Crispy Baked Tofu

I knew this crispy baked tofu recipe would probably be pretty good, since it was written by Angela of Oh She Glows. I chose whole wheat bread crumbs, but I'm sure panko would be great too. When I looked over the breading ingredients, I was a little surprised to see cinnamon included. As these were baking, I could detect a hint of cinnamon in the air. They were very good, plus I was pleasantly surprised by the other flavors I could taste. I would recommend these, although I wonder if I could marinate the tofu strips to get a little more flavor in the tenders. The cornstarch solution really helped the breading stick, such a genius idea!

Homemade Black Bean Burgers

I used this recipe as an inspiration for these burgers. I soaked 1 cup of dried black beans, which produces a little more than 2 cups when cooked. I used ~1/2 cup of matchstick carrots, 1/2 green bell pepper, 1 white onion, several cloves of garlic, and ~1 cup of panko bread crumbs. I put everything in the food processor, even the beans, to ensure that I'd get a mash to form patties. I got 8 patties with all these ingredients, instead of the 4 shown in the recipe. I used the seasonings from the original recipe, but I think the cumin was the only flavor I could taste. I baked them until they were dry/firm enough to lift off the parchment paper without falling apart. I served these on whole wheat buns with sweet potato tots and mixed vegetables.

Stroganoff

As I was staring into my fridge last night trying to figure out what I'd make for dinner tonight, I was stumped. I had an onion, Tofutti sour cream, and some mushrooms. I remembered a friend making mushroom stroganoff a couple years ago with sour cream. I searched Google for some stroganoff recipes and selected this one for tonight's dinner. I only had 6 baby bella mushrooms left from making pizza, so I used them and a bag of Gardein beefless tips. I didn't use wine, instead I chose to use vegetable broth. I also cut this recipe in half, since I only had 1/2 cup of sour cream to use. Overall, it was pretty tasty. I topped the spaghetti with some broccoli (have to love that frozen broccoli stash from Costco!) and the stroganoff.

What a week...

I had a slightly chaotic week. My boss is reviewing my thesis right now, so I'll have feedback next week. I've had several faculty members reply to my emails about postdoc positions, but only a few offered an interview trip quickly. I recently switched to lifting first then doing cardio and I'm loving it. I don't know why I didn't switch sooner, but I really hated cardio for a long time. I've been running outdoors - 6 miles in 65 minutes yesterday morning and 3.75 miles in 34 minutes this morning. I really enjoy running with my running partner, because he pushes me. We met up this morning after I rocked my solo run yesterday. He runs a 7 minute mile, so he slows down a little for me. It's a nice change, we talk and then get a meal afterwards. We had Mexican recently and this morning we grabbed brunch. I haven't done a ton of interesting cooking this week, but I did bake some awesome oatmeal-cranberries bars (veganized using Earth Balance for butter, Tofutti sour cream for dairy sour cream, and flax seed for egg). I really enjoyed these, but I didn't reserve quite enough of the oatmeal mix to fully cover the top. I made a pizza tonight. I was hanging out with another friend this afternoon when someone else ordered pizza. It smelled so, so good. I went to Whole Foods to buy some Daiya, pizza dough from the deli counter, and some vegetables... And a jelly-filled donut. Yum!

Simplified Gumbo

It's Lundi Gras and I wanted gumbo. I decided to take a shortcut though. I made a simple roux with 1/8 cup of olive oil and 1/8 cup of flour. I used my new garlic tools to mince some garlic, which I tossed in the roux. Then I added a bag of Publix frozen gumbo mix and a cup of vegetable broth. I knew the gumbo would need seasoning, so I turned to the internet to figure out what seasonings go in gumbo. I found this recipe, so I used these spices, but I should note that I didn't use sherry. I had some tofu that I had frozen, defrosted, and pressed. I tossed the tofu in with everything else to simmer, then started some rice in the rice cooker. This is definitely NOT traditional, but the elements are there. That's all I really wanted today. I walked around ArtiGras today, so I wanted a simple dinner after the sun exposure. :)

Outdoor Running

I told a friend a few months ago that I wanted to start running outdoors more. He runs a 7 minute mile. Because he's faster than me, it's a nice challenge for me. I normally do elliptical in the mornings, but running outdoors might become part of my weekly routine. I cut my cardio back from the hour/day I was doing in 2010 to just 30 minutes/day in 2011 (well, I'd spend ~40 mins/day riding my bike to/from work in 2011, so that's still close to an hour but it's not the same intensity). I'd like to do more cardio, since I haven't been riding my bike to work lately *sigh*. Anyways, we ran a 9:30 average pace for 3 miles on Friday and a 9:27 pace for 2.75 miles today. Jess would be proud that I'm starting to run outdoors. :)

Birthday Weekend

On Friday afternoon, I decided to surprise my mom at home for the weekend. Given that I'm considering postdoc positions outside of Florida, I've been making the effort to spend more time with my family. On Saturday, we had breakfast with my sister at her house and we watched my nephews for a little bit. On Sunday, my mom and I went shopping. I bought a new pair of jeans and a new pair of Under Armour workout capris. I was very happy, but wished that I could have found a nice top too. I made Louisiana red beans and King Cake for Sunday night dinner. My best friend came over to join us for dinner and my dad even came over for cake. On Monday, my mom had to work so my best friend and I spent the day together. We went to Whole Foods in Tampa for lunch. I took her out to dinner for her birthday a few weeks ago, so she treated me to lunch. I got the tofu tacos off the hot bar and some chocolate chip cookies from the bakery. I was secretly hoping the hot bar would have a new vegan entree, but the tofu tacos were quite good. We spent the afternoon goofing off, watching Hoarders, and then we ordered pizza for dinner. We had quite the funny looking pizza - half veggie without cheese and half with extra cheese, bacon, and grilled chicken. I really enjoy her company, we've known each other since 7th grade and we've never had an argument. :) On Tuesday, my actual birthday, my mom and I met my sister for lunch at Genghis Grill, a new restaurant in our town. It has a buffet where you select the items you want in your stir fry, then they cook it on a big grill and add your starch. I selected tofu, peppers, bamboo shoots, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, spices, and the 3G sauce from the buffet. They grilled it up and served it over brown rice. Yum! Quite a delicious lunch. We headed over to Target, where I bought some neon workout clothes. I was incredibly happy to receive some actual gifts, because there really isn't much joy to receiving a birthday check. My mom did write me a birthday check, but I was much happier to have something tangible. Loved the weekend at home, so I was little bummed to return to work today. Oh well, I have to submit the rough draft of my thesis in a month so I have to work, work, work. My slides are done, but I've only written about 75% of my thesis. I'll get it done on time though! :)