I’m surprised, but none of you guessed what I had for dinner last night. I thought it would be sort of easy to figure out, but I think I made it sound more glamorous than it really was. I cooked TOFU for the VERY FIRST TIME!

This block of bean curd is a staple in most non-meat eater’s diets. However, it has always just plain freaked me out. The liquid that it comes packed in makes me a bit queasy (so does canned bean liquid, but I’ve overcome that) and it’s smooshy, spongy texture reminds me of cartilage for some reason. Like the cartilage in chicken that always made me gag.

I was more than a little apprehensive about cooking tofu for the first time, but after tweeting with a Twitter tofu expert I felt I had the knowledge to make it work. So I sliced my block of Nasoya Extra Firm tofu up, and layed it out on a paper towel.

I pressed the tofu while typing up last night’s blog post.

Then I made what may have been a rookie mistake and marinaded the tofu while the roommate and I went on a walk outside. (I was planning to run at the gym, but the weather was too dang nice and I rarely get company when I workout.) The marinade consisted of reduced-sodium soy sauce, white vinegar, a dash of sesame oil and garlic powder. I use this comination as a dipping sauce, a salad dressing and a marinade because I just love it.

Once we returned from the walk, I put the marinaded (should this be marinated?) tofu into a wok and stir-fried it. The marinade definitely soaked into the tofu and made it impossible for the tofu to crisp up as I had imagined it doing.  I also added snap peas and carrots to the mix for some veggie action.

I paired a teeny serving of the stir-fry with some brown rice for the taste test.

The verdict? I liked it! Even though it was a bit mushy due to my over-marinading (over-marinating?) it, the texture was not nearly as creepy as I was expecting. And since the marinade is one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations, I loved the taste! I ended up having two bowls of the tofu stir-fry, and I’m looking forward to the leftovers.

I’m also looking forward to experimenting with tofu a bit more. I know there are endless possibilities, and I’m excited that I can finally buy it with confidence and not worry that I’m wasting my money.

Oddly enough, the day that I tried tofu for the first time, I happened to stumble upon this article. But, even though tofu may not be the most environmentally-friendly animal-free food, at least it is not an animal, yes? I probably won’t cook tofu more than once or twice a month, but now I have another option for a protein source and I’m pretty pumped about that.

After dinner, I watched The Biggest Loser and then tried to do a cardio video since my walk wasn’t as intense of a workout as I’d hoped to get today. About 15 minutes in, I realized I was much too tired for that though, so I showered and hit the hay. I was out before 10 p.m. and apparently I was too tired to set any alarms, because I woke up at 7:15 a.m. this morning. Talk about a full night’s sleep!

Do you like tofu? If so, what’s your favorite way to prepare it?