Coffee and Cross Stitch

Peace, love, and tofu.

Fear not, dear followers, I'm not turning into a hippie.  Bohemian skirts and patchouli are definitely not my thing.

I do, however, enjoy switching up where I get my protein from, depending on what mood I'm in.  I mean, let's face it, you can only have so much chicken before you turn into one.  Pork has been my go-to meat lately, but every once in a while, I want something a little lighter.

That's where tofu comes in.  It's pretty much tasteless, and absorbs whatever marinade or sauce or whatever you've got going on for the rest of your dish.

Tonight, after an ever-so-exciting painting session (my foyer is done, as is my stairway, just gotta hit the hallway and I'm done!  Woop woop!), I decided tonight was a tofu night.  So, I opened up my Soy Zone book to see if there were any spectacular recipes in there for me to use.  Ok, spectacular might not be the right word, but you get the picture.  Being gluten-free, I try to use Zone recipes as much as possible, since they're naturally gluten free (no breads or pasta on the Zone Diet!), and I'm also trying to refrain from refined sugars.   I've gotten myself off of cow's milk and replaced it with coconut milk (So Delicious is my favorite brand so far, since they make the best coffee cream alternative to actual cream), so getting away from refined sugar will hopefully be just as easy.

BUT, that's a gluten-free, sugar-free post for a different day.  In the meantime, click on the badge on the right side of my blog to head on over to Simply Sugar and Gluten Free for some fanfreakingtastic recipes by Amy Green.  Love her. 

Back to tonight's dinner....

Here's the end result, and then we'll Tarantino it and come back to all the ingredients:

Tofu & veggie kabobs!  Yum!!

First, the marinade, which I altered slightly from Dr. Sears' recipe in the Soy Zone:

1/3 c olive oil
1 T dried thyme
1 T oregano
2 T garlic powder (I actually used 2 cloves of garlic, since I'm apparently out of garlic powder.  No idea how that happened.)
1 t salt
1 t black pepper 

Now, take your veggies (I used eggplant (low on the glycemic index), red pepper, and red onion), and shove them all into a giant bowl.  Pour the marinade you just made all over the veggies, and stir it all up.  Cover, and place in the fridge for approximately 1-2 hours. 

While that's all having fun in the fridge, take your tofu and press it to get all the water out.  If you don't, it'll take foreverandaday to cook.  Then, take kabob sticks and soak them in water.

When it's time to start cooking, take your griddle/cast iron (thanks again, Ange!)/broiler/whatever you've got out, and get it warm over the stove.  Pour olive oil over it once it's warm, so your veggies & tofu don't stick to the pan.  While the oil is warming, take kabob sticks that have been soaked in water and shove all your ingredients on and start grilling! (This would also be a great recipe for summer cookouts on your grill!)  Cook everything until the veggies are tender, then stick 'em on a plate and enjoy!!

I poured homemade marinara over top when I put it all in a plate, just to add a little something. (I'm part Italian...so I can't help it...marinara sauce or spaghetti gravy goes on just about everything...)

And there you have it!  A delicious, no-frills, gluten-free dinner.

Stay tuned, because tomorrow I'll be whipping up some gluten-free sweet treats for Halloween.  If I have to paint one more wall this week, I may cry, so I'll definitely be doing something different tomorrow on my day off!

Now I'm off to do some stitching while the night is still young!  Be creative!

Food.

Delicious food.  Some of you may not know, but I have a gluten intolerance, so it's super important that I eat gluten free all the time.  

Recently, one of my friends at work, Angela (go here and see how superbly creative she is!), gave me this spectacular cast iron pan --

Isn't it pretty?!  The other side is smooth, so you can either use it like I did, as a grill on your stovetop (my stove is pretty sweet - this is over the center oblong burner), or smooth for things like pancakes and such.

Well, one night last week, I decided to give this bad boy a try.  I bought eggplant, zucchini, red onion, and red pepper, as well as some turkey breast to "grill" and went at it.

I was skeptical at first, since I'd never used cast iron before, but know that it cooks really well and gets H-O-T HOT.  Holy cow was that thing scorching.  

oh.yum.

Now, this was taken about halfway through the grilling cycle, but I had to get a pic before I forgot...or the eggplant got too soggy.  Haha!  I had to cook the onions separately, since, as you can see, there wasn't any room for them.  How good does this look?!?!  I will attest, it was delicious, if I do say so myself. :-) 

A word to the wise about cooking meat on cast iron -- flip it QUICK, otherwise you'll burn it to a crisp, and the other side will be nice and raw.  

Next up in gluten-free goodness:  sausage and peppers over gluten-free pasta with homemade marinara sauce.  Oh yes.  

It's kinda dark, but I'm sure you can still smell the garlic from wherever you are.  Oh.  This was good.  One of my finer meals, if I do say so myself...and it's so easy!  You can make this, too!!  Sautee your sausage and peppers while the pasta is cooking and the marinara is simmering.  When the sausage and peppers are done, and the pasta is cooked and strained, throw the sausage and peppers over the bed of pasta...after you throw some marinara on the plate first, of course, and then some more on top :-)  YUM.

After all that, I was going to show you a pic of the Snyders, yes, Snyders of Hanover hard pretzels I found, but the picture won't upload.  Le sigh.  I was so very excited, since this is one of the few mainstream brand names that have products that are gluten free.  Oh well.  Next time :-)

I've been thinking I might start another blog for all my gluten free food endeavors, but haven't really thought too hard about it...so we'll see if I actually do find time between 2-4am on the fourth Wednesday of every other month to update that with any frequency.  Haha!

Do something creative (even if it involves food!) this weekend :-)