On their own or with other heavy-hitters, beans, lentils, and tofu can make quite the filling meal. While they are the perfect comfort-food base for the cooler months, they also work well in Spring and Summer.

Because they are common sources of vegetable protein, you might expect 250 Best Beans, Lentils and Tofu Recipes: Healthy, Wholesome Foods would be all-vegetarian all the time, but there are plenty of recipes throughout the book that combine the headliners with meat, poultry, fish and seafood. I mean, with 250 recipes you’ve got to figure the match-ups will be pretty varied.

Even though Todd’s not the biggest fan of tofu, I figured this would be a prime time to try out some new tofu material on him and see how we fared.

The first try wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped.

I don’t think it was the tofu’s fault, though. I’ve made one other dish in semi-recent memory, a buckwheat polenta, and remembered it having an odd taste to it. Granted, I chalked it up to the anchovy sauce and didn’t think about it until we sat down to the Cantonese Noodles (p.219) and it all came back to me. It also doesn’t help that the soba noodles I used were 100% buckwheat and turned the sauce into a gluey, brownish-grey muck. Maybe using a mixed buckwheat/regular wheat noodle would cut down on that.

The small hand-rolls I made to go with them were tasty, though! Jasmine rice, sliced cucumber, and lightly steamed carrot and parsnip curls bundled into a narrow slip of nori.

The next experiment was much more successful.

Tofu is great for absorbing the flavors around it and dredging it in homemade curry powder and pan-frying it would be a hit with our curry-loving palates. The Curry-Fried Tofu Soup with Vegetables and Udon Noodles (p.41) was a complete meal in a bowl and perfect for a quick weeknight meal.

Switching gears to the Bistro Lentils with Smoked Sausage (p.190) we made a fabulous, filling supper and were able to use some locally made sausage to sweeten (or would be that be to savor) the pot. We had some parsnips in the crisper so decided to add them along with the called-for carrots and the additional color and flavor were amazing in this dish.

Another fabulous collection of recipes for the when you get stuck for something different to do on your average Tuesday night, or just for a bit of inspiration in general.

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I was provided a copy of 250 Best Beans, Lentils & Tofu for purpose of review. The opinions express are entirely my own.