Cold Sesame Cucumber Noodles and Love and Lemons Cookbook GIVEAWAY

Some unfortunate circumstances have forced me to take it easy. Rest, all day rest, is not something that comes naturally to me. However, yesterday the sun was bright, the air was warm, the birds were chirping and the chipmunks and squirrels ran around my backyard. The barking dog scaring the squirrel was not so peaceful, but it was an excellent environment for relaxing.

My garden has been filled with a few plants courtesy of my mom – red rhubarb, chives and garlic chives but I am still antsy to fill it up with more. I think it would be fun to work with perennials all in one garden, so asparagus will fit right in.

Slivered Veggie and Soba Salad with Maple Tofu

I don’t know about you guys, but where I am, it is H.O.T. We’ve done pretty well for not using the air conditioner during the days but we closed our windows and turned it on yesterday. To think all my friends in Houston are always 10 degrees hotter (and humid) and positively melting. That is possibly the one thing I do not envy because we loved living in Houston.

Here is a fun pasta dish which adds layers of veggies to your meal. Carrots and cucumber are spiralized into thin noodle shapes and thinly sliced red peppers add some crunch, too. The maple sweetened tofu is unique with a salty/peppery bight and makes this a complete meal. Avocado rounds this out as a fabulous fat and feast for your eyes.

Enjoy!

Recipes from The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon spotted elsewhere:

Baked eggs with barley creamed greens and mustardy bread
Cacao nib pavlovas with mixed berries
California quinoa
Chickpea deli salad
Chunky Mediterranean eggplant dip
Coconut sorbet with strawberry rhubarb sauce
Curried sweet potato soup with crispy black lentils
Golden quinoa breakfast bowl
Hippie bowl with tahini citrus miso dressing and spiced sunflower seeds
Kale Caesar salad with cornbread bits
Marrakesh carrot salad
Roasted asparagus salad
Roasted zucchini and quinoa bowls with cilantro pepita pesto
Smoky tortilla soup
Strawberry millet tabbouleh
Tahini kale slaw with roasted tamari portobello bowl
Tropical smoothie bowl
Winter fruit salad in a ginger-lime syrup

I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays, ExtraVeg and Pasta Please.

Soba Noodle Salad with Mango, Red Pepper and Cashews

Whups, I was hoping to get back to sharing three recipes a week but plans changed. At the last minute, Rob abandoned his plan to bike to Niagara Falls (I was planning to stay at home and relax) but instead, we both headed out to a friend’s cottage for the weekend. It was a doozy of a stressful week and it was wonderful to relax amongst the water, forest and a touch of biking the hills.

Unseasoned cottage goers, we were stuck in Sunday traffic and forgot that grocery stores close early (at least our favourites close to home) so we had to make do with limited produce and a lonely mango. Soba noodles to the rescue! Tossed with a pleasantly sweet lime dressing, this is a summer pasta salad sure to please the masses.

I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays, Bookmarked Recipes and Cooking with Herbs.

Walnut Miso Soba Noodles with Asparagus

I am kind of digging the white background in these photos. On with the recipe, though.

Munching through more asparagus, this is a fairly simple combination of asparagus, soba noodles and a walnut-miso dressing. The dressing reminded me of this Asparagus and Carrot Salad with a Walnut-Miso Dressing so I think carrots would work equally as well here. I like how the water from the noodles was used efficiently to also cook the vegetables. Score!

The dressing is pretty luscious. Use as much as you like.

I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays, Bookmarked Recipes and Pasta Please.

Pasta Arrabiata with Chickpeas and Zucchini Noodles

Feel like you missed autumn? Summer went straight into winter? Time flies, and sometimes I feel like I missed the peak season for certain fruits and vegetables. I keep missing peach season although we had a few this year. I also missed prime tomato time, perhaps because I was distracted by summer exams. In any case, have no fear. Canned tomatoes are possibly the best way to make sure you have flavourful tomatoes.

Oddly enough, I first encountered Arrabiata sauce while travelling in South Africa. It was a premade sauce that I added to a can of lentils with delicious results. A bit spicy, a lot tomatoey, it worked well with the hearty lentils. However, by the time I returned to Canada, I figured a pasta sauce deserved some pasta.

I made a huge batch of Ricki’s Arrabiata sauce and used it in two non-traditional ways: paired with soba noodles and also paired with zucchini noodles with chickpeas and nutritional yeast. I liked both versions although the zucchini noodles remind me more of the summer than soba noodles.

