Tofu Surprises and WW
 

I know what you're thinking...tofu...AUGH! I thought that too until a few years ago, when my husband and I decided to move towards a more plant-based diet. I then began looking for more interesting things to do with tofu and learned how tofu can replace animal products in many ways. Plus, it's cheap! Now that I'm on Weight Watchers, there's a new, added plus...tofu is a zero point food, which means that I can eat all I want of it and I don't even have to track it. I know that there a few other QB people out there that have also started WW recently, so I thought I'd start this thread to share tofu recipes.

I love making a tofu scramble with lots of veggies and a few other things to enhance the taste, or to make it even more nutritious. I also make a tofu mayonnaise that most people in my family actually prefer to regular mayo. I don't know how many SPs regular mayo has, but my version has a lot less. Another favorite recipe I use all the time is homemade, tofu pasta. There are no eggs in this pasta and it is amazing! I'll share some of these recipes on this thread over the next week, or two and if anyone else is interested in this topic, please share.

~ C

Can't even find tofu here, unless in to the city for specialty shops, and then expensive. :(

I went to a Chinese restaurant and most of the food they brought to our table had tofu in it, I had never eaten it before and it was delicious. This was in China though, most Chinese restaurants are mostly Vietnamese.

Wow...I've found tofu to be pretty common wherever I've traveled in this world and it's always very inexpensive. If you are interested in buying tofu, try looking in the produce section of your market for fresh tofu. You might also look for the shelf-safe packaged kind. It's called "silken tofu." It's in a carton and you can find it on the shelf, possibly near the international foods. Ask the store employees where it's located. I know that Safeway and Kroger owned markets carry it. :)

~C

Tofu Mayo

I don't know what the calorie count is for this recipe, but I'm sure it is lower in calories than regular, or even soy mayonnaise that you buy in the store. It only has a small amount of oil in it and the rest is mostly just tofu. I use a food processor for this task, but a blender might work too. Just put all of the following ingredients in and give it a long whirl, until smooth and creamy. I use regular, fresh tofu, but many recipes that I've seen call for silken tofu. Either works fine, just drain and press the regular tofu first and then blend a little longer in the food processor. This recipe makes about a 1/2 pint.

1/2 block of fresh, firm tofu (about 8 oz in weight,) drained and pressed*, or one carton of silken tofu.
1-2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, according to taste
1/2 teaspoon of black Himalayan salt. (Gives it a nice eggy taste)
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
spritz of lemon juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil. (Canola oil works fine too.)
dash of turmeric
2 Tablespoons of nutritional yeast (Gives it an earthy, UMAMI , or savory taste.)

You can play around with these ingredients to get the taste just right. IF it is too thick, just add a tiny amount of water and blend again.

* You will need to press your fresh tofu to get some of the moisture out before you use it. It's really easy to do. I put mine in a wide, soup bowl and put another, identical soup bowl on top of the tofu. I put a smaller bowl of water on top of all of that and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. They make tofu presses, but I've always been too cheap to buy one. (You're lookin' a a scrappy quilter here, so you know I'm a penny pincher.)

I have a friend who's vegetarian and had been using tofu for sometime. Her doctor told her to quit using it. Some of the reason are in this article, one that it's genetically modified. Myself, it's a texture I don't care for so don't use it. Reminds me of suet we feed the birds.

https://draxe.com/what-is-tofu/

After going thru all my cancer treatment I was told to stay away from soy products. My cancer was the hormone bases - so soy products are not for everyone.

Quiltingcandy, you are absolutely right. But if a person does not have a medical reason to avoid soy products, they are a great way of getting a small amount of estrogen which can really help with menopausal symptoms.

Moderation in consumption sounds like a balance between "shouldn't eat" and "eat freely".
I'll follow this for some ideas/recipes that may tempt me to try them.

Tropit - Do you know what the shelf life (in the fridge) is for the mayo?

Most of the tofu available in our area is NOT genetically modified and is organic. However, that may not be the case in other areas. Look for ORGANIC, or NON-GMO on the label. Here are some of the brands that I frequently buy:

Nasoya Organic Tofu
Safeway's O Organic Tofu
Wildwood Organic Tofu
Hodo-Soy Organic Tofu

I generally pay about $2/lb., but frequently buy it on sale for about $1 to $1.50/lb. One pound should serve about 4 people.

Personally, I've never tried eating suet, so I don't know how the texture compares to tofu. I will tell you that tofu can take on a lot of different textures, depending on how it's prepared. In this recipe it is blended so smooth and creamy that you would never guess it wasn't mayonnaise. You might try baked tofu, or tofu crumbles in a different recipe for another kind of texture.

I'm not a doctor, but I do know that there has been a lot of misinformation about tofu floating around lately. I'm not sure why. People all around the world have been eating tofu for hundreds of years with no ill effects. After all, it's just made from a bean.

~ C