Last night, I made something new using the Lightlife Smart Cutlets my mom gave me the other day.

Though these kinds of processed soy products were helpful to me when I was first getting used to eating more meatless meals, I’ve come to prefer naturally-occuring forms of plant-based protein like beans, legumes, and nuts, and when I go for soy, I lean more towards tofu and edamame. I have to admit, though, the nutrition stats on these weren’t so bad—pretty good, actually:

Per Chris’ request, I whipped up a sofrito-inspired sauce. I’m a sucker for basically anything that involves tomatoes and copious amounts of garlic, and the jalapeno adds an extra kick to it—perfect for a rainy day.

Ingredients

• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
• 1/2 c roasted red onion, chopped (raw would be okay too)
• 1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 a roasted red pepper
• 1/4 c red sauce (optional—I just had some handy)
• ~1 tbsp olive oil
• salt, pepper

Directions

1. Combine garlic, jalepeno, and red onion in a food processor. Process until finely chopped.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan or skillet. Add garlic, jalepeno, and red onion and stir on medium-low heat.
3. Add tomato and roasted pepper to mixture. Lower heat. Add tomato sauce if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Simmer on low for 20 minutes or until flavors have blended together and mellowed.

I served the “cutlets” over brown rice and poured the sauce over that, and to round out the meal, I added some leftover kabocha squash. For the sake of photography, I could have used a smaller plate, but whatever. It tasted really good, and I will definitely be making this again.

Hope you have a good weekend planned. My goal is to keep myself as busy as possible until Sunday night, when the dietetic internship placements are announced! I’m thinking a trip to the Vegetarian Food Festival may be in order…If anyone is planning to go, let me know!