BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Share your Tofu recipes

when you soak tofu to add flavor, make sure you press it between some paper towels or on a rack lined with cheese cloth. This allows it to soak up more flavor.

I have used soft tofu in place of cream cheese after it's been strained in a coffee filter to get rid of more of the water.

Same thing with ricotta for lasagne and marscaponi or manicotti.

Hmm, good ideas Jase.

What I did (read about this online) was freeze the package of extra-firm tofu, then let it thaw out in the fridge (supposed to give it a "meatier" texture), then drained it & squeezed it a bit with my hands, then pressed it with paper-towels with a heavy bowl on top, then cubed it & poured the consomme on top straight from the can.

It was so yummy!

And, I have some coffee filters I use just for cleaning now (I got a pod-style coffee maker & sold the old one) so I'm going to get some silken tofu & try that, too.

Deb - I really don't like yogurt in general but knew it was good for you so I kept trying every brand to find one I could enjoy. The Dannon Light & Fit yogurt is by far the lowest carb / sugar one and it really tastes great! It doesn't have the "sharp" taste that most yogurts have. Bob found a chocolate pudding yogurt with no sugar that he likes, he can't stand any yogurts at all. They have great bacteria in them, and high protein, so I'd definitely look for both of these to avoid the sugar that most yogurts seem to have.

Chocolate pudding yogurt? What's the brand?

I like the Blue Bunny but I'll try the Dannon. I used to like their other yogurt. Now, I look for "no sugar" or "carb control" on the label.

I cannot believe the difference in sugar in yogurts! It is just crazy. You know, some have like 40 plus sugar grams in one container.

Yes I was looking at yogurts in the store after we had this conversation and it is *scary* how much sugar they pump into many yogurts. Our world is really a strange one when even yogurt is dosed with gigantic amounts of sugar.

I'll grab Bob's pudding later on and type in the details!

Oh, I did love the Dannon Light & Fit! Thanks for the recommendation. I've been looking for "no sugar" or "carb control" or something on the labels. This totally works, too!

This is funny, because I cooked with tofu for the first time ever. I LOVE hot and sour soup, and never knew how to make it. I stumbled upon Stephanie O'Dae's Crockpot blog and she had a recipe for hot and sour soup. Stephanie is cooking in her Crock*Pot every single day in the year 2008, and she was on TV with Rachel Ray on July 9th.

(I'm paraphrasing her recipe because I like it a lot spicier than her family does)

2 C chicken broth
2 C water
1 pkg extra-firm tofu, cubed
1 can water chestnuts
1 can bamboo shoots
1 8-oz pkg of sliced mushrooms
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 C (?) rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp (?) crushed red pepper
1 egg (optional)

Throw everything except the egg in the cooker and turn on high for a few hours until cooked. When the soup is hot, beat the egg and pour in slowly. There's question marks for the vinegar and pepper because Stephanie's recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of vinegar and 1/4 tsp of pepper, but I ended up adding that, and then just pouring quite a bit more in of each after two separate tastings.

Looking at the ingredients, I'm thinking this is pretty low carb, unless the gurus can surprise me.

Ooh, Trish, I'll have to try that. I love Hot & Sour soup!

OK Bob's Jello pudding - yogurt blend is called LiveActive and it has 13g of carbs in it. So my yogurt is less carby - but he won't eat mine. He will eat this stuff And it really does help with his digestion ...

I actually found the Light & Fit in the 32 oz container at Wal-mart today. It was 6.7 cents per ounce as opposed to like 11 cents for the 8-oz containers. ( I tried to tell myself that with the little ones, you don't have to wash a dish, but for five cents per ounce, I can wash a dish! LOL)

I have had LiveActive cheese, but not their yogurt or pudding-yogurt blend.