Tackeling the art of cooking Tofu

 

Ever since I stopped eating meat and dairy I have been struggling with ways to prepare tofu. Tofu is a great source of plant protein and it can be cooked so many different ways. They can make tofu taste like just about anything. The only problem is learning how to master this skill in the kitchen. In my opinion tofu either goes really good or really bad. I have included below some tips on cooking tofu and also a recipe that I created one night for my mother and I.

 

• Depending on what type of dish you are trying to prepare will be the factor you need to consider when deciding which type of tofu to purchase. For the recipe below I chose extra firm tofu because it is easier to work with than soft tofu.
• Tofu is packaged in water, so you must press the tofu to get excess water out. Tofu is extremely absorbant. This is a good thing because you can infuse it with flavors easily yet it can be a bad thing because if you do not press the tofu correctly it will remain mushy and gross. The way I press tofu is by taking a huge stack of paper towles and placing the tofu between them like a sandwhich. I put one glass dinner plate on top of the tofu and 3 to 4 glass dinner plates on top of the tofu. I change the wet paper towles 2 to 3 times until I feel that enough water is released.
• Cutting the tofu into smaller peices makes it way easier to work with.

 

Teriakey Tofu

 

Marinade-

rice vinegar

sugar

light sodium soy sauce

honey

garlic powder

salt

pepper

 

 

1. slice the pressed tofu into small rectangles

2. submerge the rectangles into the marinade

3. while you are marinading the tofu slice up, zuchini, onions, garlic, mushrooms

4. boil water for brown rice
5. put olive oil in a skillet and cook veggies until they become soft
6. remove veggies from skillet and put them aside
7. remove tofu from marinade and pat with a dry towel
8. cook tofu in skillet until it is slightly browned
9. Mix in veggies



Learning how to make juice

Recently I have become in love with the juice "Lively lemon" from Nature's corner in Spring Lake Heights. Whenever I go, I get a small lively lemon and I ask them to add a carrot for taste. So my drink ends up consisting of Lemon, carrott, ginger, and apple. I decided I wanted to try to start jucing on my own considering how pricey it can be to buy juice. (small from Nature's Corner is 4.99+ tax). So I went to the store and purchased:

• One large bag of carrots ($2.49)
• One large bag of celery ($2.49) .. (added this because celery juices well and will add more juice to the drink)
• five lemons (on sale 5 for $1.99)
• One bag of 7 apples (on sale for $4.99)
• One peice of ginger root ($2.99 per lb) ... (you dont need alot, its strong!!)

If you are just getting into drinking vegtable juice this is a good recipie to start with. All of the vegtables and fruits I used are high in vitamins and they also taste awesome together. Its a good step towards tackleing a big green juice. The juicer I use is a older one that my boyfriend's mother lent me so it isnt really the best as far as extracting as much juice as possible but it will do for now. One tip I have is if you add vegtables or fruits with alot of water in them it will add to the volume of juice you get. (examples- celery, watermelon ect.) .. The celery is really masked by the other strong flavors in my mixture so you dont even taste it. Moral of the story, juicing doesnt HAVE to be crazy expensive. Look for fruits and vegtables that are in season and on sale. The riper the better. Buy things in bulk from stores like Costco or Bj's when juicing to save your self from ransacking a week's worth of produce.

HAPPY JUICING!!!!