How to do frozen (to)fu

One of the first foods I attempted to master as a vegan was tofu. As a vegetarian, I had several unsuccessful encounters with the bean curd, but I finally set myself upon conquering it. After several attempts (including trying to press silken tofu...ugh), I finally stumbled upon freezing my tofu before I cook it. This is my favorite method for baked tofu because the process squeezes out so much water that the tofu soaks up any marinade like a sponge. Here are my steps:

1) Freeze the tofu. Duh, right? If it is in a vacuum sealed pack, chuck it straight in the freezer, but if it's packed in water, take it out, give it a squeeze and wrap it in plastic wrap.

2) Thaw and press the tofu. The night before I want the tofu, I wrap it in a tea towel and place it between two plates with something heavy on top (I'm sure you have a giant can of beans hanging around). I then set the whole shebang in my kitchen sink. This is important because the method squeezes out so much water that I've found my entire kitchen counter soaked with tofu water. Gross. Don't let that happen. Put it in the sink.

3) Slice and marinate. From here on out, baking is the exact same. I slice up my tofu and let it sit for about 15 minutes on each side. The marinade pictured is a mixture of soy sauce, white cooking wine, garlic and nutritional yeast. It's really fun to watch the tofu soak up the marinade. Whee!

4) Bake and eat. I choose to broil my tofu for 10 minutes on one side, six on the other. Easy peasy!

Obviously you don't have to bake the tofu like I described above. It also works great in things like faux chicken/tuna salad for sandwiches. Just don't use it to make quiche or pie or anything. That would not work.

That one was for you, mom. Love you!

Squeaky Green: My realistic plan for 20-somethings longing for a clean home

Dudes, there are about a billion green cleaners out there. Even Clorox has one! Personally, I prefer brands such as Method, Seventh Generation and Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds (this stuff is amazing), along with my trusted combo of baking soda and white vinegar. While these cleaning supplies are all perfectly capable of doing as good of a job as traditional toxic cleansers, there is one thing you can do to guarantee that they don't work:

Don't use them. Don't clean at all.

I promise that they will do you absolutely no good this way.

Fear not! I will give you my 15:10:5 method of maintaining a clean home without going all dustbuster crazy.

15: Clean for fifteen minutes a day. Decide what you will clean, set a timer and go for it. Today I spent my fifteen doing dishes and cleaning my kitchen counter. Is my kitchen sparkling? No. Does it need to be mopped? Yes. However, it looks a heck of a lot better and I did it while boiling pasta for dinner.

10: Put away ten things. Don't have fifteen minutes? This is even faster. Pick ten things to put away and do it. I like to use categories, such as clothing or things that are blue, but whatever works for you is the method you should use. Are there more things to put away after those ten? Yes. Is your apartment cleaner than it was about three minutes ago? Absolutely.

5: Within the first five minutes of getting home from work, do something that you can check off your to-do list: a thank you note, throw load of laundry in the dryer, get dinner started, etc. This forces you into a mindset of productivity, rather than a mindset of 'I'm going to sit in front of the computer with chips and salsa'. Getting dinner started as soon as I got home led to me doing my fifteen minutes immediately which led to a clean kitchen which led to a completed load of laundry and vacuuming, as well as getting all my grading done. See what I mean?


That's it. My apartment isn't basking in perfect cleanliness but it is a joy to come home to and I am never embarrassed to have people over at random. I deep clean about once a month (that would be when I q-tip every nook and cranny) and do the fifteen minute rule for every room on Thursdays, which leads to a clean apartment. You'll note that this is all about maintenance and upkeep- not perfection. Use your green cleaners for fifteen minutes and then go enjoy your life, okay? There's more to this world than a single sparkling toilet.

Upstream Brewing Company: My second favorite salad in Omaha

My first love when it comes to salads in Omaha is McFoster's kind salad with their cucumber garlic ranch. Granted, I could smear that ranch on styrofoam and it would be good, but I digress. My second favorite salad (which is my overall favorite salad-as-a-meal salad) is served at Upstream Brewing Company, a local brewing company and restaurant. I always get the Thai Chicken Salad and sub out the chicken for portobello mushrooms. The result is a combination of warm portobellos, jalepenos, tomatoes, greens and onions, with a side of their house beer bread to mop up any leftover dressing, a slightly tangy creation that compliments the ingredients perfectly. While the picture is less than flattering, I can assure you it is a beautiful, filling salad.

Upstream also has a vegan black bean burger and a portobello sandwich, as well as other options that can be easily veganized with a few requests. Upstream is an excellent place to go with a picky meat eater (Hi Dad!), as they have excellent food in general. Upstream has locations in the Old Market, as well as out in west Omaha.

