The madder I am, the more colorful my salads
We all have forms of self-care that work best for us. After trial and error, we learn where to turn when we need some soothing, and it’s a unique journey and destination for each of us. Some may turn to music, others step into nature, or go for a run. Me? I bake tofu.
I’m not sure why. But I just do. Stressful parenting situation? Tofu. Immense self-doubt? Tofu. Struggling with the patience needed to keep paying out of pocket until I’ve hit my deductible? Tofu.
I’m feeling a little fiery today after experiencing a couple days of stress at home with this whole parenting gig I signed up for. I had a couple other things pop up, but almost in a way that felt like it was the universe telling me that I need to take some of my power back. Sort of like Kathy Bates and her character’s alter-ego screaming “Towanda!!!” from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes (which I haven’t seen in decades. Has this movie withstood the test of time? Would I still fight back tears if I were to watch it today, or was that special for me at age 10?). That Towanda energy is where I am feeling called today. I did a quick google search on the astrology lookout, and lo and behold it is spot on. We are in Aries season, MY season, which emphasizes independence and pioneering energy, AND it is a full moon, which is opposite my sign and could bring up relationship issues (likkkkeee with my teenagers?). I don’t dabble much in astrology, but Hello, I’ll admit I am feeling this one today. And that is what prompted the title of this post! What do I reach for when I am looking for nourishment? I make the biggest, most beautiful salad I can, and top it with baked tofu.
I prep tofu in all sorts of ways for different meals, but when I turn to it as my comfort food, I always fall back to this recipe from the Hello Nutritarian website. I often follow this recipe all the way, cutting it into slabs and dipping into nutritional yeast as she describes it. Sometimes though, depending on my mood, I just cut the tofu up however I feel like it throw it into a container with nutritional yeast and a seasoning and shake it up. I stick it on a parchment sheet-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
I then throw everything I can into a bowl to make the biggest salad one can imagine. My husband laughs at my salad portions- they are pretty impressive. My favorites to add (if we have them!)- cucumber, bell pepper, carrot, tomato, hemp seed, red cabbage, radish, chopped dates, chopped walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and any leftovers that can be thrown in, like roasted broccoli, roasted chickpeas, I’ll even add in a grain like quinoa or rice if we have some chilling in our fridge. Fruit is great as well, especially berries or chopped apple. It’s a special day if I’ve prepped a jar of pickled red onion, otherwise I add whatever onions we have. Making it Mexican-themed is another super easy route- greens, black beans, added veggies, with salsa.
This one is called ‘“Would you like salad with those roasted chickpeas?” salad.’
Dressing, you ask? I’ve gotten good at this too. I keep it simpleeeee. Balsamic glaze is possibly my newest best friend. It looks like chocolate sauce when you drizzle it on, which brings me some amusement. The other easy way to go? I think I also learned this from the Hello Nutritarian website, but I throw on a couple spoonfuls of hummus (preferably homemade with no oil, though I recognize that we all have weeks when we fall back on store-bought) and then drizzle regular balsamic vinegar on top of that. The combination of hummus and balsamic is fabulous as a salad dressing. Trader Joes sells a couple vegan salad dressings that are also great, but you do need to watch store-bought dressings for all the extra oil and salt that you can avoid by doing simpler swaps at home (also- those bottles really go fast and they are a bit pricey considering they’ll give you dressing for 2-4 salads tops). I’ve enjoyed the Trader Joe’s dressings immensely but knowing that I love balsamic glaze or the hummus/balsamic vinegar combo option as much as I do makes it easy to pass this by at the store.
How did I get to love salads so much? Years ago when I started learning about eating plant-based whole foods, I taught myself to crave salads. Seriously! It was something I actually worked on. If we were going somewhere and I looked at the menu in advance and a salad looked like an okay option, I repeated to myself how much I wanted to have that salad as we got closer to the meal. I would do this for meals at home as well. Like, “Mmmm I can’t wait to have a salad!” Try it- it actually works. :)
