Over the last several months, there’s been a buzz about the idea of “Meatless Mondays,” a movement publicized by The Monday Campaigns and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. The idea is simple: cut out meat one day a week, and make yourself and our planet healthier. Major media outlets like the Food Network and The Wall Street Journal are championing the concept, and even Oprah Winfrey, ever the diet-trend-arbiter, is on board; she challenged her audience to take part, and she has even made Mondays meatless at her own Harpo Studios.

A once-per-week meatless day is hardly a new idea. The “Meatless Monday” campaign began during World War I, when the government asked its citizens to voluntarily conserve meat in support of the troops (“Meatless Monday” was soon joined by “Wheatless Wednesday.”). President Franklin D. Roosevelt revived the idea during WWII, and today the movement has momentum again. Going meatless just once a week has been an easy way to save money and lower one’s intake of saturated fat for almost a hundred years!

But here’s the inevitable question: if not meat, what do you eat on Mondays? I’ve confronted this question every day – not just Mondays – since 1995, which was the last year I ate meat. In the 15 years since, one food has stood out as reliable, versatile, healthy, and inexpensive – a veritable food superhero: tofu. Yes, I’m talking about tofu, that off-white, mysterious substance found in the produce section of your local grocery store. Tofu is made from pressed soybeans, and it has been a staple of healthy Asian cuisine since the Han Dynasty in 164 B.C.  Tofu comes in different textures; “extra firm” is, in my opinion, the most meat-like in its ability to stand up to marinating, chopping, baking, or frying. Each serving of tofu contains 100 calories, 10 grams of protein, and costs about a dollar; tofu is easy to prepare, tastes like whatever you cook it in, and is a no-brainer for Meatless Mondays. Here are two of my favorite easy ways to prepare tofu.

For Lunch: Cut one package of extra-firm tofu into sandwich-sized slices and marinate the slices. You can try a soy sauce marinade (½ cup soy sauce, 1 tbsp. sugar, and 1 tbsp. vinegar mixed and heated in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves) or a lemon-balsamic vinegar marinade (3 tbsp. of lemon juice, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, and 1 tsp. dried basil crushed with your fingers). After marinating the tofu slices, put them on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 30 minutes at 350° or until the tofu is golden brown. These slices taste great between two pieces of whole wheat bread with lettuce, sprouts, and even cheese, and the tofu will keep in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

For dinner, cube one package of extra firm tofu and pat the cubes dry with a paper towel. In a medium-sized bowl, toss the cubes with 2 tbsp of corn starch to coat. Heat 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil in a 10-inch frying pan. Add the tofu, and spread it evenly across the pan. Let it cook for two minutes, and then gently flip the cubes over. Add vegetables and your favorite stir-fry sauce. The corn starch coating will the give tofu a firm, chewy crust, but won’t keep it from absorbing the flavor the sauce. Serve over rice.

Tasty, healthy, and easy enough for Monday!

Samantha Myers teaches at Boston University and lives a happy meatless life on the South Shore.