Tofu!

gigicrafty
gigicrafty Posts: 15
in Food and Nutrition
So I don't really eat meat (i would not classify myself as a vegetarian) I just know my allergies and what I like so I stick to the fake meats and vegan foods.

Anyways my signature protein is Tofu which I LOVE and despite having a flawless recipe of garlic pepper and roasted red pepper flakes to season it I'm wondering if anyone else has other healthy suggestions for this? Its tricky because I know a lot of people I know hear tofu and think some gross mushy substance that doesn't taste like anything BUT when cooked right can taste to me better than chicken does!

Anyway looking again for any other delicious recipes for tofu or anyone else who loves it as much as I do!

Replies

  • PrncessBre
    PrncessBre Posts: 444 Member
    :smile: Bump!!!
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    I really like tofu (I don't do fake meats, those barely resemble food they have so much junk in them) and I am a meat eater. I limit my tofu consumption mainly because I am concerned about ingesting that much soy on a regular basis.

    I really do love stir fries with tofu, ma po tofu, kung pao made with tofu...I like that it is so bland so it really soaks up the flavor of different sauces.
  • PrncessBre
    PrncessBre Posts: 444 Member
    Bump!!!
  • Expialidojess
    Expialidojess Posts: 441 Member
    I don't like to spend a ton of time cooking so my favorite thing to do with it is to just mix tofu with brown rice, carrots, broccoli, and a tiny bit of organic low sodium teriyaki sauce.

    I also like tofu smoothies. Just blend tofu with some fruit and a little milk.
  • moodyfeesh14
    moodyfeesh14 Posts: 811 Member
    cook it with beef or chicken buillon base
  • Minifeet
    Minifeet Posts: 18 Member
    Love the stuff.
    Lots of great ideas here

    http://www.theppk.com/

    And the book by the same author, Appetite for Reduction, has some lovely (Calorie counted) ideas.
  • redcat17
    redcat17 Posts: 267 Member
    One of my favorite recipes from ppk is to take tofu and marinate in veggie broth, hot sauce (like Tabasco), minced garlic and little oregano. Then grill it. I think Isa's recipe used tempeh but I was out. It's like Buffalo Tofu. Delish!
  • gigicrafty
    gigicrafty Posts: 15
    these sound delicious Thanks everyone!!!
    AND thanks for the bump too :)
  • jaric01
    jaric01 Posts: 132 Member
    I grew up in China, so tofu was a huge part of our diet. One style of preparing tofu that not a lot of people know about is frozen. After you buy some tofu (medium or firm), keep it in the freezer for a few days. Frozen tofu, once thawed, is a perfect addition for soups and stews. For whatever reason, it gets a spongy complexion/composition after it's frozen and just soaks up all the flavors in whatever stew or soup you are cooking. Try it sometime.
  • shovav91
    shovav91 Posts: 2,335 Member
    http://www.vegparadise.com/

    This site is one of my favorites! So many great ideas :D I hope you find some you like!
  • Alliwan
    Alliwan Posts: 1,245 Member
    We use tofu a couple times a week or less, only because we dont want a ton of soy in our diet. but i put it in spaghetti sauce instead of meat, or chunk the firm and cook it in sauce like i would chicken in stir fry, or add it to refried beans for burritos, use it in place of meat in stuffed couscous peppers. there are sooo many different uses for it.
  • 2triscuit
    2triscuit Posts: 9 Member
    My favorite thing lately has been a tofu scramble for breakfast- I start by cubing 3 oz of soft tofu, and marinating it (10 min is fine) in a little soy, orange juice, and hot sauce. I start my skillet on med with 1 TBS evoo, and add the tofu, reserving the marinade. I chop what ever veggies I want to add (today was garlic, shallot and chard, yesterday mushrooms and asparagus), start to stir fry the whole works, adding the tofu marinade back in.
  • castaliavt
    castaliavt Posts: 75 Member
    My two go to tofu uses:

    use it in place of ground turkey/beef. I put a little olive oil to coat the bottom of my skillet and then use the potato masher on the tofu to crumble it up small like ground turkey. Italian seasonings, red pepper flakes and a little fennel seed make it taste like sausage and is a great addition to spaghetti sauce. Chili powder/cumin/cilantro/black pepper and it makes great taco "meat".

    Ginger Garlic Tofu

    1/4 c soy sauce
    1 tsp ground ginger
    1 tsp garlic powder

    whisk these up and put in a large pyrex or tupperware (something with a lid). Cube up the tofu into maybe 3/4" x 3/4". I usually plane the block and then cube into maybe 16 pieces? 20? So you end up with 40 pieces. Put the tofu cubes into the marinade and coat them evenly. I usually just roll the pyrex around in my hands until all the pieces are coated.

    Then take a large ziploc bag and put maybe 1/2 cup or so of nutritional yeast in it (different from baking yeast!). Move the tofu cubes to the ziploc and coat them completely w/ the nutritional yeast.

    Spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 30-45 min until they're browning on the outside. Yum!!

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