Tofu, Tofu, Tofu: A few recipes, and some venting

I made a super delicious fajitas dinner a few weeks ago, and completely forgot to post it. Whenever I need "comfort food" I usually tend to cook up some Mexican food, because well, I ate it a lot growing up, and it is my favorite. This dinner was so good, and I wish I had taken a picture of it, but we dug in too fast. :)

Tofu Fajitas (altered from an old Mexican cookbook I have)
Ingredients:
Firm Tofu
finely grated zest and juice of 2 limes
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 onions
3 bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow or orange, and 1 green)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
guacamole, salsa, and vegan sour cream, to serve

For the Tortillas:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup margarine (I use Smart Balance Light)
1/4 cup warm
water

1. Slice the tofu into thin rectangles. (I only used 1/4 lb... and you'll see why in a minute.) You could use more. Place tofu in a large bowl. Add the lime zest and juice, sugar, oregano, cayenne, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the tortillas. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the margarine, then add the warm water, a little at a time, to make a stiff dough. Knead this on a lightly floured surface for 10 to 15 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic.
3. Divide the dough into 12 small balls, then roll each ball into a 6 inch round. Cover the rounds with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out while you prepare the vegetables.
4. Cut the onions in half and slice them thinly. Cut the peppers in half, remove the cores and seeds, then slice the flesh into 1/2 inch wide strips.
5. Heat a large frying pan or griddle and cook each tortilla in turn for about 1 minute on each side or until the surface colors and begins to blister. Keep the cooked tortillas warm and pliable by wrapping them in a clean, dry dish towel.
6. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Stir-fry the tofu for 5-6 minutes, then add the peppers and onions and cook for 3-4 more minutes, until the tofu is cooked, and the vegetables are soft and tender, but still juicy.
7. Spoon the tofu mixture into a serving bowl and take it to the table with the cooked tortillas, guacamole, salsa, and vegan sour cream.
8. To serve, each guest takes a warm tortilla, spreads it with a little guacamole and piles on some of the tofu mixture in the center. Add vegan sour cream if you want.

*Grandma-you would have been so proud of my tortillas!!!!*

And today, I had another yummy vegan dinner.... (of course, what else would I be blogging about?) lol Also, growing up my grandma would make chicken tenders with mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. Well, while trying to figure out what I was going to make today, I decided to try to veganize that favorite dinner. It was a success! Here is what I did:

I made the tofu "tenders" by using the Pan Fried Tofu recipe (again only using 1/4 lb of tofu.) (I also didn't make the mushroom gravy.) Instead, I made a white gravy by using a recipe on the back of Kentucky Kernel Seasoned Flour, but you could just make your own favorite white gravy. Then I made mashed potatoes and corn. It was very yummy, and Carlee loved it. We all did actually. This will be a frequent dinner, I'm sure. :)

Now, on to the venting..... Our commissary does not carry firm tofu. So, for the past year, we've had to buy it at an Italian grocery store that is almost an hour away. So, needless to say, I stock up when we go, and still, we only have it once in a while. In addition to it being a journey to buy, after conversion of currency and weight, we are paying almost $30 US Dollars for a pound of firm tofu. Yeah. $30 dollars. Ouch.

I really would like to start relying more on plain tofu in my recipes, though, instead of relying on the over processed soy meats in our commissary's freezer isle. While I am grateful for them, and would still use them on occasions when I need a quick meal, I would prefer to use the normal tofu on a regular basis instead. About a month ago, Tony and I requested that firm tofu be added to our commissary's inventory. A few weeks passed by, and we hadn't heard anything. So, the next trip in, we asked to talk to the manager.

"Oh, yeah, I looked into that. We have it on the shelf," he said. We got so excited. "We've had it for a while." Then I knew he was wrong.

"No," I said, "You haven't had it. Firm tofu? No."

"Yeah, it's by the oriental food."

"No, that's silken tofu. I requested Firm Tofu." I pulled out a container of silken tofu from our bag of groceries. "It's not this, this is for creamy stuff, we need firm tofu to be able to stir-fry and such." It took a few minutes of explaining which kind of tofu was which, and how much we were paying for it out in town. (When I requested it, I specifically asked for firm tofu, and even wrote a brand name and UPC number down.... ugh.) So, he said he would look into it again, and call us.

A few more weeks went by and I finally received a call in which the manager was really sorry, but he couldn't get it in because it's considered produce and they would have to go through Italy to get it. They would need to find a producer, distributor, and then it would need to pass numerous US inspections for them to allow it on the shelves. I didn't take that for an answer. "Well, are you going to try?" He answered they would still try, but that it probably wouldn't happen any time soon. (I'm guessing like nowhere near the time frame of our last year here.) He promised a phone call if he learned anything new.... (trust me, I won't hold my breath.)

ARRRGHHHH!!!!

Sometimes, I can't wait to get back to the States! (Okay, a lot of times, and for more reasons than just food!) I guess we'll have to make a trip to that hour away grocery store soon, because I just used my last package of tofu. :(