Goddess of the leftovers

I’m pooped.  And it’s no mystery why, but I still find it odd that doing so little can leave me feeling so. wiped. out.

Fortunately, I came home from the weekend of Thanksgivings with so much food, that I didn’t even have to go grocery shopping for the whole week afterwards (!!).  Ok, that’s a lie, I went once to grab marinara sauce, but otherwise I’ve been eking by on leftovers and extra groceries alone.

So what do you do when (a) you’ve been stuffing your face for 5 days in a row and (b) your parents, in-laws, and g-ma have sent you home with more produce than can fit in your fridge?

Make a massive salad of course.

The (above) haul is just the tip of the iceberg.  I actually brought home:

• organic tomatoes x2
• avocados x3
• 2 massive tubs of organic greens (1 spinach & 1 spring mix)
• bag of kale
• carton of vegetable broth
• family sized tupperware of mashed potatoes
• 2 freezer bags of roasted vegetables
• bread rolls x6
• corn and flour tortillas
• green beans
• lemon
• bananas x3
• Earth Balance
• almond milk

So basically an entire grocery list.  Oh, and a Christmas tree and baby mattress.  How packed was our car?  You have no idea.

I did put a little work into the salad (beyond throwing everything gifted to me in a bowl).  I baked the tofu and made the salad dressing.  Go me!  Ha.

There was a $1.50 off coupon for this new (?) tofu in the November WF coupon book.  And since I buy tofu regularly anyway, I figured why not give it a try.  For cheap, no less.

I had no clue black soy beans were a thing, but I guess they are.  Aside from the speckled color of the tofu, I have no idea what the difference is between this kind and the normal (white) kind.  More antioxidants it seems (if you buy into the marketing that tells you so).  Who knows.

Extra Dense Baked Tofu [vegan, gluten free]

Ingredients:

• 1 block tofu, cubed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt (optional)

Directions:

Drain and press the tofu until it’s as dry as possible.  I left it in my tofu xpress for >24 hours, draining the liquid off sporadically until it was as dry as possible.  I normally don’t press it this much but I wanted really firm cubes.  [For more info on the tofu xpress see this post]

Once there’s no more liquid, cut the tofu into small cubes (mine were about the size of dice), toss in olive oil and spread out onto a baking sheet sprayed with non stick.  Salt if you want.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  [As a point of reference, I usually only bake them for 20-25 minutes.  So those extra 10 minutes are to get them extra firm.]

Before and after.  Hey there shrinkage.

So back to the salad.

Green Tofu Goddess Salad [vegan, gluten free, FODMAPs friendly]

• 2+ huge handfuls of spinach
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 block baked tofu, cubed
• 1/2+ cup sweet tahini dressing (see recipe below)

Directions:

Prepare dressing.  Chop veggies.  Add everything to a large salad bowl and toss until spinach is entirely coated in dressing.

As you toss the salad, the avocado will mash into the veggies, almost becoming part of the dressing.  It’s delightful.  And that’s where the green goddess factor comes in.

As for the dressing…I kinda winged it with this one, so measurements are purely approximated.

 Sweet Tahini Dressing [vegan, gluten free]

Ingredients:
-2 tsp miso paste
-2 tsp tahini
-2 tsp maple syrup
-1 tsp lemon juice
-1 tsp apple cider vinegar
-1/3 cup water
-salt (to taste)

 

Directions:

Combine everything in a blender and puree until smooth.  I made a double batch because it was so awesome.  Both Kyle and I wanted to drink the stuff.

This salad was a perfect dinner for the two of us.  Meaning zero bites remained.

Usually Kyle needs some kind of carb with his meal, so he had a piece of home-made bread with Earth Balance on the side.  But other than that, we were both quite content with this delicious creation.

And since dinner was so veg-tastic, dessert was a must.

His: vegan molasses chocolate chip cookies (recipe coming) with almond milk.
Hers: vegan pumpkin cheesecake.

Now I’ve made a slight dent in the produce; but there’s still tons to go.  Never a bad problem to have.

In other news.  The tree is up!