Open Face Sammiches

This is what I did with my leftover baked tofu from "Tofu Tuesday," as we call it in our house. Just whipped up an easy gravy (EB, flour, nooch, tamari, Worcestershire, water, s & p). I like the contrast of the cold tofu against the hot gravy. It is reminiscent of a childhood favorite. Of course, back in the day, the bread was Wonder bread (!) and the protein was turkey, but I like this version much better!

Happy Sunday!

"America's Hottest Diet"

"Lose 8 pounds this weekend and get healthy fast!"

This was the headline on one of those women's magazines at the grocery store checkout. You know, the ones that profile a different "hot" diet in every issue? Guess what the hottest diet is? A vegan diet! Ha!

I must admit I do have a fascination with diet books, even though most have lots of recipes for chicken. How do people eat so much chicken, anyway (I mean those people who are not opposed to eating chicken)?

I like the new book "The Carb Lovers Diet." The premise is to eat a "carbohydrate star" (bananas, beans, brown rice, rye bread) at every meal. That fills you up so you don't have hunger pangs. Of course, there is also calorie restriction. I was a little skeptical at the recipe that used a 1/2 cup of pasta (uncooked) to serve 2 people. But surprisingly, we were stuffed after this meal, because there were so many veggies and tofu (of course chicken in the original!) in it. And it tasted good. This book is full of good suggestions for meals that are low cal and filling. They are easy to convert to veggie/vegan.

Here is an example from the book: beans with pasta and pesto.

These sesame noodles are from the book "Eating Clean" by Tosca Reno. They were just delicious and really easy to make.

Now, why don't I lose weight?

Eggplant and Apples

Here is a marinated eggplant dish from the book "My Bread." First the eggplant is roasted, then mixed with some simple seasonings, including plenty of olive oil. The surprise was cilantro - according to the author, it is a common Roman seasoning. It was delicious, and my 11 year old could not stop eating it!

Although it's always sad to see the end of summer fruit, the reward is fresh apples. This particular apple is called a Paula Red. They are only available about 3 weeks a year (happily while summer fruit is still available!) I used to drive about an hour to a farm by my old house to get them. Imagine my surprise when I saw them in the local grocery store! They are kind of like MacIntosh - sweet and tart, but with a better texture. In fact, I never liked Macs until I had one straight off the tree last year. It was a totally different experience from a supermarket market Mac! Be sure to try the Paula Red if you are lucky enough to find one.