Sunday, August 10, 2008

To Tofu or not...................

I have been trying out some new foods this week and one of them is Tofu. My expectations for it were not that high. Everyone I know says how you can eat that, it taste terrible. Well I decided to give it a try because I am stuck on 309 lbs and I need to loss 10 lbs to be under 300 by the 19th of August (my next weigh in at the Doc's office). One of my friends suggested using it in spaghetti - well she did not have to ask me twice (because most of you know spaghetti is my favorite food of all time) so I bought some whole wheat spaghetti and some tofu and proceeded to figure out how to make it taste good. Let's just say it was nothing like I thought it would be - It has no taste at all. I had this horrible image made up already of something that was so foreign to me. I have been reading up on Tofu and here is a brief description of where it came from:

Tofu, also Tōfu (豆腐, Tōfu?) (the Japanese Romaji spelling), doufu (the Chinese Pinyin spelling often used in Chinese recipes) or bean curd (the literal translation), is a food of Chinese origin,[1] made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu that has been processed in some way. Tofu has very little flavor or smell on its own, so it can be used either in savory or sweet dishes, and is often seasoned or marinated to suit the dish.The production of tofu from soy milk is similar to the production of cheese from milk, although some tofu is made by processing non-soy products, such as almonds or black beans. The byproduct of the process is soy pulp (also called okara in Japanese).Tofu originated in ancient China,[1] but little else is known about the origins of tofu and its method of production. Tofu and its production technique were subsequently introduced into Korea, then Japan during the Nara period (late eighth century). It also spread into other parts of East Asia as well. This spread likely coincided with the spread of Buddhism as it is an important source of proteins in the religion's vegetarian diet.[2]Tofu is low in calories, contains beneficial amounts of iron (especially important for women of child-bearing age) and has no saturated fat or cholesterol. Depending on the coagulant used in manufacturing, the tofu may also be high in calcium (important for bone development and maintenance), and magnesium (especially important for athletes). Tofu also contains soy isoflavones, which can mimic natural human estrogens and may have a variety of harmful or beneficial effects when eaten in sufficient quantities.

There are different varieties of it you can get noodles, hot dogs, cheese and I even saw something that looked like sausage so if you are willing to try something new and want to increase your protein/iron or just to have lower calories I suggest giving it a try. I will do anything at this point to help with losing the weight any suggestions? I am going to find new ways to cook with it and I will share them with you guys when I do. Do you have any recipes for Tofu? Please share.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mara,

I'm not a tofo/tofu fan so when I need a food change to help jumpstart my continuing weight loss, I eat fish (baked, nuked, anything without butter or oil) and lots of veggies. I cut back on fruit too.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Nancy

Anonymous said...

well i will have to try this too;i have never tasted it befor please do not have hard goals you are doing good so you will loose weight when you will loose weight:just top thinking about it if you can take care ATE

Veronica said...

hey hey..

i eat tofu almost everyday now for lunch. it wasnt that long ago that i had no idea what to do with the stuff. but intrigued.

so what i do is this...

i grate some fresh ginger..throw it in with some cubed tofu. then pour some soy sauce over it and let it sit. the longer the better but i tend not to worry if its last minute .

then i fry that in a wok with a small bit of sesame oil.

then i add tons of veggies. cabbage, red peppers, zucchini, cabbage...and then at the end i throw in some bean sprouts and sesame seeds.

thats all. really simple and very filling. the kids love it to. you can spice it up with chili if you want.

good luck!

Anonymous said...

I often braise/roast a bunch of veggies, dice them up and toss them over some brown rice or bugher wheat. Adding tofu to the mix is easy; with it's non-taste it just becomes another veggie texture.

Also adding tofu to smoothies and using instead of milk in "cream" soups is a natural.

Embrace the tofu

Anonymous said...

Tips for Tofu? Use is wherever you would use chicken or pork in a dish with some kind of sauce. Stir fry, curries, stews,whatever.