Woman in Real Life

National Burrito Day is celebrated each year on the first Thursday in April - this year it's April 1st! In my opinion there is no bad time to eat burritos though. In honour of this special day, I created a recipe for BBQ Tofu Burritos for my friends at the Reducetarian Foundation. This recipe is very easy to make, tastes delicious and has plenty of gut-healthy fibre.

Use your favourite store-bought vegan-friendly barbecue sauce or whip together a homemade barbecue sauce if you have the time and inclination. In total, including the barbecue sauce, this recipe calls for just eight simple ingredients (including oil and not including optional hot sauce).

But the ingredients are certainly not set in stone. This burrito recipe is very flexible - add vegan cheese shreds or your favourite salad dressing. Switch out the sprouts for lettuce. Do it up any way you like! Eat if for breakfast, lunch (perfect on the go) or dinner.

Head over to Reducetarian.org to get the recipe.

Whether you're 100% vegan or eating meatless meals a few times a week, it helps to have some simple, plant-based meal ideas in your repertoire. Tofu is an absolute essential in our house. It's a great source of protein and it readily takes on flavour from seasonings and spices. In the case of these marinated tofu cubes, I have flavoured them with a marinade of soy seasoning, nutritional yeast, sesame oil, lime juice, garlic and ginger.

With the big game coming up soon (and let's be honest, I don't watch football) it's a great time to think about stuffing your face with appetizers. I might even watch a little bit of football if somebody puts out a selection of tasty, plant-based treats. And the awesome thing is that tasty doesn't have to mean completely free of nourishment.

Nachos are the perfect example. Load up tortilla chips with a whole bunch of delicious and mostly healthy toppings and you have yourself a game-day snack that will satisfy the munchies and offer up vitamins, minerals and fibre too! It's a win-win (although the game won't be). Nothing beats nachos with a whole load of traditional toppings - except maybe nachos with scrambled tofu on top. Yep, scrambled tofu. Stay with me.

When you become a vegan or vegetarian, holiday dinners don't have the allure they once did. If everybody else is looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners centred around a big (let's face it, dead) bird, the herbivore might feel a little left out. Whether you are said herbivore or you are welcoming one to dinner (son has a new girlfriend, huh?), this Easy Cheezy Tofu Loaf is a simple addition to your festive food menu.

I consider myself a bit of a tofu expert. Well maybe tofu enthusiast is a better description. How about tofu advocate? It looks unassuming - some would even say gross - but tofu, also known as bean curd, is a versatile and healthy protein option for vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters alike.

Look for organic tofu to avoid GMOs. Tofu is made from soybeans and many soybean crops are genetically modified. Also, look for tofu processed with calcium to up your calcium intake. Finally, go for extra-firm tofu if you are just starting to explore this handy plant protein. Softer tofu is more of an acquired taste.

Tofu is one of my favourite foods. Are you nodding your head up and down right now in agreement or shaking it side to side as in, "You're crazy sweetheart!" I hope it's the first, but if it's the latter, let's address your feelings about tofu right now. If people don't like tofu, it often stems from one of two things - they haven't tried it and it looks plain and unappealing or they have tried it but their first experience with it was of blandly cooked soft tofu.

While tofu is plain on its own, the wonderful thing about it is that it takes on other flavours beautifully. And YOU MUST start off with extra-firm tofu. It's a much kinder introduction to tofu than soft tofu. Extra-firm is amazing cut up in cubes for a stirfry or cut into triangles and baked in a teriyaki garlic sauce!

Happy Wednesday! The kids are in school for just one more day, so I'm busy trying to organize the house. I figure if we start off clean there may be some small hope that I can keep things tidy...for a couple of days anyway. We are holding a family meeting to begin summer vacation, because mama needs to discuss how people need to tidy up after themselves - I think a chores chart may be in order too!

But right now I'm supposed to be discussing food. This plate above represents the Father's Day brunch I put together on Sunday. My husband had his on a tray in bed, and it looked much nicer than this, but this is the plate I sat down with. Vegan blueberry pancakes, scrambled tofu with mushrooms and salsa, Yves veggie sausage, strawberries and peanut butter banana muffins.

Can you believe it's almost June? How does that happen? Winter drags and drags and then suddenly it's summer. We have lost any sort of spring weather around here. This year, we went from snow to heat and humidity within a couple of weeks.

Enough complaining. I'm once again sharing a look at the pictures I took this week on my cell phone. First up, this pic I took of my daughter last weekend on dance photo day. I just love this costume she got for tap class. The hat is too cute. The makeup was a little more than I intended, but she WILL NOT keep still, so it's very difficult to do.

Food, friends and great books. It's one of my favourite combinations (not necessarily in that order). Luckily I have two wonderful friends who are on the same page (pun intended). My beloved book club gals and I met this past Sunday after more than a year without a meeting. I'm afraid that, as much as we love our meetings, work and family commitments keep us pretty darn busy most of the time. 

This week I am dispensing with my usual review of the previous week's meals. I have been watching my son's team play in a basketball tournament all weekend and I am frankly just plain tired.

I will say that this tofu carrot scramble, above, although certainly not pretty, does make a quick, delicious and healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Time for another vegan weekly meal plan. But first, another week in review.

Last week's plan was fairly successful. We had to make a couple of changes to the schedule, but for the most part the plan ensured that we made decent meals. Yesterday's scheduled meal was Roasted Fall Vegetables and Lentil Salad, but my son's basketball game was right around dinner time so we postponed that particular meal until today (pictured above). The family had lasagna (from frozen) instead and I had a quick fried rice.

