Photo by Flickr user Martin Cathrae

Current Weight: 213.6 lbs

Total Weight-loss: 20.8 lbs

After a couple of weeks of weight gain, I finally lost! I seem to be getting back on track and refocused.

Short post this week since I’m pretty bogged down with work and such, but thought I’d share a recipe that I tried out this week (courtesy of weightwatchers.com).

Tofu and Snow Pea Stir-Fry

PointsPlus Value: 7

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup(s) hoisin
• 2 Tbsp sherry (dry or sweet), wine
• 1 fl oz mirin, rice wine
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 8 oz lite firm tofu, pressed and cut crosswise into 4 slices
• 2 tsp dark sesame oil
• 2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
• 2 tsp ginger root, fresh, peeled and grated
• 1/4 pound(s) snow peas, fresh, trimmed
• 4 medium uncooked scallion(s), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Instructions

• Combine the hoisin sauce, sherry, mirin, vinegar, and honey in a shallow dish. Add the tofu slices, turning to coat; let stand 30 minutes turning occasionally.
• Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lift the tofu from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and add the tofu to the skillet. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the tofu to 2 serving plates; keep warm.
• Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the same skillet. Add the garlic and ginger; stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the snow peas and stir-fry, about 1 minute. Add the scallions and stir-fry 1 minute longer. Add the reserved marinade and cook until hot, about 30 seconds. Pour the vegetables and sauce evenly over the tofu and serve at once. Yields 2 slices tofu, 3/4 cup vegetables and sauce per serving.

Notes

• To complete this simple dish, you can serve it with 1/2 cup cooked brown or white rice (the per-serving PointsPlus™ value will increase by 2). For this recipe it is important to press the tofu to rid it of excess water. To press tofu, place it between 2 plates then place a weight, such as a heavy can, on top. Let it stand until it expels some of its liquid, about 25 minutes. Drain off the liquid and pat the tofu dry with paper towels.

My favorite thing about stir fry is that it’s an extremely easy way to get a lot of vegetables AND you can have a HUGE serving. Sometimes I just want to eat a lot and this is a great way to sort of trick my brain into thinking that I am.

A few modifications/comments:

1. I cubed the tofu.
2. I added bok choy and broccoli. Really only to get in a few more vegetables and to make my plate look bigger.
3. I served over quinoa instead of brown rice…which I have found to be a GREAT substitute. You don’t really save any points, but it does add more nutrients.
4. It is VERY important that you drain the tofu. I still sort of struggle with cooking it correctly, but think I got pretty close this time around. I ended up cooking it quite a bit longer than “2 minutes on each side”.