Skinny Pad-ish Thai

It's no secret that Appetite for Reduction is my absolute favorite cookbook. I've said it over and over again on here, as well as to any human who will listen. Now that this soul-crushing, record-breaking winter is finally over, I figured it was time to add some color and flavor back into my diet. I spent the past five months subsisting on Golden Grahams, Clif Bars and Amy's Rice Macaroni, so Pad Thai Salad and Red Thai Tofu seemed like a good departure.

I had all the non-produce items on hand already, so this recipe just took a simple stop at Meijer to gather ingredients. I omitted the Thai basil from the tofu because I've never seen it outside Asian grocery stores and I didn't feel like trekking to the 'burbs, but otherwise I followed the recipes exactly. The salad was unbelievably easy to make. Just chop up some lettuce, slice an onion, and grate a carrot. Here it is in all its rainbow glory: 

I didn't take a picture of the dressing, partly because it wasn't photogenic, but mostly because I forgot. It was just blended peanuts, lime juice and a few other pantry staples. I mixed it all together, added some cilantro and chopped peanuts for garnish, and it was ready to go.

I had initially planned to serve the tofu on top of the salad, but they're both so flavorful that I opted to keep them separate. The tofu took a little longer to make because you dry-fry the tofu first, then sauté vegetables, then cook the two together in a sauce. If you wanted to save time and have a better equipped kitchen than I do (i.e., >1 skillet), you could multitask and have it done in 30 minutes.

Like every recipe in AFR, these didn't disappoint. My only suggestion would be leaving the dressing off if you're going to store the salads for a few days, because mine seemed to get soggy immediately. But most rational people probably do that already anyway.