Year of the Noodle: Week 27

Last night I got pelted with hail.

I went out for a 15 mile bike ride last night, and near the tail end I got caught in one of our freak rainstorms.  This time, however, it came with ping pong ball size hail.  This does not feel good when you are riding 20mph down a bike trail, let me tell you.  I managed to find a place to hide and the hail passed, but I was still rain-drenched when I finally got home.  After a hot shower, I wanted a hot meal.  Unfortunately, I had already made this dish, which was chilling in the fridge.

The one time this summer I wanted something warm.  Sigh.  Whatever, food is food.

Despite being cold when I wanted hot, this was a pretty tasty post-ride meal.  I chose to cut the carrots into chunks instead of grate them, mostly because I really hate grating carrots.  And I like large chunks of veggies.  All the veggies go really well with the dressing of this salad – in fact I’d almost suggest using the dressing just for veggies.  The noodles are okay, but the crisp veggies really go best with the flavors of the dressing.  It could even be made into a dip if you left out the extra water to keep it thick.

However you make it, enjoy.  And avoid going biking in a hail storm.  I do not recommend it.

Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing

Ingredients

• 6 oz. low-sodium soba noodles
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown rice vinegar
• 1 Tbs. agave nectar or maple syrup
• 1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
• 2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 Tbs. lime juice
• 1 tsp. fresh lime zest
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced (11/2 cups)
• 1 small red bell pepper, sliced (1 cup)
• 1 large carrot, grated (1/2 cup)
• 2 Tbs. chopped peanuts, optional Continue reading »

Year of the Noodle: Week 26

Being able to make cold noodles is fabulous.  Last year around this time I was trying to figure out how to make cold soup that wasn’t disgusting (and failing at it.)  Pasta salads have become my new best friend.

The only thing that makes cold noodle dishes even better?  Avocado.  I love avocado.  Love.  So finding a recipe that included it in a noodle dish felt a little like it was meant to be.

The recipe is pretty darn good, too.  I found the pesto to be just a tad salty, so I’d advise you to slowly add your salt to taste rather than fully following the recipe.  This would be great to bring to a potluck – particularly since the avocado will not stay good in the fridge for too long.  Enjoy!

Cilantro Pesto Pasta with Avocado and Oaxaca Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 pound fusilli pasta
• 1-1/2 cups fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh chives
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup pine nuts
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 fully ripened avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
• 8 ounces Oaxaca cheese or fresh mozzarella, diced into 1-inch cubes Continue reading »

Think of it less as a cheesecake with a crust, more like a giant oatmeal cookie with the best topping ever.

That was John’s suggestion, at least.  I didn’t anticipate just how much that cookie crust would expand (there is baking soda in it, after all), and I put too much of it at the base of my pan.  So most of the dessert was crust, rather than cheesecake.  Oh well, still edible.

I made 1/4 of each of the following recipes to make two small cheesecakes rather than a huge one.  This worked well – just don’t use all of the cookie dough for your crusts.  The cheesecake recipe could also be used with a graham cracker crust or oreo crust.  I just didn’t have anything on hand that would work for this sort of thing and opted to try something new.  The oatmeal cookie recipe is quite good on it’s own, too if you’d rather skip the cheesecake altogether.

Have a great weekend!

Ingredients

Year of the Noodle: Week 25

This recipe could use a better name.  When I think of Macaroni Salad, I invision pale macaroni with celery, diced ham and cheese floating in a sea of mayo.  Not that I didn’t love that dish as a kid.  But as an adult, I think I’d probably steer clear of anything called Macaroni Salad.

This is not, however, that kind of salad.  It’s the adult version.  Lots of green onion, fresh arugula, and crisp apple create flavors on the opposite end of the spectrum from diced ham and mayo.

Don’t be afraid of the dressing when you first taste it.  By itself it seems a little overpowering, but once you toss the other ingredients with it, the flavors mellow nicely.  I would advise chopping the arugula just a bit – the leaves become a bit hard to eat at their full size.  And keep the apple a bit larger than I did.  It’s nice to have a good chunk every now and then.

Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups thinly sliced green onions {~3-4 bunches}
• 3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
• fine grain sea salt
• lots of freshly ground black pepper
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 1/3 cup / 2 oz grated Parmesan
• 4 big handfuls arugula
• 1 large apple, diced Continue reading »

We bought a large bunch of baby carrots at the farmer’s market last weekend.  Not the tiny, whittled down baby carrots that come in a bag, but small carrots that were pulled from the ground just the day before I bought them.  They smell like carrots.  My entire fridge smells like carrots.  Grocery store carrots have never done this – they usually smell like the plastic bag they came in until you wash and peel them.

When carrots smell and taste this fresh, you hardly need much to dress them up into a tasty dish.  I chose this recipe because it keeps it simple – and lets the carrot flavor really shine.  The recipe mostly relies on lots of sampling to get the flavors correct.  Sample away – carrots are good for you :)  And mighty tasty this time of year, too.

Grated Carrot Salad

Ingredients

• Seven large carrots
• Half bunch of flat leaf parsley, coarsly chopped
• Juice from two lemons
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste Continue reading »