Posts Tagged ‘Dinner’

More good veggie eats!

February 1st, 2010 by Charlie Gray

I hope everyone liked my first veggie recipe. For those of you who did, I have another one that I call Tofu and Vegetable Stir Fry; I promise the flavors are a lot more complex than the title. It’s a great combination of sweet, savory and spicy and most importantly, it’s incredibly nutritious. Remember, don’t be afraid to make whatever adjustments you’d like and use whatever veggies look the freshest. A note on technique, I boiled the broccoli and green beans in this recipe before I mixed them into the stir fry because I like them to be tender and not so tough, but if you like your vegetables to have a little more bite to them, just add them in with the onions and mushrooms. And if you did like the quinoa, it would also go great in this; I just used brown rice because it was all that was available.

Makes one generous size portion:

One of the cooking pans that is a little more rounded around the edges (like a saucepan rather than just a frying or sauté pan)

Enough water to cover about 2-3 inches of your saucepan

5-7 broccoli florets

6-8 green beans

Enough cooking oil to coat bottom of pan (preferably olive oil)

1 rounded spoonful of red onions (if they are not at the stir fry station, the salad station almost always has red onions; if there aren’t any, white onions are a perfectly good substitute)

1 rounded spoonful of peppers

1 rounded spoonful of mushrooms

1 rounded spoonful of shredded carrots (if carrots are cut into thicker pieces like a carrot stick for dipping, I would recommend boiling them with broccoli and green beans)

Half a spoonful of chopped garlic

Small pinches of the following spices: red pepper flakes, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, anise (if they don’t have the anise, it’s okay to leave it out)

10-12 pieces of tofu

Splash of teriyaki sauce

2 scoops of brown rice

Start by filling your saucepan with the water and place on the highest heat of the hotplate. Cover the pan with another frying pan and let the water boil (luckily these hotplates get very hot very quickly so the water boils within about 3-4 minutes). While the water is boiling, get the rest of your ingredients ready.

When the water is boiling, add the broccoli florets and green beans to the water, recover the pan with another to return the water to a boil, and cook for 2-3 minutes (you just want the vegetables to start getting tender). When the vegetables are done cooking, take them out of the water and then drain the water from the pan (I either pour it into 1 or 2 DC cups or into the sink where they wash all of the dishes).

Return the dry pan to the hotplate and heat the oil, then add red onions, peppers, mushrooms, and carrots. Turn the heat down to medium, medium-low (I think that’s 20-40 percent on the hot plates) and cook for approximately 5 minutes or until the vegetables soften and give up their water. Then add the garlic and sauté for approximately 2 minutes.

Then, add back the broccoli and the green beans, as well as the red pepper flakes, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, anise, tofu, and teriyaki sauce to the pan. Let those ingredients cook for a minute or two and then add the brown rice. Let the brown rice get up to temperature, 2-3 minutes, and that’s it.

I hope you like this recipe as much as the first one, and once again, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or feedback, please let me know so I can make changes. Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy!

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Good Veggie Eats

January 25th, 2010 by Charlie Gray

As Kara mentioned in an earlier post, our new year’s resolution was to give vegetarianism a try. As you’re all probably aware of, it’s hard enough to find a decent meal at the DC when you’re an omnivore, but being a vegetarian makes things even more difficult. Therefore, this semester I will be posting some easy, healthy, and delicious veggie recipes that anyone can make in the stir fry station of our very own dining hall. Since there are no measuring devices at the stir-fry station, I’ll try to describe the measurements with words like “spoonfuls” and “splashes.” And keep in mind that the ingredients for these recipes are just my suggestions; you can alter them however you’d like to suit your tastes.

The first dish I tried making I would call spicy quinoa with a tofu peanut sauce; if you’re a fan of spicy pad thai I think you’ll like this dish very much. Kara introduced me to quinoa a few weeks ago and it’s becoming one of my favorite foods. It’s a grain that is similar in look and texture to couscous but it has a slightly nutty flavor so it is closer in flavor to brown rice. It’s incredibly nutritious as it is high in protein and fiber and low in fat; it’s also a great source of essential amino acids. I’ve noticed that it’s been available at the stir fry station this semester so if you see it, I would definitely recommend cooking with it. If you can’t find it or you’re not a fan of it, brown rice is always a good alternative. So here is the first of many healthy and delicious recipes you’ll see on VCfit this semester:

Enough cooking oil to coat bottom of pan (preferably olive oil)

Spoonful of mushrooms

Spoonful of zucchini or squash

A few pieces of shredded carrots

Half a spoonful of chopped garlic

1 Shake of ground ginger

1 Shake of ground cumin

Pinch of red pepper flakes

6-8 pieces of big tofu mashed up into crumbles, plus 10 more whole ones

Splash of soy sauce

1 heaping spoonful of peanut butter (the natural peanut butter provides a nice grainy texture and its consistency helps to thicken the sauce better than the regular creamy kind)

Splash of red wine vinegar

Enough water to cover a ¼ inch of the pan, probably about a cup of water or 8 oz.

