Egg Salad Sandwiches(kinda)

Okay, this is my first experience with tofu. I have always been scared of it. haha It just look so weird! (no offense to all those tofu eaters out there!)
I figured I just better DO it, if I am going to really give this my full effort. Obviously need to continue eating protein so I don't lose weight from my current muscle! For dinner Scott is making Brats. Aww man, I love brats-- some mustard, onions and peppers--- mmmmm. So, while at the store I found some Tofurky Italian Sausage with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Everyone on Alicia Silverstone's vegan forum raves about Tofurky products so I thought I will give it a try. I will grill that up and put my onions and peppers on top. I think the family is shocked I have made it this long without meat and my beloved cheese. As I said, not sure if it will be a forever thing or not. Entirely too soon to know! Dreaming of cows now- what would freud say?! Either I am seriously missing red meat or cows are visiting me in my sleep to thank me for saving a couple of them from the slaughter house! haha

Egg Salad Sandwich- from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet book

(makes 4 sandwiches)

2 (12 oz. cakes firm tofu)
2 small onions, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 tablespoons Shoyu
1 tablespoon safflower oil
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon Vegenaise, or more to taste
4-8 thin slices whole wheat bread
Paprika (optional)

Mash the tofu in a mixing bowl until chunky but not completely smooth. Add the onions, celery, shoyu, oil, turmeric, and salt and mix well. Stir in the Veganaise and refrigerate until ready to use.

Divide the egg salad among four slices of bread, as you prefer. If serving open-faced, sprinkle with a bit of paprika.


MY COOKS TIPS:
I just used one 16 oz. block of firm tofu. I was a little nervous opening that package up, have to tell ya! No turning back, I was going to make and consume this sandwich! Shoyu is simply an organic soy sauce, in case you don't know. I didn't have safflower oil or turmeric so looked online for a substitution- I used canola oil and curry powder.

FAMILY CRITIQUE:
Scott said it wasn't bad, different but not too bad. Feels like egg texture in mouth, which I think is a good thing if it's supposed to be a mock egg salad. He had just consumed a big piece of pizza so didn't want a sandwich, just had a couple spoonfuls. I think I put entirely too much on my bread and will go less next time, and cut sandwich into 4 small squares instead of diagonal as it kept falling apart. It definitely is different but does remind me of egg salad and I can see if you have sworn off eggs and can never eat it again that this would grow on you. The onions definitely help in my opinion, and tho I have never had celery in my regular egg salad, it's okay. Wasn't sure what I was expecting-- I thought it was odd to put a soy sauce product in here, but it works somehow! It kinda looks like a chicken salad to me, and it reminds of something I would put on a savory creme puff. I have seen a couple other recipes online using mustard and think I will try that again next time, but that will be quite a while as I have a huge bowl in the fridge and my children will NOT touch it. The girls made gagging noises every time they came by me and saw me eating it, and well said a few pretty gross things too, that you don't want to hear when you are eating food!! lol One good thing, my son just FINALLY woke up (there is no school today) and said he will try some of it later for sure. He would have preferred to NOT know that tofu was in it. Must be the name scares him for some reason too! lol Wonder where meat eaters got that fear from?!?!