Next time, I think I will puree the sauce and add a bunch of lentils. Topped with nutritional yeast, it was a great meal, too.

I am sharing this with Pasta Please and Bookmarked Recipes.

Creamy High Protein Mushroom Stroganoff

Do you remember the soba noodle debacle? The time I bought oodles of soba noodles and then proceeded to leave them in the pantry and slowly, slowly eat through them. Yeah, I still have soba noodles and still eating through them. A true hoarder.

However, when the cooking rut continues, I get less picky in the kitchen. I have little energy to refuse the noodles. Plus, they are quick and easy to make. I added the cold leftover sauce to warm noodles and it melted right in. A little green garnish might be nice, too. Consider adding fresh chives, as recommended in the original recipe. Because you know, I would never suggest eating parsley. Yucko.

I am sharing this with Random Recipes and Pasta Please for fusion cuisine.

Sesame-Miso Soba Noodles with Kale & Red Pepper

Eating through my pantry has some benefits. I find foods I had forgotten.

My Mom remembers. My Mom is like an elephant: she never forgets.
(She will probably never forget me calling her an elephant… HAHAHAHA!)

What about all your soba noodles, Janet?

Oh yeah…. all those noodles I bought after I came back from Japan. Just like when I drank my way through a library of non-dairy milks to figure out which I liked the most, I bought a wide variety of soba noodles to pinpoint the perfect pasta.  However, I shortly became disillusioned when I figured out that most soba noodles actually contain very little buckwheat. The noodles are still mostly made from white flour. Lesson: Read the package before you buy them.

I eventually found 100% buckwheat noodles but scoffed at the price. So I put them back.

I eventually found them again, but this time it was a different brand. And they were a much better price. So I bought some and then proceded to forget I had them.

Definitely great for a change, the buckwheat noodles are slightly nutty and cook in 4 minutes.

Here, I paired them with kale and red pepper and a simple sesame-miso sauce. A simple sauce, not due to a limited ingredient list. Rather because the ratio is almost all 1:1:1:1:1:2 (the original recipe was 1:1 for all ingredients but I thought it needed a bigger dose of lemon juice). The sauce is creamy, salty and tangy and coated the noodles and veggies well. I used some of the pasta water to thin the sauce but use as much as you like.

Instead of massaging the kale, I let the heat of the noodles wilt them. Easy, peasy. Because as much as I love raw kale salads, I am usually able to trick convince others into doing the massaging. I hate getting my hands too dirty. 😉

(PS. This post was pre-approved. My Mom thought it was in good taste. Both the elephant and noodles. And a great post for Mother’s Day. I think she was just happy I was eating through my soba noodles.)

Other tahini sauces you may enjoy (because tahini is so much more versatile than hummus):

Macro Veggie and Tempeh Bowl with a Miso-Tahini Sauce

Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Orange-Tahini Dressing

Quinoa and Chickpea Salad with a Balsamic Tahini Dressing

Curried Chickpea Salad with Carrots and Currants

Tahini-Dressed Zucchini and Green Bean Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Warm Lentil, Bulgur and Vegetable Skillet with a Lemon-Tahini Sauce

Braised Tempeh with Green Beans in a Sesame Sauce

Yam, Zucchini and Chickpea Salad with a Tahini-Lemon Dressing

Quinoa Wraps with Sweet Potato, Tofu Feta and a Sweet Tahini Dipping Sauce

Bok Choy and Sesame Ginger Udon Noodles from 1000 Vegan Recipes (we’ve made these with red pepper added and enjoyed them)

This is my submission to this week’s Weekend Wellness.

Chili-Lime Noodles

This post is dedicated to my Mom.

Whenever we chat on the phone, she likes to ask me how I am doing eating through my pantry. Are you still eating all your noodles? What about your beans?

I’ve tried to reassure her that yes, we are eating through our pantry. I am still eating through my kelp noodles, my collection of beans and polishing off assorted grains like millet. She just might not be able to tell from my blog posts. Not everything makes it to the blog and sometimes it can take a while for me to put together a proper post (backlog!).

So here we go: photographic proof we’re eating the soba noodles, too. OK, Rob is eating the soba noodles. 😉

Never doubt a Tess recipe. Here we have soba noodles that are smothered in a bright, tangy, zesty and most importantly delicious chili-lime dressing. The dressing has mostly raw ingredients, like garlic and cilantro that complement the heat from the sriracha, ginger and green onion and the sour from the fresh lime juice. A little sweetness goes a long way in balancing the flavours from the agave.

