Comments (21)

By Katie, May 12, 2010 2:31 pm

Yes, that’s right, yet another sandwich recipe! I told you I’m obsessed!

If you’re new to cooking with tofu, this recipe would be a good place to start. It’s fast and simple, and the BBQ sauce gives the tofu a very familiar flavor, if you will.

To make this sandwich, I simply cooked the tofu in a skillet with a little bit of oil until it was nice and browned on both sides.

Then I coated it with BBQ sauce. I used prepared BBQ sauce, but you could of course make your own if you wanted. I admit that when it comes to sauces and dressings, more often than not I’m guilty of relying on convenience products. Even though I do try to choose the most natural option I can find, I would like to put the time and effort into making my own every once in awhile.

The final product pairs the cooked BBQ tofu with a coleslaw mixture, pickles, and red onion. YUM!

BBQ Tofu Sandwich
Adapted from Eating Well
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 (14 oz) package extra firm tofu, drained
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1.5 cups shredded cabbage
3 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp garlic powder
ground black pepper to taste
4 whole wheat hamburger buns, toasted (I used Ezekiel buns)
dill pickle slices
red onion slices

1. Drain the package of tofu, and cut it into 4 rectangles, about 1/2 inch each. Place the tofu slabs between several paper towels and gently press on them to drain some of the excess liquid. Pat dry and sprinkle with sea salt.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the tofu and cook until brown on both sides, 5-6 minutes per side.

3. Reduce heat and coat the tofu with BBQ sauce. Continue cooking another 3-5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine cabbage, Greek yogurt, vinegar, garlic powder, and pepper.

5. Assemble sandwiches by placing some of the cabbage mixture on each bun, then topping it with a piece of tofu and desired amount of pickle and red onion slices. Enjoy!

Do you cook with tofu often? Do you have a favorite tofu recipe?

Comments (22)

By Katie, March 17, 2010 9:38 pm

***Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!***

I enjoy St. Patty’s Day very much because 1) I married an Irishman and 2) I love the color green.

There’s a little St. Patrick’s Day fun at the end of this post, but first the FOOD!

Breakfast

Naturally, I began my day with the ultimate green meal.

Today’s green monster was chocolate-infused! It contained:

• 2 heaping cups of spinach
• 1 medium frozen banana
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 packet of Chocolate Infusion Amazing Meal
• sprinkle of granola

I’m liking the green and yellow combination I’ve got going on here. And NOT just because those were my wedding colors.

(Yep, still obsessed with my bouquet!)

Mid-Morning Snack

After breakfast I’d ordinarily do a workout, but I decided to take the day off because my legs feel a tad heavy from running 7.2 miles yesterday. My body continues to amaze me with what it’s capable of doing! But I want to make sure that I give it adequate rest so it can keep serving me well.

Spent the morning reading about how to create effective teams in the workplace…exciting, I know. (I actually shouldn’t make jokes like that, because the truth is that I did find the reading pretty interesting!)

Between chapters I munched on a bowl of fruit.

Blackberries and grapes.

Lunch

I didn’t feel like putting a lot of effort into lunch today, so I kept it simple with some soup.

Not homemade, unfortunately. This was Annie Chun’s Udon Soup Bowl.

It’s a pretty light meal on its own, so I added some tofu cubes and snap peas to bulk it up a bit. Do you ever add things to prepared soups? I often do!

Afternoon Snacks

I took my to-do list outdoors for the afternoon to soak up the beautiful rays of sunshine! While enjoying the warmth I did more reading: first my Bible, then for school, then for pleasure. And then I may or may not have nodded off for a short bit…’Twas glorious.

Before the accidental cat nap I snacked on some apple slices and Trader Joe’s peanut butter pretzels…on a shamrock plate!

And later, a Banana Bread Larabar.

Dinner

Dinner was quick and easy. I love cooking, but for some reason I just didn’t feel like it today. Fortunately I keep some deliciousness in my freezer for just such occasions.

A Sunshine Burger on a sandwich thin with all the fixin’s: lettuce, tomato, onion, and spicy brown mustard.

Sunshine burgers are the bomb. (Hello, 90s lingo!) They’re made from (surprise!) sunflower seeds!

Love that ingredient list!

Look at that BURGER!

On the side, some of the Sweet Cho-tato Salad I made yesterday.

And a green salad with spring mix, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, snap peas, and cucumber.

My dinner looks like it came straight from a summer cook-out! Just add some fresh lemonade and a few rounds of Bocce. (Anyone else play Bocce at family cook-outs???)

Evening Snack

I’m getting really into these “dessert yogurts.” Tonight I had Trader Joe’s European Style Chocolate yogurt, which was incredibly smooth and creamy. I didn’t really feel like I was eating yogurt at all!

Topped with fresh blueberries. And a baby peanut butter cup…just because. Enjoyed along with the latest issue of Real Simple!

Some St. Patrick’s Day Fun

And now, just to end the day on a silly note…

Who knew I had such sweet moves?!?!

How did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Did you eat anything GREEN today?

p.s. Some amazing giveaways going on right now!

Have you entered my Chobani giveaway yet?

Want to try some of the Amazing Meal I used in my smoothie this morning? Lara’s giving some away!

Heather’s giving away some Wholesome Foods Bakery bars!

Baltimore-area readers: You can enter this awesome massage giveaway from Claire Taylor Massage!

Goodnight, all!

Comments (10)

By Katie, March 12, 2010 10:44 pm

Welcome to the weekend, folks!

I hope you had a wonderful Friday and that you have an enjoyable weekend ahead of you. I’m leaving in the morning to attend a Christian women’s conference, which should be a great time to connect with other women and work on increasing my spiritual fitness level. I’ll be sure to share any insights this weekend may bring!

