Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tofu Balls with Red Sauce

While I'm very much enjoying the cooler days and nights, I feel a bit anxious knowing what comes next - lots of darkness. The days are getting shorter and soon we will turn the clocks back, so it's nightfall by 5 p.m. Every year I have a tough time with this. When, at the beginning of November, it's time to get motivated for my evening run or yoga class, I often find it hard to muster up the energy to do so. I eventually settle in and get with some kind of routine, but it's rarely with the same enthusiasm as on a warm summer evening or sunshiney day . And, of course your body does need a little down time to transition into the new season, so I want to honor that too.
This year I'm trying a new tactic. I'm going to try to do the morning thing. My goal is to do some sort of physical activity four mornings a week. So far this week, I've attended two 6:30 a.m. yoga classes and done one short yoga session at home with a run that evening. I know for hard core morning people 6:30 is late - a good portion of the day has already passed by. But for me, being alert, active and social at this hour is a little bit of an effort. I don't mind being awake at that time, it's being out of my comfy bed and out of the house doing something that creates a challenge. Getting to bed early enough to feel rested when getting up before 6:00 is another hurdle. I asked my yoga instructor how many times I have to do this before I'm considered a morning person. She said it's when I no longer think about it. This could take a while.
Someone recently asked if I had a recipe I like for tofu "meat" balls. I haven't made them in a while, but I've used this recipe out of Everday Tofu. I don't really like to refer to veg items as the meat in quotation mark fashion, so I'm trying to think of something else to call them. Tofu balls just isn't right. Tofu spheres isn't necessarily accurate. Todd suggested "medallions", but I'm not sure about that. So for the moment I've landed on "orbs", but I'm open to another suggestion if you have one. Scratch that- I tried "orbs" for a while, but it both looks weird and sounds unappealing, so "balls" it is.

Tofu Balls with Red Sauce
1 lb firm tofu mashed with a fork (soft tofu is easier to mash but I found the orbs to be mushy using the soft)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
2 tsp beef-flavored bouillon (I think I just used veg bouillon)
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or 1/4 tsp each dried oregano and basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbs dehydrated onion flakes
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 olive or canola oil
your favorite red sauce

1. Mix all ingredients except for red sauce and oil in a large mixing bowl.
2. Form 1-inch balls.
3. In deep sautee pan, heat the oil on medium high heat and brown the balls.
4. Place the balls in a medium sized baking dish, cover halfway with your favorite red sauce and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. (It'd probably be ok to skip the baking part and just add the orbs to whatever you're eating and cover them with sauce.)

2 comments:

Craig and Tammi Goddard said...

Thanks Michelle! I'll try these this weekend.
Strikes me that bulghur might be something that could be used in baking Orbs. Haven't experimented with that - and I am not the world's most gifted inovator when it comes to cooking. But I might try.

Craig and Tammi Goddard said...

TinkerBelle = Tammi

The Negroni Cocktail

I'm trying to remember my first Negroni experience, but can't call to mind my initial impressions. To the best of my memory, I backe...