If you’ve been reading along with me recently, you know that things have been a little crazy. I mean, life is pretty full and nonstop most of the time anyway, right? We have jobs and kids and school and home management and appointments and it just keeps going from there. Eating seems to get shoved in between all the other to-do’s and I’m always looking for ways to get things done better, faster, and more efficiently.

But…

While life is busy and there’s always lots to do, I’m committed to feeding myself and my family in a way that nourishes our bodies and our minds. For me, that means a whole foods, plant based diet. I’m not going for perfection – we went out for pizza (with vegan cheese!) on Sunday. But what I’m absolutely certain of is that if I don’t have good options for things to eat, I’m going to make bad choices. Like eating peanut M&Ms for lunch (yes, I’ve done that).

 

Peanut M&Ms – my kryptonite!

 

So, one thing I missed when we went plant based was having a meat protein on my salad at lunch. I used to do tuna or chicken strips. When I got rid of that, I still wanted something chewy in my salad or wrap. As I searched for options, I found a super easy substitute – tofu jerky!

Now, there are two ways to do this: One is as a snack, and the second is as a salad topping or sandwich filler. The snack is harder and more like meat jerky, but the way I make it leaves more chew than regular tofu but doesn’t make it tough. To my tofu haters: You might want to try this one. The texture is completely different than regular tofu because most of the moisture and sponginess is gone. My kiddos started making wrap sandwiches with it and now I’ve got to make more!

 

 

For those of you who have a fear of soy, I get it. The discussion around soy is fraught with concern and contains both good and bad information. Traditionally, diets that contain lots of soy have been correlated with health and longevity (think traditional Japanese food).  The problem comes in when people eat lots of highly processed and chemical filled soy. There are studies that show that a whole foods, plant based diet including soy can be used to decrease prostate cancer gene expression.

If you’ve been told by your doctor to avoid soy products, then by all means do not eat this recipe. But when it comes to soy for most people, I have a few recommendations. First, only buy organic soy. This means that your soy isn’t genetically modified or treated with glyphosate (an herbicide called Round Up that’s linked to allergies, asthma and cancer, used on most nonorganic soy, corn and wheat). Also, eat soy that’s the more traditional, fermented and less processed forms like tofu, tempeh, and edamame instead of highly processed soy like milk.

 

When I first started looking for recipes on how to make this jerky, I found lots of recipes that had many ingredients to make a savory marinade. While those might be good, I was looking for something that was a lot less work but still tasted really good. So after I tried a couple of homemade marinades, I made a batch marinated in a bottled barbeque sauce I like. And voila – easy and delicious tofu jerky! Ready to make it? Here we go!

 

Ingredients

Barbeque sauce

Extra firm block tofu

 

If your tofu is stored in liquid, drain it and press any remaining liquid out of the block. If you find the ones wrapped without liquid, just skip to the next step.

Pretty dry…

 

Cut the tofu into strips. I cut them half length so they fit in the bag.

 

Put the strips into a zip top bag and pour the sauce over them, shaking the bag to coat. Let them soak in the frig for at least two hours. Overnight works too!

 

If you have a food dehydrator, dry the strips on a mat for four hours at 140 F. I leave a little extra sauce on them. If you don’t, dry them in the oven on the lowest heat (usually about 175 F) for 2-3 hours.

Before the dehydrator…

 

After the dehydrator…

 

Since these aren’t completely dry, I don’t leave them on the shelf like real jerky. Store them in the frig and use them cut up over a salad or stuffed into a tortilla wrapped around lettuce, tomato, pickles and vegan mayo. Delicious!

 

My working lunch between patients – a handful of salad from last night’s dinner, tofu and dressing. Delish!

 

How do you get quick healthy meals? Please share in the comments below!