OK, here's the deal with soft tofu, (if your inspiration for using it is to cut down on saturated fat in recipes). You can use it to create any creamy type application, but bear in mind that tofu will not carry and enhance the flavor components the way cream will. So to compensate, tofu dips, desserts and sauces have to be "spiced up" more than maybe you would do usually. Frankly, this is not a problem for me, I usually love the "spicier" versions of things anyway. Besides being lower in saturated fat than animal based products, whole soy products have a lot of phytoestrogens in them, which have many health benefits in addition to being lower in fat. Also bear in mind that although it is lower in saturated fat, tofu is not extra low in overall fat, or low calorie, so use in moderation like all things. And of course some folks are allergic to soy so can't get any benefits. Some of the allergies can be attributed to the genetic modification (to include herbicide resistence), that is becomeing ubiquitous with soy, so seek out organic, non-gmo soy sources. I couldn't find my tofu chocolate pie recipe. I eat desserts so sparingly that this would not be the kind of thing I would make very often, unless I was going to some kind of party. Otherwise it would languish and get soggy in my fridge, and hog scarce space. However, while trying to find the recipe, I Googled soft tofu and got gazillions of great sounding recipes. Once of my easy peasy favorite things to do with soft tofu is to make tofu pudding tarts. Mori Nu makes various pudding mixes you can combine with soft tofu--like lemon, vanilla and chocolate. If you can't get Mori Nu mixes in your local health food grocery, you could order them online, or just Google for a recipe, there are gads of them out there. In fact, I am linking to one particularly interesting site I found while searching for the pie recipe. I buy those little phyllo cups, fill them with a dollop of the pudding, a dollop of my homeade preserves, and a sprinkling of sliced almonds. Very cute and very easy. But they don't keep, the phyllo gets soggy if you let them sit around too long, so I only make these for parties. Also tons easier than making a custard pudding tart. OK, so with a little Internet sleuthing, I found the recipe I made. But I also found out that unlike back in the 90's when I subscribed to "Vegetarian Times" where the recipe came from, gads more folks are cooking with tofu so there are so many more options! Note: I got this from a blog called "Dewey's Treehouse." I cannot find the real name of the blog's author, but she gives credit for the recipe to Jennifer McLain, from the January 1994 issue of Vegetarian Times. They have a feature called "Recipe Redux" where they pare down someone's favorite high fat recipe. I got a lot of great recipes from that column! The notes are from the blog author, not me. If the recipe ends up with weird symbols, that's from my cutting and pasting. Chocolate Pie After Redux (It can be made up to three days in advance.) Ingredients Crust: *7 oz. chocolate wafer cookies or graham crackers and *2 tbsp. canola oil or melted margarine. (My note: I just make a graham cracker crust following the directions in the Betty Crocker Cookbook. You can use any crumb crust recipe you like.) Filling: * 8 oz. unsweetened chocolate (a box of the supermarket kind is fine) * 2 10-oz. packages silken tofu (The first time I made this, I bought a 19-oz. box of aseptically-packaged silken tofu, because Jennifer insisted that the tofu be the silken type. The second time, I had to use what the supermarket offered, which was soft (but not silken) tofu in 300 g (about 10 � oz.) water-pack tubs. I used two tubs, and it worked fine.) *10-oz. jar blackberry preserves (Jennifer says that preserves made from any red berry (strawberry, raspberry or cherry) will work. You don't taste the particular fruit, it just adds sweetness and texture. The first time, I used a jar of black cherry preserves. The second time, I was again limited to what the discount supermarket had, and I had trouble finding anything in the jam aisle marked "preserves." I settled for a cupful of E.D. Smith Triple Fruit Wildberry spread, which is thinner than normal jam and seemed to work well.) *1 tsp. vanilla extract *1 cup liquid honey (You may think you need to cut back on the honey after putting in a cupful of preserves or jam. However, we tried cutting back, tasted it after blending, and agreed that it did need pretty much close to the whole cupful. Remember, you�re adding a lot of unsweetened chocolate.) Directions Crust (if you�re following the recipe here): Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In blender or food processor, combine cookies and oil or margarine and pulse to make fine crumbs. Press into bottom of springform pan or pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool. Filling: Melt chocolate in double boiler or over very low heat. Put remaining ingredients in bowl of food processor or blender and add melted chocolate. Process until very smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides. Pour filling into crust, smooth top, and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight. Serves 12. Per serving: 409 calories, 17 g fat, 57 mg carb. Lpink's notes: Put some berries around the top for some extra style points! Also note, although it may be low fat, this is NOT a low calorie dessert!! But it's very rich so you won't be tempted to eat more than one tiny sliver! This post is getting to be long, I'll post some more recipes later. Here is a link that might be useful: Food Ferret soft tofu recipes

