Southwest Tofu Scramble

I avoided this seemingly daunting tofu adventure for too long. When I finally bit the bullet and dove in I realized that it was way easier than I had imagined and just as tasty :) A nice protein-packed, veggie-based way to start your morning is the best kind! Take that, Jimmy Dean!

prep time: 10 min, cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:

• 1/4 medium bell pepper
• 1/4 medium onion
• 1 handful of spinach
• approx. a 1-inch slice of a standard block extra firm tofu (see picture for sizing if you’re unsure)
• 3 tbsp of your favorite salsa
• 1 tbsp olive oil

optional: sausage/ vegan sausage (I used field roast), shredded cheese/ vegan cheese (I used daiya cheddar)

The Creative Process:

1. Press the tofu while you’re preparing the other ingredients; I just wrap it a few times in a paper towel and stick it under something heavy.
2. Dice the onions and peppers, and cut the other ingredients into bite-size portions if they aren’t already
3. Add the olive oil to the pan and throw in the onions and peppers, cooking at just a little above low heat
4. While that’s cooking, crumble the block into scrambled egg-sized bites. The tofu doesn’t need to be extra dry, so ten minutes pressed should be fine. 
5. Add it to the onions and peppers, mixing in salsa a tablespoon at a time whenever it seems to get dry (or every 2 min or so).
6. When the salsa is all added, throw in the spinach, sausage and cheese.
7. When the spinach is all cooked down and the cheese has melted, your breakfast is ready!

Instead of general life-updates, I’ll follow the recipe with an anecdote entitled How Shannon Learned The Importance of Trail Markers.

So I hiked Tinker Cliffs yesterday. I had planned it for a little while and was really excited when it the time rolled around.  I was hoping to run parts of it and my friends don’t really come back until this week so I headed out on my own feeling stoked about my January adventure (mom: no worries, I picked a well-traveled hike, left early in the day, and packed food and a flashlight for good measure).  It was beautiful. The accent wasn’t anything too arduous, but the last mile was snow-covered! I know it’s January in southwestern Virginia, but it never crossed my mind that there would be ice and snow on the mountains even though there wasn’t any on the ground outside my apartment. I passed a few hikers on the way up that warned me about the white hazard, but it really wasn’t that bad.  Perhaps by luck, the time I chose to climb was perfect; just late enough so that the snow had melted as much as it would and just late enough so that there were plenty of footsteps to follow in.  I made it to the top in maybe 90 minutes? It was incredible. There were lots of different overlooks and the snow added its own picturesque touch.

Then the decent.  I reached the boulder (which was a huge marker that was located right before the top leveled off) and for some bizarre reason decided to take a “shortcut” around it to the other side of the trail. I know right, obviously that should have been a red flag. Wandering around for 5 or 10 minutes, I was stomping through snow and sliding around, still confident that I’d reconnect up with the (hard-to-spot-and-snow-covered) trail. Until I realized that I had no idea where it was, or where I was. Suddenly my survival instincts kicked in and I went climbing back up looking for the beloved trail. Climbing UP was challenging though and I was literally scaling the mountain with my hands and feet, soaked in snow, roughing it like the best of ’em.  Suddenly my mind went off on its own. “What if it gets dark before I can find the trail?? What if that other couple leaves and I’m the last one up here?? What if the only food I have is that granola bar I packed that is the WORST flavor ever??”

Then I found the trail. I hugged a marked tree and spoke my thanks outloud as I carefully followed it all the way down.  Though I was lost for maybe a total of five minutes, it was enough for me to feel stuck in the wilderness yet still able to laugh at myself a short time later. Once Trail and I were reunited, it was a quick hike down and once I passed the snowy parts I was able to run most of the way.  It was a great hike, with a lot of diversity, some ladders to climb, some barbed wire to cross, and a great creek that follows the path at the end (: 
sf