Wednesday Edition: What's New

So I was chatting about the blog with one of my best friend's, K.  We thought it would be fun if I tried new food and then wrote about it.  Actually I thought it would be fun if she tried new food and then blogged about it, but she wasn't into that!

We were trying to come up with a catchy name for what I would call the posts and decided on "What the Heck Wednesdays".  But that doesn't sound too appetizing, does it?  So instead, I decided to call it "Wednesday Edition: What's New".

I'll try to do this every week: try at least one new food by either adding it to a recipe I am already making or try a new recipe with the ingredient incorporated in it.  And then I will take pics and blog! 

This week I tried swiss chard.  (I don't know, is the "s" capitalized??).

So, for those who don't know, swiss chard is a leafy green veggie that looks like every other leafy green veggie.  I found it at my local farm/flower stand when I went to pick up veggie plants for my garden.  They had exactly 2 things that they had harvested this early: radishes and swiss chard.  I took a bunch of each because (1) I can't resist things at farms stands, and (2) the little bunch of swiss chard was soooo cute!

Last night I decided I would throw it into my already planned tofu stir fry.  What?  You don't like tofu?  I don't believe you.  Have you tried it?  The reason I don't believe you is because the Husband likes it.  Yep.  He really does!  So here's a simple recipe for you to try!

Simple Tofu Stir Fry
Ingredients:

• 3 T soy sauce (additional for serving with dish)
• 3 T orange juice
• 1/2 T honey
• 2 cloves garlic
• sesame seeds
• 1 pkg lite firm tofu, chopped
• 1 pkg Bird's Eye frozen Asian Medley Veggies (I bought the type you nuke it the bag!  Oh - and when I bought it I didn't know it was seasoned, but the seasoning actually worked with the recipe and added some flavor!)
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 cup chopped baby carrots
• swiss chard (optional)
• brown rice (or white rice, soba noodles or whole wheat spaghetti)

Instructions:
1. Mix together first three ingredients in a large close-able container.  Reserve a few table spoons to add to the stir fry during cooking.  Add chopped tofu and sprinkling of sesame seeds to the remaining marinade.  Let the tofu marinate as long as you can.  (Since I always forget to do this until just before I have to make dinner, I usually only let it marinate about 15 mins.  But the longer the better since the tofu takes the flavor of the marinade).

2. Chop carrots and celery while tofu is marinating and you are bringing water to boil for rice or noodles.  If using swiss chard, remove stems and then chop or tear leaves.  Or you can just leave the leaves as is since the chard really cooks down (like spinach).

3. After marinating is done, spray non-stick pan with olive oil spray and add tofu.  Cook tofu on med-high to high until the tofu starts to brown, then add the chopped carrots and celery.  Stir once and awhile.  Let cook until carrots and celery are crisp tender.  Add your swiss chard and stir.  Chard will wilt.

4.  Meanwhile, make your rice or noodles and microwave your packaged veggies.

5.  Add the cooked packaged veggies and reserved marinade to the pan and stir everything together.

6.  This is personal preference, but I like to add my rice or noodles to the stir fry prior to serving.  But if you don't want to do that, that is fine.  But here is what it looks like all mixed together:

Yummy!  We added a very small amount of soy sauce to our servings and it was really good.  The Toddler liked the "baby corn"!  She said "Awww.  Baby corn".  She is just so cute!!!

Let me know what you think and let me know if you try swiss chard (or if you have been using it forever and have some great recipes!).