This post is sponsored by Best Food Facts.

I actually grew up eating tofu. My mom cooked it all the time. I love it. A couple of years ago, I had crispy tofu tacos at a local Vietnamese fast casual restaurant and I was hooked. I loved getting to recreate this recipe at home!

I love working with Best Food Facts and learning about how we all can work towards sustainability when it comes to food. I participated in a Zoom chat with three registered dietitians: Dr. Ruth MacDonald is a food scientist at Iowa State University, Jennie Schmidt who is a farmer and Amanda Moder, who works for Hy-Vee.

I really enjoyed our conversation and I learned a lot! First, did you know that sustainability when it comes to food, is about more than the environment? Sustainability is the intersection of the environment, health, the economy as well as diversity and cultural sensitivity.

Why should we care about sustainability?

We should care about sustainability when it comes to food because we all want affordable food that tastes good. Some of us eat certain foods for health reasons, some of us value affordability over everything else and that's ok too. Sustainability allows food systems to flourish. Sustainability matters in food and farming because it helps farmers stay in business.

Dr. Ruth mentioned that we as consumers should be more thoughtful about our food choices. We should make informed choices based on science and not misinformation.

The biggest takeaway from our chat for me is how much food waste we have our in country. We all know it's A LOT. And I want to do better about not contributing to food waste. Having so much food waste is NOT sustainable.

And the most interesting point from Dr. Ruth was how if we don't do any processing of food (think canned foods, processed foods like tofu, frozen foods), we contribute to more food waste. Food waste is unavoidable if you only have fresh foods.

This reminded me of being in school and learning about humans utilizing preserving techniques before refrigeration was invented. Do you remember that?

How can we contribute to being more sustainable with our food choices?

Another big takeaway from Dr. Ruth for me was that we can do better and be more sustainable when it comes to grocery shopping by planning our meals.

Do you meal plan? Have you meal planned before?

This was eyeopening to me because I realized in the past when we did plan our meals, we spent less at the grocery store and most certainly wasted less food.

I don't know about you but when we let food go bad and have to throw it out, I feel guilty about. I think about the money wasted and the resources it took to make that produce, that meat or whatever food it was.

We started meal planning again recently and I found it so helpful! I don't plan exactly by the day and I leave a little wiggle room for having leftovers for dinner (which is really sustainable and is less waste!) and doing take out a couple of times a month.

And it makes it easier to solve the age old question, what's for dinner tonight?

You can use a notes app on your phone to meal plan. I use a grocery list app to keep track of things we need. After I plan my meals out, I gather the recipes and check out my pantry and refrigerator. Whatever I don't already have at home, I add it to my grocery list app!

I put together a little printable PDF if you to try your hand at meal planning! You can download it by signing up below. It has two different meal planners, one with a Sunday start and one with a Monday start. I also included a printable for a grocery list that you can print and put on your refrigerator too!

Now let's make these tofu tacos. I show you how to make the crispy tofu, it's so good. It was hard for me to not just pop them into my mouth when I was making them!

Ingredients for Tofu Tacos

• white vinegar
• granulated sugar
• salt and pepper
• carrots
• daikon radish
• cabbage (I used purple cabbage)
• olive oil
• sesame oil
• firm tofu
• cornstarch
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• grape seed oil
• sriracha
• mayonnaise (you can use vegan mayonnaise to make this recipe vegan, if you wish)
• corn tortillas
• cilantro

Can you make Crispy Tofu in the air fryer?

Yes, you can! I actually made it in my air fryer and my Ninja Foodi. I have instructions in the recipe card below for both!

How to make Tofu Tacos

First, make the pickled carrots and daikon. It's the same pickled veggies that you find in a Vietnamese banh mi! I cut the carrots into matchsticks.

And same with the daikon (which is a kind of radish).

Mix carrots and daikon with vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Cover and set aside for at least 2 hours.

Press the tofu for 20 minutes. I used this tofu press this time but you can also use a couple of plates and some cans. I show you how here where I shared my recipe for vegetarian dumplings.

Make the cabbage slaw but slicing up the cabbage and whisking together vinegar, oils, water, sugar, salt and pepper. You can add a little more pepper on top if you'd like as well!

Mix together sriracha sauce and mayonnaise with a small rubber spatula. Cover and refrigerate. (You can totally add more sriracha if you like it SPICY! I mean who wouldn't love spicy tofu tacos?!?)

Make this recipe vegan by using vegan mayo!

Remove the water from the tofu press and then remove the tofu from the press. Cut up the tofu in half and then continually cut into strips and then into cubes.

In a medium sized bowl or shallow dish, mix together cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. 

Add tofu cubes to the cornstarch mixture.

And make sure each piece of tofu is covered in the cornstarch mixture.

Add grape seed oil to cover the bottom of a nonstick pan. Heat on medium high for three minutes.