Blue Line made me love soup

I have a love-hate relationship with soup. I really love how it warms me up from the inside out and how it always comforts me. Two of my favorite foods are even mulligatawny and corn chowder. I hate how I always spill the soup all over myself and generally burn my tongue and hands while making it.

However, the soups at Blue Line's downtown location have found me wavering on the love side of my relationship with soup. The soup pictured here is a Chipotle Chili Vegetable Soup (or something to that effect). Warm, hearty, loaded with veggies and beans and appropriately spicy, it is served with exceptionally delicious slices of bread to sop up every drop of soup. Other vegan options at the downtown Blue Line include the bi-athelete muffin and boca burgers, so if you're craving some sustenance while purchasing knit goods at American Apparel or before taking in a show at Slowdown, swing by Blue Line for a quick, delicious bite.

PS- This location has booze, so you can get some whiskey in your coffee or some wine with your soup.

Great Wall: Thanks for the fried tofu!

When it comes to getting Chinese food in those tiny, white to-go boxes, I only get the best. FYI, by best, I mean fried and super bad for me. This is why I love love love Great Wall, located at 70th and Vine Street in Lincoln, NE (phone number: 402-488-2112). My family and I used to go here a lot when I was in elementary school, but it fell by the wayside until I was almost done with college. In that time, it changed owners and improved significantly. We rediscovered it when, much like A Christmas Story, we needed somewhere to eat on Christmas eve (I know I'm a day off. Deal.) and it was the only place we could find that was open. Luckily, the menu boasted the chef's special of sesame tofu. After verifying a lack of animal ingredients, I took an order of it home. Fried with a thick, almost-but-not-quite sweet sauce, this is one of my favorite meals in Lincoln. This is heavy on fried tofu, but light on the veggies, so if that's a requirement of your meal, be sure to add it in. For best results, call about 20 minutes in advance, place your order, pick it up, go home, put on sweatpants and eat. You can thank me when you're out of your food coma.

PS- That's my parent's cat, Gizmo. He's adorable and not at all interested in tofu.

Mama's Pizza has Daiya Cheese!

When you burn the roof of your mouth, every time you touch it, you tend to think "stupid tea/coffee/panini/etc." I happen to be in a similar situation right now, with a burned palate, but somehow, every time I touch it or it hurts, I think "that pizza was so freaking good."

The pizza in question is a Daiya cheese pizza (with black olives) from Mama's Pizza, located at 715 Saddle Creek Road. The Saddle Creek location is the only one with Daiya, but it is a magnificent experience.

Prior to eating at Mama's, I had only had Daiya in the form of grilled cheese, and I was in love with it. I had heard negative things about the greasy mouthfeel Daiya on pizza, but my curiousity (and hunger) were too strong so I dragged my ever patient mother with me to Mama's to give the pizza a try.

The results? Excellent. My mom and I were raving about the pizza for the rest of the day. My mom eats dairy and she was totally down with the Daiya. The Daiya had a slight crust from being cooked and created a delicate crunch over an amazing layer of gooey cheese. Not only was the Daiya fabulous, but so was everything else. The pizza sauce was the perfect complement to the toppings, with strong overtones of onion and garlic mixed in among the tomato sauce and the crust was thick enough to stand up to the toppings without being so thick that it was all you could taste.

Overall, I'm pretty in love with Mama's Pizza and their Daiya cheese. I am loving the fact that Omaha now has two options for vegan pizza (three, if you include Whole Foods) and both are fantastic. Good show, Omaha.

Laos Thai Kitchen, I love you.

So, I love pad thai. LOVE it. I will suck down the stuff from the box (you know, the one you nuke for five minutes and then burn your hand when the container spills boiling water due to the flimsy design?) like it is a gourmand's wet dream. So, it should come as no shock to you when I become incredibly excited about the idea of eating pad thai in a restaurant, on an actual plate, without burning my hand.

It should come as even less of a surprise that if the pad thai is actually good, I am barely able to contain myself. At Laos Thai Kitchen, not only can I get the best spring rolls in Omaha, but I can also get myself some freaking fantastic noodles. Pad thai for me, of course.

The first time I went, I went with Alaina and we settled on splitting the spring rolls and the pad thai- no surprises here. I'm not going to say much about the food, restaurant or service because of the fact that I would only be repeating myself. Everything here is wonderful: food, service, restaurant. And yes, the pictures are of the actual food I ate.

As always, be sure to ask about non-vegan ingredients (egg, fish sauce, etc) but the staff is so lovely and friendly that you should be able to obtain all of your heart's (thai food related) desires.

Laos is located at 4520 South 24th Street in Omaha, NE in the back of a tiny grocery store. They are cash only, so be sure to stop by an ATM before you swing by. Thai places are always scary places for vegans, let alone vegans in the Midwest, but this one is fear-free and totally delicious. Try it.