Tag Archives: tofu

Don’t Cry Over Chopped Onions

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Wow, today has somehow been packed!  We slept in until 9:30 or so, due to a late night last night, and then got out and had husband/wife time.  I’ve missed Adam now that he is in school full-time!  When we were finally ready to take off our pjs we headed out for errands -can recycling, change making, grocery shopping – check.

Of course, Adam was able to convince me to get Wegman’s salad bar!

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I got tofu curried salad, with red and green peppers, nuts, and raisins

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and a small portion of chicken and broccoli, heavy on the broccoli.

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Adam and I split a Black Forest Berry Honest Tea to drink.

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We tried to shop quickly, but I got distracted by my hysterical laughter over this –

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🙂  I am super excited to be done with volunteering next week so I can buy fun veggies to make for lunches at home.

After we finished the errands Adam played Devil’s advocate again and convinced me to go watch “Inglorious Basterds.”  I was super hungry by the time we got to the theatre and I ate 90% of a thing of pretzel bites.

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When we got home Adam took a nap and it got later and later.  Suddenly it was 8:30 and we had tonsof baking to do.  For dinner we made a Rachael Ray recipe, Lazy Chicken.  It got majorly modified, for some good reasons – I wanted to use my farmers’ market tomatoes,

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and some bad reasons – this was our potato,

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so I decided it ended up being my own recipe. 

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Here is a link.  I had only a small plate.

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It was good, but I was saving my self for –

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homemade french onion dip!  The recipe was from Delicious Dips by Diane Morgan so I can’t post it, but I highly recommend buying the book.  We shared a small bowl with toasted (homemade) sourdough bread.

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Yums.

We are watching “My So-Called Life” and snuggling and then it’s off to bed.  See you Sunday.

What have you made from scratch recently (ever)?

Life

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Soooo, I guess I’ve been gone for a little while.  Through a combination of slight sickness and extreme laziness I decided to take a short break from the real world.  I haven’t posted, pictured or studied, but I have eaten a ton of crap and spent an inordinate amount of time on fmylife and watching Bones reruns online.  I actually called in from volunteering today because my tummy was feeling off and I didn’t get much sleep the night before.  We live right above a street and I need to buy earplugs, stat!

At 4pm today I decided it was time to rejoin the living and tackle my to-dos.  This is what I accomplished from 4o’clock on, not bad.

  • post office
  • unload the dishwasher
  • do 2 loads of laundry
  • make dough starter for bread
  • make dinner for Tuesday (plus leftovers)
  • pack lunch for Adam
  • and finally make dinner for tonight

The last to-do was the most exciting, because I got to use the new clementine olive oil my mom sent,

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plus the bundle of multi-colored carrots I bought at the Farmer’s market.

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We started dinner with a salad.

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Chopped Chinese cabbage dressed with clementine oil, sliced plum tomato, and macademia nuts.  Very tasty.

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Then I made Sweet Cilantro Baked Tofu, you can find the recipe here.

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And maple carrots.

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After peeling and chopping the carrots I put them in a pan over medium-high heat with 2T of Smart Balance Light.  I covered and let them cook for 5minutes then pour 2T of maple syrup over the top.  Yums.

Here was my plate.

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We watched “My So-Called Life” while we ate, and now it’s time for bed!  I promise that regularly scheduled posting will continue tomorrow!

To Market

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What a day!  Saturday is only half over and I am grinning from ear to ear  🙂

Most of our agenda so far has been shopping.  We started at the farmers’ market.

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I loved getting to explore a new farmers’ market, and this isn’t even the only one in town!  There was tons of fresh produce and we bought some great veggies to use this week.  The produce there is definitelymore expensive than at the grocery store, but I think it’s worth it.  One, when you consider that the veggies are basically organic it doesn’t seem as expensive.  Two, in addition to getting food for your family you are helping the famers to put food on their tables; these markets help to support small local businesses.

Next we went to Target for some cleaning supplies and cards.  I got handed a free sample of Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters so I ate them in the car.

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The taste was ok, but it would have been a bazillion times better if made by hand, or at least Lara Bar style.

Our final stop was food shopping at Wegmans.  Adam was starving (it was after 1:30) so we decided to do lunch at the salad bar.

