Today, ladies and gentlemen, the Tuesday of the week of May 15th, is my annual Christmas.

Why, you ask?

Because this is the week that farmer’s markets return to Pittsburgh, and Tuesday is my neighborhood’s.

I need to start working on a farmer’s market carol that I can sing as I walk there.

Up this week: Vegan Wedding Soup, Laura’s Not-So-Vegan-and-Not-So-Healthy Cheesecake. Ooooh yeah!

Grab yer kebabs, it’s finally warm enough to fire up the grill. I’m always way psyched about grilling season because it means LESS WORK FOR ME:

The self-proclaimed King of the Grill. Also, Pittsburgh isn’t cloudy, it’s just a little sooty.

So, this meal happened on a Saturday afternoon, after we’d visited the previously mentioned Strip District and I bought all kinds of produce and fresh tofu. In retrospect, it was incredibly silly of me to use freshly made tofu for kebabs, as it was entirely too soft. Live and learn, and use the firmest tofu you’ve got.

You will need:
About 1/2 block tofu
One red pepper
One orange or yellow pepper
A good amount (how’s that for precision?) of pineapple

Marinade:
2 TBS Soy sauce
1 TBS Olive oil
1.5 tsp brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch dried ginger
Chopped Thai basil (optional–I’m addicted, okay??)

Normally I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. However, a strange thing has happened–after Easter, when our good friend Liz gave us 34 pounds of candy, so much so that I had to ask Rob to hide it from me and dole it out in reasonable portions, I’ve begun to develop sugar cravings. So when I wanted to make these kebabs, I decided to use sweet fruits and vegetables (the pineapple and peppers) and make a sweet marinade as well.

Okay, so begin by mixing the marinade in a bowl. Then chop everything into nice bite-size pieces. Dump them all in a Ziploc bag with the marinade, toss well to coat and refrigerate for at least an hour, turning the bag over if you think about it.

If you are using wooden BBQ skewers, soak them in water for about 30 minutes before you grill them so they don’t go up in flames.

When the tofu mixture is done marinading, skewer them up and dump the remaining marinade on them while the grill heats up:

See how the tofu is getting kinda crumbly? That’s what happens when you don’t use extra firm. Foolio!

Now throw ‘em on the grill. Yeah!

Close the lid and let them hang out for a bit. If you don’t have a grill, you could easily do this on a pan inside. Let them cook about 4-5 minutes and carefully flip them over using tongs. Cook another 4-5 minutes and take them off. You’ll be able to tell when they’re cooked to your liking.

While they were grilling, I wanted to make some kind of side dish. To go along with the Asian influence, I decided on these udon noodles.

See, they’re from Japan; they’re authentic–

Eh, nevermind.

Anyway, I cooked the noodles according to the package directions, tossed them with a little soy sauce and sprinkled them with sesame seeds. Then I put some on a plate with the kebabs and threw some more Thai basil over the whole thing.

I’m so glad it’s spring!

So, now you have some Thai basil leftover from the previous recipe, right? And maybe you also picked up a package of smoked tofu at the Asian grocery store, and you’re like, “What am I gonna do with this anyway?” right?

Smoked tofu, by the way, totally rules. The package was on the floor next to the fridge as I put groceries away, when I was suddenly distracted by my ringing phone (or maybe it was a shiny object, I can’t seem to remember). When I came back I found Marley licking the package. I swatted him away, rinsed the kitty saliva from the plastic and stuck it in the fridge. I came downstairs about an hour later to find him licking the spot on the tile where the tofu had been. Of course, as you can tell, there is not very much that Marley won’t eat:

He’s not a kitty who misses many meals.

So anyway, it was Sunday afternoon, I had this basil, tofu, and a hungry manfriend—and thus, it was sandwich time.

You will need:
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced (there are very few recipes on here that don’t include garlic. If you don’t like garlic, you can just go away.)
Half a package of smoked tofu, cut into strips the size of your index finger
1 large whole wheat pita, halved
Spinach, chopped
Red cabbage, chopped
Thai basil leaves, whole
Sesame seeds (optional)
Peanut Sauce (recipe below)

To make the Peanut Sauce, you will need:
2 TBS peanut butter
1 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
Squeeze of lime juice to taste
water to thin to desired consistency

Start by heating the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute, taking care not to burn. We really just want to warm the tofu and add a little garlic flava, so this part will be quick. Drop the tofu in the pan and cook a minute or two on each side, just to heat through. Remove from heat.

To assemble, carefully open the pocket of your pita and stuff half the tofu inside. Please also ignore my grody bass playin’ fingers with short nails and no use for polish:

Smear with half the peanut sauce:

Sprinkle with sesame seeds if you’re into that:

Add some spinach and cabbage for crunchiness:

Poke some basil leaves in there:

NOM NOM NOM!

P.S.
While I’ve already apologized for abandoning this blog during the semester, it was apparently worth it. I got a 4.0!