Three Yummy Meals

I thought I'd share my three yummy meals today. I could've appropriately entitled today's post: What Mariah Ate. I think I went with the better option though. The first two were quite simple. The last one, quite in depth. They were all delicious.
Breakfast: Strawberry blueberry smoothie in a bowl.
Lunch: Avocado and veggie wrap with fresh fruit.
Dinner: Baked tofu with apricot BBQ sauce, served over barley, with steamed broccoli.

The strawberry blueberry smoothie recipe can be found here.
The avocado veggie wrap is pretty self explanatory... put avocado and whatever veggies you like in a wrap and wrap it up! I used spinach, salad savoy, red pepper, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives, and avocado.

For dinner, I decided to try a new recipe. I am not the biggest BBQ sauce fan, but this was pretty good! I made baked tofu and then smothered it with this homemade apricot BBQ sauce.

Apricot BBQ Sauce

(Print Recipe)

Adapted from Veganomicon

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped as finely as you can
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds apricots (6-8), pitted and cubed
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)


Directions:

Preheat a saucepan over medium heat. Place the oil and onions in a pan and saute until browned (about 7-10 minutes). Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes. Add the water, apricots, pepper, ginger, and coriander. Cover and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and let cook about 10 minutes until the apricots are mushy.
Uncover and add the remaining ingredients. Cook 10 more minutes, stirring often and mashing the apricots as you stir.
Remove from heat and let slightly cool. Puree with an immersion blender (or in a regular blender) until smooth. Keep extra sauce refrigerated in a sealed container.

I made the baked tofu, simply by slicing it, pressing it, dredging it in tamari (or soy sauce) and baking it at 350 degrees, for 30 minutes (flipping it halfway through). I don't have a tofu press, so I press my tofu the old fashioned way: With a layer of paper towels, a kitchen towel, and a heavy marble board. I leave the marble on it for at least 15 minutes. (You might want to even use 2 kitchen towels, depending on how absorbent they are.)

This is my tofu dredging process and how it looked when it came out of the oven.

Lastly, I smothered the tofu with apricot BBQ sauce and baked it for an additional 15 minutes. 

As I was cooking tonight, I looked outside to this view!

Today wasn't spent slaving over the stove (that was reserved for tonight)... we spent most of the afternoon at Birkdale Village, walking around, shopping, and sipping our Starbuck's drinks. Iced coffee for her, coffee frappucchino for him, and water for the little dog. Lilly found an adirondack chair just her size.

I am so glad apricots are in season and I hope to use them in a few more recipes before they are gone until next summer!

mmmmm... apricots.