Greetings, friends, from my very own laptop! The MacBook survived its time in the hospital and has made a full recovery. The best part? I didn’t even lose any of my data, because the hard drive was pronounced A-OK; it was the hard-drive cable that was the trouble. All the same, I will be backing up my documents tonight, and you should too. :) Here endeth tonight’s public service announcement.
On to dinner!
I stumbled across this recipe a few weeks ago and filed it away for a night when spring was finally here. Tonight is that night! In standard fashion, I made a substitution, eliminating the feta cheese and adding a block of tofu in its place for more protein and less fat. (And no dairy!)
So this morning, in anticipation, I crumbled up a block of tofu and marinated it with salt, pepper, onion powder, and oregano, leaving it in a zip-top bag in the fridge all day while LeeLee and I toiled away. After work, I got home first, and when he called to say he too was on his way, I got moving in the kitchen. First, I shelled some pistachio nuts to make sure they were ready to go. Then I diced an onion and sautéed it on the stove while a bag of frozen peas defrosted in the microwave. As the veggies cooked, I made the dressing. It called for honey, so I used some from my cousin’s hives down in Florida – you can’t beat that.
Next, I spread out some spinach on two plates – one for me, one for LeeLee, of course – and washed and de-stemmed the mint leaves for use as a garnish. Then, just before serving, I put everything else together! I topped the spinach with a healthy dose of tofu, then mixed the onions, peas, and pistachios together and topped the tofu with the veggies. I split the dressing over each of our plates and then garnished the meal with quite a few mint leaves (we both love them). Just like that, dinner was ready!
And it was awesome. We both marveled at how filling the recipe was – sometimes, dinner salads can be a little light on staying power – and how tasty, as well. We’re both crazy about the dressing, as well! We’ll definitely use it again in many, many salads – it has the potential to be incredibly versatile.
The combination of warm and cold ingredients was great, as well; the warmth made us feel like we were eating a “real” dinner, while the cold ingredients, such as the tofu and spinach, were a great counterbalance. In total, the meal couldn’t be beat! We’ll definitely make it again.
:)