Sesame Marinated Tofu

I know what you're thinking. It's probably one of two thing: "EWW!!! TOFU? EWW!!!" or "Holy Crap! She really is a hippy!"

Trust me on this one, it's way tastier than you think.

Extra Firm or Super Firm Tofu (usually in the refrigerated part of produce or in the Vegan section)

Sesame Oil (like Kadoya)

Fine Ground Sea Salt

Roasted Sesame Seeds

Lots of paper towels.

First of all, I recommend Kadoya Sesame oil because it has a really great toasted sesame flavor. Also, it's actually made in Japan and it's super cheap at Wegmans.

Second, the tofu. Not all tofu is the flavorless, pale, wiggly mush that a lot of people think of. Yes, tofu has a mild flavor, and yes it does take on a lot of the flavor of whatever it's prepared with. This is what you're counting on in this recipe.

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Open your tofu package, drain out all the liquid and don't look back. You don't want or need that liquid anymore. Cut your tofu into 1/2 inch slices. After you cut each slice, gently squeeze out as much water as you can using paper towels to soak it up. You'll see that the Extra/super Firm Tofu has a pretty solid texture and it will get even more solid when you take even more water out of it.

Cut your slice in half, lengthwise, and soak more water out of it on the newly cut side. Then cut your "stick" of tofu into cubes. You could soak even more water out at this point, but I generally don't bother. It's usually pretty solid at this point.

Extra/Super Firm tofu with the extra water taken out has a pretty agreeable, mild flavor and a palatable texture.

Put all of your tofu into a bowl that will allow enough room to gently stir your tofu. Lightly coat with with the sesame oil, salt to taste and add a generous helping of sesame seeds.

You can eat it now, or refrigerate for a few days. You'll probably be surprised how much you enjoy this.

Cherry Almond Trail Mix

Whipped this up tonight to encourage the hubby to snack a little better.

Mix (roughly) visually equal parts:

Dried Sweet Cherries (not sweetened cherries)

Whole Almonds (raw, toasted, whatever)

Nestle White Chips

Stir together. Enjoy.

I portioned ours into snack baggies in 1/3 cup servings.

Hardware Store Bracelet

I bought everything I needed (materials wise) for this bracelet at Home Depot for less than $10.

Shopping List:

• Neon Cord - 5/32" Diamond Braid Poly, All-Purpose Cord. I bought blue, but it comes in other colors.
• 1/4" - 20 Hex Nuts or machine nuts.
• 1" S hooks

Tools from home:

• size N crochet hook
• large eye needle
• sturdy pliers

Thread about 20 nuts onto your cord. Start off with a slip knot around your hook, leaving about a 4" tail

Slide 1 nut against the knot and work your chain stitch, the nut should fall onto the "back" of the chain.

Slide 1 nut against work and chain 1. Repeat to desired length. You probably won't need all of the nuts, I only needed about a dozen, but extra is always good.

To add your closure, unravel the outer layer of the cord until about 1" from your work. Cut off the inner core. With your needle, weave the unraveled ends back through your work.

Repeat for other end. Slip S hook into one loop, and squeeze closed with the pliers. Leave the other end open so you have an S clasp.

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I know I don't generally post things like this on this blog, but it seemed like a hippy appropriate thing, so I'm sharing anyway.

Solid What??

So, I was over in Historic Bethlehem the other day, and I stumbled onto a wonderful little shop called the LaRose Boutique. They sell natural and organic bath and body goodies - including but not limited to wonderful handcrafted soaps and scrubs. I bought Shea Honey Oat Soap and I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet.

I also bought Solid Perfume for my sister. Saw it, thought of her, that kind of thing. But I'm intrigued. I think I could finally have my Cinnamon Patchouli that I love so much without having to mix fresh oils every few days. (In other words, not a pain in the ass, so I would actually be able to wear it again.)

LaRose is totally worth the stop if you're in the area. The entire store smells wonderful and the woman who runs it is a sweetheart. It's also in a great little neighborhood full of specialty shops, including at least 3 art galleries (I love the Snow Goose!) and a Magick store.

Flavors.

Made more lipbalm the other night, Honey Almond with a touch of cinnamon. It turned out fantastic!

Then I tried to make Pina Colada. What a mess. The first try, the pineapple turned into a giant gooey blog, and the second try the pineapple powder integrated but I'm really not happy with how the flavor turned out. You can't taste the pineapple over all the coconut. I'm going to have to find a better/different way of flavoring this one.

I'm thinking of looking for a pineapple extract or a pineapple candy flavor and see how that goes.

Homemade Lip Balm = Epic Win!

I made another batch of lip balm this morning and I decided to take what I learned from using the recipe and just kinda wing it. I used the same amount of beeswax, but used coconut and safflower oils instead of just almond. Kept the Vitamin E, used Sweet Orange again, but I skipped the cocoa and honey.

It turned out good. It's yummy, it's a little more solid this time, and I managed to make a slightly bigger batch of this one.

I'm not sure whether the solidity is owed to the coconut oil (which is solid at room temp, if you've never seen it) or if it's because I left out the honey, but I need to remember that this recipe hardens faster than the other one does. I think I'll need to pour this one without dropping the pot into cold water.

At any rate, I'm having a blast and feeling really good about what I'm doing. Especially after the week with a sling in which I basically sat around and bitched about the sling, because it was something to blame my boredom on. Honestly, even without the sling, there's no way I could have grated beeswax with how my wrist and fingers felt last week.

I think that I'm going to whip up one more batch of balm before I have to pack it in and head to work. I'm thinking Wintergreen this time. I really want to make mint, but everybody does Peppermint. I also need to spend some time working on a list of infused oils I want to make. Definitely Vanilla Bean, because Vanilla Bean + Sweet Orange + Wintergreen = Root Beer! Not kidding, it's an incredibly close approximation. And I can probably get closer if I wait until spring and dig some sassafras root at my grandparent's house.

Any flavor ideas would be welcome, let me know!

Homemade Lip Balm = WIN!

I made homemade lip balm using one of these Recipes, from Crunchy Betty.com, the Luscious Lavender one. I used a little extra cocoa and sweet orange oil and I've really excited about how it's turning out. It's not even totally set up yet but I stole some anyway to give it a shot.

It's super yummy and seems to work pretty good. And having a recipe to follow for the first batch has totally gotten me over my fear of making lip balm, so keep an eye out for new stuff from your favorite hippy.