What exactly IS tofu?

For the person who strives to eat "food as grown" as Dr. Hans Diehl calls the vegan diet, eating tofu is such a conundrum. What exactly is tofu? Obviously some processing is involved in its creation. It doesn't grow on trees, and I can't find tofu seeds in the local nursery. As I strive to eat better and feed my family fewer processed foods, I am really on the fence about tofu.

However, there are a couple of dishes that make me turn the other cheek. Its kind of like ordering a BLT without the B. WHAT???!!! Why? One can't make Scrambled Tofu without tofu. Simple as that! If you have never tasted Scrambled Tofu, you simply have to try it. I don't have kids, so not sure how this goes down with the 10 and under group, but my husband will eat it if he has no alternative, so that's close. 😅 What I love about scrambling tofu is that (no joke) it tastes like whatever you add to it. You may even get a few vegetables into the easily fooled and hungry spouse. I never make a big deal about that, though, or he will turn down the broccoli at dinner stating he had veggies for breakfast. It's a "no win" battle in our house.

So, I need to back up here and recall the past week's journey. Oh yes, we fell off the wagon big time. Last week I had lunch with my sister in Sacramento at the Tower Cafe. There were only a few items I could have ordered off the menu without the meat, mayo, cheese, and butter. However, I am always suspicious as to (1) whether they are really doing those things, (2) if the alternative is better for me (back to the original question: what is in all those meat substitutes?), and (3) if I am going to be charged $13.00 for a flat iron steak salad without the $8.00 steak. Basically, it bugs me to have to modify my order. Why can't it be easier to eat out and get a healthy, hearty meal?

**Restaurant ordering tip: I saw my sister's sirloin steak salad with tons of veggies, nuts, and a big steak sliced on top. She immediately asked for a TO GO box and place half of her salad in the box. Next time I am in this situation, if I am stuck with meat or cheese in my salad, I am going to order the meat, but please put it on the side; :-) slap it into a TO GO box and bring it home for Phil or Duke.

That said, I chose to order a BLAT and asked him to hold the B. So sad. I think I even choked out the words, knowing I would be paying for the $13 sandwich without the most expensive item. Gauls me. At any rate, I must have swallowed my order, because the sandwich came with bacon.😲 I did not have the mental fortitude to remove the bacon so I choke it down. 😆 Of course, it was delicious, but the next day, I did feel the effects of the bacon - intestinal distress and a headache. It was a good lesson in eating well. The less I eat non-nutritional foods, the more they disrupt my metabolism when I do indulge.

I ate pretty well and vegetarian the next few days until we decided to make a trip to Costco. Big Mistake. Again, hungry, I had a polish dog. Please, Lord, let me be strong and never do that again. I made it through the first sixty years of my life without eating at Costco. I think I can survive the rest of it without eating there again.

Easter weekend we went to a party and it was easy to choose healthy foods among all the lovely food choices. I was easily able to avoid the hamburgers and hotdogs.   

Pizza anyone?

Well, another week is under my belt. Oddly, under my belt my pants fit a little less snugly. Very cool. Those of you who know me don't think of me as needing to lose a belt size, but I have the classic diabetic-prone thick waistline. In fact, when I was a child my parents used to call me "cuadrada", Spanish for square one, because even as a child I had no defined waist, no matter how thin I am, I always have "love handles". So I went shopping. 😊

Back to our journey. Not unlike so many other women, I had a tough week. I had a back ache that took me out of commission for several days. I was not about to work, then stand in front of the stove making dinner. Honestly, the worst days, we ate leftovers and I made a wonderful Moroccan Lentil soup. I love the soup because it has has lots of herbs and spices with medicinal and anti-inflammatory ingredient. It is easily paired with a salad or sandwich. Phil still eats tuna, so he had tuna sandwiches and I had tortillas with avocado.  We ate the soup for two nights. I froze the rest. The following night I put two potatoes in the oven and sauteed some mushrooms and probably had salad. Can't recall. Oddly we can't even eat an entire potato any more, so the next night we had leftover potato. I had come home sore and tired from work, I pulled the soup out of the freezer had it a third night.  Phil added the soup to his potato. He said it was delicious.

Once I started feeling better, I went to the store and bought vegetables and a block of extra firm tofu. We had Korean Caramelized tofu, quinoa, and vegetables. The next evening, I made some "oven-fried" chicken strips to eat with the leftover quinoa and coleslaw. I have decided to eat a little chicken and beef, but only organic*. We now can share one beef steak and have leftovers.

The two-breast chicken package allowed me to make 8 strips. It was as close to fried as I have come to in a long while. We really enjoyed them. I had broken down and bought a package of coleslaw mix. I usually don't like to buy precut, prepackaged vegetables, but honestly, in a pinch they are great. With only two of us in the house, it eating entire head of cabbage can get old real quickly

Yesterday I got back to work and made a vegan pizza. Yup. I made the crust, but I suppose you can buy one. Phil had never eaten a vegan pizza, so I made 1/2 with cheese and 1/2 without. I told him which was which, but he went for the vegan side anyway, as there were more vegetables. 

 

*I do like the taste of beef and will grudgingly eat chicken. I believe we can eat a healthy diet with a smattering of these two ingredients into our diets. My desire to change our diets and lifestyle come from the family history of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. I know if we don't consume any animal fat we can reduce our risk for both. Therein lies another conundrum. Most of the meat substitutes and cheese substitutes are made of soy, which is getting a bad rap for being genetically modified. Therefore, is it better to eat lots of GMO tofu and cheese substitutes or a bit of organic antibiotic free chicken, beef, and cheese? Stay tuned.

April 1 - Fool's Day

I am really grateful for the Diabetes Undone course. It really helped me get back on track. I LOVE greasy, fried food and red meat, so it was so easy to let my self run down that rabbit hole. I was able to hit the reset button with this course and eat little meat now, no fried foods (OK with the exception of the occasional bag of potato chips), and am learning to eat more fruit and veges. The legumes are the easiest, but they can get boring. Now that I have the legume thing down, I will start concentrating on adding veges to my diet.