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Yums!  All this was less than $6.  I got blanched cauliflower and curry cauliflower,

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General Tso’s Tofu and steamed veggies,

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and one piece of sesame chicken.

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My plan of attack with buffet situations is to do 90/10 healthy food to splurge.  I also like to stick to a majority of veggies.  I am especially pleased with Wegman’s salad bar because they post the calories for most items.  For example – I wasn’t going to get the tofu because I figured it was deep fried, but then I saw that it was 210calories for 1cup.

After we got home and unloaded all of our purchases I made my best snack ever.  This –

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equals perfection.

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  • Stoneyfield Fat Free Plain Yogurt
  • 1/3 a Jonasgold apple
  • sprinkle of cinnamon
  • crumbled Cinnabon Breakfast Bar [yes mom, this was from the box I bought you]

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We finished most of our fun, now I have to tackle our practical to do’s.  See you for dinner.

What is your plan of attack at buffets? 

Do you shop at farmers’ markets?

Too Hot

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Woo-who, it is a scorcher today!  You’d think I’d be used to it from growing up on an island but I hate hot weather!  I just feel so puffy and sticky and gross!  I was too hot this morning for breakfast, Adam and I did some move strategizing but mostly I laid around and acted snippy (these days leading up to the move have not exactly been my shining moments).

Lunch, however, was very exciting.  In fact, it was my final check on my ‘to do before the move’ list.  I had to go to the city for a doctors appointment so I had lunch from the Whole Foods Buffet.  There isn’t a Whole Foods (or a Trader Joes, tear!) in Buffalo so this was a must.  On the train ride up I tried to combat the heat by splitting a Bolthouse Farms Mango Lemonade with Adam.

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Please excuse the crappy pictures, I forgot my camera and had to use the husband’s cell phone.  For lunch I chose vegetarian.

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Steamed veggies, okra marsala, lemon baked tofu, and Caesar salad.  I had this okra marsala once before and fell in love – it is chewy and spicy and delicious.  To drink I had a hibiscus and lime Ooba.

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Check!

The doctors office went ok, I currently have 4 plantar warts on my left foot, ugh!  My protein light lunch left me pretty hungry and when I was still complaining after my appointment so Adam bought me some corn chips.

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I have been randomly craving Fritos (I haven’t had them in years and years) the last week or so and these perfectly hit the spot.  Plus, kudos to Utz, this bag had only 150calories, the reason I hadn’t just bought Fritos is because the “small” bags were all 300calories+.  Another fun fact about Utz – I got to tour their chip factory as a teenager and it rocked my socks.

Before you think “God she eats a lot of crap,” go ahead and picture a slice of provolone cheese with two slices of bread, because that’s what I ate when I got home.  I was too lazy to take a picture but the whole thing was 210 calories if that helps you to visualize.

I have fun plans for dinner too: a mini blogger meet up at a new restaurant.  See you then.

Do you prefer hot or cold weather?  I can handle cold, but hot makes me crazy.  The main thing is that my body really reacts to temperature so when it’s hot my jewelry is all too tight and my clothing feels super uncomfortable.

Verdict? Amazing

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Who guessed that my exciting package was from Amazing Grass?  You would be correct!

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We decided not to open the huge jar we bought until after the move to Buffalo.

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For now I have to be excited with the sample packets that they sent.

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I did some work on the computer before dinner and I snacked on this Yoplait Light Thick and Creamy in cinnamon roll.

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Yums, I saw this flavor floating around blog world a few months ago and was so jealous.  It lived up to my expectations.

For dinner we decided to go with stir fry to help use up some ingredients from the pantry, mainly –

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I very loosly followed a recipe from a magazine, but mainly was directed by the ingredients on hand.  We started by draining, pressing, and cubing a block of extra firm tofu.  Then we shook the cubes with some cornstarch.

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Next we added some sesame seeds (the last of the seeds + some wasabi sesame seeds) to the bag.

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We used the wok to brown the tofu in a little bit of evoo.  Then we removed the tofu from the pan and replaced it with 16oz of frozen veggies.  After the veggies cooked up we poured in some stir fry sauce, about 2/3 of a cup.

