B'klynHeart: Good Cook Day

So, yes, we all know how much I am in love with ~~my own cooking~~ The Husband, such that I spend hours ~~laboring over food preparation~~ hours cleaning the kitchen in order to ~~slowly enjoy my food bite-by-bite in some Herbal Essences commercial state~~ provide him a good home-cooked healthy meal.

I may have a problem.

I know I go around saying that my cooking produces "masterpieces", which is hardly true even when considering it is solely from my perspective. Monday however... Monday I felt like I hit them all out of the park.

Starting with breakfast... which was just a typical tofu scramble... and is not pictured (Awwww...) but let me tell you why I thought it was great:

1) Tofu press - The best thing that ever happened to my (insert name of tofu based dish here). It really gets the moisture out (without killing all of my paper towel supply). Tofu comes out nice and firm and then absorbs all of the lovely flavors.

Tofu torture device. Vegan cooking is vicious.

2) Spices! The spice must flow. My collection of (yes, Penzey) spices has grown, and with it... the possibilities. I sometimes feel like a mad scientist.

3) Black salt! Kala Namak is the new third best thing to happen to my tofu scrambles. I read about it on the interwebs (and a few of the scramble recipes I've tried) and how it can add that "eggy flavor" to the tofu. Now... I took a whiff from the bag and thought two things: Yes, eggy. No, not the eggy I want. In any case, I did take the gamble, and it paid off big time.

Hence, no picture. Maybe next time.

Delicious smelling and tasting when added to food.
Just don't stick your nose in it while in this form.

Later in the day, dinner took place. I did manage to capture a couple of snaps before the devourination:

1) Gardein Tuscan Breast topped with Balsamic/Thyme roasted tomatoes. I can't claim the breast, but I did throw together the tomatoes as a way to balance out what I thought was an over sweet sauce last time I had it (not bad, but wasn't my ideal). This came out gorgeous.

2) Brussels Sprouts. Please go look at that link. I beg you. Then you'll understand why when I was planning to steam some broccolini to go with this dish I suddenly said (to my monitor, the only thing staring back at me at the time) "I need to have brussels sprouts tonight." Even knowing now that brussels sprouts are not the root of all evil, it's never a sentence I thought I'd utter out loud. In any case... yes, it was perfection as promised. Win.

The dinner trifecta.
I really wish I could reach into the screen and eat this.

3) Lulu's Mac and Cheese from Peas and Thank You. The recipe I've linked here, but it is also available in the book, where Mama Pea described herself as a "Deluxe" girl. That spoke to me. Considering a good portion of the weight that I lost that wasn't pizza was probably "Deluxe".

Now, as I was pulling this together, I had my doubts. Especially when it didn't look like it was pulling together. And then...

Magic.

Bliss.

[Deluxe Herbal Essences Commercial Moment]*

Texture, flavor, gooey... all wonderful and perfect. This was the macaroni I should have made those many days ago... but then again, perhaps I didn't because the mac was meant for this meal.