Tying Up Loose Ends

For those of you living in the Northeast: how ’bout dat snow, huh?

By the time I left school, all the snow had melted into cold rain and wet grass. My Community Nutrition test went well! I’m just glad it’s over. 🙂

Before I get to the tofu recipe I promised you guys yesterday, I thought I would share a few items concerning yesterday’s post about Foodshare. First, Samantha asked me a great question about Foodshare:

“Sounds like a great programme. Where does the food come from?”

Great Q, Samantha! Some of the food comes through donations from the food industry, farms, etc., but much of it comes from places like grocery stores that can’t sell some produce because it’s not market-quality (they may be a little bruised, for example). So, instead of the store throwing it out, Foodshare gets it for free! What an ingenious system!

I also received a message from the President and CEO of Foodshare, Gloria McAdam, who had the following info. for those interested in the program:

“Glad you got a chance to visit one of our Mobile Foodshare sites. We have two of the Mobile Foodshare trucks which are on the road five days a week. Mobile Foodshare serves 58 sites in 20 towns in greater Hartford and as you noted provides primarily fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income people.

Any local food bank interested in organizing such a mobile pantry program should feel free to be in touch with us via http://www.foodshare.org or Feeding America at http://www.feedingamerica.org.”

Gloria McAdam
President and CEO
Foodshare

Thanks for the information!  I know it will be helpful to anyone interested in expanding operations at their local food bank.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled program … remember this?

And this?

Well:

Let’s get to the recipe!

Coconut Curry Noodle Soup with Tofu and Bananas
2 large servings or 3 regular servings

Ingredients:
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp curry powder
1-14 oz. can coconut milk (I used the light version)
1 tbsp sugar or honey
2 cups water or vegetable broth
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp ginger, minced (or you can be lazy efficient like me and cut discs instead)
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 package firm tofu
2 oz. rice noodles
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch or xantham gum
1 banana
2 tbsp peanuts
Cilantro (optional)

Chop that garlic up, let it sit, then saute in oil over medium-low heat for 30 seconds:

Throw in curry and saute for another 30 seconds.

Pour in coconut milk, then the water/veggie broth:

Add honey, lime juice, ginger, and jalapeno.

Add noodles and cook according to package directions. When the noodles have finished cooking, add tofu and bell pepper and simmer until pepper is crisp-tender.

Dissolve cornstarch/xantham gum in water until smooth, then mix into soup and stir until thickened. Top with banana slices, peanut, and cilantro.

Enjoy!

Q: What’s your favorite way to eat bananas? In dishes or straight up? 😀