June 14, 2010

Baked Tofu: The Encore

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

Vegetarian
31 comments

Hello, friends! I hope you had a nice weekend. You all convinced me to purchase two of my official half marathon race photos, despite the obscene cost. You’re right — in a year I won’t remember how much they cost, but I will remember how proud I felt crossing that finish line 🙂

In other news, I packed another five minute lunch this morning before heading off to work! The star was my leftover Almond Soy Sauce Baked Tofu.

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I spread a wedge of light laughing cow cheese on a toasted (no sogginess!) whole wheat pita, then topped it with one of the leftover pieces of tofu. (Does anyone else agree that pita bread is far more awesome than regular bread? I don’t even remember the last time I bought regular bread!)

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Then, I added some avocado for healthy fat, and cucumber for veggie crunch:

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And some sliced orange pepper and cracked black pepper. I heart things called pepper, apparently.

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Lastly — a huge pile of mixed greens for added bulk. Yum!

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For my side dishes, I grabbed some green grapes and leftover steamed green beans.

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So obsessed with green beans. As I’ve said before, I eat them with my hands like french fries 😉 Anyone else?

All together now!

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For my afternoon snack, I grabbed a Siggi’s Orange & Ginger Greek Yogurt (love this stuff):

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And will also have a serving of trail mix I have stashed at the office 😉

Do you keep food at your office? I don’t keep much there now since I’m part time, but when I worked full time, I used to keep shelf-stable snacks (nuts, dried fruit, granola bars, crackers, tea, etc.) in my cube, and would also keep a lot of stuff in the fridge so I could make breakfast and lunch. This was when I was mostly exercising after work since I had to be at work on the early side, so I would stash cereal in my cube and store berries and milk or yogurt in the fridge to eat breakfast at the office when I arrived. On my way to work, I’d eat half a banana to tide me over, and the other half I’d put on top of my cereal when I got there 🙂

Every Monday I would leave home a bit early and swing by the grocery store on the way to work to stock up on a week’s worth of lunch and breakfast stuff. I think my coworkers thought I was insane (or maybe they were just jealous 😉 ) when they saw me whipping up all sorts of delicious looking creations in the kitchen during lunch time, heh.

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p.s. If you’re trying to or in the process of losing weight, check out this cool Woman’s Day contest — winners get a personalized weight loss plan and counseling and will even get to blog about their weight loss journey for Woman’s Day!