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I had combined our two sauces (with a smidgeof soy sauce) before I realized that the veggie bag actually came with a sauce packet, whoops!

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Finally we added the tofu back to the pan, stirred to combine, and voila.

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My serving, topped with a little red pepper.

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After dinner I hung out in front of the tv, has anyone else gotten into Make It or Break It?  I know it’s for teenagers but I get very easily pulled in to anything with gymnastics.  Growing up on an islands it wasn’t an interest I really got to pursue but I did go to gymnastics camp the summer before 6th grade.

I made myself a super impressive plate of cookies and chocolate milk while I watched.

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The cookies were a serving each of 2 varieties of Newman’s Own Organics.

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Verdict?  Rocked my socks!  The pb cookies had a great roasted flavor to them and the chocolate chip ones were nice and crumbly.

The chocoaltemilk was skim milk with an Amazing Grass Kidz packet.

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Verdict?  Impressive, although I don’t know what the difference between regular and “kidz” will be.  It was a little grassy but I actually liked that part of the flavor.

After my snack Adam and I took a quick stroll around the ‘hood for funsies and now it’s time for bed.  Sweet dreams!

P.S.  Everyone has seen the constantcoverage of MJ’s death, but who else has seen this?!  No matter what you think of Jackson as an artist (and I 100% believe that personal failings do not take away from professional talent), I have been disgusted by the nonstop media coverage of his death.  1) He was 1 person, do we seriously not have anything more important to talk about?  2) Even if it wasn’t weird to focus on a story like this Jackson was accused of being a pedophile.  What is wrong with our country that we would glorify a man with this reputation?  What message are we sending to young viewers, let alone viewers who have suffered abuse?

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

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Hi there folks!  Was anyone else feeling lazy in the heat today?  I just couldn’t seem to get going, ever!  In my defense, originally, my alarm clock didn’t go off so I got a late start.  I pushed myself out the door and headed to Starbucks for a study session.

I did breakfast there since I felt bad bringing in my own food, a low fat spinach feta wrap,

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and a small Naked Green Machine juice.

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All together:

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Way to go Starbucks, I couldn’t believe how good this was!  I will certainly be going back to order this wrap again, it had great flavor and chew.  Plus I hit every food group and got a tasty meal for just 410 calories.

My study efforts were not as successful.  The table next to me (after intense eavesdropping I think it was a girl and her landlord who was also her boss) had the longest, loudest conversation!  But even after they left I couldn’t focus.  I ended up working from 10:30 – 12:00, staring into space for another half an hour, and then calling it quits.  I came how to veg out and was very happy about it 🙂

Plus I had a great lunch.

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I’ll be honest though, I started with dessert.

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After my row of Riter Sport I had roasted yellow squash,

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roasted cauliflower, and

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carrot salad (the recipe is posted here).

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Also a serving of Asiago cheese.

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I spent some serious time enjoying Bones, and I enjoyed a few too many of these salt water taffies my parents brought us from Hilton Head (they went to a wedding before visiting us) too.

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I’d like to say it stopped there, but I ended up eating a bunch of other random crap throughout the afternoon.  First I stole some of A’s chicken nuggets,

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yes they are dino shaped, and yes he is 23.  And then I ate 1/4C of peanuts.

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Finally I realized I wasn’t getting full so I made myself stop and just wait for dinner.  I think part of the problem was boredom and part was being tired.

Dinner was easy peasy:  quinoa, topped with canned seasoned mustard greens, and baked tofu.  Plus a sprinkle of goat cheese.

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The tofu I drained, pressed, thinly sliced, rubbed with rice vinegar, rubbed with maple syrup, sprinkled with jerk seasoning, and cooked at 475 for 20minutes.

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I made another cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and no sugar added CIB (this time in vanilla) to drink with dinner.

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I got a very very exciting package in the mail the other day (can you guess what it is?) and I refuse to open it until my CIB is gone.

Husband and I are planning on going out for dessert later but I’ll post about that in the morning.  This summer is not going to be successful until I start following a bedtime!  Peace.

Don’t forget about my Flogg giveaway!  It ends tomorrow at noon and you can enter by commenting at this post.