Tofu & Jackfruit Oh My!
If anyone has been paying attention then you have already noticed that I have been sharing a huge amount of vegan and vegetarian recipes on my social media. Not only have I lost an extraordinarily huge amount of weight; but I can literally feel the difference inside of my body.
When people ask me what my favorite recipes are; that is probably one of the most difficult questions to ask. Simply because I am falling in love with everything that I am cooking right now. Basically, my recipes completely omit the meat. I have chosen not to use any type of meat; chicken, pork, beef, anything that came from an animal. I have not made my husband suffer. If he wants me to make him meet with his meal, of course, I will. But luckily, he has not asked me that.
One thing that I have truly fallen in love with that I did not expect to; is tofu. You can literally use tofu and replace so many different food items. I can scramble tofu in a pan and use nutritional yeast for flavoring, and I have just made scrambled eggs. Or I can take tofu and cut it into strips, fry it in a pan with barbecue sauce and it tastes like chicken strips. I can put that on top of a salad and have a tofu barbecue salad. The options with tofu are endless.
There are very few issues with being vegan/vegetarian. However, I can tell you what the biggest one is. The judgment and ridicule from others. My friends think it is funny to tease me about it or say that I did not get invited to an event because they had meat. To me, it’s not funny. To me, it is a way of life now. And my new way of life feels as though my friends do not accept it; so are they really still my friends. That is a dilemma that I have been kicking around in my head for a very long time.
My husband and I used to go out to dinner with friends almost every weekend. This does not happen any longer. It is true, we are extremely busy. But we were just as busy before. The thing is, I am just tired of being teased and ridiculed for what I eat. I don’t tease or ridicule anyone else for eating meat, so I don’t expect it from others. And quite frankly if you were my friend, there would never be a question at all.
I have not discussed this with any of my friends; so it is not their fault for not adjusting. I have just kept it inside and kept it to myself. To me, I feel like I am saving the issue by keeping it inside. Why do I have to tell anyone that it bothers me? In my opinion, they should know that it bothers me. But alas; people are not mind readers, obviously.
As far as other favorite foods or favorite recipes. I would have to say the one other food that I have found fascinating and wonderful all at the same time is jackfruit. If you take a jackfruit and shred it and cook it in a pan and then drain it to mix it with barbecue sauce before you bake it in the oven; you will ultimately have the best-shredded barbecue sandwich! There is actually a local restaurant here in the city I live in that offers this as a sandwich as well. It is fantastic and hands down one of the best sandwiches I have had in ages!
Another great thing about being vegan/vegetarian is the fact that there are unlimited options. Each month brings a new fruit or vegetable. Each season brings a new ripening. And that excites me. Because it tells me that my options are not limited.
Thanks for Reading;
Kristina
#KristinaWrites #vegan #vegetarian #tofu #jackfruit