TOFU FU FU

My husband does not eat vegetables he cannot spell; his favorites are corn, peas, beets, and beans.

He will not touch cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, or cabbage. 

He grimaces at the sight of tomato, cucumber, and carrots, and throws up a little in his mouth at the sight of kale, chard, spinach, turnip or collard greens.

Reminding him that Popeye ate spinach and grew huge muscles as a result does not make him crave good vegetables.

I knew the kids would rat me out, so I waited until they left home before I manufactured methods to add healthy vegetables to his diet.

Each day I threw a vegetable into the blender to liquify or puree it so I could add it to a dinner entree. I stuffed green broccoli goup into a whole baked chicken, mashed yellow squash into meat loaf, or added carrot puree to macaroni and cheese, his favorite.

Wild rice with ground beef or chicken or shrimp mixed with finely chopped green beans stuffed into a green or red or yellow bell pepper made his mouth water.

On days he ticked me off, I peeled a radish or diced a turnip and just threw it into whatever I was serving. The white color was remarkably unnoticable.

One year at Thanksgiving, a neighbor sent over leftover tofu turkey. Delicious! I explained to LB that tofu absorbed the flavors of other foods and spices and that the soy content was very healthy. He made me promise never to serve a tofu turkey. And I
didn't . . . make a tofu turkey, that is. I just added it to stuff.

I added a bit of tofu to sauce or heavy gravy such as spaghetti sauce or roux. Casseroles have indistinguishable ingredients, so the addition of tofu makes perfect culinary sense.

Today I served ground beef and pork meatballs embedded with eggplant in a thick tofu spahetti sauce. Remarkably tasty.

At dinner tonight, I watched carefully as he took his first bite. He remarked how much he loved the chunks of cheese in the spaghetti sauce.

I think that, given the efforts I make to ensure my husband has a healthy diet, I should never suffer recriminations for my creative culinary experiences.

Remember the saying, "Good food, good wine, and a bad girl."