The Tofu Switcheroo (And He Only Gagged Once)

I've been married for almost 9 years to a confirmed carnivore.  When we met, I was an ovo-lacto-vegetarian (i.e., I ate eggs and dairy but no meat/poultry/fish).  Within a year, I was back to meat.

I've never really been comfortable eating meat, fish and poultry.  No way would I buy non-organic versions given all of the growth hormones and antibiotics in them, organic meat and poultry isn't sold everywhere, and organic fish is, well, I don't really know what that is.  But I do my best serving my family nutritious and almost-always organic food.

Last week, I got on the scale and noticed that without realizing it, I'd gained five pounds.  I could blame it on the shipment of girl scout cookies, or on my broken toe making it hard to exercise.  Whatever.  The bottom line was, those pounds had to go.  I mentioned this to my husband and he voiced interest in eating a bit healthier.  So I resolved to exercise more and spruce up our diet a bit - get back to basics.  Less sugar, less butter, less starch, more vegetables, more protein.

We started consuming a lot more baby spinach salads with walnuts or almonds, more stir fry with bok choy and brown rice, more grilled lean meats, more fruit, etc.  We also eliminated dessert, reduced our bread and pasta intake and agreed not to eat after 8pm.  I'm happy to say that it's working!

My husband even let me take some liberties with serving a few vegetarian meals.  Last night, however, I tried to pull a fast one.  I bought a lovely roasted chicken and some firm tofu and hatched a plan.  I was sure he'd resist the tofu if he knew it was in the dinner, so I tried to pull a switcheroo.  I allowed the aroma of the roasted chicken to waft through the house but then diced the tofu and put THAT into the stir fry instead.  My kids were tough customers (which they are even with chicken) but both of them ate it (with the promise of some ZenSoy pudding to follow).

My husband took one look and was not fooled.  But like the man that he is, he ate the whole thing and only gagged once.  When I asked him this morning if he'd be home for dinner, he smiled and told me he would call first and ask me what I was making.