I made vegetarian taco for lunch today & it was great. I used a little less cheese to keep within the 15 fat grams per meal. I don't want to go over.            

2-taco shells  100 cals    4fg

2 tbs of low fat sour cream   40cals    3fg

1/3 cup shredded cheese   110 cals     8fg

1/2 cup fat free refried beans 100 cals 0fg

1/2 ground soy 70cals .5fg

Total 420 cals & 15.5 fat grams

You could call me vegetarian-curious...I have a newfound love for all things organic, and meatless...the one thing that I can't figure out is tofu.  Do you make it?  If so send me a couple ideas!!

Tofu absorbs pretty much anything so it's perfect for marinating. Mrs. Dash makes low salt marinades and they are quite tasty.

Also -- keep in mind that tofu comes in a number of varities. Firm, semi-firm, silken are the main ones. Firm is for meat substitution. Silken is for smoothies and the like (desserts, etc.). Semi-firm, eh, I don't think I've ever used it and I've been eating tofu for over 30 years. But it could be used to substitute for firm.

A few ideas.

1. Marinate cubes of firm tofu in whatever you would marinate meat in. Toss on barbecue or indoor grill. Serve as a main dish "meat" or on sandwiches.
2. Crumble firm (I guess here's where you could use semi-firm) tofu and mix with tomato sauce or paste. Shape into a loaf pan and bake in the oven for a mock meatloaf. If you like, and you need the fat, add crushed walnuts to the mix before cooking.
3. Cube silken tofu and toss into soup. In Chinese cuisine, you often see this with a vegetable soup or something with a little shrimp or chicken. If you add low sodium chicken stock (if you're vegan, use low sodium vegetable stock) and a little cilantro, lime and chopped scallions, it's essentially a Vietnamese taste. Ginger is optional (my husband doesn't like it, so I don't cook with it, but it is definitely a staple of Asian-style cooking).
4. Crumble firm tofu, mix with tomato sauce or paste and mix with egg whites or egg substitute. Sprinkle on chipotle pepper powder or chili powder. Saute in skillet and serve in tacos or other Mexican-type presentation. The eggs are optional but they do help to keep it together.
5. I use a slow cooker and like to toss tofu into whatever I'm making. I make a lot of bean soup and tofu adds protein to the mix and takes on every flavor. I would not cook tofu by itself in a slow cooker as it'll just fall apart (even the firm stuff), but as a part of a larger whole it's fine.

Try to get a low-fat variety if you can. Also -- if you squeeze out as much of the water as possible, you can freeze the raw stuff.

I'm sorry, I missed placed my user name & password.

I really haven't used tofu very much, I find it difficult to cook with it. I'm going to try some of the ideas that were given. I usually buy the prepackaged soy products like Boca Burger and Morning Star.

I did make a quiche a couple of weeks ago with firm tofu and that was the best meal I've been able to make so far. It was just a regular quiche with veggies and eggs and I just added the tofu, baked it in the oven.

 Its much less expensive if you buy the tofu and learn to cook with it than buying vegetarian products.

Charityann81:

You could call me vegetarian-curious...I have a newfound love for all things organic, and meatless...the one thing that I can't figure out is tofu.  Do you make it?  If so send me a couple ideas!!

you can make tofu, but it's really time consuming. You can also buy it at the grocery store. it's usually with the produce in that section that has all the "exotic" veggies... you'll find tofu, egg roll wraps, ginger, jalapenos, stuff like that.

Anyway, you can get soft/silken tofu that most people use as a substitute for creams and the like -usually used for baking. There's semi-firm tofu -think crumbly/creamy cheese. Usually used to substitute scrambled eggs and the like. And then there's Firm/Extra firm tofu and this is usually used as a meat replacement.

I have a great egg roll recipe that I use tofu in ... actually I have quite a few tofu recipes that are pretty good... only I haven't double checked the fat/calorie content of them so I won't post the just yet.    

 Hmm I love vegeterian foods. I used to be a vegan. and i planning on going back to it one day.