Homemade Takeout: Sweet & Sour Soy Curls

One of my fellow vegetarian coworkers brought me a bag of soy curls for Christmas. I was very excited because I'd only ever had soy curls at a few food carts in Portland, but never seen them in the store or used them at home. Unfortunately, my excitement wasn't enough to get me to use them right away. I think I just wanted to find the perfect dish since I only had this one small bag to use!

Well I finally felt inspired - a vegetarian version of a sweet & sour chicken! To tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever had sweet & sour chicken, but it all of a sudden sounded like something I must have right.now. And let me tell you, it is some pretty delicious stuff!

Sweet & Sour Soy Curls
1/2 pkg soy curls
1 red bell pepper, large dice
1/2 large yellow onion, large dice
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 small can of diced pineapple
Handful of roasted cashews
Green onion for garnish
1 recipe Sweet & Sour Sauce
Brown rice

1. Soak soy curls according to package (was 10 minutes in warm water) - drain well and place on a baking sheet in a 250 degree oven for 20-40 minutes, turning occasionally (the longer you let them bake, the crispier and drier they will be - I don't care for squishy textures so I left them in the oven awhile).
2. Make the Sweet & Sour sauce while the soy curls are cooking.
3. Saute the bell pepper, onion, and ginger over medium high heat until just tender, drain the pineapple and add to the peppers and onions.
4. Add the soy curls to the pan along with the Sweet & Sour sauce and toss to coat.
5. Serve over brown rice and top with roasted cashews and diced green onions.

Delicious! I must figure out where to get some soy curls of my own now - it's a nice texture change from tofu!

Instagram Recap

It's been a busy couple of months - after our Iceland trip I headed to Hawaii for a work conference, made a trip up to Washington to see my family and friends for a long weekend, and then was approved for a last minute work trip to Dublin. I also started my masters program this week which is a bit of an adjustment - I can't say I missed homework terribly, but I am excited about it nonetheless!

I finally signed up for an Instagram account, and I have some serious mixed feelings about it. I like the filters and effects it has better than Hipstamatic but I hate that I have to be connected to the network to finish taking a photo (doesn't work great for international travel) and I don't like that I can't save the raw photo and apply multiple affects to it. Regardless - here are a few photos from the recent weeks!

Grafton Street - Dublin

 

 Morning Coffee

 Vegetarian Breakfast @ Cornucopia Dublin

Flowers on Grafton Street

 Cathedral

 Dublin Doorway

 Rain from the hotel window

 Dinner on our day trip to Hood River

 Strawberry Cheesecake - My first creation for the "Dessert a Month" package donated on behalf of Heartland Humane Society

That's all for now - likely to have some exciting news to share within the next week or so, but keeping my mouth shut for now!