Meatless Mondays

Sometimes, you've got to make some decisions and change things up to make life interesting.
Sometimes, your life is so boring that setting a theme to a particular day's diet really excites you.
Sometimes, you realize you are a hopeless nerd.


I have officially declared the first day of the work week "Meatless Mondays" in my world. No meat, in any form, shall be eaten on Mondays. I've got a good mind to go completely vegan on Mondays. But sometimes you just need a little butter in your life - butter is a thing that should not be ignored. Butter leads to all things good. Like the best cookies on Earth.


I began my conscious journey with Meatless Monday last week, and thought it would be a fun idea to carefully plan and take note of what I'm eating for one day each week (like I said - nerd alert!). Actually, this shouldn't be a difficult undertaking, as there are plenty of days I don't eat meat. I don't often crave meat, and if I do, I've got six other days in which I can mow down some barbecued pork if so inclined.


This week, Meatless Monday consisted of a big bowl of almond-butter and raisin oatmeal, a big-ass Whole Foods salad and some buffalo tofu - an idea inspired from one of my favorite blogs: Carrots 'n Cake. 


It was my first experience baking tofu, and here's how it went:


I drained the water from the (extra- firm) tofu's package, and then went on to press out any additional water. Seeing as how I don't own a fancy-schmancy tofu press, I opted to use the dishtowel method.

After wrapping the tofu in a clean dish towel, I pressed it down in the most classy of ways: with a cookie sheet and a slow-cooker pot filled with potatoes.

Don't judge. I am not a fancy lady.

After pressing the tofu for about 40 minutes, I unwrapped it and cubed it all up.

Now, many people think plain tofu is tasteless and a little off-putting. Oddball that I am, I tend to enjoy bland foods, so I could gladly eat these chunks of soy au naturel. However, for most people, enjoying tofu means it must have a little kick.

So, I coated the cubes in Frank's hot sauce, dusted on a little Extra Spicy Mrs. Dash and popped them in the oven at 475 degrees for about 15 minutes (until they started to firm up). 

Gang, I know it does not look pretty, but this spicy tofu kicked serious meatless BUTT. On the side, I enjoyed a dinnertime staple: sugar-snap pea stir-fry veggies.

Meatless Monday was a fantastic success! I'm looking forward to keeping this tradition going and hopefully broadening my vegetarian/vegan cooking skills a little more. I often think I could go vegetarian without much regret, and maybe trying my hand at new, flavorful meatless recipes would help make that decision a bit easier. But then again, (and I'm sorry, Wilbur), I don't think I could go the rest of my life without eating another rib again....

Do you have any self-imposed diet restrictions? 

Are you a vegetarian/vegan? If so, send any favorite recipes my way - I'd love to try them!