Giveaway Winner Announced & What I Ate Monday

Thank you so much for participating in my giveaway! It was really fun. What wasn't fun was drawing a number. I have no idea why, but I felt nervous inside; I wanted everyone to win.

I'm a little lame that way.

It's the same reason I annoy my husband terribly when I watch Illinois basketball with him on t.v. After 12 years of marriage, I have arrived at a place of sharing this interest with him. And I am genuinely happy with him when his team wins. I always feel bad for the other team, though. Which drives him crazy.

Sooo...the winner, chosen by Random Number Generator was...#1: "MaudPryor" over at Food Feud.

Stay tuned because I'm actually having another giveaway sometime in the next week! You'll get a chance to win a gift from CSN Stores. They are generously offering a $40 gift certificate to one of you.

Now - what I ate on Monday:

French Toast for breakfast (very quickly made just by dipping my bread in almond milk, nutritional yeast, and cinnamon) with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and walnuts. And more cinnamon sprinkled on top...I'm trying to up my cinnamon intake.

Lunch: a Food for Life gluten-free tortilla with melted Daiya, tomato sauce, lettuce, grated yellow squash, sprouts, and Upton's Naturals seitan crumbles.

I very rarely have oatmeal for supper, even though my husband does that frequently. I wanted to enter Chocolate Covered Katie's giveaway, though, which requires a post about making a Breakfast Sundae. (Hopefully, a Breakfast Sundae for supper counts. I actually had this same thing - minus the chocolate and add apples instead of bananas - for breakfast this morning.) Of course, when I do eat oatmeal for supper, I think, "This is so delicious. Why don't I always eat oatmeal for supper?"

For my Breakfast Sundae, I used steel cut oats topped with slivered almonds, a little squirt of agave nectar, a sprinkling of chocolate chips, and "Peaches and Cream."

I experimented by pureeing some silken tofu with 2 fresh peaches. I wish I could have made it thicker. I was at my mom's house, though, and my resources were limited.

I liked it, though! It was so good I had another bowl. This time I smothered it with Peaches and Cream and used almonds, strawberries, and chocolate chips. Oh, how I love chocolate chips that are just a little soft from being warm but firm enough to bite into. :)

Speaking of giveaways...I was so excited that I won Vegan Backpacker's Secret Society of Vegans t-shirt giveaway! Thank you, Vegan Backpacker and Vx!

Other things going on right now (but not much longer!):

Cereal Giveaway at Une Vie Saine

One Lucky Duck giveaway at Clean Eats in the Dirty South

$50 Gift Certificate to CSN at Opera Singer in the Kitchen

Mission: Impossible Pies e-book at All About...(vegan) food!

Blackened Tofu, It's Good to Have You Back

When I got married and moved to Little Rock, I had only been a vegan for a few years. And those were poor-in-college years. I survived on cold cereal, spaghetti with jar sauce, and Subway Sandwiches. I barely knew what tofu was, and I had to use that soymilk powder mixed with water in a mason jar for my mini-fridge.

That's me, my junior year of college...notice how it looks like Brad is looking at me?

Did anyone else feel like they fell in love with him while watching Legends of the Fall?

The year that I ate in the cafeteria, my favorite night was taco night. I got taco shells filled with lettuce and tomato (maybe I added olives from the salad bar). But they wouldn't let us have more than 2 or 3 at a time. I'd ask, "Can I please have a few more? I'm a vegetarian, and this is all I can eat." No,they made me wait in line again for a few more, which I had to do so that I wouldn't starve from only eating 2 taco shells filled with lettuce and tomato.

Wow, now that I'm thinking about it, I barely recognize this person I'm talking about. When Ryan and I were engaged, we thought we were really BIG TIME when we discovered we could microwave a bag of frozen vegetables and put them on a tortilla with salsa. THAT was a great meal to us.

It was those experiences that probably contributed to my Blackened Tofu obsession. It was so fun to be married/out on our own , and while we didn't have a lot of money (My paycheck was around $400 every two weeks as a private school teacher.), it still felt like a lot to us. And it was OUR money. We didn't have to ask our parents for money anymore.

Most Saturday mornings, we drove over to Whole Foods (It was Wild Oats then.) and stocked up. We went overboard choosing things from the deli and bakery (and lots of other stuff to cook throughout the week). Then we would rent a few movies (We didn't watch a lot of movies in college; we had a lot of catching up to do!), lie in bed all day, and eat out of our plastic deli containers. Awww...the life of newlyweds. We look back on this time with the utmost longing...usually when our kids are all fighting and interrupting us and jumping on the couch.

Just for fun, let's look back at that time...we were so young...sigh...and thin.

This was on our honeymoon at Tupelo, Mississippi...birthplace to Elvis.

Blackened Tofu with my FAVORITE salad:

romaine with caesar dressing from Post Punk Kitchen

Anyway, I always went straight to the deli to get a container full of Blackened Tofu. I've never been the biggest fan of spicy food...but I couldn't get enough of this. I continued getting this for several years...until...they STOPPED making it. (For the record, our Whole Foods could be A LOT more vegan-friendly than they are.) I actually worked at this Whole Foods for about 6 months, and I tried to pull up my vague memory in order to replicate the recipe. I have made this once before, I think, but the other day, I decided to get serious about it.

Blackened Tofu, eaten on my Food for Life gluten free tortilla with greens, sprouts, avocado, and tomatoes

I squeezed the water out of 3 tubs of tofu, then froze it.

After it thawed, I cut it into strips.

I carefully rolled the tofu in enough olive oil to help the spices stick...and then rolled it in the spices. Then I baked it. Maybe 25 minutes at 350? (That part is a little fuzzy; I'll go back and do it again, then edit this.)

I used this seasoning (which is what the used in the deli):

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic Seasoning Blends

(Salt, Herbs and Spices, Dehydrated Garlic, Paprika and Dehydrated Onion)

Since I did not think my kids could handle the massiveness of this spiciness, I also made them plenty rolled in just olive oil and cornmeal. It was definitely a hit for their little mouths.

Let's talk about how spicy the Blackened Tofu is...it hurts, it's so spicy. Like you have to drink something after you take a bite. Like hurts so good spicy. Again, I'm not a fan of jalapenos - and barely even onions, but I just love these for some reason. Ryan does, too.

It was a bit of a game with the kids - take a bite, yell, "Aaa! It's spicy!" and take a drink. And repeat.

Cornmeal dusted tofu: 10 thumbs up

Blackened tofu: 4 adult thumbs up