Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Not so sure about Tofu....

Yesterday our puppy got neutered AND had SEVEN teeth extracted. Poor little fella. We picked him up at 2:30 and found ourselves with one tired pup, with a cone around his head to keep him from licking the incisions. For the majority of the day he laid around the house. However, from about 11:00pm until 2:00am he decided he would moan...in my room. I would take him out to see if he had to pee....nope. Took him into the kitchen to see if he wanted water...nope. So back in his crate he'd go and more pillows over my ears to try and drown out the constant noise.

My alarm went off at 4:40am and I slept thru a minute of it, which I never do, due to pure exhaustion. I immediately sent a text to my workout partner that I wasn't coming, I'd been up all night with Lucky! I lie back down in the bed and my mind immediately starts wondering and going in overdrive. I'm thinking how I'm not going to be able to go to sleep again and then I'm going to be mad at myself that I didn't workout....so...I hauled myself out of the cozy bed and headed to the gym. The first 5 minutes of my run felt like I had 80 lb. weights on my feet...but I persevered and finished my run strong!

This morning I had more Apple Pie Pancakes with my coffee. And around 10:00 am I was hungry again, so I opted for a Green Monster shake with spinach.

Lunchtime rolled around I just wasn't in the mood for a salad. I was in the mood for BBQ! I opened a new bottle of BBQ sauce that I had never tried before....WOW! This is now my favorite BBQ sauce. Loved it.

I marinated some extra firm tofu in it for about an hour and then grilled it. Okay, so I'm not sure if I'm all that into tofu. At least in this form. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was just blah. I don't like eating blah food. If I am going to eat something, I want it to be worth while and tasty. Is this an acquired taste?

I paired the BBQ tofu with sweet potatoe french fries & ketchup, and Lemon Broiled Green Beans (from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan Cookbook). The green beans were definitely good though.
After lunch I wasn't feeling satisfied, had a hankering for something sweet, so I had a few squares of this dark chocolate. Yuuuuummmmmm.
Later in the afternoon the boys and I hit up WholeFoods and I was able to score a Kabocha squash! I've been seeing these pop up all over different blogs with everyone singing it's praises. My Publix wasn't carrying them, so I was excited to see it at WholeFoods. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it yet, I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I figure that out.

How do you eat your Kabocha? What's your favorite way to cook it?
We were also out of many of the ingredients I need to make our homemade granola bars...
I also made us a batch of Spinach Pies. Daddy's gonna be excited!!!

Around 4:00pm I decided I wanted some tea, TAZO Chai Tea, to be exact. I also had one of my granola bars! This time I added flaxseed and chia seeds to the batch as well.
Quite tasty. Daddy's gonna be excited!!!
Then I individually cut and wrapped 30 bars and then packed them in a gallon ziplock bag for storage in the refrigerator!
After all that baking, the boys decided we needed to go outside for a little football action and some hide n' go seek. Before I knew it, it was time to head back inside to whip up some dinner.

Tonight was really good. Really really good.

I made some Brown Basmati Rice. Topped with Cuban style roasted veggies (Red pepper, marinated artichokes, mushrooms, onions & zucchini). To make them "cuban style" I roasted them on the stove top, then once al dente I put them in a bowl, drizzled EVOO over top, squeezed the juice of one lime, added chopped garlic (1 large clove) and fresh chopped parsley.
This dish is DEFINITELY one I'll repeat again and again. You know it's a keeper when the kids eat it too!

4 comments:

  1. Whenever I eat tofu I notice that I have to have it mixed in with something - like a big salad, stir-fry, etc. If I just eat it by itself it tastes weird to me (I think it's the texture). I had tempeh for the first time in a salad at Mellow Mushroom and it was AMAZING!!! I don't know if they put any spices on it or how they cooked it but I definitely want to try making it myself.

    I haven't been able to find kabocha (sp?) yet, but i've seen lots of people make fries out of them!

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  2. I still haven't tried the Kabocha because I can't seem to find it. I think I probably need to go to Whole Foods.

    Your kids are amazing! I want Maya to eat this too!

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  4. There is definitely a trick to preparing tofu, especially if you're going to eat it as a "cutlet." Try the book Vegan Vittles by Joanne Stepaniak. The Tom Tofu recipe is really yummy! It has lots of flavor. When Kris, my carnivore, ate grains he used to beg me to make Tom Tofu. You can check Vegan Vittles out from the library.

    BTW, I have an award for you over at my blog.

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