Falling Into Fall

Happy Fall Everyone!

I can’t believe we are changing seasons again. I also can’t believe that we are more than half way through with September. I swear, blink and you miss just about anything these days.

I do enjoy the fall though. We are lucky to live in a great area that really showcases the beauty of this season. The robust and rich colors of nature, the clean crisp fresh air, the bounty of root vegetables and harvest fruit. It’s all so rustic and full of warmth.

I had big plans to celebrate today with a very autumn-like meal; however, due to some unforeseen dinner altercations, I had to rearrange the schedule. No worries, it will make it on the dinner schedule soon enough.

Tonight, there was some marinated chicken and tofu that was in desperate need of cooking. I’m not really sure how long you are able to marinate tofu, but I originally planned on making this stir fry last night. It didn’t happen, so the tofu has been sitting in this mixture for over 48 hours. I figured it could either be really really good or really really awful. I took the chance hoping for the first outcome.

So a few days ago, I marinated my tofu in a mixture of teriyaki and pineapple juice with a little garlic.

The tofu soaked up every bit of this liquid like a sponge.

First, I pan seared the tofu until browned on both sides.

Remove the tofu from the pan and add your desired veggies. I used what I had on hand, which is how I usually base my stir fries. Quite fitting, this stir fry did take on a fallish essence with the abundance of squash. Zucchini, yellow and butternut.

I also had a package of mushrooms that I added as well and lastly, edamamae.

The sauce was lite coconut milk, PB2, and soy sauce.

For some color, I threw in a handful of purple cabbage and of course large handfuls of spinach.

Once this was cooked, I added the tofu and stirred it all up.

Topped with a few crushed peanuts

And the verdict of the over-marinated tofu……

DELICIOUS! Guess my unintentional planning worked to my advantage. The tofu was so flavorful.

Toly had his own stir fry…..

Orange Teriyaki chicken and lo mien noodles.

Good thing he doesn’t like veggies or else I wouldn’t have the joy of having the great leftovers. And there is nothing I enjoy more than leftover stir fry!

So even though this wasn’t my intentional Kick Off to Fall Dinner, it substituted nicely.

Did anyone else choose to celebrate the season today with an autumn inspired meal? What are some of your favorite fall dinners?