Tofu Croutons

Friends, family, people of the blogesphere, I have had a breakthrough: Tofu doesn't have to suck!

If you are anything like me, you bought tofu once upon your yesteryear, with no actual idea what you were doing with it or how to cook it. You attempted some half-baked recipe only to discover it was completely DISGUSTING and vowed you'd never put your taste buds through that torture again.

Well, years later, I have been re-inspired. My sister has been harping about how much she loved the sriracha-soy tofu she had made the other day. I am not at all a spicy person, so her recipe just wasn't floating my boat, but the more she talked about tofu, the more I got thinking. Finally, after visiting my friend and her new baby the other night (welcome to the world little Everly, love you so much already!) I decided to hit the grocery store.

What is it about new life that makes me want to try new foods?

Anyway, I decided tonight to dive in there and try to find a way to make myself like tofu. I had heard about people baking it until crispy, so I decided I'd attempt a tofu crouton for my chicken Caesar salad.

Surprisingly, I LOVED them! They were the perfect blend of a crispy outside with a soft, slightly chewy inside.

Here's what I used to make them:
1 Package firm or extra firm tofu (I used the kind that's refrigerated and stored in water, not the dry, shelf stable kind)
1/2 cup yellow corn meal (more if needed)
1 tsp Garlic Salt (more if desired)

Here's how I made them:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Pat the tofu dry and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3. Gently roll the cubes in corn meal.
4. Place corn meal covered cubes on a greased baking sheet.
5. Sprinkle garlic salt over the cubes. Add other seasonings if desired.
6. Bake until cubes have started to slightly brown and are crunchy to the touch (Approximately 30-45 minutes).

They're best if you eat them when they're still warm. I let them cool for about 5 minutes and then dove in!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did! They were awesome on a nice chicken Caesar salad. I'd even strongly consider making the salad without the chicken!

I know it's hard to retry a food you've previously been not so fond of, but this is almost guaranteed to change your mind about tofu!

What are your favorite tofu recipes? I'd love to experiment some more!

MY Truth About C-Sections

The thought of a Cesarean is pretty scary, right?  I mean, your stomach is being cut wide open, and a baby is being pulled out of it, all while you're awake, aware of what's happening and strapped down to an operating table. There's catheters (gross), blood loss, the inability to move, hardcore medicines, uncontrollable shaking, the possibility of complications requiring your supporter to have to leave the room (doesn't sound so bad now, but when you're strapped to a table and the doctor tells your husband that they're having some complications and he will have to leave- WORST FEELING EVER), no control over anything that's happening... seriously frightening.

Now let's add in to the mix the fact that you will most likely not be able to be the first one to hold your baby, in fact, your first interaction with your baby will not happen until after he or she has been cleaned and had the initial stats measured and recorded, and someone else has spent an hour or so with him or her. After you leave the hospital, you're going to be recovering from major abdominal surgery while learning to be a new mom.

Let's face it, Cesareans are NOT easy. Not physically. Not mentally. Not during. Not after. They are not easy. Period.

Oh and speaking of period, you thought you wouldn't bleed as much as someone who delivers naturally since there's no "action" down south? Guess again. You'll probably bleed way more because you didn't lose all the blood during delivery. YAY!

Ok, ok... you get the picture. It can down right suck. And yet, I LOVED it! Sure, there were moments of complete and utter terror. There was uncertainty. There was a serious struggle with not being in control of anything happening to or around me. But IT. WAS. AWESOME.  Let's talk about why...

1. PAIN MEDS. After 40 hours of labor, that epidural they gave me 22 hours into the gig was just not cutting it. As soon as they decided they needed to do an emergency C, in came my good friend Mr. Anesthesiologist and it was like a breath of fresh air. I went from writhing in pain to straight chillin'.  Let's put it this way.. mid way through the c-section, I asked my husband if he was going to be late for his high school reunion... He won't be having one of them again for 3 years... I was feeling seriously good.

