Oh Seattle, how obsessed are we with cherry blossoms? I can’t tell if we’re all smiling lately because the sun is shining past 7 pm or if it’s because of all the pink confetti drifting all over the city. Underneath all of our rain gear and rubber boots, Seattleites must be total hopeless romantics. I do hope to get to UW this week, where the cherry blossoms are among the most spectacular and famous in the city. My friends at Thrifty Northwest mom have some really great ideas on how to get the best viewing experience. It feels like the blossoms are earlier this year so I’m not sure how much time we have left.
We also don’t have a lot of time left to celebrate National Nutrition Month. House Foods, a brand that makes tofu products, sent me some tofu in the mail to remind me about eating more plant-based products and I thought it would be a good opportunity to share how much plant-based food we actually eat in our house. Over the past few years we have cut out most meat products except for chicken and fish so tofu and other plant-based proteins make up most of the diet for my family. My favorite tofu is firm and I love the flavored tofus I buy up north in Vancouver Canada when I visit family.
Most of the tofu I received were tofus I already buy, but this kind of tofu fettucine is totally brand new to me and I’m excited to find a good recipe for it (if you use these and can direct me to something, I’d love to hear so I can try it!). These are noodles that are made of tofu. Their texture is a little different than regular noodles and their taste is a little different than tofu so I need to figure them out a little more.
The way I usually cook tofu is actually just to drizzle it with a little oil and bake it in the oven on a cookie sheet lined with parchment until it’s crispy and then top it with a sauce made of ginger, soy sauce, lime juice and green onions. My family likes eating this with rice and other vegetables and I like that it’s relatively simple.
It is also simple to go out and eat tofu so we also love the veggie dumplings at Din Tai Fung. We eat mostly vegetarian because we love animals and have a hard time eating things that used to be animals so I was thankful for House Foods for reaching out to me.
I also recently received a rainbow of plant-based deliciousness from Suja juices and I finally finished the one that was scaring me the most. It was called Green Delight but because I knew the green came from green vegetables I thought it would taste like the earth. Instead it was refreshing and I really enjoyed it. I think it ended up being my favorite. My boys really enjoyed the Berry Goodness one and I’m really glad we had the chance to try these juices out. I also was thrilled with their beautiful vibrant colors and was thankful that the color was not artificially made. (I never realized how many products and especially kids’ products contain added food coloring and sweeteners. Why?)
I love how seeing cherry blossoms and eating plant-based foods remind me of how much I appreciate the beauty of our Mama Earth. This Monday I know I need to send some thank you’s out into the universe. Gratitude is so important and I need to make sure I help my kids remember how thankful we are every day. I am thankful that you’re reading today and hope you have a lovely Monday too!
(PS. if you are trying to incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet I’d love to hear if you have some delicious recipes!)
(PPS. I tried the green beans at Veggie Grill recently! YUM!)
(PPS. I received some free tofu and juices but was not required to post my opinions and the views expressed above are definitely mine.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)