Pumpkin and Spice

Summer break starts next week at school, so Kyle and I are going to be taking a trip to visit my family in Kansas. This means that food-wise, we're in pre-vacation mode, meaning no new groceries- everything has to come out of the fridge or the pantry. Even if we weren't going on a vacation, it'd be a good idea, as I have a tendency to be a little... ahem... over-enthusiastic at the grocery store. It's a very zen experience for me- the soft music, the smell of bread wafting from the bakery, row after row of glorious edibles... Some people go to yoga, I go to Publix. Couple that with my mother's waste-not-want-not influence on my formative years, and the end result is a full pantry in which I rarely make a dent.

This meal is one that uses several of my pantry staples- pasta, peanut butter and tofu. It has a nice, spicy Thai-inspired flavor, thanks to the cilantro, pepper flakes and peanuts. We had plenty for our dinner, plus some leftovers. Kyle liked it so much, he took the leftovers to lunch at work-- not so notable, except that there was also leftover mexican in the fridge. I can rarely compete with chimichangas. The noodles are super filling, cheap and pretty quick to throw together once your tofu is drained and pressed. If you didn't want to use tofu, it would be equally yummy with shrimp. Of course, if you don't have fresh herbs, you can use dried. I just happened to have fresh leftover that needed to get used.