2 rounded scoops of quinoa

Handful of chopped green onions

Put your pan on high heat and add the cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms, zucchini, squash carrots, and garlic to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium, medium-low (I think that’s 30-40 percent on the hot plates) and cook for approximately 5 minutes. You just want the vegetables to soften and give up their water.

Once the veggies are soft, add the ginger, cumin, and red pepper flakes, mashed up tofu, soy sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, and water. Let the sauce cook for approximately 6-8 minutes or until its thickened to the consistency of chili. Then add the quinoa and remaining whole pieces of tofu and let them cook until they are up to temperature, approximately 2-3 minutes. Garnish with the green onions and then it’s time to eat.

So in less than 20 minutes you can have a delicious and nutritious dinner. Apart from the peanut butter, every ingredient in this recipe you can get at the stir fry station; and the peanut butter is just over by the butter, jelly, and frozen yogurt machine.

I hope you like this recipe and if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or feedback on how it turns out, please don’t be afraid to comment on this post. Just remember to be creative in the DC. You can take ingredients from the salad bar or even from the pasta station if you want to doctor up one of their sauces. Thanks so much for reading and I can’t wait to hear your feedback!

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The Retreat, Part III

September 23rd, 2009 by Kara Voght

In our last post in the Retreat series, we’re taking you to the Retreat windows– deli, pizza, and grille– to debunk myths about one of Vassar’s favorite eateries.

The Grille

Like breakfast, lunch and dinner at the grille is a mixed bag.  Skip the burgers, the grilled cheese, the wraps; not to say that these don’t have any nutritional value, but there are better options.  We really like the black bean burger on a wheat bun (especially with a little hot sauce, which you can find at the salad bar), because its high protein and high in fiber, while low in calories and fat.  We’re also fans of the grilled chicken sandwich on a wheat bun.
As far as fries, it you want to indulge, opt for sweet potato over regular fries.  Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A and a good source of potassium and vitamin C, B6, riboflavin, copper, pantothetic acid and folic acid; regular potatoes are not.  Still, they’re fried, so don’t go overboard.

The Pizza

There really isn’t much to say on this subject; pizza is pizza, which means lots of calories, and lots of fat.  The Retreat does a relatively healthy version of pizza, using local Greenwave tomato sauce, local produce as topping when available and whole wheat crust.  Still, there’s lots of oil and cheese, which is high in fat and cholesterol.  Go ahead and indulge once in awhile, but this is definitely not the healthiest choice.

The Deli

You can, generally, make better choices at the Deli window than at the Pizza or Grill one.  There’s a better variety of healthy choices, and tons of ways to build a healthy sandwich.

Starting with the bread, we recommend whole wheat bread or the multigrain hoagie; skip any of the white breads or rolls, since they lack nutritional values.  Also, don’t get caught in the “warp trap;” wraps, even though they are “spinach” or “tomato and basil” flavored, they don’t have the nutritional benefits of the veggies that give them their name, its usually just dyed white bread.  As such, skip those, too.

Next, meat.  Conventional deli meats are often packed with nitrates, compounds used as preservatives that are high in sodium and may have poisonous effects on our bodies; chances are, many of the meats in the Retreat deli have nitrates in them.  Luckily, Vassar roasts its own turkey breast, which means its nitrate-free; as such, we recommend this for your healthiest sandwich.

Hummus is offered as a vegetarian protein option, but VCFit is here to dispel this myth: Hummus is not that good for you.  Per tablespoon, there’s only .7 grams of protein; as a hummus sandwich only has 2-3 tablespoons, that’s only 2-3 grams of protein, which is less protein than what is in your two slices of whole wheat bread.  I know, its heartbreaking, and continue to eat it, but just know that its not packing the protein punch by any stretch of the imagination.
Cheese, as you may know, is high in fat, and low in nutrition.  A lot of vegetarians (sorry again, guys) rely on it as a source of “protein” in a sandwich, but that is a common misconception; cheese really is just fat.  We know most sandwiches don’t taste complete without it, but use it sparingly, if at all.

Veggies: load up.  Get as many as you can into your sandwich; they provide flavor, vitamins, and minerals with minimal calories.  As for dressings/spreads: a little oil and vinegar goes a long way, as does a touch of mustard (with 5 calories per tablespoon, add as much of that as you want).  Always skip mayo; there’s an absurd amount of cholesterol in that.  My favorite spread, which is sometimes (though not always) offered at the Retreat is avocado; it’s a little high in fat, but has the good kind of fat that helps with metabolism, lots of vitamins, and is really tasty (so a little goes a long way).

As for the menu offerings, like the Mediterranean Ciabatta (ciabatta bread with hummus and veggies), Matthew’s Medley (ham, turkey, swiss, and mayo on a hero roll), and Vassar Club (turkey, bacon, American cheese, and mayo on herb bread), you really should skip all of them, and build your own healthy sandwich.  These sandwiches are nutritionally flawed in almost every aspect, from lacking veggies to white bread to no protein.  Besides, its fun to be creative and experiment with new flavors—make your own!

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