How do you Tofu?

I am not a vegan, nor am I a vegetarian. I love meat as much as the next girl. Well... I actually just reallllly like certain kinds of meat like sausage, hamburgers, turkey burgers, and bacon! Anyways, in spite of my meat-loving ways I rarely eat meat and usually opt for tofu and some sort of fruit or vegetable to satiate me. All of my friends know that I cook a lot of vegan and vegetarian friendly meals and I am often asked how to prepare tofu. While there are a zillion ways to cook this delicious treat sometimes you just want to go with the basics. I thought maybe I'd share my go-to tofu recipe here in case some of you were curious about tofu too.

What you'll need:
-extra firm tofu
-peanut oil
-tamari
-quinoa (optional, can also be replaced with rice, couscous, or some sort of pasta)

How to do it:

1) The most important part of the preparation of tofu is properly draining the excess water. I'm not an expert at this but I'll share my method anyways :). I usually cut my block of tofu in half and wrap each half in a paper towel. Then I wrap the two pieces in a more absorbant dish towel and sit something heavy on top of them (like a textbook) for about an hour. It helps if you flip the tofu after about a half hour. When it's finished you can either prepare the whole block or just half. I usually just make half for myself.

2) Preheat your oven to 375 and cut your tofu into cubes.

3) Pour about 1 1/2 to two tablespoons of peanut oil and one tablespoon of tamari into a baking dish. I use glass because I've ruined a few teflon pans with various tofu experiments. Glass seems to hold up a little better.

4) Mix your tofu cubes around in the oil/tamari until they're evenly coated then spread them out a bit so they cook a little more evenly.

5) Bake for 15 minutes, stir then bake for another 15 minutes.

6) While your tofu is baking, make a little quinoa to go on the side. It's SUPER good for you (read Danielle's post about it here) and pretty damn tasty to boot!

7) When your tofu and quinoa are finished cooking mix them together and top with a smidge more tamari.

You can also add whatever vegetables to this recipe you'd like. Being a sausage lover, sometimes I'll add some andouille sausage to the mixture. If you like more flavor, I think this would be great with any sort of cliche asian take-out sauce (think sweet & sour, orange, lemon, kung pao, mongolian, etc.). I love this recipe because you can really do whatever you want to make it your own!

Now that I've shared my go-to recipe with you, I'm curious. How do you tofu? (oh yeah, I'm THAT cheesy and I totally just went there).

xo
Mal

P.S.
Just wanted to say I'm feeling a little better FINALLY but still not that great. Work today followed by a serious nap. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling a bit healthier? I'll keep my fingers crossed :)!