Pea, Tofu, and Mint Salad.

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.

:)