-:- baked tofu bowl with barley and spinach

There are many pros and cons to working from home - one of the bigger pros is that I'm here everyday to cook fresh, healthy lunches for myself. Sometimes I'll eat leftovers, but most days I tend to just throw something together with what we have around. And that's exactly how I developed this recipe, which is too good and too simple not to share.

This dish has become one of my favorites for lunch - some weeks I eat it every day. It's such a good source of iron for this vegetarian, as well as protein. It's really easy and quick, too - 15 minutes tops.

A quick note about the ingredients - when I first started making this, I was using Trader Joe's baked tofu, but have since started making my own, using this recipe.

I have also been using Trader Joe's 10 minute grains - their barley and farro are my favorites. If you use the farro, I'd recommend using a 1/4 c. rather than the 1/2 c. I list here.

If you don't have a Trader Joe's around you (and you can't find any other pre-cooked grains), you could use your favorite pasta or quinoa instead. 

Finally, sometimes I use kale instead of spinach (which is also really good) and I recommend adjusting the sambal to your own liking - if you're unsure, start with a little and build up (if your local grocery store sells sriracha, you'll probably find this stuff right next to it).

Put a pot of water on to boil and when it's rolling, add your grains and a bit of salt. When it's been cooking for about 5 minutes, heat a small skillet on medium and add your washed greens. Sprinkle with the garlic powder and move the spinach around until it wilts. Add the tofu and the  sambal olek and stir to mix. Turn the heat down a bit.

When the grains are done cooking, drain them and add them into the skillet with the spinach and tofu mixture. Stir everything to combine - I like to leave mine to cook together for a couple of minutes so the flavors can come together. The put the whole thing in a bowl and enjoy!

xox

-:- neep and tattie scones

Scotland will always have a special place in our hearts. We honeymooned there - and though we were on somewhat of a shoestring budget, we had an absolutely amazing time.

For Thanksgiving this year, we made neeps and tatties instead of plain mashed potatoes because we loved them when we had them in Scotland and because we feel a little bit better about eating mash if there are some turnips thrown in there too.

But instead of making a normal sized pot, we overestimated how much we'd need to feed our guests, made a humongous pot of them, and had a ton leftover. Not quite literally a ton, but close. And although we love them, there's only so much of one thing you can eat before you never want to see another helping of it again in your life. I definitely didn't want to get to that point with mash.

So back to Scotland for a minute - because we were on a shoestring budget, most of our lunches and dinners came from the grocery store. But our full-service Scottish breakfasts were usually complementary from whatever hotel we were staying at - and they usually included tattie scones. This, I discovered, is the ticket to preventing a mash overload. A variation on the tattie scone - neep and tattie scones.

Here's what to do:
Warm your leftover mash slightly in the microwave - 30 seconds should do it.
Mix two tablespoons of flour in with your mash and then continue adding and mixing in flour a tablespoon at a time until you have a nice dough. It's okay if it's a little sticky, but you don't want it to be so sticky that you can't handle it. You may need more or less flour than the recipe calls for, depending on how thick your neeps and tatties were originally.

Flatten into a disk and put flour on both sides.
Then, press into a circle until the dough is about 1/4" thick.
Cut a cross in your circle so you end up with four scones.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the scones for about three minutes on each side over medium heat. I have found that the second side needs less time than the first.

Serve with a fried egg, a fried tomato, or some leftover cranberry sauce.

xox