Friday, September 08, 2006

oh, happy dinner!

I made the best dinner tonight, and it was so simple! I chopped up a bunch of veggies, pressed and cubed some tofu, tossed it all with some extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh herbs (fennel fronds, parsley, sage, and thyme,) and roasted the whole mess in the oven for 45 or so minutes at 400.

Going into the oven:
example

Coming out of the oven (not much different . . . !)
example

Ready to eat (with a side of oven-roasted sweet corn)
example

I forget how much roasting shrinks down veggies, because when I put the pan in, I thought, "sheesh -- this will make at least three servings!" Notsomuch -- I ate half of it for dinner tonight! The ONLY change I will make in the "recipe" for next time will be marinading the tofu in something first (it was a little bland, despite all of the herbs.)

Oh -- and to top it all off, I had a couple scoops of Cookie Avalanche for dessert . . . !!!!!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perfect fall meal! Sometimes i drizzle the veggies with Agave nector to help the caramelization!

Megan the Vegan

Anonymous said...

Roasted veggies are the best. I never thought of roasting the tofu with them though. Thanks for the great idea! I'm all for easy, one-dish meals!

Jennifer C.
http://muddlingtowardsfrugality.blogspot.com/

funwithyourfood said...

I love roast and grilling.
looks great to me

Teddy

Anonymous said...

A couple of scoops of Cookie Avalanche? How do you not eat the whole pint (or is that just me!?)?

Anonymous said...

Your dinner looks lovely... roasted veggies and tofu are amazing... yum!

Also, from your last post.. the bread looks fabulous... as does the soup. I always bring my soups to a boil... I've heard that's a no-no.. but I think it's because of meat products.. veg soups are lovely.

Good luck with the job search.. I hope the baking thing works out!

Also.. thanks for mentioning yoga to me.. I've been slacking big time since my back injury... so I HAVE to get back to it.. and I will. I will... I think I can.. I think I can... hehe

-melody (melomeals.blogspot.com)

Catherine Weber said...

Mary, I used red pepper, onion, sweet potato, mushroom, and fennel. (I don't care much for cooked carrots, so although I had some carrots, I left them out of the party.) It was my first time roasting fennel, and boy was it tasty!

Melody, I always boil my soups too, but only for a minute -- not ten. The ten-minute boil caused the beans to completely fall apart, which could be a great thing or an awful thing, depending on your overall soup plan!

Leslie, I don't know how I didn't eat the whole pint -- I think I was already pretty full from the corn, roasted veggies, and tofu! I used to be able to eat an entire pint of ice cream (back in college,) but I somehow lost my ability to do that over the past few years. Actually, I rarely eat a "ton" of anything -- even if I absolutely love something, after about 10 minutes or so, I'm usually sick of whatever I'm eating. (Why I've never cared for casseroles or one-pot meals much.) Perfect example last night -- I went out with a friend for breakfast at, like, 1:30 in the morning -- I had a veggie & hashbrown fry-up and she had a waffle with fruit and pecans. About halfway through our meals, we both had quit eating . . . and were picking at each other's plates. So we switched, and were both happy again!

Teddy, thanks! I haven't done much roasting, but this will have to be a technique I continue to use into the future!! Yum, yum, yum.

Jennifer, yeah, I just tossed the tofu in because I didn't feel like doing anything else with it or dirtying another pan or anything, and I needed a little protein. :) It worked out great!

Megan, that's an awesome tip! Thanks!

Crystal, I am SO HAPPY it is finally fall here! Cords and sweaters, here I come! P.S., how goes the anti-Diet Coke challenge on your end? I'm still aspartame-free . . . !!!

Kleo, yeah, it was an awesome dinner, and really super easy. Chop, toss, stick it in the oven and set a timer. Why hadn't I figured this out sooner? ;-)

Anonymous said...

they looks so full of color and life!

johanna3
http://tropicalvegetarianfamily.blogspot.com/

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

dinner looks great with all it's freshness! and i could REALLY go for your apricot coconut blondies. YUM

Catherine Weber said...

Vicki, when I tweak the recipe a little more, I'll send it your way for testing . . . I think they are headed into the cookbook!

Thanks, Johanna! Even reheated the next day, the roasted veggies were awesome!