Diet, Cooking, and Exercise: cauliflower

This is a good day for recipes. I tried two new ones and they were both winners. I tried the tofu warm last night and put it cold inside a half a whole wheat pita with onions and tomato for lunch. Yum.

I also weighed in at the fitness center today and my total cumulative weight loss is 29.5 pounds. I’ve lost almost thirty pounds since January 3.

Sweet Sour Baked Tofu

Ingredients

I found a bottled sweet and sour sauce that has no fat and is low sodium, House of Tsang Sweet and Sour Stir Fry Sauce. I used 2 oz. for one block of tofu.

NaSoya Lite Firm Tofu-1 14.5 oz. package

Preheat oven to 400º. I sliced the tofu in half by width (horizontally), placed the two halves between two plastic cutting boards and put two 1 gallon water jugs on the top board. This presses the tofu and squeezes out the excess water. I left the tofu to press for 30 minutes and then sliced the tofu into 10 slices. I coated the tofu slices with the sweet and sour sauce and put them on a pan sprayed cookie sheet. I covered the sheet with foil and baked for 30 minutes, turned the slices, and baked uncovered for an additional 20 minutes.

The tofu had a nice chewy texture and a wonderful flavor. The recipe makes 5 servings and it’s good cold. It has 68 calories, 7 g protein, 7.4 g carbohydrates, 1.5 g fat, and 65 mg sodium.

Crispy Cheese Cauliflower

I modified this recipe from the Healthy Cooks Yahoo Group. It was originally published in USA Today Weekend. It is great, and has only 78 calories, 4.78 g protein, 5.41 g carbohydrates, .76 g fat, and 98 mg sodium. This recipe makes 3 servings.

Ingredients

Olive Oil Spray
2/3 c Parmesan Cheese, Freshly-Grated
1/2 t Cumin, Ground
1/8 t Cayenne Pepper, Or To Taste
1/2 Cauliflower, Broken Into -Pieces
2 Egg-Substitute
1 Lemon, Cut In Wedges

Preheat oven to 450º. Combine cheese, cumin, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl (next time I might try some dry mustard either in addition to the cumin or instead of it). Dip the cauliflower into the egg substitute and then into the cheese mixture. Place the pieces on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with the olive oil spray and then lightly spray the completed pieces. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve with wedges of lemon.

Here’s my recap from yesterday.