How To Tofu- Recipe Redux + A Cookbook Giveaway

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What do chicken nuggets, hotdogs, pizza, and fishsticks have in common?

They are all on the list of typical foods parents feed their kids.  I blame convenience- what's easier than taking something out of the freezer and popping it into the microwave?  Also, they're fun for kids because they're bite size or come in cool shapes.  I'm always trying to think of more healthy options that are still fun and convenient.  I believe food should be fun AND wholesome.  In fact, playing with food (to an extent) is part of healthy child development.  Once infants start on table food, it's important to let them explore it using all their senses, especially touch.  I've held this stance since my daughter Lyla started on table-food and she has become a great eater.

Lyla enjoying her Tofu Stick

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and RecipeRedux has teamed up with The Soyfoods Council to inspire family, friends and readers to add more soyfoods to their diet, specifically tofu.  There is an extensive body of evidence suggesting soy reduces the risk of breast cancer.  However, studies show that to receive the most optimal benefits in reducing the risk of breast cancer, soyfoods must be consumed starting in adolescence.  

If you're already feeding your kids tofu- keep it up!  If this is new territory for you, then I'm here to today to present you with a kid-friendly Tofu recipe.

Crunchy Baked Tofu Sticks Yields: 14 sticks Ingredients:  1 brick extra-firm Tofu ¼ canola oil 1 c crisp rice cereal 2 T nutritional yeast ¼ c cornflake crumbs Dash of paprika, pepper, cayenne powders Directions: 1.     Preheat oven to 375 F 2.     To slice tofu into 14 equal sticks, slice lengthwise once, then height wise 6 times 3.     Combine dry ingredients in a blender and pulse a few times to break down the crisped rice cereal.  Transfer to a shallow bowl 4.     Pour oil into a different bowl.  Dip tofu sticks into oil, then roll around in crumbs until well coated 5.     Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 min.  Then flip over and bake for 10 more min.

Vacation Smoothie

This month's Recipe Redux Challenge is "Memorable Vacation Meals."  Since I keep kosher, most of my favorite meal memories aren't from vacations, especially if we were visiting a place without a Jewish community.  Growing up, I remember eating a lot of tuna and PB&J, none of which are blog-worthy.  I definitely had some great meals on vacation with my husband but none too easy to "redux" or make healthy (think steak and nachos).

I've spent a good amount of time in Israel: vacationing and studying post-High School for a year.  Since kosher food is readily available in Israel, I decided to write about my favorite juicebar called Juiceland.  A Juiceland smoothie is one of the simple joys of my life.  It doesn't have protein or power "boosts" like most of the juicebars in America.  It's simply frozen fruit, milk or OJ, and some mystery white powder they throw in (sugar?).  I would always choose peaches and pears: such a great combo!  Here is my recreation of the Juiceland smoothie.

Blue Corn Chip Crusted Cauliflower Gratin + a GIVEAWAY

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In honor of Celiac Awareness Month, Frito Lay is sponsoring a recipe contest for Recipe Redux members where we have to create gluten-free recipes that use at least one of their snack chips as a replacement for traditional gluten-containing ingredients.  Gluten free foods can't contain barley, rye, or wheat.  There are many alternative grains and flours on the market making it easier for people with Celiac disease to expand their palettes.  Some popular gluten free flours are corn, tapioca, rice, arrowroot, and amaranth.  Frito Lay is working hard to implement a gluten-free validation process in order to meet FDA standards.

The Reduxers were given a list of approved chips to use in our gluten free recipes.  I chose TOSTITOS® SIMPLY NATURAL™ Blue Corn Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips since they have a gorgeous hue and I love adding color to my dishes.  I crumbled them onto a healthy cauliflower broccoli gratin for a satisfying veggie-filled dinner.  

Dill Cornmeal Crusted Asparagus- Recipe Redux

This month's Recipe Redux theme is "The First Shoots of Spring."  The weather is starting to become predictable and Spring is in full bloom.  I love taking walks with Lyla and pointing out the vibrant flowers and different kinds of leaves.  Farmer's markets are featuring the first vegetables of the season including pea shoots, rhubarb, garlic scapes, rams, and asparagus.  Our mission was to use one of these early edible plants in a healthy dish.

This month has been a bit crazy for me with Passover taking over so I have to admit this was a last minute scramble.  I couldn't find any of the unique crops in my usual store so I settled for asparagus- white asparagus to be exact.  Did you know that it's white because it's grown under soil so that it's deprived of sunlight?  This way it can't perform photosynthesis and produce chlorophyll (the thing that makes plants green).  White asparagus is more subtle in flavor and a bit more tender.

