Bakin’

Dear Friends:

I am on a mission to convince my coworkers that healthy eating is neither scary nor depressing. My main target is Micci, who snacks on miniature candy bars, and exhibits a strange fascination with the Field Roast sandwich I eat every day. No matter how often I tell her that vegan grain meat is nothing to be afraid of, she’s having none of it.

The day I caught her heating an Amy’s Tofu Lasagne in the microwave, though, I knew I had an in. Turns out she really likes tofu, so I told her about using silken tofu in baked goods. She said that if I brought some in, she would give them a try. So that’s what I did today.

I brought tofu brownies and my own creation, protein cookies¹. As far as brownies and cookies go, they’re really healthy. The brownies are sugar-free (as long as you make them with Splenda), low-fat, vegan, and chock-full-o-protein. The brownies are all that and low-carb.

So you’d think my coworkers would’ve been excited, right? Apart from Micci, I have never seen a group of people so terrified of food in my life. You’d think I was offering them a Tupperware container full of worms. I noticed that men in particular seem to have a physical aversion to the word ‘tofu’, they flinch when I say it. Gary and Steve wouldn’t touch them at all. Everyone else tried them and all seemed to like them a lot. Micci ate two brownies and one cookie, then wanted the recipes. So I think this is a good sign. I understand that these things take time, and I am persistent as hell.

Jenni