- anne

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31 comments
  • Wow! What an amzgin lunch! You're pita looks to die for :) I do, eat greens beans like french fries. Have you ever tried roasting them? Real good!
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  • Your baked tofu sounds delicious, I am going to have to try it and very soon! I am definitely one of those girls that packs the whole kitchen before going to work. I also get the funny looks when I am creating an amazing lunch and everyone else is just heating up some frozen lunches. I think after reading so many blogs, I realized that I could have a fun and healthy lunch at work - I just needed to put in the effort of packing it. And I have a whole snack drawer too. Wouldn't know what to do without it!
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  • Awesome idea, bringing everything with you! And I eat green beans the same way :)
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  • I go grocery shopping on the way to work, too! Mostly for convenience--no lines at 7:20 am!--but it also comes in handy when I leave a snack at home or something ;)
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  • Your lunch looks so yummy! I do keep snacks at the office and have a couple of frozen dinners in case I forget my lunch
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  • Tofu always makes the perfect leftovers! I do keep a stash at work. Much like you, I keep the pantry items in my bottom desk drawer and Kombucha, yogurts, and fruit in the fridge. Always good to have them on hand and to have plenty of options. Now that I travel so much, I make sure I have things in my car as well, like granola bars and trail mix. Being prepared is key to staying healthy during the work week.
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  • I have to keep food at the office because I'm away from home for 12 hours at a time! I used to keep granola bars and pretzels but now I have oats, protein powder, almonds, protein bars and canned fruit in low-sugar juice.
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  • Most definetly keep food stashed at the office. In the fridge, baby carrots, hummus, feta (the essentials). In my desk nuts, bars, dried and dried fruit.
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  • Glad you bought the photos! You're right in your reasoning...
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  • You don't mess around with those pita sandwiches! And on that note, pepper things should always be included. Just sayin'. I keep some snack stuff here, but have been advised otherwise due to cockroach problems in the past. GROSS.
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    • What, you don't like cockroaches for snacks? That's GROSS.
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      • Ha! I prefer veggies for my "crunch" satisfaction, thankyouverymuch. Goo.
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  • Anne, I'm glad you purchased your half marathon race photos. I recently finished my first half marathon and my proud mom purchased a bunch and framed them for me and I love looking at the picture for motivation. It always makes me happy and proud. You'll be glad you purchased them. The pics look great! Good job! P.S. I keep nuts and sweet riot chocolate in my office for food emergencies.
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  • What a flavorful and filling lunch! I need to start to pack lunches that are more well rounded like yours. I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a lunch packing rut!
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  • I bet your coworkers were jealous ;) I only go into my office one week out of every month or two. I leave a jar of peanut butter, granola and dried fruit there all the time. On my way in on Monday, I also stop at the grocery store to stock up on yogurt, fruits and veggies so I don't have to worry about packing snacks everyday.
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  • I have been trying really hard to keep food at work. I usually try to bring what I will eat for the week on Monday. I feel kinda bad sometimes though, because my food takes up so much of the refrigerator sometimes! (plus part of a shelf for dry foods)
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  • I used to keep a lot more, but I now am under a mile away from home and head home for lunch. Usually, I have some trail mix and some crystal light in a drawer, though.
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  • Nice Pita! I myself like to snack on peas much like you do green beans.... I will be making this sandwich for work. I love pita and also wraps instead of regular bread...been trying sandwich thins too and they aren't half bad. That yogurt looks incredible....I haven't seen it locally. There's a Greek Gods greek yogurt flavor that I adore-Cinnamon, Orange and Vanilla. This one looks similarly delicious!
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  • Yup, I eat green beans like french fries too. I learned it from my mom- haha!
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  • Oh what a lovely pita bread! Such a great combination of flavours! I always keep heaps of food at work! Saves a lot of money - and makes for healthy food choices!!!!
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  • I love green beans too! Ben saw me looking at your blog and said your pics look great (maybe it's a hint that my pics are bad?). Anyways, keep up the good work :)
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  • oh yum what a great tofu dish!! LOVE GREEN BEANS! they are so good roasted!!
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  • My co-workers always give me weird looks about the food I eat. My oatmeal is the highlight of several of my co-worker's morning! Actually, it's the highlight of mine too :)
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  • Yum. Awesome lunch. And, yes, avocado makes it all better. Thanks for the inspiration!
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  • That looks like a fabulous lunch! Is that a small pita or a regular sized one? It looks like you fit a lot of stuff in there! I don't usually like the mini pitas because they seem to tear really easily.
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    • It's a regular sized pita :) I've found different brands rip more easily than others!
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  • That's really great! I feel the same way about race photos! :-) I love green beans too! Yum! When I was working I would always have healthy snacks in my desk! Now that I am a student again, I carry them in my bag Everything looks great!!
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  • I totally keep food at the office! I have a small drawer dedicated to it! :-) I usually have Minute Brown Rice or Brown Rice & Wild Rice combo individual serving bowls (yum!), cocoa roasted almonds (has a small amount of sucralose, but you can barely taste it... chocolate AND a nice crunch! so much more satisfying than a candy bar and amazing in Greek yogurt), cold brew iced tea bags (so I won't buy sodas), and an extra water bottle (in case I took one home accidentally). My favorite feature of my workplace is the ice machine. I don't really like tepid water (ours tastes terrible here), so having a constant supply of ice is wonderful, and there's a water fountain right outside our door :-)
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    • Wow, I'm impressed! :) I love those cocoa roasted almonds, too. And cold brew ice tea! It's the best.
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