Hi everyone! It’s your favorite dietitian blogger who has a bad habit of only posting once a year! Between working full-time, running a part-time consulting business on the side, and working on my doctorate, I just don’t have enough hours in the day. But I try, I really do, and I have so many ideas I want to share with you guys. So before I let the opportunity pass me by, I just had to post this awesome meal prep inspo for you. It comes together very quickly and is packed with nutrition. Just to give you an idea of what a powerhouse this recipe really is, it meets 75% of Recommended Daily Allowances for vitamins A and K and 30% of vitamin C. It’s also a good source of fiber, healthy fats, calcium, iron, and protein. Let’s also not fail to to mention all of the anti-inflammatory properties of the garlic, onions, turmeric and cinnamon! Look at that beautiful golden color the turmeric gives it!
It’s great for any meal, but I love it for breakfast. The recipe is inspired by one made by a company called Wildtree, a (sadly) now-defunct manufacturer of delicious organic spice blends and cooking oils. I prepared it once at a meal prep workshop and have been hooked on it ever since. I made some modifications to the seasonings, including the use of my new obsession — Chinese five spice! If you don’t have this in your spice collection, I highly recommend adding it. It’s a blend of anise, clove, fennel, cinnamon, and black pepper and gives a fantastic, exotic flavor to dishes. It compliments the sweet potato in this recipe quite nicely! Also, fun fact: turmeric and black pepper help each other absorb, so always use them together.
Okay, okay, I know you’re not here for the backstory so I’ll get on with it.
Before starting, go ahead and prep your veggies and get out all of your spices and seasonings. Here’s what you will be using:
Tofu Sweet Potato Hash
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 pound organic extra-firm tofu, drained
1 medium sweet potato, grated
1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped (let rest for 5 minutes to release the beneficial compounds)
3 large kale leaves, stems removed and leaves roughly chopped (will be about 2 cups chopped)
1/4-1/2 cup vegetable stock (note: I like to make my own; it has so much more flavor. It’s also a great way to reduce food waste by using kitchen scraps. For a great tutorial on this, click here)
1/2 cup slivered raw almonds
2 tsp Bragg’s liquid aminos
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
Dash hot sauce (optional, but I like it spicy! The stuff I use is FIRE.)
Few dashes of liquid smoke
Black pepper to taste (I use the essential oil for a more intense flavor)
Directions:
Add 2 Tbsp of broth to a large skillet and heat until simmering. Add onion and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add shredded sweet potato and cook another 5 minutes until sweet potato is softened. If the sweet potato starts to stick while cooking, add a little more broth and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen it up. Add the almonds, kale, and all of your seasonings (if using the essential oil, don’t add this yet – the heat will denature it. Otherwise go ahead and add the black pepper) and mix well. When kale has cooked down, crumble up the tofu with your fingers and add to the pan, and stir well to combine. (If it looks a little dry, you can add more broth at this point, but you don’t want it to be soupy. The broth is just to keep everything from sticking since this recipe doesn’t use any oil.) Cook a couple more minutes just to heat it through. Remove from heat. If using the essential oil, you can add it now. Just one drop is plenty — it’s very concentrated! Mix well to ensure it is distributed throughout the dish.
Serve hot. I usually eat one serving right then, and then I portion out the rest into individual containers so I have ready-to-go meals for the week. Will keep up to one week in the fridge.
Eat Like Jean 