Jim, I just replaced my deck (lower and an upper) as a DIYer and did not find it very difficult. Ipe was a new wood to me so I spent some time researching it on the web and everything kept coming back positive. This site helped tremendously as questions and issues had already been addressed that I had not thought about. Using the search in this forum for "Ipe" (Bottom of page) will provide you a wealth of information. You will get answers to questions you did not know to ask. In addition, The pros here really help. Post progress pics and any specific questions and you will get all the help you need. Here is my deck and you can see that I received "help" http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/porch/msg0602295520967.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/porch/msg072012207042.html Here are very recent links that provide great info, there are lots more: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/porch/msg0610144817578.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/porch/msg1221463624983.html there were 675 links when i did a search in Ipe. a couple provide great recommendations on what tools you should have (18V Impact driver, drill, bo-wrench or equivelant, type of fasteners, what to avoid (search on hidden fasteners), staining, railing etc. you will also find good references on where to buy the material,cost,design considerations (joist spacing, ventilation) etc Here's a few other sites I bookmarked: http://www.decks.com/Calculators/Stairs.aspx? http://www.stairways.org/pdf/2006%20Stair%20IRC%20SCREEN.pdf http://www.mcfeelys.com/screws

Since some of mine are on Zaar, I will warn you to read my page first before trying them. It is under the name house. There is a disclaimer there on the current database and the recipes located on Zaar. As to easy, look nothing could be easier as long as you know how to do tofu. Since we aren't taught by our parents it isn't easy. First There are two types. One is the Mori Nu type aka silken. It is soft like a cottage cheese or cream cheese. It is best in smoothies and desserts such as pudding Don't try to drain it by pressing unless you plan on crumbling it. The other, waterpacked is firmer. If you freeze it, it is much tougher and more meatlike but will resemble a sponge. Esp if you freeze, drain. Simply put on a slanted board and put a heavy plate or pan on top. Let sit until the water stops running. Now it is ready to marinate. Tofu has taste. However it is so bland everything else overshadows it. Use your favorite 'sauce'. At our house we sometimes just pour sundried tomato dressing or raspberry pecan dressing over it and crumble and serve on a salad. The catch is marination time. The longer it sits, the more it will taste like what you are soaking it in. For a Western Beginner I recommend at least over night. Me? well heck I nibble it as I cut it so... However when we started the wife out on it, I soaked it overnight. Now what to do? Lets see Crumble and put on salad I make a dish that uses the tofu, our favorite bread dressing and veggies mixed in for a casserole. If you are lacto add a vegetarian cheese on top and melt. I make our favorite stir fry sauce, marinate and simply pan fry with no oil [use cooking spray for this]. Bake until golden brown and serve with sides Toss cooked or uncooked in a stir fry Make Chocolate pudding or Vanilla pudding BBQ it Toss in your favorit stew Make Dumplings such as Buddah's Jewels for a fancier meal Mix with Seitan and make a loaf to replace turkey on thanksgiving After you start working with it, the net has oodles of recipes that you can pick up in a hurry. If you follow the link off my Zaar page, it will take you to where I now keep the recipes and I vouch for them as accurate. There is a long page of tofu recipe on the site under Vegetarian/Vegan on this site. Some are for advanced users and some are for beginners. The Orange Lacquered Tofu and Ricker's Tofu Roast are my favorites. The chocolate pudding ain't shabby either. Note Ricker's tofu roast uses Seitan in the mix. That is simple to make. 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten [you can find that in the bakng section usually by Hodgson Mills or Bob's Red Mill] and 1/2 cup water, mix, knead 5 minutes boil in your favorite broth for an hour then use, refrigerate in broth or freeze in broth for future use. And if you run into trouble give a yell. Humm maybe I better thaw the garlic pepper tofu for supper. Psst if you run into any smoked tofu? Give it a try. I love it.

Maybe freezing the tofu first produce a better texture for croutons? Freezing extra-firm tofu, IMPE, makes it sponge-y. I also recommend pressing it to remove as much moisture as possible. The way I used to do it was to wrap the block in paper towel & place it between to plates w/ a heavy can or other weight on top several hours or overnight I haven't cooked w/ tofu in years, but my go-to marinade was flavored w/ fresh rosemary black pepper & fresh garlic . I used tamari too, but you say low to no salt, right? I thinking if you mixed seasoning into some good olive oil & marinated tofu cubes in it, then baked it, that might do the trick. You might try thin slices, rather than cubes. You can also buy seasoned pre-seasoned soy 'nuts' to add crunch to salads.