What to do with 4th of July leftovers
Smogesborg
In light of the 4th of July fireworks, beaches, friends, family, bbq’s, and cookouts, our Mancave meal of the day shows all that we can combine our foods for a fantastic meal and what to do with our leftovers.
Now we know your Auntie can make some tasteful meals, mom is always putting it down, and Tió or Dad can grill up some feel good meats, but what about that food your neighbor hands over? Yes, I know you know. They peel back that foil and your eye brows are like, “What in the hell!” So you remain calm, add that smile and plop it on your plate anyways. Well guess what, it turned out to be good. So this ain’t a bad 4th of July after all.
At the mancave, we ended up with an eclectic compilation of goodies like vegetable stir fried firm tofu, all beef organic hotdogs, chicken, and walnut hummus. So I added corn tortillas, a dab of sour cream, and pickles. Like I said eclectic. Most selections are healthy and saved money in my pocketbook.
Let’s get back to tofu. It’s not what you think, so what is it? Tofu is made from soybeans, like edamame, but made with water and a coagulant or curding ingredient. What’s great is that it is very high in protein, you get over 10 grams per cup, and it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it in.
You should press your tofu first. This is the secret to well cooked and tasting tofu. You ready?
Prep time is about 15 minutes of pressing and if you choose to, freezing the tofu will be another 30-60 minutes.
Here’s how to prepare:
Get the following; cutting board, paper towel or cloth, large bowl or another cutting board, and something that is weighted like a can of beans.
Lay out the paper towels over the cutting board to absorb the moisture from the tofu. Place the block of tofu over paper towels, place more paper towels or cloths over the top of the tofu. You pretty much want to make a tofu sandwhich. Place the large bowl over the top of the top of the paper towels and place a can or weighted object inside the bowl. The weighted object should be heavy enough to press down on the tofu without making it crumble. Then let it sit for 15 mins.
After you pressed the tofu, you can cube slice it and then freeze it. Why freeze these little bundles of cubed? Because this is where the taste factor gets multiplied AND becomes chewier. Who knew?!
Finally, there’s 2 ways to cook tofu. 1 is to pan fry and the other is to bake.
Pan frying allows you to Crispin the tofu. Here we go: Add in some olive oil, onion, garlic, and some ginger dressing. Once the veggies have cooked for a few minutes, then add in the cubed tofu. Fry for 10 mins until tofu is golden.
Baking:
Pre heat oven to 325 degrees.
Place veggies and ginger dressing over the foil sheet on top of the baking sheet. Then add some more dressing or honey mustard. Bake for 1 hour, but keep an eye on the tofu before the hour is up to make sure it doesn’t get over cooked. Ginger dressing is done when baked and Tofu should be moist. Enjoy the nice meal because it’s good for the body and great for the heart.
Bam, Boom. VOILA!