2. Catheter. Now I know, you're thinking I'm either some kind of freak or I'm completely insane. There's no way a catheter can be a good thing, right? Well... let's think back to the last month. I was super pregnant, and I naturally have a teeny tiny bladder. Add a baby into my belly, pressing against my bladder all the time.. I was making at least 12-15 trips to the bathroom PER NIGHT. Not an exaggeration.. There were some nights I was up every half hour. Once they put the catheter in (which I didn't feel, thanks to pain meds discussed in love point #1), I didn't have to pee! For the first time in over a month, I felt no urge to run to the bathroom. After delivery, I got to sleep for 5 hours straight WITHOUT getting up to run to the bathroom! It was glorious. And for those of you who have heard how horribly painful they are to be removed- I barely felt it at all (probably thanks to the meds, and the distracting massive incision across my stomach preventing me from sitting up without double arm assistance).

3. It feels like the ocean in your stomach. I'm totally serious. It felt like there were just waves running across my stomach while they were doing the procedure. I have no idea why I was feeling what I was feeling, but it felt awesome. It's like a stomach massage delivered by water Gods. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but it felt really cool. Side note, I was super freaked out about being able to feel things prior to the operation, so it's not something I was anticipating enjoying.

4. Warm Towels. The medicines they give are known to cause some shaking in some patients. Add to that the pretty decent amount of blood loss I experienced and I was like a full body bobble head. It was pretty scary, especially after they told my husband he had to leave. Luckily, that wonderful Mr. Anesthesiologist I'm so fond of, was there by my side, holding my hands and wrapping warm towels over my shoulders. Seriously, there's not a whole lot that beats wrapping up in a soft towel fresh out of the dryer.

5. My husband got to be the first to hold our daughter. It's a tough thing to miss out on that fundamental "mom moment", but it was so beautiful to see him holding our little girl. It was an amazing experience to be able to sit back and just see them taking each other in and saying hi to her for the first time. It was a heart melter.

6. You have a perfectly legitimate excuse to not wear pants for at least 2 weeks after delivery. Seriously, who wants pants rubbing up on a fresh incision? Not this girl. Boycott your bottoms and live it up in your bathrobe!

7. You're like a superhero. You made a baby, you survived major surgery and now you're a mom! Your baby is not going to care how they came into this world, just as long as you are right there beside them, snuggling, loving and showing them the way through the crazy thing called life. You had a baby. You are awesome.

We all know the stigmas associated with Cesareans, but I'm here today to tell you to throw that out the window. You are a mom. You brought life into this world. You are a bad@$$.

For anyone reading this that is preparing to deliver- get ready. It's about to be the best experience of your life. I hope this eases some of your anxieties and gets you excited to meet your new little bundle of joy. And remember, regardless of how you bring your little one into the world, you are about to be a mom... and moms are just the best. Go you!!!

Fruit Pizza

Cookies + Icing + Fruit = Pizza. 

One heck of an equation, right?  So I'm no mathematician, but I can tell you that adding these ingredients together results in a seriously yummy dessert. BONUS *It has fruit on it, so it's almost healthy. YUM!

This makes a perfect treat to take to dinner parties or to have at home after a meal to sneak a few extra fruits into your kiddo's (or husband's) diet! It is such a nice summery dessert that it can really be a mood booster in the middle of winter if you can get your hands on some decent fruit!

Here's all you need:
- 1 Tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough (or you can be fancy and make your own!)
- 1 8oz brick of cream cheese, ROOM TEMP
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Fruit (customize to fit what you like!)

Here's how to make it:
1. Slice cookie dough to thickness indicated in directions on package
2. Instead of spreading cookies on a sheet, arrange them all close together in a circle on a pizza pan. I gently pushed the edges of the cookies together to make one giant cookie crust.
3. Bake as indicated on cookie dough packaging.
4. Cool crust.
5. Using electric beaters, mix together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until well combined and a nice creamy frosting has formed.
6. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled cookie crust.
7. Decorate with whatever fruit you choose!
8. Slice like a pizza and enjoy!