TOFU? Who woulda thunk it???

Ok, so I've gotta start by saying that I am NOT a tofu person.  I have a lot of isses with textures when I eat something.  Mushrooms and I are fair weather friends...because you just never know how the texture of a mushroom is going to turn out.  When I go to a chinese restaurant or a mongolian bbq type place I always turn my nose up at the tofu.  But, with our recent committment to eating less meat I knew that I had to be willing to start branching out or I'll never be able to keep to the committment long term.

So, when Michelle shared a recipe she created for "mac'n'cheese" made with tofu instead of pasta and her kiddo gave it two thumbs up, I decided to give it a try.

So, my first step was figuring out where to even FIND tofu in the grocery store!  I flagged down a manager and he led me over to the produce section and took me right to it.  The stuff I bought was Melissa's organic and came in an 18oz block.  I thought it would come in a bag for some reason, here's what it looks like:

This 18oz package was $1.99!  Not bad.  I bought the firm...Michelle used extra firm in her recipe, but the didn't have extra firm in stock at our grocery store.

Michelle called this "Mac'n'Cheese" but A and I both felt that wasn't very descriptive.  In our opinion it was nothing like mac'n'cheese.  It did have a pasta-y type consistensy but more like a chicken noodle casserole than mac'n'cheese.

Ok, here is the recipe, as I made it, with nutrition facts:

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Tofu, Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Ingredients:

18oz extra firm tofu
1 "steam in the bag" bag of broccoli
1 bag (1 and 3/4 cups) shredded cheddar cheese (I used the 2% milk variety, sharp)
1/2 c egg beaters
1/4 c half and half
1 tsp onion powder (optional - I didn't have any so didn't use it)
Salt/pepper (I went light on salt, heavy on pepper)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Microwave the bag of broc for 4 mins (just short of the directed time), drain in a colander to get rid of excess water. Chop. (I chopped mine in the food processor to get liitle bity pieces)
Dice tofu into very small cubes, roughly 1 cm sized.
Spray 13"x9" pan with PAM.

In a bowl, mix together tofu, broc, egg beaters, half and half, onion powder, salt/pepper, and 3/4 of the shredded cheese. Spread into pan.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until slightly browned on top.

Nutrition:
Entire recipe: 1240cals, 8 fiber, 73 fat
6 servings = 5 WW pts each
8 servings = 4 WW pts each

Here is Michelle's picture...she made a smaller version and used a pie pan:

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So, how'd it taste?  GOOD!  I was really surprised that I enjoyed it so much.  I think that cutting the tofu into the smaller pieces made it less tofu-like.  We served it with a spinach salad and cut ours into 6 servings.  We each ate 1.5 servings.  It was a good amount of food for 7.5 points.  And I ate another serving on a whole wheat tortilla for lunch today.  It reheated well.  And I think kiddos would enjoy this...the tofu comes off a lot like chicken (in fact, Michelle's kiddo thought there was chicken in it) and its covered in cheese!  :)  And best of all...it's SIMPLE!

One warning....you may not want to eat this recipe if you've got a PTA meeting later in the night.  Not sure if it was the broccoli or the tofu, but A and I both had gas all night!  :)