If you are new to cooking with soyfoods, you are in for a treat! Many soy products are fast and easy to use, and they are adaptable to a wide range of cooking styles. You will soon wonder how you ever managed before you started using soy.
Familiarizing yourself with the unfamiliar
Start slowly. Find a recipe that looks appealing to you and give it a try. If you or your family are finicky about new foods, begin with something that looks and tastes familiar. Let them try it before you tell them it's got a new ingredient. Bread or a dessert made with a soy product usually brings rave reviews and a willingness to try something else. Rather than serving a piece of tofu to your family, start with tofu in disguise the Frosty Shake or a dip made with silken tofu are usually well received. Stir some Honey Nuggets into your favorite granola or make pizza with a soy sausage.
What if you had soy products before and didn't like them?
The food industry has come a long way in the past few years. There are many new soy products on the market now that suit a variety of tastes. Silken tofu, which makes a creamier purée than regular tofu, is widely available. Meat analogs come with different tastes and textures. Try black soybeans, which have a milder taste than yellow ones. Above all, give yourself a chance.
What about the kids?
You'll be doing them a great favor to have them grow up eating soyfoods. Younger children are very adaptable. One little boy, after his first taste of soy milk, grinned and said, "This is fancy milk, for a special treat!" Offer soyfoods without comment and eat them yourself. Older children may not want to try new foods, so be subtle and go slowly. Substitute soy flour for some of the flour in their favorite muffins, use soy milk in cooking and baking, and keep things looking familiar. After a while they'll be used to seeing soyfoods in the house and learn that they have been eating them in their favorite foods.
How to get a serving a day
No one knows exactly how much soy you need to eat to gain its health benefits, but it appears that a serving a day may be sufficient. That is about half a cup of soybeans or TSP (textured soy protein), four ounces of tofu or tempeh, or a glass of soy milk. If you pour a cup of soy milk over your cereal in the morning, that's all it takes. Or make yourself a soy drink. Snack on a handful of Honey Nuggets or soy nuts. Serve the Breakfast Scramble for any meal of the day. Have baked soybeans with dinner. There are lots of ways you can do it!
Remember that if a recipe calls for a cup of soy flour and serves eight, you are only getting two tablespoons of a soy product per serving. But you can also spread some soy nut butter on a muffin, have Chunky Red Sauce on your pasta and pour soy milk into your coffee... it all adds up!
Digestibility
Beans are rarely much of a problem for people who eat them often, but those who are unaccustomed to them may have some discomfort. Our digestive systems cannot break down all of the oligosaccharides (complex sugars) in beans, but bacteria in the large intestine ferment these sugars and produce gas as a by-product. Several strategies that may help you adjust:
Choosing Soy
As technology advances, science is discovering that unique compounds found in soyfoods may help prevent or even treat some of society's most serious diseases. This list shows easy ways to substitute soyfood ingredients in dips, salad dressing, soups and stews, shakes, entrees, sandwiches and desserts. While reductions may seem small, over time they add up to better health when incorporated into a well balanced diet.
| Food Ingredient | Soyfood Substitution | Serving Size | Fat Grams Saved | Cholesterol Milligrams Saved | Calories Saved |
| Ground Beef (85% lean) |
1/2 cup textured vegetable protein granules (plain or beef flavored), reconstituted | 3 ounce portion, cooked | 14 | 71 | 99 |
| Egg (as a leavening agent in baking) |
1/4 cup silken "lite" firm tofu, mashed | Equivalent to 1 egg | 4.5 | 213 | 53 |
| Cheddar Cheese | Soy-based cheddar cheese | Per ounce | 4 | 30 | 36 |
| Dairy Whole Milk | Regular soymilk or regular reconstituted instant soymilk | 8 ounces | 4 | 33 | 10 |
| Dairy 2% Milk | Soymilk - lite or reduced fat or reduced fat reconstituted instant soymilk | 8 ounces | 3 | 18 | 20 |
| Chicken Breast without skin, small chunks | Textured vegetable protein small chunks (chicken flavored) 1/2 rehydrated | 3 ounce portion, cooked | 3 | 77 | 58 |
| Sour Cream | Tofu sour cream | 1 Tablespoon | 2.5 | 5 | 19 |
| Egg (as a leaving agent in baking) | 1/4 cup soft tofu, mashed | Equivalent to 1 egg | 2.5 | 213 | 33 |
| Ricotta Cheese Part Skim | Tofu, firm, mashed to ricotta consistency | 1 Tablespoon | no difference | 5 | no difference |
Sources: USDA Human Nutrition Service, Agriculture Handbook, #18-16, Composition of Food, Legumes and Legume Products; and product information
Guide to Modifying Recipes, A One-for-One Substitution
To reduce calories, total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol.
1 serving of soyfood =