I Rule. General Tao's tofu

Have you ever had one of those moments after cooking a feast where you think, "Did I seriously just make this? In my kitchen? And it tastes this good?"

If you haven't (and dang, I really hope you have, it's better than se....wait. No it's not. But still), then try this recipe. Not only is it fabulous, it's fabulously easy. And while it is vegetarian (you can make it vegan by simply swapping the egg out for an egg substitute), I wouldn't necessarily call it healthy. The sugar kind of squelches that, but shoot, I started my day off with oat bran, sailed through lunch on a Boca burger and spinach salad and did boot camp. I'll be damned if I can't have myself a bit o'sugah!

General Tao's Tofu. (Or, as I have now donned it, Fake Out the Take Out)

1 box of firm tofu
egg substitute for 1 egg
3/4 cup cornstarch
vegetable oil for frying
3 chopped green onions
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2/3 cup vegetable stock
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoons sugar
red pepper flakes to taste
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
steamed broccoli

Directions: Drain, dry and cut tofu into 1 inch chunks. You can freeze tofu the night before to get a more chicken-like consistency, but it isn't necessary. Mix the egg replacer as specified on the box and add an additional 3 tablespoons water. Dip tofu in egg replacer/water mixture and coat completely. Sprinkle 3/4 cup cornstarch over tofu and coat completely. Watch out that the cornstarch doesn't clump up at the bottom of the bowl.

Heat oil in pan and fry tofu pieces until golden. Drain oil.

Heat 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil in pan on medium heat. Add green onions, bell pepper, red pepper flakes, ginger and garlic, cook for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn garlic.

Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper and vinegar. Mix 2 Tablespoons water with 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and pour into mixture stirring well.

Add fried tofu and coat evenly. Serve immediately with steamed broccoli over your choice of rice.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 30 Minutes

Try Its: A Great Way to Get Hydrated and Gingerbread-Laced Protein

Daaaaang. How are these so good? What in god's name are the folks over at Glaceau putting in this water? Happiness. Happiness is what they're putting in there, I tell you. Here's the downer - you're paying roughly $1.50 for water (if you get it on sale). So I treat myself to about two per week because, shoo, I start to feel bad not only for paying that much for tasty water, but using that many bottles. Regardless, YUM.

Yes. I know Clif bars can be boring. But I exercise like whoa roughly 3 times per week and if I don't eat something protein-y and hearty beforehand, I vomit. That's right. I barf. So protein bars for me need to be tasty, none of that sawdust nastiness they try to pass off as food. Enter the Clif Iced Gingerbread. These should be illegal.

I have several new recipes to share, but for some reason (you know, besides being my own fault), my pictures didn't translate property when I emailed them here to work.

(Yeah. Sometimes I blog from work. I bet you're reading this from work, so there.)

I have to say, I carried on the veganism. 100%, no. I'm not giving up dairy, I'm just not. But I feel better when I don't consume as much of it, or it's cousin, meat. Oh, and I've also lost 6lbs. Holler.