…and I don’t mean the vacuum brand or the town LOL
I know what I’m about to post you may want to and will have every right to say, “Well DUH.” But I can’t help it… I seriously never thought of this before, except when trying every diet known to mankind and all those tips they give you for eating salads RME.
MAKE STUFF AHEAD! Yes. Very. Basic. Knowledge. (Don’t rub it in)
So I had this lightbulb/eureka moment last week when, for the what seems to be the 75th time, I had to prep dinner for my lovely daughter. I am a big fan of do ahead to the point where you can stop and either a) freeze it to cook later or b) prep and cook it the next day or even the following day after that. For some reason, this little shortcut eluded me. ANYWAY…
I was resenting the fact that I had to prep food that if I don’t want to eat the stuff ~ why should she? (Totally irrational thinking, I know.) It was then as I was looking at tofu, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, cilantro and curry sauce sitting on my granite countertop, awaiting their destiny, when this brilliant idea of prepping ahead came to me. Too bad this idea didn’t show itself via a slice toast with Jesus’ face imprinted thereon or some other diety-like “miracle” because then I could sell tickets and make a lot of money and hire a vegan chef. YAY! (((sigh)))
I was attempting cook silken, soft tofu and make it the way my Vietnamese friend prepared it a stir fry dish she let us sample. The tofu was soft, creamy and not shaped like a cube (a plus aesthetically speaking) and it had a light brown colour because it had been friend/sautéed. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my tofu to “do” that for me. Hence buying the soft silken tofu.
It worked! Altho, it was too soft, I fried it in olive oil to a nice, golden brown. The bean curd kind of fell apart because it was too soft. This week I have a firm silken tofu and will try that. After it was all cooked, I drained it on brown paper and then put it in the fridge.
I also caramelized/sautéed mushrooms with a little thyme, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of tarragon (I love it!!). Drained it and put it in a container in the fridge. Then I went down the line with carrots, broccoli was steamed, you get the idea.
It was wonderful! I could put together a quick soup w/the roasted veggie stock I had in the freezer, or a stir fry or curry. I made other things that week too not using those ingredients, like pasta w/vegan friendly marinara sauce (it surprised me that a lot of marinara sauces have cheese in them), seitan with a sauce and rice, tempeh, etc.
What I do need to do is make a decent sized pot of miso soup, which, apparently, is wonderful to have in the morning (that’s what ‘they’ say…whoever/whomever* ‘they’ are).
Oh, get this, after that whole “thing” with the tofu, I find out that she BUYS the bean curd fried that way!! Apparently the local Asian markets sell it fresh on a certain day each week and it sells out very quickly. >.>
I am planning to update more of the pages in the next few days. I’ll post a notice on Facebook so some of you will know.
