Thursday, November 1 Grilled Tofu with Mustard Dipping Sauce (Dining with Friends) with Crunchy Sesame Slaw (1000 Vegan Recipes) and Spring Rolls Rating: 4.5

So this was the Wednesday plan that got hijacked by Halloween. (Yes, we knew it was Halloween when we did the meal plan, but we felt festive at the last minute.) Anyway, I’d actually made most of this meal on Tuesday so it was a breeze to get it on the table on Thursday. Seriously. I made the slaw (1000 Vegan Recipes) on Tuesday so I could save time on Wednesday, which ended up being Thursday. Whatever. The dressing on the slaw is tahini based, so it’s not exactly a low-fat option but who cares? I didn’t have any green cabbage, but I had purple and needed to use it (OK, I admit, I decided to make slaw specifically because I had cabbage I needed to use. It was not a happy accident. It was meal planning.) I also didn’t have any green onions, but I chopped up some yellow onion and it was fine. I was worried Seth wouldn’t like it because sometimes he’s not a huge fan of dishes with a really prominent tahini flavor. I needn’t have worried. He loved it. I also pressed the tofu (Dining with Friends) and made the marinade on Tuesday. I reduced the amount of oil a little but otherwise, I stuck to it to the letter. OK, I cut the tofu into 6 pieces instead of 4, so that was a slight tweak, too. The tofu soaked up most of the marinade overnight Tuesday night, so when I flipped it on Wednesday morning, I added a little bit more tamari to it. Instead of grilling it, I baked it and then put it in the grill pan for a few minutes to make it pretty. I totally did it for the picture. The tofu itself isn’t heavily flavored, even after a lot of time in the marinade, but the dipping sauce really makes it. It’s a Dijon, lemon, tamari yummy, tangy sauce. Again, I was worried Seth might thing the tofu was bland, but as he said, “Nothing could be bland in that sauce.” It doesn’t hurt that he loves mustard. The tofu and mustard sauce aren’t really Asian in flavor, but I went that direction with the rest of the meal and it really worked. I think it would also be great alongside some roasted potatoes and maybe some asparagus. We tried a different brand of spring rolls this time (Health Wealth) and they were pretty good. I think I like the taste of them better, but they’re kinda small (smaller than the others) and didn’t get as crispy. Still, it’s nice to have options. We’ll make this meal again for sure.