Thai-Style Tofu and Noodles

I'm not sure what makes this Thai-style. Maybe because the sauce had peanut butter? But it also had salsa, and that's definitely not Thai. I know, weird — right? I have to admit I paused a bit when I saw salsa in the dish. The peanut butter drew me in.

It may not look all that great, but it's really not bad. Not as good as these peanut butter noodles, but not bad overall. I made a few changes to the recipe, though. I seem to do that a lot when cooking from Clean Eating Magazine. These recipes tend to be on the bland-ish looking side so I'm always throwing in extras. Last night it was onions, tonight I cooked in some oil because I needed an oil for my "good health guidelines" Weight Watchers-style. I also changed the cooking instructions a bit because it used three pots and pans seemed unnecessary to me.

I don't necessarily follow the clean eating diet. I checked the book out of the library, but I stopped reading when they discourage whole eggs and suggested you snack on chicken breast. It seemed too high in protein overall and seemed pretty strict. And when making the recipes from the magazine I often have to add in healthy oils. If you following the clean eating diet you eat a ton of nuts and other things to give you healthy fats, but since I don't I have to add in some healthy fat to the meals.

Have you heard of the clean eating diet? If you have, what do you think?

Thai-Style Tofu and Noodles
Serves 4. Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine

8 ounces whole wheat linguine or spaghetti
4 teaspoons oil (so approximately each serving has 1 tsp)
1 container firm or extra firm tofu (I used Nasoya extra firm pre-cubed)
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
4 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
soy sauce
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1/3 cup salsa
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm the oil or cooking spray in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and the tofu, and cook until tofu starts to brown up and peppers soften about 3 minutes. Add a splash of soy sauce and the garlic and let cook for a couple more minutes.

While the peppers are cooking, puree peanut butter, salsa, water and red pepper flakes in a blender. When the peppers and tofu are done, add the sauce to the pan stirring until thickened.

Drain the pasta and toss with the pepper mixture.