Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Moop, with a splash of peanut butter



I love this bag. Love. If I hadn't just gotten my own moop (courtesy of the proceeds of my End of 2010 sale), the new Paperback (in brown or grey) would definitely be at the top of my Next Purchases list. Not only is it made of that fabulous waxed cotton, but it's a double agent, acting as a cute strapped bag when folded or a taller (but still adorable) tote bag when unfolded. Triple agent actually, seeing as the strap is removable in case you need a clutch. Genius. 0007, even.

Perhaps it's good that I can't get it (yet), as I have a feeling I'd have a strong inclination to fill it with my leftovers from supper, just to see if 'highly water resistant' also means 'highly peanut butter resistant'. And also to make sure those leftovers are with me when I get hungry next. Without further ado, here's what I had for supper:


On my way home, I bought some tofu. I wanted to get some pad thai sauce to try making my own pad thai, but I didn't make it to the farmer's market on Saturday to get some local eggs. And then I had peanuts in my head (figuratively speaking). So, as soon as I got home, I Googled 'peanut tofu', for lack of a better phrase. As I had also bought some spinach and had a bit of a red pepper in my fridge, this recipe jumped out at me. However, I had to make a few adjustments to mirror what I had, so I actually used:

- a couple generous squirts of lime juice. I probably used about 1 tsp., but I really have no idea how much came out of that lime-shaped bottle.
- 1/3 cup Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter. That's right. Definitely not the most healthy peanut butter, but I've loved it since I was a kid and wasn't allowed to have it at home. Having said that, I'd probably go with an all/more/at least slightly natural peanut butter next time.
- 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- about 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- a couple cloves of garlic, chopped as finely as my one sharp knife can do
- most of one pkg of extra-firm tofu (as much as can fit flat in my large frying pan)
- 1/3 red pepper (I'd use at least 1/2 of one next time)
- a bunch of fresh baby spinach leaves

So, first I mixed the lime juice, peanut butter, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes in a bowl until it looked like a delicious (spicy) cookie dough. Then I cut up the garlic, tofu, and red pepper. At medium-high heat in a lightly oiled pan, I fried the tofu so it was a pretty golden brown on each side (about 3ish minutes each side). After turning the heat down slightly, I threw in the garlic and stirred, then the red pepper. I cooked and stirred this for about a minute, and then added the sauce. It turned a darker colour pretty much immediately and clumped up a bit, which worried me at first (I'm sure there's plenty of oil in Kraft PB to keep it from drying out or something). I stirred it some more so the tofu was all coated, and then threw in a bunch of spinach, enough to cover everything. I stirred to mix it all as evenly as peanut butter allows, then put a lid on the pan for a couple minutes to make sure the spinach had wilted. I recommend serving this with basmati and a huge glass of water. I only had jasmine rice, but fortunately the stir fry is so tasty that it makes up for the bland rice. I'd probably also garnish this with some chopped green onions next time. And I'd probably not eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich for lunch if I knew this would be my supper. I would've taken a few more photos for better selection, but I had already eaten a few forkfuls of it by this time and couldn't take a nice aerial view. Yum.

What would you put in your moop?

(P.S. The Paperback is also available at moop's Etsy shop here.)


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