This process can be done with a tofu press. Slice the tofu into cubes or thick sticks. Toss tofu in cornstarch salt mixture. Heat 2 tbsp of neutral oil in a frying pan. Once hot, fry the tofu on med-high making sure it gets golden brown on all sides.

To make the sauce, mix tamari (gluten-free soy sauce), hot sauce, and agave in a small bowl. When the tofu looks done, pour this sauce over the tofu and toss until coated and then remove from heat and set tofu aside.

In the same pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and sautee the onion for 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, and sautee for another minute. Add bell peppers. Cook until onions are soft and starting to caramelize and the peppers are tender with some color. Set aside.

In the same pan (or you can use 2 pans and do this at the same time as the onions) fry the carrot, cabbage, and broccoli at a med-low heat with 2 tbsp of oil. Cook until carrots and broccoli are bright and cabbage is soft, stirring frequently. Combine all the vegetables and stir in the last 1 tbsp of tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) and serve over rice with tofu.