Dinner & A Breakfast

Last night’s dinner hit the spot, was easy to make and reminded me of summer meals when I was growing up. For some reason, mixing baked beans and cole slaw also tastes great to me. Thanks to Eating Well for the recipe for Tofu BBQ Sandwiches. I made a couple of minor changes and think this recipe has a lot of wiggle room to tailor it to your tastes;)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 package of tofu
• slices of red onion
• whole wheat buns
• 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce
• 1.5 cups of coleslaw mix
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp low fat mayo
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp canola oil

Directions

1. Slice the tofu into 1/2 inch slices (the long way), wrap in paper towels and place heavy items on top of it. LOL, I used a fruit bowl and a cutting board. Press for about 30 minutes or longer
2. Heat oil in pan, medium heat, and cook tofu slices in it, rotating about every four minutes. Cook until browned on both sides—this took me about 25 minutes, mostly because the tofu was not fully drained.
3. Reduce heat to low, add BBQ sauce to pan and coat tofu with sauce. Heat for three minutes, then turn off stovetop.
4. Combine coleslaw mix, salt, mayo, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, mayo and pepper.
5. Turn on broiler to high and heat buns for 1 minute (more or less, dependent upon your oven).
6. Top buns with tofu, slaw, red onions and any remaining BBQ sauce. Tasted great with a side of baked beans.

 

The slaw is supposed to serve four, but that would be kind of skimpy! The tofu was enough for three sandwiches:)

I have been reading a lot of different food blogs that recommend making “kale chips,” so I gave it a whirl last night. I used curly kale, which is apparently a little bitter. People swear that they taste like chips—I think they crunch like chips, but I am not sold on them yet. Granted, I was lazy with the toppings and didn’t seek out dinosaur kale (sweeter), so maybe it is too early to throw in the towel. I am going to experiment some more with them this week! Here is what I did:

1. Preheat oven to 400 (will actually do 350 next time)
2. Wash and cut kale leaves and then spread them on a cooking pan.
3. Brush with olive oil (minimal amounts to avoid making them soggy) and sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. Cook for 12 minutes, flipping them every three minutes

Before, with olive oil, salt and pepper:

 

After:

SO…..10 hours later, I woke up at 7:30 (go me, trust me, that is early!) and made Raj and myself some pre-gym shakes:

(For 1):

• 1 cup vanilla soymilk
• couple strawberries
• handful blueberries
• 1 banana
• 1/2 scoop whole foods vanilla protein powder
• swirl of honey