It’s been a little quiet around here. The thing is, I haven’t really cooked in a good while. You want to know how I know? (The fuck do you mean you want to know? I haven’t cooked. I’m not an idiot. Mostly.) Because I a) couldn’t figure out how to cut to my squash, b) started the onions and garlic before realizing I had to cut up the aforementioned squash, c) dropped the how’d-I-even-manage-to-get-a-cup-out-of-that cubes (I use the word “cubes” loosely) of squash on the floor d) walked away from the onions and garlic cooking on the stove at medium heat (which to my stove means Motherfucking Scorching) for like, a few minutes…just walked away and e) pretended like none of that happened. Good fuck, we got all the way to e?

Yeah. I was a little rusty.

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But deep down, I knew I wasn’t done pumpkinning all the things. And I really missed cooking.

To get all Are You There God? It’s Me, Molly and personal (oh hey, while we’re here, HOLD ME), I’ve been having a weird couple of weeks, culminating this last week into a weird few days. I didn’t feel like myself, lost my appetite for anything that wasn’t yogurt or popcorn and it’s not like there’s some spawn of Satan growing inside me. I knew what was wrong and I just felt bleh. So when I woke up today and I actually felt like cooking something that was neither white and creamy nor air popped and really fond of getting stuck in my teeth, I felt relieved. Really really relieved. All my teeth feel better. Stupid popcorn.

My kinda burnt onions and my 5-second rule squash that I completely butchered and my everything else didn’t matter one bit. My spices were tasty, my curry done curried, my tofu puffed to its bakey-delight, and my entire apartment smells like an Indian restuarant called Molly’s Bombay Dreams or something. But more importantly (something’s more important than puffy baked tofu? Lies!) I remembered that my happy place is in front of my stove, in my underwear, stirring stuff, dangerously teetering on the edge of third degree burns.

So there. That’s it. It was like my metaphorical fever broke. And I was happy again.

And then I ate some chocolate chips because why the fuck not?





PUMPKIN CURRY TOFU with SQUASH

serves 4, 200g servings each

ingredients:

TOFU

12 oz extra firm tofu, dried and cut into ½” cubes

1 teaspoon hot curry powder

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

dash of salt

CURRY

1 cup (100g) diced onion

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup (or more) cubed winter squash (I used delicata squash because it was on my counter and apparently, upon further research, the skin is even edible. So that.)

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 cups water

1 tablespoon hot curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

sweet heart to heart, guys. like, the sweetest…

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper.

Combine the spices for your tofu. Toss the tofu cubes in the spices. Lay them on your prepared baking sheet and give them a light mist of cooking spray. Bake for 13 minutes, flip the pieces over, and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

In a deep pan or a sauce pan, heat up some cooking spray over medium heat. Toss the onions in and cook them for a few minutes until they’ve softened and become slightly translucent. Add the garlic in there and cook another minute. Toss the squash in and cook until the squash has softened. Add in the pumpkin puree and water. Toss in the tofu. Stir and stuff. Add in the seasonings, adjusting to your likings. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Eat.

NUTRITION: per 200g serving: 141 calories // 17g carbs // 4g fat // 10g protein // 5g fiber // 4g sugar

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