Cooking With Suze

So if you've read the blog about the "101 one Random things about me" and #63 was about how my friend and I used to pretend we had a cooking show, blah, blah, blah. Well I guess it's always been a secret thrill of mine to want to have a cooking show. Well last night it came true!

Okay well technically it wasn't a "show", but it was a cooking "class" and I was the "star"!

Each month as part of our RS Enrichment activities we have a cooking class and this month was my turn to share my talents. I guess someone had heard thru the grapevine ( I have no idea how) that I cook with Tofu and so they asked me to do a class on Cooking with Tofu. I said I would LOVE to!

You see, I do cook with Tofu, although I'm most definitely NOT a vegeterian, nor do I EVER intend to be, I just believe in trying to get more vegetable protein in your diet and Dan and I are trying to do better at that. So I try to incorperate it into foods that we would normally eat. I'm a "disguise it so I don't know I'm eating it" kinda person, cause I most certainly wouldn't eat it on it's own- the stuff's disgusting!

Anyways the class went REALLY well. I had 13 people come which is a really good turn out. They usually only get about 8-10 people. We had a complete meal with dessert and a snack. We had pasta & sauce made with 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), Yummy Caesar Salad with the dressing made from Silken Tofu (SOY YUMMY!), and then for dessert we had a Tofu Chocolate cake and then we had Tofu Smoothies.

I did a demo of the Caesar Dressing first, and I even had pre-measured all the ingredients and had them in little individual dishes like they do on the cooking shows. Luckily I got some for my birthday from Sarah and so they came in handy. Since the dressing needed to sit for a bit, I even did the whole, "well this needs to sit for a bit, but I already made some earlier", just like on the shows. I'm such a pro! It's more like I'm such a copy cat! Everyone was impressed though and they laughed so I thought I was pretty cool.

After we ate dinner I did a demo of a 2-Step cake you can make with any cake mix and tofu. That's all the ingredients. No eggs, no oil. It removes all the cholesterol and drops the fat from 11g. to .5g! So you can have your cake and eat it too!

Everyone LOVED the food and were AMAZED they were eating healthy and Tofu! A lot of them came to the class sceptical, that they were even going to like the food and they all left loving it and convinced that their families were going to be converted to eating Tofu.

Seriously though, that Caesar dressing has become my absolute favorite meal now. I could eat if every night knowing it's so good for you. Regular Caesar dressing is SO high in fat & cholesterol I'm always leary of ordering it at restaurants, or having it at home, but I love it so much. But knowing what I'm putting into it and how much fat I'm adding to it (which is barely ANY!) and that I'm getting good protein, like I said, I could eat it every night!

Here are some of the recipes:

Low Fat Creamy Caesar Dressing

2-4 Cloves Garlic (I add more cause I LOVE garlic!)
½ Package of Soft or Silken Tofu (water drained)
2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp. Water
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tsp. Anchovy Paste (Optional, but it’s not the same w/o)
1 Tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
½ Tsp. Salt
½ Tsp. Pepper
¼ Tsp. Dry Mustard
2 Tbsp. Fresh Parmesan Cheese
Extra cheese for garnish


Mince garlic. Add all ingredients, except cheese and whirl in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add cheese and whirl until mixed. Toss with pieces of Romaine lettuce and croutons and extra cheese. Enjoy a guilt free Caesar salad!

2-Step Tofu Cake

1 Box Cake Mix
1 Package Soft or Silken Tofu (water drained)

Dump box cake mix into a medium size bowl. Put tofu in a blender or food
processor and process for about 30-60 seconds. Add blended tofu to dry cake mix.
Mix and bake as directed.