Quick and Easy Vegan: Scrambled Red Pepper Tofu and Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I've been on a vegan kick lately. I really am trying to do it this year. Putting the label on myself would make me feel really pressured, so all I'm saying is, I'm trying to eat vegan meals more often than not.

This was a really easy weeknight meal. I apologize for my ultra basic plating and minimal photos, but I wasn't planning to take pictures of this meal at all. Then I remembered, you're a blogger, silly.

This meal is multipurpose: I think it's suitable for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Feel free to change up the seasonings to suit your taste. 

Ingredients:

Scrambled Red Pepper Tofu:

1/2 cube medium firm to firm tofu (avoid silken, the texture will be too mushy)

olive oil

1 red pepper

2 garlic cloves

garlic powder

1 cup green onions 

1 plum tomato

Mrs. Dash's salt free garlic herb seasoning

seasoned salt

(185 calories/serving, 9g carbs, 10g fat, 14g protein, 4g sugar, 106g sodium)

Baked Sweet Potato Fries:

1 sweet potato

olive oil

garlic powder

seasoned salt

Mrs. Dash's salt free garlic herb seasoning

(146 calories/serving, 20g carbs, 7g fat, 2g protein,7g sugar, 128g sodium)

1. Place potato in microwave to cook. It took about 15 minutes for me. 
2. Sprinkle olive oil in the bottom of a pan. Add garlic and allow to get a little brown. Then add chopped red peppers, green onions, and tomatoes. Saute.
3. Remove your potato from the microwave. Cut into thick slices and place on flat baking tray. Brush or drizzle each slice with olive oil. Sprinkle garlic powder, seasoned salt, and herb seasoning. Place in oven for about 20 minutes on 350.
4. Crumble tofu with fork or hands into sauteed veggie mixture. Stir and add seasonings. I like to turn up the fire a little bit to get it brown. 
5. Remove potatoes from oven. Plate with tofu. Enjoy!

College Student Tips:

• This can be about two meals, three if you eat like a bird, but that's not me. No sir! This makes a good lunch-just place in some Tupperware and go!
• Don't skip the microwave part for the potato. Baking potatoes in the oven from raw takes a loooong time-too much time for me. You could boil it instead, I suppose, if you have hangups about using the microwave and carcinogenic radiation-but I prefer the simplicity of the microwave.
• You can leave this dish pretty much unattended to do your homework while it cooks. Just keep the fire low on the tofu and don't make your temp higher than 350 on the potatoes. 

Final Note: I'm going to try to step up my cooking blogger game, hence the nutritional information breakdown (taken from my MyFitnessPal recipe calculator) and the college student tips. Let me know what you think, and if you have any other ideas about how I can make this more useful for readers. Thanks. :)

snacks: the happy "lotus garden" snack

i call this my "happy lotus garden" snack.


to explain: yogurt is known for being a great food for women to ingest to prevent yeast infections. if you are prone to them, make plain yogurt a part of your diet.


pineapple is known to make those lady parts have a...ahem..."sweeter taste," if you will.


the strawberries? I just really like the combo of pineapples and strawberries.

it's quick, easy, healthy, and filling. toss some roasted almonds  or some granola on top for some crunch. 

repost: easy peasy veggie pasta

whole wheat pasta (walmart brand, i ain't fancy)

green peppers

tomatoes

caned black olives

plenty of olive oil (i have a thang for olive oil)

seasonings: garlic powder, onion powder, ms. dash

crumbled veggie meat-i used Worthington's FriChik

romano cheese

boil your pasta

saute your veggies and "meat" in olive oil.

season to taste

toss and serve

notes: I really don't believe canned veggie meat is the best thing, but i do use it sometimes. it can really be convenient. 

i am a fan of doing pasta without sauce. sometimes the sauce is the culprit for the high calorie content in pasta. try it out-you might start to prefer it!

i avoid salt at all costs. hypertension runs in the family, so i am very conscious about adding salt to my foods.


I just realized i have posted this before, but not with all of this info. so this is a repost. 

my diet

i describe myself as a pescetarian or pesco-vegetarian.


There is of course debate over what this label entails, but for me it means i eat a plant-based diet that includes fish. other people might include other seafood as well, but that is not my personal preference.


at this time, i also include diary and eggs in my diet.


i have a cheese addiction that i am currently struggling with, and I believe yogurt is good for me, so there you have it.


in the future? I would like to be a vegan and consume no animal products at all.


i have some ways to go before i get there, but it is something i want to accomplish before i'm 30 years old.


i will share a few recipes in later blog posts. :)

Spinach, Avocado, Blueberry, Radish, Cucumber Salad

A salad I recently made.
Fresh spinach
Radishes
Blueberries
Cucumbers
Avocado
The dressing is homemade as well. I made it in my Magic Bullet. Yes, the one from the infomercial lol. I love it.
I put 2 garlic cloves, a tbsp of lemon juice, tbsp of olive oil, and a small bit of cilantro in the Bullet and blended it up. Easy, quick, vegan, and delicious.
*note: I'm not actually a vegan. yet. cheese and I have a thang. lawd help me*

Jamaica, Jamaica

I figure now is as good a time as any to let you know my heritage.
My parents are both Jamaican, they were born in Jamaica.
I was born here.
So I'm Jamaican-American, or just American with Jamaican heritage or whatever the heck you want to call it. 


Photo: sugarcane in a relative's yard, Florida.

Green Smoothies

I've been drinking green smoothies since January. I won't go into all the details, but basically it's a method of getting lots of leafy greens in your diet via smoothies. Here's a link to a blog where I get a lot of my information and yummy recipes. Incredible Smoothies
I keep mine simple. Typically, I put:
1-2 handful of greens (usually kale or spinach)
banana
almond milk
frozen berries
Place it in my Magic Bullet (i heart that thing!) and blend it up. They are usually pretty yummy, but even if they aren't, oh wells, I drink them.
Benefits I've gotten: Clearer skin, more energy, and (TMI alert) I am very, very regular.
Try them out-it's a simple way to get some good nutrients in your body.