Yesterday was gross out so I had to skip my trip to the market that I had planned. We had very little left to make anything with but I think I managed to create something so great you wouldn’t realize it was made from scraps!

When I don’t know what I’m making for dinner I usually start making rice and chop up an onion, there are many possibilities that can blossom from that beginning. Last night I did just that with the addition of a chopped red pepper as well.

They sweat it out in the pan while I got to work on pressing some tofu.

When the peppers and onions were soft and browning, I added the tofu. Shortly thereafter I plopped on a couple spoonfuls of this black bean sauce.

It doesn’t really matter how much sauce you add, it won’t ruin it to put too much or too little. Just make it as saucy as you want it!

I spooned it over fluffy jasmine rice. Check out all the steam, it was super hot!

It was very warm and comforting on a cold and rainy evening.

Black bean tofu with veggies

An easy vegetarian dinner with only a few ingredients and the salty-sweet and spicy flavor of black bean sauce.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 block tofu (pressed and cubed)
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• approx. 3 tbsp. black bean sauce
• sesame oil for sauteing

Cooking Directions

1. Dice peppers and onions and saute in sesame oil.
2. When onions are starting to caramelize, add tofu cubes.
3. Add as much black bean sauce as desired and stir.
4. Serve over jasmine rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds if desired.

Poor Jeff is still sick. He’s already downed one whole batch of my cold cure drink so it was time to make some more last night.

I didn’t have any apple cider so I used plain water and added a thinly sliced apple and a big spoonful of my gingery pear and apple sauce. You wouldn’t have known it wasn’t cider.

He’s been sipping on it constantly and it’s definitely helping him to be able to at least go to work.

Ok, today I need to get everything ready to make a dessert for Thanksgiving with my side of the family tomorrow. Details on that to come!

November 24, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 6 comments

Hey ya’ll! (Yes “ya’ll”, I’m from Georgia after all.)

Here’s more of what I was up to over the weekend: Thanksgiving preparations and activities!

Jeff and I were invited to his parents’ house on Sunday for an early Thanksgiving. They live in Chickamauga which is just barely inside the Georgia border near Chattanooga, TN.

I thought I’d try to bring a vegan desert and see how it went over with everyone since I’ve still got about a week left of Vegan MoFo to contribute to. I was inspired by a 5 ingredient pumpkin pie recipe I found on Healthy Happy Life.

I purchased a pre-made crust because I am notoriously bad at making pie crusts.

He got stabbed repeatedly with a fork before I stuck him in the oven for about 12 minutes to partially bake him. (Gruesome!)

Meanwhile, I mixed up the filling…

…as Lucas inspected my kabocha squash.

I think it passed whatever test he was waging against it because he left it alone after that.

Anyway, I poured the filling into two partially baked pie crusts and stuck them in the oven for 30 minutes. (I’ll show you a finished shot later!)

Jeff and I then finished getting ourselves ready for the nearly 2 hour drive up to Chickamauga. Jeff has been sick for the last few days so he sipped on my cold cure drink the whole way up and all through dinner. Poor baby!

We made it there by about 12:15pm and were both starving by that point. Luckily Jeff’s mom, Nancy, always has something out to snack on before the real meal.

She made butterscotch oatmeal cookies and white chocolate cranberry candies…

…as well as an apple strudel cake and a plate of fresh grapes!

Isn’t she wonderful?!

And the actual Thanksgiving spread was fantastic too.

My two favorite things are always the stuffing…

…and the sweet potato souffle.  Love that sweet crunchy topping!

Everything was fantastic.  Jeff’s mother really knows how to keep the classics classy, no bright orange cheese or overly salted casseroles, just plain good comfort food. (Hey Mike and Nancy, love you!)

We were all pretty full so we let the boys watch some football before we started in on dessert. Jeff has two younger brothers; being that I grew up with just a sister I can’t imagine growing up in a house with that many boys!

Well anyway, here it is…my vegan pumpkin cheezecake pie.

Gorgeous, right? I thought so too, that is until I cut into it.

The filling seemed underbaked, nearly raw actually. We passed it out and sampled it anyway though.

Verdict: It was weird.

It tasted like straight cashews and nothing else. I had even added maple syrup and powdered sugar to the filling although the recipe didn’t call for any sweeteners, and yet it came out very savory. It wasn’t disgusting, it just wasn’t very dessert-like. I think the problem was that the recipe author used canned pumpkin pie mix for hers whereas I used plain homemade pumpkin puree. The canned stuff would’ve been much sweeter and less vegetal tasting. My fault for not following the recipe!

No matter, it wasn’t about the pie anyway. It was about spending time with our family and enjoying a meal together.

I am so lucky to truly adore my in-laws and feel loved by them in return. It was a great day with great food and great people.

November 22, 2010 Alayna Discussion Comments Off on A Tucker Thanksgiving

I realize that I’ve been kind of absent for a moment (or two days!) Lots of things have been happening in this past week, particularly over the weekend, and I’ve finally got the time to fill you in on all the goings-on.

The first item up for discussion can be found in my breakfast….

Wassat!?! Is that…yogurt?! Why yes, yes it is.

If you’ve been keeping up you know that I haven’t been feeling very well lately. I’ve been wondering for quite some time if I might have Celiac Disease or an allergy to either gluten, wheat, or yeast.

I’ve been feeling especially gross after eating breads or drinking beer, which led me to assuming that I had problems with gluten. The other day though I wondered if perhaps it was the yeast, not the gluten, in these items that was getting to me. I did some research and read that yeast allergies can often be helped with an acidophilus supplement. I didn’t have acidophilus pills just lying around the house though so I ate a yogurt instead. Bingo! I felt great really quickly after. Also, drinking that bacteria-laden kombucha the other day helped to calm my tummy too. I don’t know if I actually have a yeast allergy, but the acidophilus has done something good for me.

So, the point of this story is…I’m gonna try consuming dairy infrequently to help keep my tummy happy. Sure, I could take a supplement, but I truly prefer the whole foods approach to deficiencies. Why take vitamin C pills when you could just eat onions and oranges? It’s my opinion that the only situation in which a supplement is the better choice is when you are ethically opposed to eating the whole food. Of course you should take a B-12 supplement if you’re not into eating red meat, but if you have no ethical opposition to eating bananas, by all means get your potassium from those rather than in pill form!

I realize that the dairy industry is ripe with plenty of inhumane practices of its’ own, so I need to be careful in choosing humane dairy products. That’s why I’ve gravitated toward purchasing locally from Atlanta Fresh.

I love that this company is making local, small batch dairy from happy cows that graze on grass. Hooray, indeed.

I’m not gonna be eating this stuff every day either, I still believe that cow’s milk is intended to grow calves into giant cows and is not best suited to human consumption. I also know that it creates an acidic environment in our bodies that can deplete calcium from our bones. However, if my tummy is this happy after eating it, I don’t think it’s gonna kill me to have some form of dairy once or twice a week.

November 22, 2010 Alayna Discussion 2 comments