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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Tofu X-Press: RQT

This will make your food life easier. It will.

What percentage of tofu recipes start with, or contain, some variation of "wrap tofu in a clean kitchen towel and set on a plate; place a second plate on top of the tofu and weight it with a can/book/pan for 30+ minutes"? Too many. I have a small kitchen. Counter space is at a premium and I don't have room for the plate/towel/plate setup. If I needed the water pressed out quickly I was tempted to add more weight - but frequently ended up squishing the tofu until it lost its structure and crumbled.

That's why the Tofu X-Press went on my "DO WANT" list for the last holiday season. Now that I have it (thank you, love2gofly), I'm very, very sorry that I didn't break down and just buy one for myself a year ago when I first became aware of the product.  Pressing the tofu makes the it chewy and more dense, less watery, and better able to absorb marinade, and the Tofu X-Press makes it a snap.

The press is best suited for the "water packed" Chinese-style type of tofu - the kind found in the refrigerated section; but if you frequently use the silken-style tofu sold in the small cardboard containers, you will want to buy the Light Tension Spring #2 Attachment as well. The lighter tension presses out the water without completely squishing the tofu.

The product is well-designed and sturdy if handled with regard.  Once you press the water out, you can use the same container to add marinade, and because it has a snap-on lid, the whole thing can go into the refrigerator easily. It also comes with a recipe book and lots of ideas for making non-tofu dishes. Press spinach! Press rice! Marinate salads!

I have no problem endorsing this product. I love it and I use it regularly because it works. It does what it claims to do, and it does it well. Tofu X-Press, you are Really Quite Tasty! (You can buy it here.)

Eat your dessert first.

After agonizing about a first post, let's kick it off with something sweet.

I was happy to see this today from Bay Area Bites: three recipes (almond, strawberry, and chocolate) for almond milk ice "cream". The author, who is not vegan, was motivated by a love for ice cream coupled with a concern for her cholesterol. (Whatever the reason, it's great to see vegan recipes in the mainstream.) She taste-tested the recipes on her kids and says that the results "inspired two pitilessly honest ten-year old girls to run around the kitchen yelling 'It's so good!' over and over."

Ice cream  never goes out of style. Expect to see more frozen confection recipes from ReallyQuiteTasty as we move into warmer weather.