Recipe(tried): Double Soylicious Shake and Soy Ideas

Gina,
I've been experimenting with soy for a couple of years now, because of the benefits it has to offer. I've taken a soy cooking class & the instructor, who eats a lot of soy, said she breezed through menopause without any problems. It is also beneficial for lowering cholesterol & helping to prevent heart disease (if you eat at least 25 grams of soy a day). Here is a shake I make, & it is a good way to get a good amount of soy intake at one time. It tastes just like a regular shake, as soy takes on the flavor of whatever it is mixed with. I don't know if your present diet allows for you to eat bananas, but this would work with other fruits also. My favorite way is bananas & strawberries, or bananas & blueberrries, but you can experiment.

Double Soylicious Shake

1 cup of soy milk
1/4 package of silken tofu (10.5 oz package)
1 frozen banana
2-3 frozen strawberries, or any other fruit to your liking.
Put all ingredients in blender & blend until smooth

Note: Purchase ripe bananas & peel them, cut into chunks, & freeze them in baggies. Freezing the bananas makes the shake thicker.

Here are some other ideas:
I often put chunks of tofu into soups & stir fries, also into casseroles. It blends right in & doesn't change the taste of the meal. Dried or canned soybeans makes a good side dish for some meals, & they are also good in soups. Today for lunch I tried Edamame, which is green soybeans in the pods. You boil them, add a little salt, & eat them out of the pod. It was the first time I had them & they were very good. Roasted soynuts are delicious, & they make a good substitute for peanuts.

I've also been trying out the different vegetarian frozen foods that are made with forms of soy, such as veggie burgers & veggie crumbles. I use these instead of ground beef in many recipes. There is a good veggie burger out now called "Oven Roasted Veggie" burger put out by Morningstar Farms. It is made with soy protein, portabello mushrooms, red & yellow bell peppers, zucchini, brown rice. I find these to be very tasty & have been eating them often. They are especially good with a little sauce, such as roasted red bell pepper sauce.

Another form of soy I use is the dried Textured Vegetable Protein. This is kind of a dried form of tofu & it has less fat. It looks like chunks of dried dogfood & has a long shelf life. It is usually quite low in price also, compared to other forms of soy. To use it you reconstitute it, & it looks like chunks of beef. This also goes good in many recipes. If you are not inclined to be vegetarian, you can reconstitute it with a beef-flavored broth, which adds flavor to it.