Dear Shell 😊
I am so happy to hear your adventurous spirit has been awakened!!
I can totally relate to becoming overwhelmed with sadness - it is those times that everything feels too hard, and having pre-prepared yummies in the fridge and freezer is so helpful. Sometimes when I'm overcome with sadness though, if I force myself into the kitchen and start making something, I can sometimes make myself a bit less sad, which does help. It cheers me up some, and I use it as a mindfulness exercise.
Although I'm not big on endorsing the big supermarkets, I must admit that my preferred tofu for a lot of recipes and particularly that recipe for the rice paper rolls is the coles brand "hard" tofu. Otherwise any Firm, Extra Firm or Hard tofu will do for that recipe. I use Trident sweet chilli sauce and niulife liquid coconut aminos.
I just made a fresh batch of the rice paper rolls, I added a piece of silverbeet leaf to each roll as well as some lemongrass, the rolls have a lovely fresh green look to them through the translucent paper. Pretty 😍.
So I now have a fridge full hummous, beetroot dip and veg sticks, plus a box full of rice paper rolls (some of them "didn't quite make it" to the fridge 😶).
If you'd like to try making tofu ricotta, the recipe I base mine on comes from a blog called "create mindfully" I think she has a search function, otherwise I'm happy to share any recipes with you.
I like to use silken tofu in soups and curries to boost the protein. I made a scrummy cream of mushroom soup last week using the silken tofu, it tasted so rich and creamy you'd never know it was vegan.
I also love to make bliss balls and usually have a stash in the freezer. I actually made some on the weekend for my neighbour who is unwell and this time I added minced carrot to the mix, it gave them a really nicely different texture, plus added veg and fibre.
Your kale smoothie sounded super-dooper healthy, I hope it helped with your cravings.
Have a happy, healthy afternoon Shell 😊
🌻birdy
