tofu nuggets & oven fries

[contessapiranha]

tonight mr p is working late late late & so I made what has become what I think of as my "babysitter" meal -- you know, the kind of thing I'd make if there was a babysitter & I needed to guarantee the kids would eat. did your parents do this? anyway, since I have yet to find an actual babysitter, I make it on nights when I feel guilty for leaving

Comments

[scoutj]

Do you cook like this every night?!?! I'm tired just reading this and I even like cooking!!

[contessapiranha]

lol, I think of this as so quick to put together! it's way more complicated to read than it is to do, because I wrote down all about how I time everything so it's all done at the same time. if you take out the marinating/soaking time + the time you're just standing around waiting to flip things over, it's only about 10 minutes worth of actual work.

(I do not do this every night, though, no. tonight, gardenburgers! fresh from the freezer!)

[scoutj]

Don't be offended by this comment of mine. But...I think that is what would be the hardest thing for me about being a vegetarian or vegan! It seems like so much work to make really yummy things. Am I wrong about that?

[contessapiranha]

oh, I'm not offended at all -- I almost said pretty much the same thing in my last comment!

I think that it depends, timewise. there are of course really elaborate recipes, & if you're chopping a ton of vegetables the that of course takes time, but then there's also a whole lot you can do with a can of beans + 30 mins cooking time. & there's also all of the meat substitute stuff -- frozen "chicken" nuggets don't take any longer than regular chicken ones to cook.

but I've never actually cooked a meat meal, so I don't know how the clock compares. most nights I try to pull something simple together in about 30 mins -- is that a lot of time?

[scoutj]

Not a lot really, but see, living in the apartment with no space has turned me into the most non-cooking-mama evah. I can't imagine not being able to whipe up some Annie's Mac n' Cheese in 10 minutes! Actually, I can't see not eating cheese period. Cheese is like my chocolate.

For how long have you been vegan?

[scoutj]

Actually, even lazier, last night we just orderd pizza!! I can't wait until we get into my new house so I have a kitchen again.

Also, we're not some big meat eating family. The other day we were at Whole Foods and my kids begged me for salad!

[contessapiranha]

last night gardenburgers, tonight chinese takeout, tomorrow dinner out at indian food! I win the lazy weekend cooking sweepstakes!!

[contessapiranha]

I'm not actually vegan -- I'm vegetarian, but mr p is allergic to (cow) milk & eggs so that = mostly vegan cooking at home. (we do eat goat cheese, but as sort of a food accessory than a main ingredient.)

anyway, I've been veg for, hm, 14 years, I think. yeah, that makes me feel old, counting that up, lol.