Baked tofu with homemade pumpkin cardamom sauce:

Slice and blot (with paper towels) extra firm tofu and bake at 425 for 20-30 mintues depending on your oven, flipping half way throught. You can also “marinate” your tofu in oil or any yummy sauce you like. BBQ is delish. For this recipe, I bake it plain so that it may be dipped in this yummy pumpkin sauce.

Meanwhile, make pumpkin sauce:

1/4 cup pumpkin pecan butter (or TJ’s pumpkin butter)
cardamom and cumin seeds (about a tsp each)
one clove garlic
pinch of ginger powder (optional)
honey, agave or brown sugar to your taste
soy milk creamer to thicken
water to thin if needed

Begin by frying seeds until fragrent in a non stick skillet
Remove from heat and mix with crushed clove of garlic.
Add pumpkin to skillet and stir until warmed throughout, add other spices and seasonings, and then add the fryed seed mixture.
Stir in soy milk creamer and sweetener to taste.
Drizzle over baked tofu, or use as dipping sauce! Delicious on sweet potatoes too.

Sweet Potato Fries:

Peel potatoes if desired, otherwise slice sweet potatoes into wedges.
“Paint” them with olive oil using a pastry brush, you can be quite generous with oil here, as this is the main fat source of the meal and will help in the absorption of valuable nutrients. (you can see my technique for “painting” oil here)
Season with sea salt + garlic powder + red pepper flakes or chili powder

Bake at 500 degrees for 15-20 minutes, flipping half way through.
(Or, if you are baking your potatoes and tofu at the same time, put the oven to 450 and flip tofu when browned on the bottom. Baking time will vary, so keep a close watch!)

Last but not least, MYVERYFIRSTKITCHEN wouldn’t be what it is without a ginormous salad:

Spinach + mushrooms + broccoli + tomatoes + yellow bell pepper + favorite salad dressing (honey mustard for me.)

Perfectly satisfying deliciousness of protein + startch (with some healthy EVOO fat!) + vegggggies. There is even room for a cupcake!

It can LOWER your risk for cavaties, diabetes, colon cancer, depression, Alzheimer’s, liver disease, gallstone disease and more! Oh and for me? It helps decrease my asthmatic symptoms, wakes me up, makes me feel warm and cozy, and gets me out of bed in the morning! Addiction? Maybe! But then I am also addicted to vegetables…so there

I found a lot of my coffee facts here and here

I know many bloggies out there are anti-coffee drinkers, and I know its not the BEST thing in the world for me, but I LOVE it!! We all have our vices, right? A steaming cup of coffee in the morning, mmm, nothing better Well, we are all out! I knew I would have no time to stop anywhere, so tea it was. Chai is my fav!

I even got a Pilates workout in this morning thank goodness. My back has been KILLING me since school started, lugging books and my laptop all over campus all day!

Snacks for school/work today included:

I didn’t have the Amazing Meal, and have yet to try it! Any thoughts on it?? I am back in an Oikos greek yogurt phase…!

Dinner tonight was what is becoming quite the usual: Flat out wrap tortilla pizza + one HUGE sweet potato (which I added ketchup and tobasco to) + greens + some of the boys unpictured Beecher’s Mac and Cheese (so good!!)

Night friends! Gotta get up early to go get coffee!!!!