I am finally joining my (crazy fit) buddy Laura for her menu planning challenge.

I always think about planning my meals for the week, but I rarely do it...at least not in any really successful way. But it's a new year and a perfect time to re-examine my priorities.

Noodles. Yum. Probably my favourite food in the world. Well, except maybe chocolate.

Wednesday has rolled around once again, and it's time to share food highlights from the past week.

My husband made garlic noodles, breaded tofu and broccoli one night. Here's what was left for my lunch the next day. Nice to see that the family ate most of the broccoli.

It's What I Ate Wednesday! I am sharing a look at some foods that my family and I have enjoyed over the past week.

I am continuing to have fun trying new, simple recipes. I don't go for anything too complex. If I do, I get hot and irritated by the time I put the food on the table. And that's no fun for anyone.

One night, I paired an old favourite, Tina's delicious lentils and rice, with a new recipe for rapini with rotini. The lentils and rice recipe is great for parties because it makes a lot. When I am cooking it for my family of four, I often have trouble. You can cut the recipe in half, but NOT the water amount. So, this time I tried six cups of water, and it worked out great.

I’m off to a school field trip (outdoors on the hottest day of the year) with my daughter today.

I am happy to be participating in another What I Ate Wednesday with the party gang at Peas & Crayons.

Rather than looking at one day of eating, I am sharing some highlights from the week. Highlights here basically means those times I thought to grab the camera.


In keeping with the April Veg Pledge Challenge, I ate a big salad for lunch one day, and topped it with strawberries, grated beets, pears, craisins and walnuts. Kind of sweet (and red) but that’s how I like it!

I am not normally a salad for lunch kind of gal. I like lots of warm food.


Another day’s lunch was some leftover pasta with homemade marinara sauce. I cooked some carrots in the sauce like my Italian mother-in-law does. Yummy!


My husband made some vegan blueberry pancakes for Easter Sunday breakfast.


We followed the pancakes up with some fruit salad.


Easter Monday dinner was baked tofu, steamed broccoli, roasted beets and quinoa with peas and mushrooms. I liked the beets best of all.


Yesterday, I was in the mood to bake once again, so I veganized a cake recipe from Edna Staebler.

She was a bold woman, not afraid of sugar and oil!

I chose an apple cake recipe, because I keep getting apples in my organic produce deliveries.

The family is getting tired of eating them, but I figured they wouldn’t mind eating some more apples via a nice cake.

This cake reminds me of an apple fritter donut. It is a little crispy on the outside and softer in the middle.

It is on the sweeter side so you will probably want to serve smaller pieces. Or maybe not! Maybe, like my husband, you will want to add some ice cream too!


Linking to Two Yellow Birds Decor's Thursday's Temptation and Under the Table and Dreaming and I heart Nap Time and Lil' Luna

I have lots of cell phone photos to share this week. I threw together some collages as quick as I could, because today is a PA Day and the kids are home from school.

My son is content with his portable video game, but I can’t let that go on all day…or can I?

No, I think we’ll make some goodies to occupy them…maybe some muffins or some peanut butter cookies…maybe both.


Last Sunday, we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Family Sunday again.


This time, the kids made zoetropes—devices that produce the illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures. The family area has a visible vault so that you can see the sculptures being stored. My son is standing in front of a giant hockey player. We also did a little tour of some other areas—see the “igloo” covered with a giant quilt…how cool is that?


We bought a poster of Gerhard Richter’s “Helga Matura.” My husband and I both love that painting—and the poster was 70% off. You can’t beat that! The picture on the right is a portrait that my husband made.


My daughter really wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year, so the kids decorated the house with some Happy New Year posters and we ordered some delicious Chinese food (above left). I am a bit tofu-obsessed, which might seem strange to some people, but have you tried the extra-firm? The two photos (middle and right) show a tofu recipe from Nava Atlas’s Vegan Express—“Spicy Tofu Triangles on a Cool Bed of Lettuce,” with a side of potatoes and sweet potatoes in an olive oil vinaigrette.


My husband’s students had exams this week, which gave him time to go for lunch—all you can eat veggie sushi. I want more every time I look at the photos. I never used to like sushi—now it’s an addiction.


I already had two blenders, and yet I went ahead and bought a Magic Bullet. I don’t regret it though, because the kids can make their own individual smoothies now. They make it right in the mug, put on a lid, and they are ready to go anywhere with a smoothie in hand.


I went to the library this week, and what did I get? Cookbooks. See that picture on the right? That’s the cookbook shelf in my kitchen. Clearly, another addiction of mine. I read ‘em while I watch TV.

 
Have a great weekend!

Linking up to:



First, I want to say I don’t think there is anything particularly “skinny” about the recipes. But they are healthy, and they use mainly whole foods that are already on my shopping list. (I don’t know if almond milk is on your shopping list, buy hey, give it a try if it isn’t! ) I hate nothing more than a long list of hard-to-find (and expensive ) ingredients.

Butternut Squash Soup with Poppy Seeds

Barnouin’s Banana and Cinnamon Muffins offer a new and delicious twist on the vegan banana muffin, with a crunchy topping that makes them look nice for company. Next time I’m going to make sure there is some company around when I make them, because they are best eaten the first day. The Coconut Banana French Toast was sweet and tasty, and my son said it tasted like “deep fried banana tempura.” He also liked the Coconut- and Almond-Crusted Tofu, which he called a “treat.” I have also made the Pumpkin Pecan Banana Bread (pictured at top). It was so yummy, I made it again (minus the pecans, so the kids could take some to school).

Coconut- and Almond-Crusted Tofu with mango salsa