Comfort Food for a Chilly Night

It is absolutely FREEZING here in NY tonight! On days like this I have such a tough time getting myself out of the house to go to the gym once I get home from work.  Today I gave myself a pass since my usual total body class is bound to be overrun with resolutioners who, lets be honest here, are kind of annoying.  They get in the way, don't understand gym "etiquette", and will most likely not be there anymore within the next few weeks.  Was that really mean?  I really sholudn't talk, I have a resolution of my own... I'll get to that after the recipe!  Aaaanyway, I also figured it would be good to stay home since J texted me to tell me that he would be staying at work until 10 pm (he's been there since 7 am!) so I decided to be a nice little newlywed and cook up some dinner and bring it to him on his break.

I wanted something that wasn't too time consuming but had a good "stick to your ribs" kind of feeling.  I settled on making a thai green curry with tofu and noodles.  I impulsively bought this thai green curry simmer sauce from Trader Joe's and figured it would be delish with some onions, peppers, tofu and noodles!  It was super easy, creamy, filling, and so yummy!  It only took about a half hour and that includes the time it took to pack up the meal and get it ready to bring to the hospital cafeteria, which is obviously the best place to eat a relaxing dinner ;)  This recipe got a "freaking homerun" review from J and it was ridiculously easy to make. The next time you have a craving for some Thai take out, save yourself $20 and make this instead!

Thai Green Curry with Tofu & Noodles 
Ingredients

• Trader Joe's Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce
• 1 green pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 1 package tofu, drained (I tried Trader Joe's sprouted tofu - so good and very high in protein!)
• 1/2 package Udon Noodles

Directions

• Press tofu for at least 30 mins, then marinate in about 1/4 of the jar of simmer sauce 

• Chop up pepper & onion into similar bite sized pieces 
• Get your water boiling for your noodles 
• Pan fry tofu about 5-6 minutes each side with some cooking spray on med-high heat or until golden brown on both sides and tofu has soaked up all simmer sauce 
• Get those noodles going!  Be careful, Udon noodles cook quickly (about 5-6 minutes) if they are finished before the rest, drain and keep them on the burner on the lowest possible setting - you may want to drizzle a small bit of oil in to prevent sticking
• While the noodles are cooking, begin to fry up your onions and peppers in a small amount of safflower oil (or any oil of your choice)
• When they get a little color on them add tofu, noodles and simmer sauce 
• Stir all the ingredients together and let them simmer for about 5 minutes 

• Enjoy!

So now on to  my resolution!  Obviously you know about the meat, dairy & egg thing but I'm not really counting that as a resolution because I don't think those ever stick.  A vegan diet is something that I have been thinking about for a few months (although I refuse to admit it to some....AD) and I started it before New Years, therefore it can't be a resolution, right?  I did, however, give up the unthinkable.  Well it is unthinkable if you know me at least.  (Don't worry mom, it's not wine!)  I decided to give up COFFEE!! It kills me to write it, but four days in, I'm actually starting to feel ok about it.  

I never really thought of giving my fix up, but it kind of freaked me out that I needed something to wake me up everyday.  If I didn't have my 2 cups of coffee in the morning (which only happened maybe 2 times in 10 years) I would get terrible headaches and feel super sick.  Why didn't I start worrying about this sooner, those are withdrawals!  I don't want to have to depend on anything, but to wean myself off I have been having green tea instead.  Yesterday was my first day back to work after the break and it was torture!  Today went a little better but I came prepared with extra tea bags, in my groggy caffeine-less state I neglected to do this yesterday.  So lets see how this goes, I'll keep you updated!

Thanks for reading :) 

Peas & Love 

-L