White Asparagus

I love a good dill sauce with my asparagus but since I've already posted a recipe for asparagus with dill sauce for Thanksgiving, I had to get a bit more creative.  I'm a bug fan of vegetable tempura so I decided to make a cornmeal batter infused with dill for some good color.  I coated my white asparagus in it, sprinkled with some panko, and roasted it up for some yummy goodness.  2 vegetables in 1 and a healthier alternative to tempura which is fried!  These dill dipped asparagus spears are beautiful and fun to make.  Make some for your next dinner party to impress your friends!

Maple Butternut Squash Kugel: Recipe Redux

Maple Butternut Squash Kugel

This month's theme for The Recipe Redux is "Stick with Maple Honey Sweetness" and it's all about using maple or honey to naturally sweeten your foods.  One of the first things I look for on the nutrition facts label is Total Sugars.  The second thing I check is the ingredients for the source of sugars.  Companies try to make their products sounds healthier by putting things like rice syrup, maltodextrin, and barley malt in the ingredients.  These are just different names for sugar and too much of it will make your waist size grow.  Click here for more names of sugar.  For more info on artificial sweeteners, visit here.  


Honey and maple syrup, as long as they're the good quality stuff, are natural sweeteners.  Pancake syrup is mostly high fructose corn syrup and is the farthest thing from a natural sweetener.  Here's a comparison of calories per Tablespoon:

Sweetener	Calories (Per Tbsp)
Table Sugar	45
Maple Syrup	52
Honey	60

Since honey and maple are naturally sweeter than table sugar, you need to use less of them in a recipe.  While sugar only contains calories, honey and maple also have a small amount of nutrients.  I more often use honey as a sugar substitute so I decided to try maple for a change.  I also felt that the maple flavors would better compliment the squash dish than honey.  

Chocolate Curry Chicken + Brown Rice Pilaf - Recipe Redux

I have been a fan of Pinterest for a couple months now.  It's a great place to pin all the great recipes I stumble upon to make at a later date.  However, once February hit, my Pinterest homepage was flooded with indulgent chocolate recipes in honor of Valentine's Day.  Decadent heart shaped cookies and cakes, chocolate pancakes and waffles, and a rainbow fruit smothered in caramel and chocolate.  I get it- chocolate is a must during February (and year round in my opinion) but isn't there room for cocoa without all the added sugar?  This is why this month's Recipe Redux theme, "Chocolate love is in the Air" is quite appropo.  I decided to incorporate chocolate into an already healthy recipe in order to bump up the nutrition even more.  

Shakshuka Breakfast Burrito: Recipe Redux

Traditionally, shakshuka is a Middle Eastern dish of eggs poached in an aromatic spicy tomato sauce.  I had the privilege of trying shakshuka for the first time last year at my good friends Mordy and Tiffany.  Before then, I didn’t know much about it and never bothered trying it.  Oh my goodness!  I was seriously missing out and now I have to make up for all these shakshuka-less years.  Tomatoes and eggs are really great together.  The acidity of the tomato plus the savory poached eggs all mixed together with aromatic spices is divine.  No wonder Shakshuka in Hebrew means “All mixed up.” 

For January’s Recipe Redux, the theme is “Fresh Starts” and there’s no better way to start off the day than with a healthy breakfast makeover.  When I think of calorie and fat-laden breakfasts, my mind goes straight to breakfast burritos.  Usually filled with hash browns, cheese, and eggs, the breakfast burrito can definitely use a face-lift. 

Holiday Layered Bean Dip: Recipe Redux

Bean Dip with Pita Chips

The annual latke potluck party took place on the second night of Chanukah this year.  This is the third year we have done it but the first year I am hosting.  Debbie and Aaron brought the Potato Latke ingredients, Yoni and Benjo were responsible for the salad and donuts (an absolute must!), and Brad and I were on Entrée duty- we decided on Lasagna.  Then I joined The Recipe Redux.

From the left: Brad, Benjo, Yoni, Lyla, and Debbie

Founded by Registered Dietitians, The Recipe Redux is a recipe challenge club focused on taking classic yummy dishes and enhancing the nutritional components while retaining the flavor a.k.a Recipe Makeover.  Every month there is a new theme that the group has to work with to create a delicious healthy dish.  This month’s theme is “Putting the P(ea) in Potluck” where we have to use legumes in a party-friendly dish.

I knew I would want to feature my Redux dish at the party but where do legumes fit into a Latke party?  Then it hit me- appetizer!  Part of the fun of a Latke party is making the latkes together.  Between peeling potatoes, cracking eggs, grating, and frying, there is a lot to do and it takes time.  Everyone is so hungry while the latkes are being made - wouldn’t it make sense to have something delicious to snack on while we were working?

Layered bean dips are a classic party food and since they’re typically overloaded with added fat and calories, they have a lot of potential to be Redux’d.  Here is my rendition of a classic party favorite: