question about this sun-dried tomato dip recipe

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone

 

I got this recipe sent to me in e-mail today and was wondering if you

thought low-fat silken tofu would work in place of the neufchatel

cheese. I've never tried to sub tofu for cheese before and haven't

any idea what sort of guidelines there are for substituting successfully.

 

Thanks,

Mary

 

 

 

Santa Fe Sunset Dip

 

3 oz. sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)

2 (7 oz.) jars roasted red peppers, drained

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin, or to taste

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 cup scallion, chopped

4 oz. reduced-fat Neufchâtel cream cheese, softened

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Dash of Tabasco or hot chili pepper sauce (optional)

 

Soak sun-dried tomatoes in hot water (enough to cover) for about 5

minutes. Drain well, reserving 3 tablespoons of the soaking liquid.

 

In a food processor, purée red peppers, drained sun-dried tomatoes,

garlic, cumin, lemon juice, cilantro and scallion until smooth.

 

Add the cream cheese and purée again, adding enough of the reserved

liquid to thin the dip to the desired consistency. Blend until smooth.

Add the black pepper and hot sauce, if using, to taste.

 

Transfer the dip to a covered container and refrigerate up to 24 hours

before serving. Bring the dip to room temperature before serving.

Serve with assorted cut vegetables or whole-wheat pita bread.

 

Makes 8 servings (2 Tbsp. per serving).

 

Per serving: 80 calories, 3 g total fat (1.5 g saturated fat), 10 g

carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 2 g dietary fiber, 380 mg sodium.

[Guest guest]

If you want a substitute that is most like cream cheese, I would use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese. It isn’t, however, low-fat, and I don’t believe they make a low-fat version (to my knowledge). I’m not sure if low-fat tofu would be a good replacement flavor-wise, but it might be able to replace the texture of cream cheese.

 

Anna

 

 

On 23/4/08 1:50 PM, " threefatesfiber " <maryl4 wrote:

 

Hi everyone

 

I got this recipe sent to me in e-mail today and was wondering if you

thought low-fat silken tofu would work in place of the neufchatel

cheese. I've never tried to sub tofu for cheese before and haven't

any idea what sort of guidelines there are for substituting successfully.

 

Thanks,

Mary

 

Santa Fe Sunset Dip

 

3 oz. sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)

2 (7 oz.) jars roasted red peppers, drained

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin, or to taste

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 cup scallion, chopped

4 oz. reduced-fat Neufchâtel cream cheese, softened

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Dash of Tabasco or hot chili pepper sauce (optional)

 

Soak sun-dried tomatoes in hot water (enough to cover) for about 5

minutes. Drain well, reserving 3 tablespoons of the soaking liquid.

 

In a food processor, purée red peppers, drained sun-dried tomatoes,

garlic, cumin, lemon juice, cilantro and scallion until smooth.

 

Add the cream cheese and purée again, adding enough of the reserved

liquid to thin the dip to the desired consistency. Blend until smooth.

Add the black pepper and hot sauce, if using, to taste.

 

Transfer the dip to a covered container and refrigerate up to 24 hours

before serving. Bring the dip to room temperature before serving.

Serve with assorted cut vegetables or whole-wheat pita bread.

 

Makes 8 servings (2 Tbsp. per serving).

 

Per serving: 80 calories, 3 g total fat (1.5 g saturated fat), 10 g

carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 2 g dietary fiber, 380 mg sodium.

[Guest guest]

On 4/22/08, Coop <rodstruelove wrote:

>

> I'm not sure if low-fat tofu would be a good replacement

> flavor-wise, but it might be able to replace the texture of cream cheese.

 

For the cream cheese flavor, I'd suggest making a variation on this

recipe from the fatfreevegan site:

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/condiments/1111.shtml

 

Here's what I would try to make just cream cheese out of tofu:

(Caveat: I've never made this recipe before. This is just the

modification of the above linked recipe that I think might work for

plain cream cheese)

 

1/4 C firm tofu -- l like regular, but silken would work fine

1 T Nutritional Yeast

salt

1 T maple syrup or agave nectar (depending how sweet you like)

squeeze of lemon juice

vanilla extract [should this be left in or not? s.]

enough soymilk to blend to cream cheese consistency

 

Blend all ingredients.

 

See if that gives you something vaguely resembling the Neufchatel. Best wishes!

 

Sparrow

[Guest guest]

Thanks Anna and Sparrow for the replies. I wasn't sure it would work

at all. I may just make the dip without a cream cheese substitute. I

think it would probably go very nicely with whole-grain crackers or

even on a baked potato.

 

Thanks again,

Mary

 

, Coop <rodstruelove wrote:

>

> If you want a substitute that is most like cream cheese, I would use

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese. It isn¹t, however, low-fat, and I

don¹t believe they make a low-fat version (to my knowledge). I¹m not

sure if low-fat tofu would be a good replacement flavor-wise, but it

might be able to replace the texture of cream cheese.

>

> Anna

>

[Guest guest]

On 4/23/08, threefatesfiber <maryl4 wrote:

>

> Thanks Anna and Sparrow for the replies. I wasn't sure it would work

> at all. I may just make the dip without a cream cheese substitute. I

> think it would probably go very nicely with whole-grain crackers or

> even on a baked potato.

 

Mmm.. you're making me hungry! I've got a nice black bean and pepper

soup on the stove but I want sun dried tomatoes and a baked potato

now. LOL!

 

Sparrow