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Killer Tofu!

For some reason, I've been quasi-vegetarian (again) as of late. I haven't had much appetite for meat, and nine times out of ten, the mere thought of it kinda turns my stomach. When I go grocery shopping, I buy ridiculous amounts of produce. Spinach, apples, green peppers, carrots, peas, etc. And I complement this with dairy products: yogurt, cottage cheese, milk. Throw in some granola, and that's essentially what I've been eating for the past week or so.

Frankly, I think it's a pretty healthful diet, but my nutritionist was wary, given that I've used vegetarianism as an excuse to eat nothing. This time, I'm for real, however. To prove this, I said that I would try to find alternative protein sources. I looked through the good old internets and found some very easy tofu recipes. I mean, idiot proof recipes. Ah, good! I thought to myself. I can be creative and still get my protein and life will be good.

So I began my cooking adventure earlier this afternoon. I cut open the package of tofu (which had taken me about 20 minutes to pick out at the grocery store), drained the water, and plopped it onto my cutting board. Hmm. A little rubbery, but ok. I sliced it up. It kept falling apart. Hmm, this tofu is more delicate than I had initially thought. But I put it in the sauce, then on the baking sheet. Ha hah! I thought, I'm "cooking". Like a grown-up!

I turned on the oven to pre-heat it. Good good good. Then, the smoke alarm went off. Not good. I didn't even have anything in the oven yet! I turned the oven off. No problem, I thought, I'll just take the battery out of the smoke alarm. After doing so, I returned to the business of pre-heating. Not a minute later, the smoke alarm went off yet again! (I suppose it's good to know that in case I'm actually burning something, it will work whether the battery is dead or not.) I figured that disconnecting the thing wouldn't be such a good idea, so I covered it in saran wrap, which I sealed off with masking tape. Now I was cooking with gas (literally)!

So I put my tofu in the oven. And wait. And resist the urge to check on it every five minutes. Finally, it was time, so I pulled it out. I sorta expected them to be crispy. The recipe said "crispy"! Yet, they were still a bit, well, rubbery. Scowl. I think that my fatal design flaw was buying the wrong kind of tofu entirely, which is a bit disappointing. I'll have to try again at some point. I'll probably still eat these tofu thingies...But hopefully they'll be a little more tasty in the future.

If anyone has any tofu-cooking tips, let me know!

"John...Matthew...Thaddaeus..."

My research methods professor's daughter is in my CCD class. This professor asked me how things were going with CCD; I told her that it's good overall, but the kids are awfully hyped up at that time of day. It's hard for them, having to sit for an hour and a half after having been in school all day. I told her I wish I could find an active game for them to play. Perhaps I could adapt "Duck Duck Goose" to be religious, somehow. She said, "You could play 'Apostle, Apostle, Christ'". I pictured it: the kids in a circle, one of them tapping the others on the head, "John, Matthew, Thaddaeus...Jesus!" And then taking off and running. Perhaps I'll do it.