Cooking in two batches, add the tofu to the nonstick pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.

Heat tortillas in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil on medium high. Heat them for 1 to 2 minutes on each side.

I know you'll love these tofu tacos! They are so so good with the crispy tofu. Obviously, this is more of an Asian taco recipe. I know your family will love it!

One other thing, if you don't have any corn tortillas, you can make this dish as a bowl and enjoy it that way! So the corn tortillas aren't necessary but the sriracha mayo is!

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Tofu Tacos Recipe

Ingredients

Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup carrots cut into matchsticks
• 1 cup daikon white radish, cut into matchsticks

Cabbage Slaw

• 1/4 purple cabbage or green cabbage sliced
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons water
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• dash of salt and pepper

Crispy Tofu

• 14 ounce package of firm tofu
• 7 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Grape seed oil for frying, or if using air fryer, olive oil

Sriracha Mayo

• 1 Tablespoon sriracha or more to your taste
• 1/4 cup mayo
• corn tortillas for serving
• cilantro for garnish

Instructions

Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

• Pour vinegar, water, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix together and then add carrots and daikon. Cover and set aside for at least two hours.
• Remove tofu from the container and press for 20 minutes or put on a plate with sides, place another plate on top and use two 15-ounce cans on top to press the tofu and remove some of the moisture.

Cabbage Slaw

• Prep the cabbage slaw. Whisk together vinegar, oils, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Add cabbage and mix together thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.

Sriracha Mayo

• Mix together sriracha sauce and mayonnaise with a small rubber spatula. Cover and refrigerate.

Crispy Tofu

• In a medium sized bowl or shallow dish, mix together cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cut up the tofu in half and then continually cut into strips and then into cubes.
• Add tofu cubes to the cornstarch mixture and make sure each piece of tofu is covered in the cornstarch mixture.
• Add grape seed oil to cover the bottom of a nonstick pan. Heat on medium high for three minutes. (Look in the notes for air fryer and Ninja Foodi instructions if you want air fry tofu.)
• Cooking in two batches, add the tofu to the nonstick pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.
• Heat tortillas in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil on medium high. Heat them for 1 to 2 minutes on each side.
• Serve the tofu tacos with the cabbage slaw, the pickled vegetables and topped with the sriracha mayo!

Notes

Notes: You can totally cook the crispy tofu in an air fryer too! I use a mister to spray olive oil on the all sides of the prepared tofu cubes. Then, in my air fryer, I preheated it at 400 degrees F. When it was ready, I added in the tofu cubes and then air fried it for 8 minutes. In yours, it could be anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes. Be sure to flip halfway through!

I also cooked crispy tofu in my Ninja Foodi using the Air Crisp function. I do use the Cook & Crisp basket in my Ninja Foodi. Preheat the Ninja Foodi using the Air Crisp function at 400 degrees F for 3 minutes. Once it's ready, set the Air Crisp function again at 400 degrees F and it took 12 minutes to cook my crispy tofu! It can take anywhere from 11 to 13 minutes depending on the size of your Ninja Foodi. You want to be sure to flip these halfway too! Enjoy!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Best Food Facts. I only work with brands that I love and share with you my own opinions.

The post Tofu Tacos Recipe appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I love spring rolls…it’s one of my favorite snacks or meals. When you order spring rolls in a restaurant, they come premade…all rolled up for you to enjoy.

When we make these at home, we make them together as a family and enjoy them as you make them. Wrap, roll and eat. That’s the way we roll. Okay, I had to! LOL

I have wonderful memories of sitting around the dinner table with my family as a kid making and eating spring rolls. Making and eating…my favorite activities!

Things have been crazy up in here. I received some test results that kind of rocked my world. I mentioned before that last year, I had active tuberculosis. The doctors kept telling me that I didn’t fit the profile for someone who could have active tuberculosis. (By the way, I keep saying to myself, I’m going to write about my experience last year and share here. Because it was a doozy…being as sick as I was, I learned so much and it changed my perspective on so many things.)

Anyways, I found out that I have mannose binding lectin deficiency which means I don’t make enough of a protein (in my blood) to fight off infections. It's likely(?) a genetic mutation that I have. Which makes so much sense. I get sick a lot and as a child, I was sick all the time. About 90% of the time when I get a cold, it turns into bronchitis. It would last for weeks and it would take forever for the cough to go away. So it makes so much sense. And it's good to know.

There's nothing they can do for this deficiency. It helps to know but it makes me so scared to get sick. To be around sick people. To be around very sick people. It scares me.

I mentioned there's nothing they can do but they do recommend people with this deficiency to get certain vaccinations last October at 36 years old, I got the pneumonia vaccine. I'm also going to keep up with my flu shots. I got the meningitis vaccine recently too.

