This weekend marked the beginning of holiday party craziness.  Friday was a formal ball and Sunday was the famed Toy Party.

The Toy Party is especially cool because you bring a toy as your admission (+ 3 drink tickets!).  All of the toys get piled up in the middle of the event space, so at the end of the night there is an overwhelmingly huge toy mountain.

Needless to say, it was a fun night. 🙂

Tonight was holiday kickboxing (“holiday” translation: hit the bag hard in an effort to balance out the party treats).

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tonight I tried tempeh for the first time. 

I also learned tempeh is not spelled like the AZ city.

Tofurkey’s Coconut Curry Marinate Tempeh gets two thumbs up from me!  I think I bought it at The Fresh Market, but I have seen it at Whole Paycheck Foods as well.

It was packed with flavor (the coconut was surprisingly pronounced) and came pre-sliced (read: easy prep).  For those that don’t like tofu due to texture issues, this is much closer to a meat consistency.

One package contains 2 servings – 130 calories, 3g fat, 5g fiber, 8g sugar, and 13g protein.  The sugar is a little higher than I like, but for 13g of protein, I’ll take it!

I put my tempeh slices in a pan with 1 T habanero-infused olive oil and 3-4 T red onion.  After they sauteed for a bit, I added an amazing black pepper (grown by my granddad!) and Cedar’s Chickpea Salad mix.

Cedar’s makes some fantastic mixes, but this stuff is my favorite.  Delicious heated or raw over a salad!

Then I piled the mix on top of some spinach and served it with a side of zucchini sticks.

I think I have a new addiction!

***

Then I did some banana-inspired baking… more tomorrow!  🙂