Campbell's Kitchen: a take on my favorite dish

When we lived in Oregon there was this peanut sauce that I would buy from WinCo (aka the best store ever) to use in my stir-fries. Aldi does not have the same brand and the few peanut sauces I have come across have not been as good; so I have taken it upon myself to try and create a good peanut sauce.

I have yet to succeed. 

My latest attempt was exactly two weeks ago.

I found a site online, scrolled through the obnoxious obligatory ten pages of back story and ads to get to the recipe (just kidding, this website got straight to the point which I appreciate), and got to work.

I was super excited for this recipe because it included quinoa and coconut (two of my other favorite foods) with the peanut butter and tofu dish I was trying to recreate.

Early in the day I pulled the tofu out and placed it on towels between two plates with a container of flour on top because I am basically MacGyver in a kitchen.When it was time for me to start cooking dinner the tofu was really dry, which makes a nice crispy tofu when cooked.

The recipe only called for broccoli but I am a rebel and I love eating the rainbow so I chopped up yellow squash, zucchini, and carrots. Also, broccoli doesn't last long in this house (my kids looovvve it) so I didn't have any. 

For the sauce, I also didn't have any rice vinegar, so I used white. Or soy sauce. Apparently it was a bad week for my kitchen basics so I used lemon juice instead. But I doubled everything the recipe called for because I like a lot of sauce with my vegetables and tofu.

The recipe said to mix everything until incorporated. The peanut butter in my sauce never completely became smooth. Probably because I used a spatula instead of a whisk but more likely because I only spent two seconds trying to blend it in before I decided to move on with my life.

I doubled the amount of quinoa because there's no such thing as too much quinoa and I decided to use my smallest pot because I also like to live on the edge. I am pleased to report that, despite rising to the lip of the pot, it did not boil over.

When cooking the coconut I became distracted (probably by a small child, I don't remember it was two weeks ago) and burned it. Instead of throwing it out and starting over I decided to just go with it because it wasn't that burned and coconut is amazing. Also I am cheap and grew up poor so throwing food out is really hard for me to do.

After burning the coconut I cooked the tofu in some olive oil in the same cast iron pan (I love that pan), when the tofu was done I pulled it out and cooked the vegetables for a few minutes before pouring in the sauce and letting that simmer until thickened.

When finished, I served up the food and then tried to maintain composure when my kids stoped eating and decided they did not like the dinner I had prepared and they had been enjoying when J came in from work and made a disparaging remark on the food.

It was delicious. 

Promise.

I just happened to be married to a philistine. 

But I am still on a mission to find a recipe that he will not try and then say, "do you remember that peanut sauce that you used to make when we lived in Oregon?" And then I have to explain for the up-tenth time that we DO NOT have that brand of peanut sauce at Aldi. I guess I could try Kroger or Walmart but I just love that feeling of disappointment when my family tells me that they don't like my cooking.

My next attempt will be with this recipe (because honestly, that bok choy looks amazing).