After being sick last year, my number one goal was to stay healthy and to take care of myself. Once I found out these results, I realized important it is for me to get enough rest and to take care of myself period.

Alright, let's get to the recipe…slice up the tofu and then cut into strips. Dry it with a paper towel (makes for easier frying).

I can eat fried tofu like they are French fries…I LOVE it! Prep all of those veggies and make your sauce too.

In another recipe for Vietnamese spring rolls, I share step by step photos on how to wrap them!

I'll say this…I'll bet you can't eat just one! This recipe is super easy to make!

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Tofu & Avocado Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

Peanut Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
• splash of fish sauce optional
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• rice noodles cooked according to instructions on the package
• 1 pound firm tofu sliced and then cut into strips
• 1/4 in grape seed oil
• 1/2 red pepper sliced into strips
• 1 avocado sliced
• 1/2 cucumber cut into strips
• 1/4 purple cabbage sliced
• Thai basil leaves
• rice paper

Instructions

Peanut Dipping Sauce

• Whisk peanut sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook the rice noodles according to the instructions on the bag or box of noodles. Prep the tofu and vegetables. After cutting the tofu into strips, place on a dry, clean paper towels. You want to remove as much moisture as possible.
• Add grape seed oil to a nonstick skillet until you have about a quarter inch of oil. Heat the oil on medium to medium high for 4 to 5 minutes. Cook the tofu for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
• Place on a plate lined with clean paper towels.
• One at a time, wet the rice paper (wet on both sides with really warm water, don’t allow it to soak) and then place on a round plate. Allow the rice paper to sit for at least one minute. Add rice noodles, tofu, red pepper, avocado, cucumber, cabbage and a couple of basil leaves. Roll once, fold in the sides and continue rolling until it’s a spring roll!
• Serve with the peanut dipping sauce.

Notes:

• Best if served or enjoyed immediately after making the spring rolls!

The post Tofu & Avocado Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

To say I'm obsessed with this ramen noodle soup is a little bit of an understatement. McCormick Gourmet challenged me to create a recipe with these ingredients: ginger, kale, shiitake mushrooms and vegetable stock. I immediately thought of ramen noodles. I love making a quick ramen or udon noodle soup for a quick lunch. I usually use chicken broth or about a quarter of the spice packet in the package and I usually doctor it up a lot. Add veggies, tofu or chicken, put an egg on top and call it done!

I absolutely love mushrooms. I'm obsessed with them. My favorite way to cook them is in butter and soy sauce and add them to burgers, omelets, breakfast burritos, you name it. This is the first time I added them to a soup and now I will be doing it EVERY time.

First, poach your eggs. Then,  chop up the kale, carrots and celery. Cut up the mushrooms and tofu too.

Cook the shiitake mushrooms in a soy sauce and butter in a non-stick skillet for about 5 minutes.

Add ground ginger to the vegetable stock. It adds such a nice flavor to it!

Boil the ramen noodles. I used organic ramen noodles that I can buy at World Market. You can also use the packaged quick ramen noodles that you can find in the soup section of your grocery store. Use the noodles from two packages and throw away the spice packet, you won't need it for this recipe.

There's the finished vegetable ginger stock. I cooked the tofu, celery and carrots in the stock.

Prep the noodle bowl. Add noodles, cooked mushrooms, uncooked kale, sliced mini bell peppers and the egg. I added the mini bell peppers for another level of crunch and color.

Pour the broth on top and add tofu, celery and carrots from the stock and serve. Break that yolk, the yolk flavors the soup stock and brings it up another notch. The kale is cooked by the stock and doesn't get too soggy. It's perfection in a bowl. Seriously, I'm so annoying how obsessed I am with this soup! I'm making it AGAIN soon!

Be sure to stop by McCormick‘s Go4Gourmet site and submit your recipe using these ingredients to win amazing prizes! And more challenges to come!

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Tofu, Kale & Shiitake Mushroom Ramen Noodle Soup Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 2 to 3

Ingredients

• 2 eggs poached
• 3.5 ounces shiitake mushrooms sliced
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 26 ounces vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 package firm tofu cubed
• 1 carrot peeled and sliced
• 1 celery stalk sliced
• 1-2 kale greens rib removed and chopped
• mini bell peppers sliced
• green onions sliced thin (optional)
• ramen noodles uncooked

Instructions

• Poach eggs in medium-sized saucepan. Rinse pan and fill with water and return to stove. Bring water to a boil (for ramen noodles).
• Sautee shiitake mushrooms in butter and soy sauce for 5 minutes in a non-stick pan. Set aside.
• Add vegetable stock to large pot and add ground ginger. Turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes and lower heat and allow to simmer. Add tofu, carrot and celery stalk.
• In original saucepan, add ramen noodles and cook according to package instructions. Drain and add noodles to bowl. Arrange bowls with kale, mini bell peppers and poached egg. Pour broth on top (and add tofu, celery and carrots) and garnish with green onions. Serve immediately.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by McCormick. I only work with brands that I love and I really appreciate you supporting brands that support me and my blog!

