Thai Tofu Spinach Soup

My husband and I started a weekly date night tradition when we started dating almost six years ago. We felt it important to keep our relationship fun and fresh by continuing to "date" each other, now almost six years into our marriage. Since moving to the country, we frequently spend our date nights in Hickory, about 25 minutes from our cabin. Last week, we tried out a new Thai restaurant. I had been feeling a bit dehydrated that evening, so David recommended I start out with a light soup. We both ordered a small spinach tofu soup in a clear garlic broth and were pleasantly surprised at the simple and healthy concoction. I decided a couple nights later to make my own version, as a small bowl at the restaurant runs almost $3.00. I was able to make a giant pot (holding at least a dozen of those small bowl servings) of it for less than $5.00. I've never made this before, and this is only my second time making soup, but this soup seemed easy enough to figure out without digging up someone else's, since I knew what the restaurant's recipe tasted like.

Start with a big chili pot. Fill it about 1/3 of the way with water. The amount of water really doesn't matter. You can add more later. I'm guessing there were 10-12 cups in my chili pot, but as I've said before, I refuse to measure things. Boil the water on high heat. While the water is boiling, cut up a block of tofu into small cubes, about 1/2" squares. Dump the tofu cubes into the boiling water, and reduce heat to medium. Dice 1 - 2 sweet onions and 6 cloves of garlic. Dump those in with the tofu. Sprinkle in either regular sea salt or garlic salt, and fresh ground pepper to taste. Pour in some oil. I used Sesame oil for a bit of added Asian flavor. Not too much oil... just enough to get the water a little oily. The water will start to look shinier and shinier as you pour in more oil. Open a full bag of fresh spinach. After washing all of it, drop it in at the very end of cooking. The longer you leave it in, the softer it will become. I left it in for a couple minutes and it was relatively soggy (easier to scoop into your soup spoon). Turn off the heat and serve. Leftovers should keep for 1-2 days. Don't feel the need to slurp down all of the broth... it contains a good bit of sodium and some fatty oil. I ate my soup with the broth, and then dumped out any excess broth remaining in my bowl. This soup is LOADED with protein, fiber, and Iron. A great low-calorie health booster.