Mostly tasteless. Even raw, uncooked and unadorned, your typical supermarket firm tofu has a light flavor that I just love. I make a point of buying several packages at a time: whenever I cook with tofu, I invariably start to snack on its juicy soy meatses straight from the package, and unless I have plenty, I am in danger of running out before any of it hits the frying pan.
I can’t be the only one who does this, can I? 
You don’t have to eat tofu to be vegetarian. You also don’t have to be vegetarian to eat tofu. With or without tofu, you don’t have to be 100% veg unless you want to be.
The protein concern is way overblown; most vegetarians get more protein than they need. If you eat enough food–real food, not junk–and a good variety, you’re probably getting enough protein without further thought. You also don’t need to get “complete proteins” in every meal–beans and rice together is great, but beans at one meal and rice at another is just fine.
A friend with serious lactose issues finds that she can eat yogurt that she makes herself, but not the commercial stuff. When she makes her own, she lets it ‘cook’ for longer than the supermarket version, which breaks down almost all of the lactose that would otherwise be present. She bought a yogurt maker, which you can get for $25-30, but you can also find plenty of info online about making the stuff without any special equipment. .
Makes perfect sense to me.
When I was still on the wagon (all vegetarian), I found I did have to work at getting enough protein to feel satisfied.
But the “complete protein” thing is pretty much a myth. As long as you’re not living exclusively on, say, boiled lentils and nothing else, you’ll be OK.
And one bonus tip: for soups, I found that a tomato base really gave them a nice body that eliminated the need for chicken or beef stock (but that may be my personal distaste for watery soups). Miso soup is also ridiculously quick and easy.
Ok, just got back from the grocery store… plenty of fresh veggies, fruit, leafy greens, legumes, and I’m going to give oat milk a shot. I even got some falafel mix to try out!
I got protein powder and nutritional yeast, as well as some protein supplement bars (Cliff Builder)… I know usually the protein thing is overblown, but keep in mind, I track my food daily and every day it’s a struggle for me to squeeze in all that protein. I just don’t have the appetite to eat much at a time.
I am trying some of those Morning Star frozen veggie patties just to see how I like them. Eventually I want to be eating clean, but I figure I’d better ease into this.
I got greek yogurt, eggs, spinach, a million kinds of cheese…
TOTALLY forgot the tofu, I was so overwhelmed with food. I think I’m going to have to go back tomorrow and get all the stuff I forgot.
But I DID remember to get a rice cooker! I’m really excited to try it out!
Now if you don’t mind I’m off to make my first GREEN MONSTER smoothie!
Please share this remark with us.
And good luck!
MMM
No, the idea that legumes + grain = complete protein is NOT a myth! What IS a myth is the notion that everything has to be carefully balanced to the gram, or that you much eat this combination at every meal. Just eat both over the course of a day and you’re good.
For what it’s worth, I find nut milks much more milk-like than oat or rice milk. And MimicCreme is the first decent nondairy cream replacement ever. I’ve only ever used it in savory cooking, but I know people who’ve had very good results in ice creams and such.
Sr. Olives and I both tried the oat milk last night, and it was pretty tasty. I much prefer it to rice milk.
My vote’s still out on the Greek Yogurt. I expected it to be sweet; it was actually a little sour.
Yeah, you’ll find it comes with honey at times (or fruit like regular yogurts) which is how you’ll get it sweet. Greek yogurt is just plain yogurt that’s thicker and typically with a slightly different lactobacillus blend.
I make homemade yogurt, but that’s because of the lack of additives in it. Check the label of almost any storebought yogurt and there are all kinds of sweeteners, stabilizers, thickeners, etc., in it. If I want fruit yogurt, I know my yogurt is made from regular milk and a plain live-culture yogurt starter, and then I add fruit - typically frozen pitted cherries or something like that.
Plus a lot of flavored yogurts have gelatin in them, which is not vegetarian.
I’ve got nothing much to add to this discussion (I’m quite carnivorous), but I have been trying to vary our diet a lot recently. I really just popped in to put a good word in for farro among your whole grains.
Man, I love this stuff. It’s a bit like brown rice on steroids to me - larger grain, a lot of that nutty kind of flavor that brown rice has. It works hot by itself or in pilaf sorts of things, goes well in soups (I subbed it for barley in a soup I made Sunday), and it is also excellent in cold salads. Some farro, diced tomatoes, scallions, maybe some diced zucchini and a simple olive oil dressing and you’ve got a simple tasty dish.
Although, now that I think about it, I know nothing about how it would impact IBS. But boy is it yummy stuff.
Cut up some fruit - bananas, mangos, and grapes are good, but you can use just about anything - top with Greek yogurt and some crunchy granola. Put some honey on top, you don’t need a lot, just enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. I got turned on to this for breakfast in Greece 20 years ago, and I waited fooorrrreeevvver for Greek style yogurt to make it to the US so I could have it again.
You might also try making yogurt with lactose-free milk–it’s massively less expensive than buying soy yogurt (and if the soy yogurt is anything like the soy cheese I tried, massively better-tasting.) It’s dead simple, too. Heat up some milk to just below a boil (I usually do a half-gallon container at a time), then let it cool down to about skin temp or a bit warmer. Dip out a little bit and mix a spoonful of yogurt into it, then stir it all back in. Cover and put it somewhere where it will be between 70 and 120 for 8-12 hours, undisturbed (I tend to use a warm, turned-off crockpot with a blanket around it in winter, or just the kitchen counter if it’s summer). Eat.
I use it for breakfasts, snacks, dips, frozen yogurt in the summer, all sorts of stuff. Being lactose intolerant, I was used to making yogurt an occasional thing, or else suffering the consequences (and being very unpopular.) This whole non-lactose yogurt thing is great. I wish I’d known how easy it was to make years ago.
olives and other (would-be/semi) vegetarians who are interested in making meat-like dishes might appreciate some of the recipes on this site.