Making the Best Out of Nothing

I have NO idea where all of the vegan cafes are in NYC (sad but true) so I have to make ado with getting lunch from TJ’s on 6th Ave.

I love my Hello Kitty Sigg bottle and I am not ashamed!

I saw those raspberries and they just screamed, “EAT ME!”  I love eating raspberries over any other type of berry because they don’t stain my fingers (blueberries, I’m looking at you!).

It’s been so disgustingly rainy these days that I’ve been eating a lot of warm soups.  I whipped up this concoction last night in about 30 minutes: tofu, mushrooms, edamame, veggie broth and kombu.

Yum!

I’m just going to say right now that if you’re vegan or vegetarian, eating kombu is a great alternative to fish in terms of flavor. It has that salty, oceany taste that one would most likely associate with our little friends in the sea.

Just for fun, what’s your favorite berry?  Do you avoid certain ones because of how messy they can be?

Tofu Two Ways

I LOVE the versatility of tofu.  For example, tonight I stir-fried extra-firm tofu with Chinese chives.

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful…

Stir-fry!

A couple of weeks ago, Dave and I coated the same type of tofu with Panko bread crumbs and baked it.

Yummy!

I’ve also put tofu in my smoothies and green monsters.  Since my mom has a soymilk maker, I was thinking of making my own tofu.  I found this recipe online.  It doesn’t seem too difficult but I’ll have to purchase some tofu molds.  Have you ever tried making your own soymilk or tofu?

NJ Farmer’s Market

I was surprised to find a farmer’s market near my parent’s house in NJ.  It wasn’t your typical outdoors market; it was like a supermarket with a lot more produce and less prepackaged goods.  The prices were great!

99 cent herbs? Get outta here!

I was blown away by the selection.  For lunch I made some tofu soup and rice.

I have NO CLUE what this type of rice is called but it was really yummy.

My mom took charge of dinner and made stir-fried celery with tofu skins.

I’m missing Dancing With the Stars right now because I missed the beginning of it and I hate jumping into the middle of an episode . Are you watching DWTS?  Who are you rooting for?

Still Sore…

So it took me 12 and a half hours to drive from Chicago to NJ and it was quite an experience.  My arms and back are still sore from the drive so I’ve been dousing myself with aspirin (on a full and very satisfied stomach of course).

It rained quite a bit during the drive and I got lost!  I had missed a major highway in Indiana and drove into Michigan.  Luckily I was only about 10 miles off track and was able to find my way back to the right highway.

Near the Indiana/ Michigan border (Where I stopped for directions)

I took pictures of the “Welcome to ___” signs along my drive.

Note: taking pictures while driving is NOT safe

Ohio was 240 miles of farms and Pennsylvania was 310 miles of mountains.  I was SO HAPPY to reach NJ – it was too dark to take a “Welcome to NJ” sign though .

I got home at around 9 pm and went directly to bed.  The next day I woke up at around noon to a lovely lunch made by my mom.

String beans with garlic

Fried tofu = YUM!

In the afternoon we went food shopping and passed a few NJ “landmarks.”

The Brownstone from RHONJ

46 Lounge from Jerseylicious (yes the show actually exists!)

Anyways, tomorrow is the first day of voting for Project Food Blog 2010!  I am not participating this year but here are a few bloggers’ entries that I really enjoyed reading and will be voting for!

Allie (Live Laugh Eat)

Amanda (Vegacious)

Angela (Oh She Glows)

Caitlin (Healthy Tipping Point)

Evan (Food Makes Fun Fuel)

Gina (Fitnessista)

Heather (Hangry Pants)

Kath (Kath Eats Real Food)

Lynn (The Actor’s Diet)

Mara (What’s For Dinner?)

I know this list is pretty long but if you have the time, I would highly recommend that you guys read each of the entries.  Many a times, I start reading an already established blog without knowing the blogger’s personal history with food.  I find these entries very touching and entertaining to read.  Since I’m a total ignoramus when it comes to the foodbuzz website, I tried voting a few days ago and spent about 20 minutes looking for the “vote” button, then I realized that voting hadn’t even started!

Are you voting tomorrow?  Any additional profiles I should check out?