Home for the Holidays

One thing I love about being home for the holidays is making as much treats, snacks and meals for free seeing my family. But really it's great to spend time with my family and friends. My dad always gets the best food and has the fridge stocked up! We go to the farmers market every saturday to get more fresh food and enjoy the atmosphere.

On the menu for lunch today was a ciabatta sandwhich, vegan cookie, & strawberries. Since going vegan my dad has been creating meals & treats like a mad man. It's awesome, especially when I come home & I can try all the things he makes AND enjoy an entire vegan christmas dinner!

Pomegranate Seeds

Pomegranates are one of nature's healthiest foods available. Although they are very good for the body, they are also very messy and difficult to deal with. I wanted to show you how to remove the seeds in an easy, clean and efficient way. First off, pomegranates can stain so when you deal with them be aware of this and maybe put on a shirt that you don't mind getting stained. Fortunately I was wearing a blue, purple, and maroon tie dye shirt so it somewhat blended in.

So these are the supplies/ingredients you will need:

Pomegranate

Knife

Bowl

Cutting Board

Serving Spoon or something with a heavy handle

First, you need to cut the pomegranate in half.

Second, put the pomegranate, inside side down, in your palm and place your hand over or inside a large bowl.

Then, take the spoon end or the handle end (whatever is heaviest) and wack the pomegranate. The pressure of the spoon and force of the hitting will knock the seeds out. It's very simple and gets the seeds out quickly and without a big mess.

Your pomegranate will look murdered but you got all of your seeds out cleanly and very efficiently!

The seeds are packed with antioxidants, throw them in your breakfast, lunch or dinner!

I used them in my breakfast earlier this morning:

Breakfast with antioxidant burst

and in my lunch:

Simple Salad

Lettuce,

Black beans,

Pepperchinis,

Flax seeds,

Pomegranates,

Home made Italian dressing

Tofu Challenge

So I'm not too convinced on tofu yet. I'm trying different ways of making it to make it tastier. The first time I sauteed it with some seasonings. I liked the texture but the taste not so much. This time I decided to marinade it for about an hour first to let the flavor absorb in the tofu.

I used an Asian Sesame marinade. After about 2 hours of marinading, I broiled the tofu in the oven. I like most of my food extra crispy/crunchy so I left it in there for a little bit of time. It was about 12 minutes on each side. Maybe a little longer. In 350 degree temp. Once they were done, I added them to a quick salad. I'm going to the farmers market tomorrow morning so I'm mostly out of veggies. The ones I had left I threw in the salad. Red pepper, brocolli, lettuce (duh), dry roasted almonds, and the tofu topped with a basil vinagrette.