Breakfast

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: reading healthy living blogs has given me so many ideas for interesting and delicious meals…not to mention interesting and delicious CONTAINERS for those meals.

Yep, today was OIAJ (Oats In A Jar) day! How did I ever survive before learning this ingenious way of ensuring that every last bit of nut butter is fully enjoyed?!?!

My Oats in a Jar contained:

• 1/2 cup oats, cooked in 1 cup water
• 1/2 sliced banana
• pinch salt
• cinnamon
• ground flax
• the leftover scrapings of almond butter (maybe a tbsp?)

The way the hot oats melt all of the leftover nut butter is just heavenly. I mourn for all the scrapes of nut butter that – before my blog-reading days – were simply wasted.

Mid-Morning Snack

After breakfast I plotted out my day, which included the usual: reading, writing, and job-applying. Plus packing for the weekend. Afterward I headed to the Y, where I did a total of 4 miles on the treadmill: 3.5 running plus a walking warm-up and cool-down. Then I did some lower body strength work (various squats and lunges, plus some deadlifts and wall-sits).

It was a solid workout, which is good because I’ll be taking two days off from exercising this week due to the conference. (I usually take just one full rest day, plus one day of lighter exercise.) I came home and made myself a little snacky-snack before attacking the to-do list.

Sliced apple and a string cheese, which I do, in fact, peel off in strings. Dave, on the other hand, just bites right into them, which I find a bit objectionable since it is indeed called string cheese. Do you peel it into strings?

Lunch

Lunch was yet another lovely idea inspired by the blogosphere. A big thank you to Lele from Lele Lurves Plants for this great idea for tofu salad!

It’s kind of like egg salad…but not.

The tofu salad contained:

• tofu (I used the Nasoya pre-cubed kind)
• green onion
• celery
• capers
• plain Greek yogurt (perfect substitute for mayo!)
• salt
• pepper
• dried dill

I really liked this and will definitely be making it again!

Some crunchy red pepper strips.

And some (still too tart!) blackberries.

Because the blackberries were so tart, I was still craving some sweetness. So I also had two Barbara’s Bakery brand fig bars.

Afternoon Snacks

The generous folks at Chobani were kind enough to send me some Greek yogurts to sample. This afternoon I broke into the Pomegranate flavor, which was really good! It wasn’t overly sweet, which I appreciated.

Topped with some Kashi Go Lean.

Here’s my take on pre-sweetened yogurt: It better not be dripping with syrupy goop. Blech. I liked this Chobani because, while of course it has added sugar, it also has real fruit. Exhibit A: actual pomegranate arils.

A bit later I munched on some carrot and celery sticks, dipped in Crazy Richard’s natural chunky peanut butter.

Dinner

Tonight was the meeting of my monthly book club! We’re just a small group of women who like to read all kinds of books and then chat about them (and lots of other topics!), all while eating, of course! We’re looking for new members, if any readers in the Baltimore area are interested!

This month we read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It was quite different from most of the other books we’ve read; it was part-mystery, part-romance, part-thriller. It probably took a good fifty pages for me to really get into it, but once I did I really enjoyed it! There were definitely slow parts, but other parts were page-turners.

For dinner, our lovely host Haley made this oven-roaster chicken.

I was in charge of the salad, which contained Romaine, cherry tomatoes (of course!), red onion, cucumber, carrots, shredded cheddar, golden raisins, and sliced almonds.

My plate.

I ate all of it, plus a second serving of salad.

For dessert, we had CAKE!

And it was good.

Time for me to get some shut-eye so I can get up bright and early for the conference. I won’t be posting in “real time” over the weekend, but I have scheduled a slightly different kind of post to share with you while I’m away. I hope you like it!

What are your plans for the weekend? What are you most looking forward to?

AND

What’s your all-time favorite book? (Tough question, I know!)

P.S. If you pack your breakfast to-go, you should definitely enter this Fit & Fresh Breakfast Chiller giveaway!

Comments (14)

By Katie, March 3, 2010 8:54 pm

I literally just finished eating dinner, and I’m sitting down to blog about it right away because it was that good.

I can hardly believe how delicious this Caramelized Tofu with Pecans and Brussels Sprouts was, considering how quickly and easily I whipped it up! Here’s what I did.

After I drained and pressed some tofu, I cooked it in a bit of olive oil until it was golden brown.

Then I added an amazing flavor combo: minced garlic, chopped pecans, and brown sugar.

Plus some fresh cilantro.

Then I set that aside and got to work on my Brussels. The recipe called for them to be cut into ribbons…and I had no idea what that meant! Some nice folks on a cooking forum helped me out. (Thanks you, ladies on The Nest! ) In case you’re wondering, you trim the end of the sprout, cut it in half, and then – with the cut side down – cut thin strips. As such:

Cooked them in a little more EVOO, until there were just a couple of brown bits.

Put it all together for a delicious – and quite beautiful! – meal!

(I hope you don’t mind multiple photos…I can never pick just one!)

Caramelized Tofu with Pecans and Brussels Sprouts
Adapted from Food alla Puttanesca via 101 Cookbooks

Serves 2 as a main dish

Ingredients
8 oz. extra firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut into 1 inch strips
a few pinches of sea salt
2 tsp olive oil (or peanut oil, if you have it), divided
2 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup pecan pieces
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, cut into ribbons

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add a bit of salt, and cook tofu until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the garlic and pecans, and cook for another 2 minutes.

3. Stir in the brown sugar, cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro. Set the mixture aside and keep warm.

5. Add the second tsp of oil to the pan, plus another pinch of sea salt. Turn the heat to medium-high, and stir in the Brussels sprouts. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until there are some brown bits.

6. Plate the sprouts, then top with the tofu mixture. Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite tofu recipe? I think this might be mine!