TOFU LOVERS ONLY

I love it any which way - so much fun to experiment with it!

Try tofu jerkey... drain, freeze, drain. Slice into thin strips, you'll get quite a few pieces. Marinate in soy, liquid smoke, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, a pinch of sugar & a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Lay them out on a sheet pan - if you have a cooling rack you can put them on then on sheet pan, even better. Then bake at the lowest setting on your oven, should be about 200 degrees or less. Flip them over every few hours - it takes about 12 hours total. They get very leathery, a little salty-spicy & great to chew on.

Also blend up 1 pkg silken tofu with 1/4 c. agave syrup, zest from an orange, 1 tsp vanilla extract, a pinch of salt & 1 Tbsp coconut oil. Blend for a full minute. Chill in fridge overnight - don't stir after chilling, it will get runny. Great on pancakes, fruit salad, etc. or by itself.

I'm not even close to being a vegetarian, but I miss the little dude with the cart and the whistle, and the great izakaya with varieties of fresh tofu and yuba, in Japan. It seems like it is impossible to get decent tofu in the U.S. so I stopped eating it again.

I buy extra firm organic (98% of US tofu is GMO).

I really don't do anything special with it, I just use it like a meat substitute, or if I just want more protein. Cube and toss it in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. Stir-Fry, curry, miso soup. I have even just put sesame oil and soy sauce in a pan with green onions, pan seared it and dumped it over bean threads. I honestly don't even bother with the pressing part.

Sometimes I change it up and buy the fried bean curd (known as fried tofu).