Part 1...Whats for Dinner

Experimenting with tofu...something that I had never done until this week. I start with soft silken tofu and create a wonderfully versatile sauce that lent itself to dinner a few nights this week.

Recipe: Artichoke Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

1 package soft silken tofu

3 large artichoke hearts (packed in water and quartered)

½ cup quality parmesan cheese

Zest and juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp fresh thyme (from my garden)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

In a blender, pulse tofu and artichoke hearts. Add mixture to a saucepan over medium low heat and add the remaining ingredients. Warm through and keep heated over low heat.

Serve and enjoy!

Makes 4 servings

This "cream" sauce was the key to my roasted vegetable baked potatoes that I made the other night. This dish was super healthful, flavorful and beautiful to look at. Choose any seasonal vegetables that you can find. The more colorful the better...and better for you. I used purple cauliflower, ruby carrots, red pepper and broccoli to top mine but feel free to experiment. Each unique vegetable has a slightly different flavor. For instance, the ruby carrots were super sweet...especially after being roasted. Of course, all the regular versions of these vegetables would be beautiful too.

Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 organic medium russet potatoes (washed and scrubbed)

1 head cauliflower (any colour)

1 head broccoli

2 carrots (ruby works beautifully)

1 red bell pepper

1 tbsp parmesan

Salt and pepper

½ recipe Artichoke Cream sauce

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400◦F.

Poke potatoes all over with a fork, rub them with ½ tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap each potatoe in tin foil and place on bottom rack of oven. Bake for 1 hour.

Chop cauliflower, broccoli and carrots into bite size pieces; rub with the remaining 1½ tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet with the whole red pepper, bake for 40 minutes or until all vegetables are tender. Let red pepper cool in a plastic covered bowl, then skin and cut into thin strips.

Make sauce (recipe follows).

Assemble dish. Scoop out potatoe from skin and place in a bowl. Add 1/3 cup sauce, salt and pepper to the potatoes and mix well. Scoop potatoe mixture back into the potatoe skins and top with roasted vegetables and sauce.

Serve and enjoy!

Makes 2 servings.