Lasagna Soup for lunch and a Tofu and Broccoli dish for dinner...

8 new recipes for us this week - it was hard to narrow down the favorites, but we picked those Butterscotch Sundae Cookies, Triple-Berry French Toast, Spinach and Kale Turnovers, and of course we had to include those incredible Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Normally we don't do anything special for lunch - typically leftovers or something that doesn't require a recipe. However, we had a guest come by today and I decided to warm us up with one of our favorite soups - the ever delicious Lasagna Soup! Now, it is pretty rare that we repeat recipes, but I make an exception for this soup quite often as it is probably one of Jeff's (and my) favorites out of all the other soups we've made.

There was no way I was going to sneak the tofu in this Tofu and Broccoli in Peanut Sauce dish I made for dinner tonight without someone knowing, but it didn't matter as Jeff didn't protest at all! I know... I can hear some of you gasping - I think he may be finally willing to admit that his taste buds have changed!

Anyway, let's move on to the recipe. Even though the recipe doesn't call for it, we decided to wrap the tofu in a few layers of paper towels and weigh it down to remove some of the excess water. This may be an extra step, but we just find the tofu holds together a little better in a stir-fry environment and browns a little easier. I've read that you can freeze tofu to improve the texture and make it more "meaty", but I haven't found the need to go that far yet.

The pressed tofu is cubed and tossed in a hot skillet, along with a couple green onions, until it turns golden. Garlic, follow by broccoli florets and crisp red bell pepper slices, are tossed in, with a couple shot of water being added to quickly steam the broccoli. Once the broccoli is bright green and crisp-tender, a nutty sauce composed of creamy natural peanut butter, hoisin sauce, cider vinegar and a couple dashes of cayenne pepper sauce is stirred in. The dark mixture thickened quickly as it hit the hot skillet and immediately started to cling to the veggies and tofu. To round out the dish, crisp bean sprouts, fresh cilantro and crunchy chopped peanuts are sprinkled on top to serve. Even though the tofu is not marinated before hand, the flavors from the distinctive peanut sauce had enough punch to overtake the blandness with an enticing flare.

Recipes
Tofu and Broccoli in Peanut Sauce