The Kindness of Strangers and TLTs

“Gratitudes” – September 21, 2013

Today I’m grateful for:

1. A gorgeous rainy day—it reminded me of the time I spent living on the east coast
2. The woman who shared her umbrella with me (Thank you!)
3. Watching our red kale sprouts grow
4. The opportunity to meet some new people
5. Trying new kinds of tea
6. Random acts of kindness
7. Packing a lunch that I felt really good about

   

   (Romaine lettuce dressed with olive oil, apple cider vinegar and sea salt, millet mixed with cucumber, tomato, chives, lemon juice and umeboshi vinegar, leftover taramind lentils, avocado, black sesame seeds.)
   

   

8. The first apple out of a new bag
9. Speaking with a good friend
10. How good it feels to laugh
11. Being on time when I thought I was running late
12. This picture of a purple snail
    
13. Having an extra pen to give someone who asked
14. Doing some dishes in the morning so that I don’t have to do them tonight
15. People who post inspiring and positive facebook messages
16. Comfortable shoes
17. Y;./67’ <-- Jasper Cat wrote this one
18. Deva Premal and her beautiful music using Sanskrit mantras, especially the Gayatri Mantra 
19. That I made homemade granola last week! Hello no-worry breakfast :)
20. My awesome and very supportive sister
21. This quote by Hafiz
    
22. That I live on a street with lots of trees
23. Coloured highlighters
24. The way nature is so generous
25. Clean dish towels
26. Lemon water
27. Ontario concord grapes
28. Vegenaise coupons
29. Toast
30. Homemade tofu bacon
    

I had a craving for a BLT. I had really good bread from the local bakery, beautiful tomatoes and some perky romaine lettuce. I generally don’t eat many meat substitutes and so was stuck on how to replace the “B” in the BLT. Enter tofu bacon. I thought it fit into my sandwich rather well and even got crispier as it cooled on the pan. It tastes just how I like it -- a little smokey and a little maple-y. Plus it made my kitchen smell really great. So this is my TLT sandwich. Every time I say TLT I hear it to the tune of ACDC’s “TNT”.

TLT: tofu bacon, lettuce, tomato, vegenaise or homemade mayo, toasted bread

Tofu Bacon

1 block of extra firm tofu, cut into 24 pieces

2 tbls olive oil

2 tbls soy sauce

1 tsp liquid smoke

1 tsp maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix liquid ingredients in a small bowl. Dip each piece of tofu into the liquid, turn to cover completely and then place onto a cookie sheet. Cook for 15min. Flip the tofu, spoon the rest of the marinade over the tofu and then bake an additional 10min.