Italian Summer Salad

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes

Mangia!

I made this summer salad this weekend for an Italian dinner and it was such a hit! It's light, refreshing and chocked full of watery vegetables, which are perfect for hydrating in the middle of summer. Serve it as a side dish to pasta marinara and mangia!

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can sliced black olives, drained
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1/2 package mushrooms, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Smokin' Texas Gourmet Garlic Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

-Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Season with garlic salt and pepper. Add olive oil and toss to coat the salad. Season with more garlic salt and pepper, to taste.

-Chill for an hour or two before serving.

Tofu tacos with chipotle lime mayo sauce

Serves: 2
Cook Time: 35 minutes



Zesty tofu tacos with a side of black beans


 

Looking for a quick and easy weeknight meal? Look no further! These zesty tofu tacos only take about 30 minutes to make and they're delicious! Prep your taco fixings and side items while the tofu is baking to save time. Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:
1 block extra-firm tofu
1 package coleslaw
1 package flour or corn tortillas
Taco fixings (chopped tomato, onion, avocado)
1/4 cup Follow Your Heart Grapeseed Vegenaise
1 tablespoon lime juice
1-2 tablespoons Smokin' Texas Gourmet Smokin' Chipotle Pepper Sauce (depending on desired spiciness)

Directions:
Press the tofu for about 30 minutes to release water. I usually wrap the tofu in paper towels, set it on a plate and the put one plate on top of the tofu (almost like a tofu sandwich). I then place a bowl or other heavy object on the top plate to add weight, which will press the water out of the tofu.

Preheat your oven to 350˚  Fahrenheit. Spray non-stick cooking spray on a cooking sheet and bake the tofu for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through for even cooking. This is the most basic way to cook the tofu for this recipe. You can experiment with marinades for additional flavor.

While the tofu is baking, get your taco fixings ready and make the chipotle lime mayo sauce. To make the sauce, combine the vegenaise, lime juice and chipotle pepper sauce in a bowl. Mix and add more chipotle pepper sauce until desired spiciness.

Once the tofu is ready, slices it into cubes. Serve the tofu on a tortilla. Top with coleslaw, taco fixings and chipotle lime mayo sauce. Serve warm and bring on the fiesta!

Steamed Vegetable Dumplings

Finished dumplings.

Makes: Approximately 40 dumplings
Time: 1 1/2 hours

I was reading about traditional Tibetan momos (dumplings) recently and decided to give them a try at home. I am definitely glad I did! These dumplings turned out absolutely delicious and would be a great dish for entertaining. They're very easy to make, but a little labor intensive so make sure you have some spare time. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
1 inch fresh ginger
1/4 pound fresh napa cabbage
1/4 pound tofu
4 whole mushrooms
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon vegetable broth
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup of water
Soy sauce (for dipping)
Hoisin sauce (for dipping)

Directions
Slice all of the vegetables into very fine pieces. Place the sliced vegetables into a mixing bowl. Add the soy sauce and vegetable broth, stir and set aside.

Next make the dough either using a stand mixer or by hand. Mix the flour and water very well by hand.   Keep adding the water until you make a pretty smooth ball of dough. Knead until the dough is flexible.
Make sure not to let the dough dry out because it will be hard to work with.

Roll the dough out over a lightly floured surface until the dough is quite thin. It should be thinner than a computer disk, but not so thin that you can see through it when you lift it. Use a glass to cut circular shaped discs out of the dough.

Stuffed dumplings and dough discs.

Form the dumplings by add a small spoonful of the stuffing to the middle of each disk. Fold the disc in half and pinch the dough together until you have crescents. Continue until all dumplings have been stuffed.

Formed dumplings, ready to be cooked.

Next steam the dumplings by boiling water in a large steamer. Spray the steamer basket with non-stick cooking spray so the dumplings don't stick. Steam the dumplings for 10 minutes. Serve warm with soy or hoisin sauce for dipping.