The post Tofu, Kale & Shiitake Mushroom Ramen Noodle Soup appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

We went to World Market last weekend and I loaded up on ingredients…from udon noodles to my favorite salsa. I spend way too much at that store. By the way, I mentioned this on twitter recently and have before…they have the best idea for shopping baskets…on wheels!

And then I saw this (above). Organic ramen and organic soba noodles too. I had to get it and I knew I wanted to make soup…with tofu! I adore tofu, y'all. I grew up on it. My Mom cooked it all the time.

Before you think I'm getting all healthy on you or even vegetarian…I'm not. I'm a meat eater who loves tofu. I don't have to meat at every meal to feel satisfied and I most certainly feel that this is comfort food.

It's quick and easy to make and as I note below in the recipe, you can sub out different vegetables and even add cooked chicken if you don't like tofu. I made this for lunch yesterday really quickly and I know it's going to become a regular for me while working from home. Now if I can just get my husband to try tofu…

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Quick Tofu Ramen Noodle Soup

This soup is simple to make and you can easily substitute ingredients to your liking. You can change out the celery for broccoli or napa cabbage. And even change out the imitation crab for shrimp or just omit it. Also, sub out the tofu for cooked chicken if you'd like. To make this soup vegetarian, use vegetable broth and omit the crab. It's pretty versatile and a quick soup you'll enjoy for lunch or dinner!

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 90 g organic ramen noodles 1/3 of a 270g package
• 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil
• 1-2 garlic cloves minced
• 1-2 tsp ginger minced
• 14.5 oz can low sodium chicken or vegetable broth or 2 cups homemade stock
• 2 Tbsp celery chopped small
• 3 button mushrooms sliced
• 2-3 oz imitation crab meat
• 3-4 oz firm tofu cut up into 1 or 1 1/2 cubes

Instructions

• Bring water to boil for the ramen noodles. Cook according to package instructions.
• As the water is boiling, prepare the garlic and ginger and chop the celery and slice the mushrooms.
• Add oil to a small or medium saucepan at medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger for 60-90 seconds. Don't allow the garlic to burn.
• Add broth to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Add celery, mushrooms, imitation crab and tofu and return a boil. Lower heat to low or medium low and allow the broth to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
• Arrange two soup bowls, each with half of the prepared ramen noodles. Evenly divide the broth between the bowls and serve immediately. (The noodles and the broth can be stored in the fridge but separately.)

Disclosure: There is an affiliate link in this post.

The post Quick Tofu Ramen Noodle Soup appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

My sister has asked for vegetarian options on my blog and here's another one. I wanted to try to make this sandwich when I had it at place called the Manatee Cafe in St. Augustine. I went there over ten years ago and remembered having this really good grilled cheese-like sandwich with tofu and had to try it again when we returned last this past October.

This visit to the Manatee Cafe was rather disappointing. We were in a rush to return home and after being seated, we got our drinks but then waited at least 20 minutes before deciding to order a to go order. The thing that was really frustrating was that they didn't get that we switched to a to go order because we waited too long for them to take our order. I had to get food because I was really hungry, I ate it in the car. It's too bad the service wasn't that great because my sandwich was amazing!

After having this tasty sandwich at this cafe, I wanted to try it at home. The other night, my husband suggested we have grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. I remembered this sandwich and decided to try it. So I tried a variation of it and it turned out great. You can make this sandwich vegan by using a cheese substitute. If you do try it that way, please let me know how it goes!

I grew up eating tofu as a kid and I love it. My Mom cooked it all of the time and I will have to share with you soon one of my favorites. If you have never had tofu, I hope you'll try this sandwich. I will definitely be making this sandwich again soon!

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Cheese, Tomato & Tofu Sandwich with Avocados

Ingredients

• 4 slices of your favorite sandwich bread
• 2 slices of sharp cheddar cheese or sliced cheese substitute
• alfalfa sprouts
• 4-5 slices of tomato
• 4-6 slices of a ripe avocado
• firm tofu sliced 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices, about 6-7 slices
• vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to make the dressing.
• Heat a cast iron skillet on high for about 5-6 minutes. Add about 1/2 to 1 tsp of vegetable oil.
• Pat the tofu dry between paper towels and add to the heated skillet.
• Heat on high for a few minutes on each side, browned to your liking and heated through.
• Toast the slices of bread and arrange your sandwich. Drizzle dressing over the avocado and sprouts on your sandwich.

If you like tofu and avocados, you'll definitely love this sandwich! It's light and fresh and very tasty!

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