Tofu!

Tonight is the night I give tofu a try. I sourly remember my first experience with tofu back several years ago. My mom and I decided to have a healthy lunch at a local place in town that neither one of us had ever been to before. I ordered a vegetable dish that included tofu. The dish arrived at the table with a quite colorful spread of vegetables. But, with that was not so colorful chunks of tofu. The chunks were quite large and reminded me of sponges you might use to apply make-up. I thought, here goes let's give it my best. Oh how I was so disappointed! It tasted like the sponges I might use to apply make-up! It had no flavor whatsoever, it was awful! I didn't think to return the food I just assumed that is what tofu was like. As you can imagine from that moment on tofu was not something I ever had on my radar.

Recently, I started seeing a nutritionist, Mel, who also happens to be a good friend of mine. On one of our, mostly, bi-weekly meetings she offered to come to my home and show me her tofu magic in form of tofu scramble. I told her of my ill feelings towards the spongy blocks of nastiness and she assured me I would change my mind. Now, because she came to my home I got to witness how tofu can be prepared. I never thought to wrap it in paper towels then put a plate on top to rid it of excess water, but that really did wonders! She then showed me that cooking with oil isn't necessary, what?, are you sure?? Butter?, no?, really?! Mel added vegetable broth to the pan and sauteed the onion and garlic in the non-fat medium I never would have thought of on my own. She crumpled in the tofu, added seasoning (turmeric gave it a yellow color) some nutritional yeast and black salt (she said it makes it taste likes eggs, of course I was skeptical). When all was said and done we sat down to enjoy tofu that did not look like sponges for make-up. Wow! I was impressed! The black salt indeed gives an egg flavor and the tofu itself was flavorful and had a great texture. Not quite egg like but so darn close! I do believe my husband and even my bonus kid will enjoy this dish! It's something my 9month old can eat as well.

So, the morale of the story is, I'm going to give tofu a second look. Mel told me to be sure to marinade it since it takes on flavor...yes, like a sponge. Tonight's dish will be tofu stir-fry. I'm using Bragg's Amino Acids (better than soy sauce, in my opinion) to make a marinade. I will add a bunch of veggies too! Perhaps I can convince Sam to stop to get spinach, I think that would be a fine addition. I will have to let you know how this goes.