STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

I know I already posted today, but it was long and even more wordy and convoluted than usual and you probably didn’t even read it, so here is a potentially shorter post that I had to share immediately, because I just created the most incredible summer meal in the most spontaneous manner, and I thought that, although I might not catch you before dinner tonight, I could influence you by giving you an intense desire to rush to the store and obtain the necessary items in order to make what I just made.

It is easy. It is delicious. And it includes THE BEST SWEET POTATOES EVER.

There they are. Look at them. Love them. Keep reading.

I know I’m often overly effusive about most things, but this is for real, people. I didn’t even stop to finish dinner, nor take a picture of my plate. It was that good.

I hardly even have any photos because I didn’t really think it was going to require such a monumental, devoted-to-dinner post. But here goes…

I started by creating a glaze [slash] marinade (with no “soaking” time required) for tofu based on assorted recipes for “mopping sauce” [Love that name. I'm totally stealing it.] and the like in various I’m-not-a-middle-aged-housewife-but-pretend-to-be-when-at-the-gym-and-reading-on-the-elliptical magazines. This “mopping sauce” requires apricot spread or preserves, pre-made (your own or others’) BBQ sauce, low sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and ground ginger.
Whisk together 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, 3 Tbsp. apricot preserves/spread/jam, 1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp. BBQ sauce, and 1 tsp. ground ginger. [You might want to go ahead and double this so you have some more to "mop" up.]
Use it to slather all over some tofu (both sides, despite the photo below), which you should squeeze out the water from (but you know, don’t get crazy with this) and quarter.
If you are lucky, like me, to have a random piece of chicken hanging out in your fridge, put some freshly ground black pepper on it, and then slather that with the rest of the sauce. I do not have a picture of this…join Willy Wonka in a world of pure imagination and pretend this is chicken:
Meanwhile, get to the veggies. You will need one zucchini, one squash, and one (although you will want more than that, I promise. Like ten, maybe?) sweet potato. Slice them into “planks” without worrying about peeling or anything.
Spray them all with cooking spray and put on a nice dose of freshly ground black pepper…
…then on the squash (and zucchini, which is also technically a squash I think, so I’m going to stop referencing it separately for now), add garlic powder and dried oregano.
To the sweet potatoes (oh my goll, y’all) put a healthy dose of cumin and a nice dash of cinnamon. They need nothing more.
Fire up your grill, and get ready for the ride of your life.
I put down some aluminum foil because I pretty much foresaw dropping everything through the cracks on the grill, especially the tofu, which did, in fact, nearly break apart. Spray that foil with aluminum foil and let it get hot. Once the grill heats up to about 400-450 degrees, put down the chicken and the taters.

In about 5 minutes or so (depending on how thin you slice ‘em), the sweets can be flipped. You should remove the chicken from direct heat once it starts turning white.
After about 5 more minutes, add the squash and the tofu. Cook until soft (for the squash) and warm/baked for the tofu. [It depends on how you like the texture really....I actually finished mine in the oven because the intense heat of the grill with the intense heat of Texas meant that my body was rejecting being outside for one minute more without me needing to put my clothes in the dryer. Sorry to be graphic, but it was necessary for your understanding.]
OH. MY. GOLL. Y’ALL. Make this now. Seriously. I actually don’t even care if you’ve already eaten dinner or it’s 3 AM where you live. Get on it. Go.

But first, look at the sweet potatoes again.

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“Mopping” Sauce*

2 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. ground ginger
5 Tbsp. apricot preserves
2 Tbsp. BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl. Try not to eat it all with a spoon before it makes it onto your meat (or non-meat).

*I don’t know how much it makes, but this is double what I made for a block of tofu and one breast of chicken…but I wish I had more just to dip my fingers in and lick off. I know that’s gross, but you will want to do it too.