Pasta and Crispy Fried Tofu

Today I had to play host to a co-worker from out of town in the morning, so I made a very easy and universally acceptable lunch.  I made spiral rice pasta (this seems to be the closest to gluten-filled pasta), then added the soup/sauce from yesterday. 

For the co-worker and my husband I added shredded Parmesan cheese, and for my own pasta I added vegan, gluten free Parmesan cheese substitute.

Last night I was looking through pictures of other meals I've made this year, and came across a picture of crispy fried tofu.  I started craving it immediately, so made that after I was done playing hostess this afternoon.  Here is the recipe I used:   Crispy Fried Tofu with Sweet Chili Sauce

I used a mix of corn oil and olive oil to fry in.  Normally, I would have used an oil with a higher heat threshold, such as grapeseed oil, but I didn't have any.

The sweet chili sauce is SO easy to make, but I think it stinks to high heaven as it is cooking.  Rice vinegar has a foul smell to me.  But this sauce is really amazing and I bet you could find so many uses for it.

I didn't have the proper tofu for this recipe, so I experimented.  First I pulled out a package of Soft Silken Tofu by Morinaga.

It was much, much too soft for this recipe, so it turned into what you see below after I tried to coat it with the breading.  It still looked like it had big possibilities, so I set it aside.

Next I grabbed Firm Plain Tofu, put together another batch of breading, then fried that up.

Here you can see everything after it's cooked.  It was yummy.  I ate the bowl of pasta and some of this tofu for lunch.  This afternoon I took a nap, and when I woke up only 1/3 of this tofu was remaining.  My 8 year old ate up the rest while I was napping. :)

Tonight was another Zumba class (my third one).  Lacy couldn't go tonight, so I was considering using that as an easy excuse to not go.  In the last half hour before the class I decided I would be miserable and feeling guilty if I didn't go.  So, I went and I had more endurance.  This time I didn't feel like puking.  After the class I thought to take another picture to share, but it looked too posed.

I took another picture, thinking I would try to give a more natural face.  Well, I accidentally took the picture too quickly, but it was so funny I decided to keep it.