Homemade BBQ Tofu Flatbread

Happy Friday y'all!!!  Gosh, I love today so much already and I've only been awake for five hours.

Today is my Granny's 89th birthday!! She is such a lovely, generous, graceful, southern woman.  I absolutely adore her, look up to her, and admire her.  I wish I could be there to celebrate her birthday today.  Instead, I sent a card along with my mom to take to her party tonight and made sure to give her a birthday call on my way in to work this morning.  Happy birthday, Granny!

In other awesome news, I FOUND EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!  I knew holding on to my good attitude was the way to go instead of stressing.  My wonderful father brought my phone to work for me.  After work, I headed over to the yoga studio and found my bag with everything still inside (yay, yogis!), and then when I got home I searched all my jacket pockets and found my favorite necklace!  Nothing short of a miracle.  I could not be happier.  I think my mom put it best when she told me, "God was just making sure you really got the point of the reminder by making things happen three-fold."  She and He were both right- I definitely was well reminded of my forgetfulness and am beyond thankful to be reunited with all of my things.  Even though they are just things, it is still a relief to have them back.

It was all too appropriate when I stopped by Trader Joes after my run that I stumbled upon this gem:

I couldn't help but buy it.  Found Object.  It fit right in with the theme of the day!

As if that weren't enough good news, wait until you hear about this dinner I made.  Filling, healthy(ish), delicious and fairly simple to make!  Frankly, it was bangin'.

That, friends, is BBQ Tofu Flatbread.  Ohh, yes!  Who wants to come over?  I'm ready to make this meal again!

The process to make this baby was quite simple and it turned out even better than I imagined it would.  I absolutely love BBQ Chicken pizza, so I figured I'd try to re-create it vegetarian style.  When Jesse saw the flatbread, he looked at me and said "what are those things that look like fries on the pizza?"  I bust out laughing and told him those "fries" were tofu!

The flatbread was so good that Jesse and I both ended up going back for seconds.  I was stuffed to the max and barely had enough to bring with me for lunch today.  In case you don't live close enough to come over for dinner, here's how you can make this flatbread at home!  :]

Homemade BBQ Tofu Flatbread

Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 17 minutes

Ingredients: 

16oz extra firm tofu (I used Nasoya Sprouted)
3/4 cups barbecue sauce (I used Trader Joes brand)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion
1 medium tomato
5 kale leaves
1/4 cup grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Your choice of pizza dough (I used Trader Joes' Whole Wheat pre-made dough)

Instructions:

1. Press tofu. 
2. Set pizza dough on counter to bring to room temperature.
3. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat.  Add olive oil. 
4. Slice tofu into small pieces.  Mine were about 1in long and were similar to french fries in width (about 1/4inch square).
5. Add tofu to skillet.  Toss occasionally until the tofu is brown and crispy on all sides (about 15 minutes). 
6. While the tofu is cooking, chop your onion, slice tomato, and rinse the kale.  Tear up kale into small pieces and remove the stems. 
7. Add chopped onion to the tofu skillet. 
8. Whisk together 1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup barbecue sauce and pour over the tofu and onion.  Reduce heat to medium-low and allow it to simmer while you prep the flatbread. 
9. Put aluminum foil over a regular sized cookie sheet and grease the foil.  Get your dough and create the base for the flatbread by spreading the dough out over the prepped cookie sheet. It should cover almost the entire cookie sheet.
10. Spread remaining 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce over the dough.  (You can use more or less to your tasting.  I like sauce, so if this is too much for you, just reduce the amount.)
11. Next, add your toppings.  I layered mine as follows: Tofu/onion mixture first, then 3/4 of the cheese, then the kale, tomatoes, followed by the remainder of the cheese. 
12. Place flatbread in oven and bake for 17 minutes. 
13. If you prefer a crispier crust, after 12 minutes of cooking, remove the flatbread from the baking sheet and place it directly on the oven rack for the last five minutes of cook time.  (I left mine on the foil because I am a sissy and got scared but it still worked!) 

Man, now I'm ready for lunch!  I am certain today is going to be another beautiful day (despite the dreaded Comcast call I'll have to make) and can't wait for the weekend!  No big plans, but I am definitely excited about the sunny weather they are predicting and getting out to do my scheduled 8 mile run!

What are your weekend plans? 
Do you know the difference in flatbread and pizza? (From what I understand, flatbread does not contain yeast, so I guess since I used pizza dough, this technically is a pizza but I prefer the word flatbread.  Pizzas aren't supposed to be rectangular!  If you do know the actually difference, please tell me.... I did a little research and couldn't find a concrete answer.)