Masala Baked Tofu, Asparagus, & Dilly Potatoes

I came home knowing that I wanted tofu to be the protein source for the night, so I immediately started pressing a block of extra firm tofu while I determined what I wanted to do with it. For you tofu newbies out there, pressing it is key to getting it to soak up flavors. You push out the water and the tofu acts like a little flavor sponge. When my friend Rachel gave me the gift of the Tofu XPress (http://tofuxpress.com/) several years ago, I was intrigued and excited, but I had no idea that I would use it many times every week from then on! It's small and takes up almost no space in the cupboard and it is handy as all get out. I highly recommend it.

So I made the Baked Masala Tofu recipe from "Appetite for Reduction" which is a lower-fat and lower-cal vegan cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It's good, but since it uses a ton of curry powder, the end result is that some of the tofu has sort of a pasty sauce on it. The boyfriend loves it, but the kid and I just scrape it off.

I also steamed some asparagus and sprinkled a little mushroom salt on top, and then made a new potato creation for the side. I took 5 Yukon Gold potatoes (my absolute faves) and washed them and chopped them into about 12 pieces each. Then I stuck them in the pressure cooker and put about a cup of water in and put it on high for 7 minutes. I let the pressure come down naturally. Once it was down, I opened it up and drained the excess water. I put a tablespoon of margarine in a pan and melted it, then added the soft potatoes and pan fried them briefly. I sprinkled dill and sea salt on top - I didn't measure, so I'm not sure exactly how much I used (maybe 1/2 tsp?), and stirred it up until it was pretty evenly spread. The potatoes were soft and falling apart a bit and the flavor was exactly perfect.

Dinner got a solid 4 out of 5. :)

Nutrition for 1/3 of the potatoes, 1/3 of the masala tofu, and 8 spears of asparagus:

Calories: 489

Fat: 11 g

Carbs: 75 g

Protein: 23 g

Fiber: 12 g

Sugars: 6 g

Vitamin A: 17%

Vitamin C: 64%

Calcium: 18%

Iron: 29%