Tofu-Veggie Stir-Fry

I'm doing it. I'm really doing it. I'm attempting to go one month living a vegetarian lifestyle. It's something that has interested me for a long time. I'm curious about how it will make me feel, and if it will help me to lose any weight. I considered trying to go vegan, but there's no way I'm giving up cheese or ice cream!

I started on May 1st, so today is day 6 of my experiment. I might go really crazy and try a fruit/veggie cleanse or even a juice fast while I'm on this bandwagon. Both the vegetarian lifestyle and a cleanse are things on my 30 Things Before 30 list... of which I have been rather neglectful. I'm trying to step it up since I'm down to four years until I turn 30 (yikes....).

I know it's only been six days, but so far giving up meat hasn't been difficult. It's a little hard at work because the employee cafeterias don't have many healthy vegetarian options. The past couple of days, I've made do with a salad and some fries. I'm probably going to start packing a lunch more often. This is where learning to cook without meat comes in (or, you know, lots of PB&J's). I sought out tofu at the grocery store and decided to try to make something with it. I came up with the idea of stir-frying, and it seemed easy and something I knew I would like.

Now, this wasn't as homemade as I would have liked, but I had just gotten off of work and I was tired and lazy, so I bought a frozen stir-fry veggie mix (sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, peppers, broccoli, celery, water chestnuts, and green beans), and a jar of stir-fry sauce. Someday, I'll try the sauce from scratch, but the frozen mixed veggies are just so easy. No washing, no dicing/chopping/julienne-ing, no wait time for it to cook.... So nice.

This is the perfect recipe for those nights when you just don't want to put a lot of effort into a healthy dinner, but still want something satisfying and impressive. It's fast, easy, and delicious!

Tofu-Veggie Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic - minced
7 oz. Extra Firm Tofu - cubed
1 bag Frozen Mixed Vegetables - thawed (Any variety you like.)
2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper
1/8 tsp. Ground Cloves
1/2 C. Stir-Fry Sauce (I used La Choy brand.) 

Method:
-  In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over med-high heat. Add in the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until it softens and starts to brown. Add the tofu and cook until golden.

- Stir in the veggies, crushed red pepper, and cloves, until all incorporated. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are heated through.

-Stir in the sauce so that everything is coated, and let cook for about a minute, stirring occasionally.

- Remove from heat and let stand a minute or two before serving, to let the sauce set and the flavors come together.

I served mine with brown rice. It'd be great by itself, too, or with something like Quinoa or Couscous.  If you want to get really fancy, you could go the Lo Mein route, but that's a whole other dish to prepare!

The whole recipe (not including the rice) has about 760 calories in it, and I got two meals out of it, so 380 calories for a serving is amazing! Let's say half a cup of brown rice has about 110 calories in it, that's only 490 calories for the whole meal! Of course, I enjoyed a Yuengling Lager with my meal for another 135 calories... oops!

Please comment with some of your favorite vegetarian/tofu recipes that I can try out!

Enjoy!

Relay for Life 2013

I'm finally involved in a Relay for Life again! For those of you who don't know, Relay for Life is a global fundraising effort in the fight against cancer. Every Relay is made up of teams of community members and I've joined the team that my workplace has put together.

I thought I'd share some pictures of Relay from High School.

In high school, I was a team captain for a Relay team for a couple of years. I loved it. Staying up all night with my friends, walking the high school's track and eating junk food, all the while raising money to help fight cancer. I have great memories of it, and I've wanted to become involved again for years. When I heard that my work was putting a team together, I jumped on the bandwagon immediately. Unfortunately, only a handful of others have jumped, too. I expected to be able to easily convince the friends that I've made here to join me, but I guess not everyone has the same fond memories of Relay for Life that I do. Weird. Nonetheless, I'm still very excited about the whole thing.

I don't even remember what year this was.... 2004, maybe?

Cancer has always been a part of my life. When I was four years old, I lost my paternal grandmother to cancer. I've had friends and extended family members who have battled cancer. My mother is a breast cancer survivor. My maternal grandmother has survived three different types of cancer. And just last June, I lost my father to esophageal cancer. Now, more than ever, I am committed to helping in the fight against it. This opportunity to rejoin the Relay for Life event came at the perfect time.

Yes, this is me in High School. With all the snacks within reach, of course.

I have my own personal fundraising page to help my team, well... raise funds. Every cent goes to the American Cancer Society to help in the fight against cancer. My goal is to raise $500 by May 17th, but deep down I would love for it to be $1000. If anyone reading this can donate anything to help rid the world of cancer, I would be eternally grateful.

You can also dedicate luminarias to the honor or memory of loved ones who are battling or have battled cancer. Luminarias are bags/torches that bear the name of your loved one along with an optional message, and they light the track all night for the people walking in the Relay. Thank you in advance for anything you can give, and to the people who have already helped me to get a step closer to my personal goal.

On a more general note, if anyone out there is interested in learning more about the Relay for Life, or finding one in your area to become involved in, you can get any info you need on the Relay website. Trust me, it is a life-changing event and you can make memories to last a lifetime.

Chair Project

Apparently I'm on a project kick. I've had this on my to-do list for months. When I moved in, I just had a chair and a love seat. I wanted another chair to round out my living room.

Initially, I found this one....

It was oversized, overstuffed, and comfy as all get-out. Not to mention that it was a $600 chair, on sale for $177.

Alas, it was way too big for my apartment. I don't know that I could have even gotten it in the door, let alone find space for it.

So in the same furniture store, I found this guy:

It may not look as awesome as the other one, but it's still really comfy, and much more size-appropriate for my place. It was a $200 chair that I got for $35. The price was so great because the leather on the seat was cracking. Apparently, it had been in the store for a long, long time.

I decided to go for it anyway, and see what I could do with it. I went out and found fabric right away, and then it sat untouched for months. Well for some reason, I finally decided it was time to spiff it up.

The scary part was taking apart the old cushion-cover to use as a pattern.

I was afraid something would go wrong, and I wouldn't be able to make a new cover, and wouldn't be able to get the old one back together, and everything would be ruined forever.

But everything went perfectly, and this is the final product:

I like it! The cushion-cover fits perfectly, and I like the look now better than I did when it was all leather.

The original cover was essentially in four pieces. I used it as a pattern for the top, bottom, and front pieces. The back piece had a zipper in it, and it just seemed easier to re-use it.

I'm super proud of the way it turned out, and I'm glad I actually mustered up the ambition to do it!

One more before and after: