So as I was looking through my cabinets for something for dinner I was in a quandary. Part of me wanted to open up the Trader Joe’s multi grain pilaf (already cooked) and mix it with the Trader Joe’s Green Curry Tuna (both courtesy of my wonderful mother who knows I go through serious TJ’s withdrawals out here in the sticks!) But the rational part of my mind said “No Tina – because in 3 weeks you will be deep in rehearsals and at school from 9am – 11pm and you will be SO thankful for having some quick and easy meals like this to throw together in 5 minutes!”. But all the dried beans and frozen sausage and brown rice were saying the opposite to me “Tina…you are hungry NOW and we take anywhere from 45 minutes to 8 hours to cook! You may waste away to nothingness before we are cooked!” The voices in my head don’ t have a great grasp on biological science to know I wouldn’t ACTUALLY waste away, but they are very convincing.
In the end I compromised and made a stir fry with sautéed tofu…longer than tear and pour Trader Joe’s fare but shorter than a pot of rice and beans. Firstly I sautéed up some cubed tofu tossed with a fair amount of this yummy Super Hero Sprinkle that I got from the local farmer’s market this summer.
It’s mostly nutritional yeast and some flaked seaweed but adds a really nice, light flavor to veggies and tofu. In some good sizzling olive oil, I let it brown and crisp for about 20 minutes in the pan until it was golden and crispy then took it out and set it aside.
Next I added 1/2 bag of fajita frozen veggies and a good glop of frozen spinach to the pan and poured in about 1/2 a bottle of this stuff.
Now don’t be fooled my friends! Although the bottle says Trader Joe’s Gyoza Sauce it is in FACT Trader Tina’s homemade stir fry sauce in a repurposed bottle! I love the TJ’s gyoza sauce but when I was out I looked at the ingredients and realized I had a lot of the stuff on hand. So I mixed up soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, garlic powder, dried cilantro and lime juice and I have some SERIOUSLY delicious stir fry sauce in my fridge for pennies and at the ready for moments like these.
Meanwhile I had cooked up a remaining half a pack of Thai Kitchen rice noodles, and when the veggies were all thawed and hot I tossed the tofu and the noodles in the pan and mixed it all together and dinner is served!
A Hornsby’s hard cider on the side and a dog who thinks if she looks ultra pathetic/cute she will get leftovers (not tonight pumpkin, this is all for Mama!) and my night is complete. Sitting down to watch Gods and Monsters and pull out my knitting. As of tonight, I don’t have ANYTHING to do until 2011!
Although I am hoping to make my winter break productive and get my apartment totally cleaned and organized, and go through ALL my clothes. I am unhappy with some of the things I own, when I put them on I inevitably hate the way I look in them and then I get frustrated with my body in general. So I decided no more negativity because of clothes. If I don’t like the way it looks it either gets cut up and altered so I DO like it or it gets sent to Goodwill. When I am done I hope to have a closet full of only clothes that I love and feel positive about and then if I find I need something new I can go thrift shopping and really know what I am looking for. But that is tomorrow…for tonight I am content with movies, cider and knitting.
And just for fun, a picture of the frozen waterfall along the road when I took poochie pie out for a walk this afternoon.
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