Now It's Just Plain Old Eating

"Tunot" stuffed tomatoes with cilantro

 Never that good at math, I find it sounds odd to hear LG tell me we're starting the 7th week of our 4 week Engine 2 Diet challenge. I think it's that "New Math" thing that I thought passed by a decade or two ago. I guess it's just going to be a mystery...I can barely keep up with who's doing whom in Hollywood via the British Daily Mail web site, so I certainly don't have time for remedial math studies. By the way, LG is the one who persuaded me to read that news site periodically after I announced one evening that CNN's breaking news was reporting that something significant had happened somewhere to someone. She looked at me - only mildly impatient with my childlike ignorance - and announced she'd read that bit of "breaking news" 36 hours earlier "on The Daily."

So now I know about all the US news before most other Americans - not to mention - I'm learning there are apparently some very newsworthy Americans about whom I'd never even heard. There's this Snooki something or other who's apparently a very important figure here in our country...who knew?!


While I may not be current with my advanced math skills, I can make the basic calculations necessary to report LG and I are both continuing to lose weight without really trying. We're enjoying some of our wines and even indulging in a lunch or dinner out from time to time (vegan, of course.) Our vegan cooking skills are being more finely honed by the day. We're learning about neat ingredients and new combinations of spices. It really is fun and the food doesn't taste like, well...vegan food.

Red curry Pad Thai with fried tofu

We actually used cooking oil to deep fry some firm tofu the other evening to accompany our pad thai. I cut a block of tofu into rectangular chunks, then let them drain between cotton kitchen towels before air drying them near the woodstove for a few hours. I mixed up a little Ener-G egg replacer for a dip and seasoned some panko (very crunchy Japanese bread crumbs.) A quick dip in the wash and roll in the panko and a bath into the 330-350 degree oil for 30 to 60 seconds resulted in a wonderfully crunchy and tasty addition to the noodles. Flavor enhancements include red curry paste, our home made curry powder, coconut milk, garlic...you know, good stuff.

The lovely little tomatoes at the top of the page are stuffed with a vegan "tuna salad" made with chickpeas, celery, nutritional yeast and a few other ingredients. Not a big tuna fan anyway, I think this version is far superior to any of the fishy stuff I ever tasted. LG whipped this up using a recipe from The Happy Herbivore. She used the recipe on the site [ http://happyherbivore.com/2008/10/mock-tuna-salad/ ] but left out the kelp. I'm sure adding the kelp would make it taste more like real tuna...if you think that's good thing.

Don't smile when you're holdin' that, dammit!

How, you may ask, does Mac know when the oil for cooking that tofu at the right temperature? Well, I'm glad you asked. I have a serious guy's kitchen tool for that purpose - not some mamby-pamby tube you lower into the pot either. I use my Ryobi Tec-4, laser thermo-reading tool with miniature nuclear reactor power source...(low growl!) Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about, baby. You get this puppy at the building supply store...'cause you won't find it between the doilies and tea sets in the kitchen shop.

LG doesn't really have the temperament for proper use of this device, but I let her hold it for the picture...it's just the kind of guy I am. All you have to do it point this at the surface of the oil and pull the trigger. You get a lighted digital readout in very manly block numerals...it pretty seriously rocks. How much does it cost? I don't really see that that point is relevant to such a cool tool.

Well, this adventure is still fun and we don't see any reason to even consider changing back. I ordered a "vegetarian tofu" burrito a while back during a road trip. It came with very little tofu but oozing with melted cheese...something I used to adore. I scraped off what I could, but I still felt kind of unsettled after tasting and feeling all that greezy fat. I know...weird!

Thinking about it yet? I don't blame you either way. I just want to say that this is a form of eating that anyone could learn to love. All you have to lose is body fat, cholesterol, joint discomfort, the opportunity to benefit makers of insulin injectors and a close and loving relationship with your doctor.