How To Drain and Press Tofu

Learn how to drain and press tofu in preparation for a multitude of recipes. Stay Tuned! 

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Waiting For Benjamin

"The Bun Ain't Coming Out Til It's Done"
by Darrilyn Vassar-Jackson


It has been five days now since the Grands arrived in sweet anticipation of the birth of a new soul called Benjamin. Due to make his entrance on April 5, we arrived two days early lest we miss his entrance. Based on our birth experiences with his respective parents, we made our plans. Well you know the expression, “Man plans and God laughs!” God must be rolling on the floor about now, because we are still waiting.

This morning I let go of my picture of how this whole thing was to look. Up at the crack before dawn, I shared my “ah has” with my daughter, who in turn laughed as she recalled her careful timing of taking off work and scheduling up coming interviews, all based on her due date. She reminded me of how she and her husband both are planners and she guesses that Ben is too. Either that or he is coming to shake up all of that. I told her that I had given myself permission to forget about when Benjamin is coming and to fully enjoy the time we all are having in the moment. I apologized for asking her every five minutes, is she feeling anything. Oh, I forgot to mention our trip to the hospital in the wee hours of yesterday morning on a false alarm. Now, the Grands, who have birthed 6 children between us, knew this wasn’t real labor, but we conveniently put on our veil of forgetfulness in place of “please let it be so” and went anyway. Of course, we were all sent back home within the hour. So our new mantra is “The bun ain’t coming out the oven til it’s done.”

Benjamin, who hasn’t even arrived yet, is teaching us already. The Grands are getting to know one another in a wonderful new way, having a ball laughing, reminiscing, cooking and eating up a storm. The good eating part must have something to do with feeding the parents. And talk about feeding, move over Uncle Ben, there’s a new rice in town- Baby Ben’s Rice, prepared by Grandma Momo. We also made Scallini’s Eggplant Parmesan guaranteed to induce labor within 48 hours. It was scrumptious but we must have fed it to my daughter too early, the secret ingredient was missing, or it needed to come directly from the restaurant.

Baby Ben’s Rice

Grandma Momo, an experienced cook, doesn’t have to measure anything so this is an approximation. I hadn’t eaten rice in so long and this was moist, fragrant, and delicious.

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2-1/2 cups water

1-1/2 cups Basmati or Jasmine rice

Dash of sea salt (1/4 – ½ teaspoon)

In medium sauce pan, saute minced garlic in oil until slightly browned, add, rice, water, sea salt and cook on medium high heat with top off until rice is almost dry. Put top on reduce heat to low until water evaporates completely. Enjoy!

Curry Stir Fry Vegetables

2 cups sliced carrots

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 medium onion, sliced,

½ green bell pepper sliced

½ red bell pepper, sliced

2 cups fresh broccoli, sliced stalk and florets

1 medium zucchini, sliced

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup coconut milk

2 teaspoons green curry paste

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Dash of cayenne pepper

Basil leaves

In wok, sauté garlic, onion, then add, carrots and sliced broccoli stalks, cook for a few minutes. Add zucchini, florets and peppers last as they cook faster. Mix 2 teaspoons of green paste and cup of coconut milk. Blend until smooth and add to stir fry. Serve with Baby Ben’s Rice and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

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Chili For Two?

Chili for Two?

It has been confirmed that I do not know how to cook for two people. After years of preparing food for a family of 5, making the transition since everyone has left home, has been quite an adjustment.  Plus, growing up, I observed my grandmother always cooked more food because she never knew who may stop by.  Big Mama  was one of those “pinch of ths, dash of that, taste  and serve with love” kind of cooks.  Following in the tradition, I have approximated the big and little pinches for your duplication and pleasure.
The other day, the menu consisted of Chile and cornbread.  I chopped and sliced ingredients for both dishes and asked my husband if he would like to cook with me by making the cornbread.  He said, “ok” then proceeded to sit at the kitchen table doing work on his laptop.  Twenty minutes later, I’m standing at the stove, tasting and humming and he was sitting in the same spot at the computer when I turned and asked, “You still making the cornbread?”  He said, “You want me to?” I almost said, “Never mind,” but what would have been the fun of that!
Given the time and  hearing the growl of my stomach,  instead of having him make cornbread from scratch, I reached for the Trader Joe’s cornbread mix, and advised him to follow the directions, substituting the egg replacer for the egg and adding the chile powder, onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos.  Below, I have included the “scratch” recipe.   Do whichever works for you.

Mexican Corn Bread

1 cup corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 Tablespoons baking powder
1 egg replacer (Energ-G Egg Replacer)
½ teaspoon chile powder
2 Tablespoons honey
½ cup canola oil
½ cup soy milk
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 Tablespoon minced red bell pepper
¼ cup diced green pepper
2 Tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno peppers

Preheat oven to 425°.  Combine corn meal, flour, baking powder sea salt and chile powder.  Saute̒ veggies for 1 minute in 1 tablespoon of canola oil.  Add to cornmeal mixture.  Mix honey, oil and soy milk and add to previous mixture.  Pour in cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. 

Gimme More Veggie Chili

1 cup white kidney beans

1 cup black beans

Medium onion, sliced

Medium Green Pepper, chopped

3 stalks Celery , Chopped

1 carrot, sliced

½ cup mushrooms sliced

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 tsp basil

2 bay leaves

1-2 jalapeno peppers (depends on how much heat you like)

¼ teaspoon  ginger powder or small piece of ginger root *

2 cans no salt added tomatoes

½ cup Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage

3 Tablespoons  olive oil

1 teaspoon Spike seasoning or 1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Hasa Marina (corn flour)

Pinch of cinnamon

In large pot, saute garlic, onion, green pepper, celery, mushrooms, corn and carrots in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.  Add cumin. chili powder, basil and Spike.  Add white kidney and black beans,  tomatoes, ginger, bay leaves and jalapenos to mixture.  Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.   Break up Gimme Lean Sausage and sauté in 1 tablespoon oil.  Add sausage and corn to pot.  Cook for another 10 minutes.  Add corn flour(helps thicken), stir,  and pinch of cinnamon.  Taste and flavor to your pallete.   

*Ginger reduces gas experienced by some when they eat beans.

By the way, you can get eight servings out of this!  

So you can freeze, share with friends or have lunch for days.

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