Make a dish using tofu or tempeh.

“I made the marinade, dumped it in a large ziploc, put the tempeh in and left it for 24 hours. Took it out, sliced into 1/2 inch slabs and seared them using coconut oil. I made my own version of a Buddha bowl with a brown rice-lentil blend, mushrooms splashed with tamari, broccolini and avocado. Bonus – The extra marinade can be used as the dressing! The marinade successfully killed the bitterness that tempeh usually has. It seemed to add a juiciness, and the turmeric gave it a more appealing color. Searing it in the coconut oil (my new obsession for vegetarian cooking) gave it a nice crispy outside plus made it look even tastier. I can say I actually ENJOYED the tempeh. So much that I kept thinking about the nutty goodness the next day and made the same bowl again with the other half of my tempeh block.”

“But I persevered. Because, well, see above. I threw out gallons of not-curdled-enough soy milk until I stumbled upon a recipe that clicked. It was an obscure website and yet there were two post-recipe comments that hit home, both of which alluded to the cook failing multiple times (as I did) and then finding success with this particular method. It worked. I don’t know if it was the amount of nigari, the stirring configurations, the heating method or the fact that the pot was covered during the process. But the store-bought soy milk formed curds big enough to sequester into my tofu mold, and those curds actually formed a rectangle of delicious (creamy, rich!) tofu.”