So tonight I come to you from my faithful iPad, which explains any text wonkiness you may experience. With any luck, I’ll be back in business tomorrow!

Now, let’s talk about tonight’s dinner.

I made Pad Thai Soup tonight, and let me cut right to the chase: It was fantastic.  It’s not nearly as heavy as traditional pad Thai, which was just fine with me!  I typically stay away from pad Thai at restaurants because I find it to be a bit peanut-buttery for my taste, but in soup form, sans any creaminess, the favors hit just right.

I started off by bringing a pot of water to a boil in order to cook my rice noodles.  This is probably a good time to admit that I’d never cooked rice noodles before. I didn’t put together until this weekend that the “rice sticks” in the Asian food aisle at the grocery store were actually rice noodles, so I always selected soba or udon noodles instead. Now that I’ve seen the error of my ways, I will rectify the situation in future meals!  I’m a huge fan.

While the rice noodles sat in their hot-water bath, I prepared the stock.  A carton of broth (plus a couple of cups of water for good measure), half a container of sliced mushrooms, some garlic powder, one diced shallot, several tablespoons each of soy sauce, brown sugar, and Sriracha, a quarter-cup of lime juice — everything went into my trusty Le Creuset and came just to a boil.  Once the broth was bubbling, I turned the heat to low and let the soup simmer while I baked my …

VEGAN SHRIMP!

I cannot TELL you how hard it is to find vegetarian shrimp around these parts.  Where my family lives in Florida, you can just go to the Publix and buy some Yves veggie shrimp like a civilized human being. Up here, it takes an act of Congress just to find any vegetarian seafood — and even then the selection centers primarily on veggie calamari.  

So when I went to Whole Foods earlier today and spied the Sophie’s Kitchen breaded “shrimp,” my heart sang with joy.  I knew it would be perfect for tonight’s soup!

I put the shrimp in the oven and let it warm up. By the time it was finished, the noodles were ready to be drained and the soup was heated through.  All that was left was to chop some cilantro, green onions, and peanuts, and we were on our way!

I already gave away the ending to this story — we lapped our soup up in no time and went back for seconds right away.  And there’s plenty left for tomorrow!  Broken laptop or no, the night is looking up.

:)

Well, at least one thing is now clear: I don’t care for bamboo shoots.  (Who knew, right?)

This dish looked so GOOD in the cookbook I found it pictured in (which shall remain nameless since I’m giving the dish – spoiler alert – an unfavorable review but it may have been user/palate error), and I couldn’t wait to give it a try.  So after work I diced the tofu and fried it up in my most wok-like pan, then added some sliced mushrooms, shredded cabbage, snow peas, and – yes – the bamboo shoots, stir-frying for a few minutes before putting a lid on the pan to braise everything for the final touch.

Once everything was nearly cooked, I added some soy sauce and brown sugar to the mix, stirred everything around, and gave it a minute or two to breathe before flicking the eye of the stove to Off and declaring dinner ready!

We served our tofu and vegetables with steamed rice – which goes with everything, you know – and sat down to eat.  LeeLee dove right in, declaring dinner a masterpiece, but I hung back.  There was something … off … about the meal.  Something wasn’t right with the smell.  Something footy was, well, afoot.

One taste of the bamboo shoots got me my answer.  With enough sauce, I’m sure they can hide right away – as they likely do when I enjoy them at restaurants – but here at home, they stood right out in all their bamboo-shoot glory.  Again, LeeLee and I diverged in our feelings – he loved them, and polished off my discards, but I just could not stand them.  I did finish everything else on my plate, but I confess this was not the best meal I’ve ever made – or even that I’ve made this week! – and it’s likely not one I’ll make again.

That said, we ate, we enjoyed the company and dinnertime chat, and we did so on our typical Recessionista budget.  As a result, I count the night as a win. :)

:)

Back!  Told you I wouldn’t be gone long. :)

What’s more, I’ve returned with glad tidings from the kitchen.  The meal we made tonight – noodles with stir-fried tofu and broccoli, from Nava Atlas’ The Vegetairan 5-Ingredient Gourmet, which is one of my favorite cookbooks ever – was filling, easy, and, most importantly, tasty.  Paired with some frozen spring rolls, it made for a perfect Thai-restaurant evening right here at home!

I began by boiling a pot of udon noodles, and as they neared their completion, I lightly fried a pan of diced firm tofu.  When the tofu cubes were nearly browned to my liking, I added a bag of (frozen, then steamed) cut broccoli and let the flavors mingle a bit.  I’d drained the udon by this point, so once the pan was heated through to my liking I tossed the noodles with a hearty helping of peanut sauce and just like that, we were ready to eat!

The result was fantastic.  Nava Atlas never lets me down, and tonight’s recipe was another winner!  LeeLee and I both went back for seconds, and one of us (I’m not naming names, but follow my eyes) even went back for thirds.  To say nothing of the spring rolls, which we also demolished.  Ahem.

So, in short, another winner!  And in Recessionista fashion, with five easy ingredients, it was another money-saver, too.

:)

It’s been awhile since I made this meal, using a recipe from Christy over at Southern Plate (she recently added the recipe to her site, so we can all share in the glory!), and tonight was the perfect time.  LeeLee and I returned home from work cold and shivering from a day whose temperature didn’t emerge from the teens, and both of us, wonder of wonders, had no pressing engagements to attend to.  It was a perfect night for a fast-cooking (and easy-cleanup) meal!

Remember a few months ago, when I espoused the joy of finally learning to stir-fry?  Well, as I heated the pan for tonight’s dinner, I suddenly became afraid that I’d lost my touch after a couple of months away from Asian cuisine.  Thankfully, though, stir-frying must be like riding a bike; I hopped right back in where I’d left off!

As is my way, I made a few tweaks to the recipe – I subbed seitan for the chicken, obviously, and instead of using brown rice I used two bags of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice, which worked just great in the fast-paced environment that was my kitchen experience tonight.  Finally, the Safeway was out of store-bought shredded carrots (a shortcut I employ quite often!), so instead I purchased a regular old carrot, peeled it, and shredded it myself.  In the process, I became a convert, and unless we’re using a multitude of shredded carrot for something, I’ll just buy a carrot and shred it myself going forward.  Don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. :)

While the meal finished its time in the pan, I heated several egg rolls up in the microwave, and just a couple of minutes later we were sitting down to eat dinner!  All told, the entire process probably took 15 minutes, including prep time – not a bad way to get a meal to the table!

And what a tasty meal it was!  Christy has never steered me wrong, and our affinity for Asian food helped this dinner over the top.  After the first time I used this recipe, I realized how easy fried rice was to make; after serving this again, I don’t know why I don’t make it more often!

:)