As with most dressings, feel free to add any vegetables you desire. I just photographed the base noodles, but it was served with pan-fried tofu and eggplant, since they were lingering in the fridge. Somehow the addition of eggplants didn’t make for a very photogenic dish, but Mom, believe me that we had some veggies and protein with this meal. 😉

This is my submission to this week’s Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Val, and to this week’s Healthy Vegan Friday and Ricki’s Wellness Weekend.

Grilled Eggplant and Mango Noodle Salad with a Sweet Chili Dressing

The topic of the best mango can bring up heated discussions.

My allegiance had originally been for the Indian Alphonso mango, but a ripe Mexican Ataulfo was a more economical standby that had a longer season.

While travelling in Morocco, I met a cute British couple that originally hailed from Pakistan. They urged me to try Pakistani mangoes, as they were even better than those from India (is there always such fierce rivalry between India and Pakistan?). To be honest, I had never even seen Pakistani mangoes, but I knew that Bestwin routinely carried an assortment of mangoes, many of which I hadn’t yet tried.

Last week, my co-worker, again, urged me to try Pakistani mangoes. They are nearing the end of the season and she assured me I wouldn’t be disappointed.

As it turned out, when I did my weekly trip to Sunny’s, they had small cases of honey mangoes (chok anon) from Pakistan. Just like Alphonso mangoes, they are definitely a splurge purchase.

Let me assure you, though, that these are some nice mangoes. Creamy and sweet, yet with a subtle tanginess, that mellows the sweetness. They didn’t seem to have as much stringiness near the pit, either.

Personally, I am content with any ripe mango, but I may concede that Pakistani mangoes reign in my kitchen. It is that tanginess that I appreciated the most, adding that extra level of complexity. I may no longer have that sweet tooth I used to, it seems, although these are still uber sweet mangoes.  Enjoy them unadorned, or use them in a salad such as this (any ripe, sweet mango will do, though).

The original salad with eggplant, mango and soba noodles is compliments of Ottolenghi, but I took it in my own direction. Instead of pan-frying the eggplant in gobs of oil, I Rob offered to grill it on the barbecue (alongside his perogies, at that!). This allowed me to use much less oil, with the addition of a soft smokiness to the dish. Some grilled asparagus was thrown in as well, for good measure. To make this a more substantial dish, I took Ottolenghi’s advice to add fried tofu, which I had marinated briefly in ponzu sauce and sesame oil. I also opted to use half of the sweet-chili dressing, since it seemed like a lot. And finally, while soba noodles would be lovely, I chose to spiralize two zucchinis as my noodle base. Don’t worry, I left the mango in there, and even used 2 honey mangos for the dish. 😉

The result was a wonderful merriment of flavours. You have the grilled, creamy, smoky eggplant pairing beautifully with the sweet, tangy mango with a slightly spicy sauce, all overtop zucchini noodles. The tofu added a nice, satisfying crunch.

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays, to this week’s Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Honeybee of The Life & Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybee, to this month’s Healing Foods featuring zucchini, and to Ricki’s Summer Wellness Weekends and to this month’s Simple and in Season.

Ginger-Poached Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu

This weekend, I might die. Hopefully, not literally. But I am nuts. I hope I can still stand on Monday.

All summer, I have been training to cycle between Ottawa and Cornwall and back again. A double imperial century, or 320km. A double metric century, 240km, if we chicken out. Either path will be difficult.

A few of my latest training runs have been cancelled due to rain, so I am hoping that the weather will be nice (no rain, no wind) this weekend. Last I checked, everything was good to go, but nothing matters except the weather on the day. Heck, on Monday it wasn’t supposed to rain either, but at 9am, after 3km, it started to rain. We took shelter for an hour to re-evaluate. It continued to rain. We watched another episode of Dexter. By this time, we decided to forego my last 120km training ride and hit the pool instead.

While loading up on carbohydrates hasn’t been proven to work as well in women, I have been scouting out high carb meals this week. Oatmeal sprinkled with pomegranate molasses, is a new favourite for breakfast. Welcoming pasta back into the mix, including this Japanese-inspired noodle dish I found at 101 Cookbooks.

It was a simple dish with subtle flavours. I thought the ginger would overpower the dish, but it blended seemlessly with the noodles and broccoli. The mint and basil worked well together with the chili flakes in this Japanese dish.

If I was truly carb-loading, I would omit the tofu (72% carbs) but I think tofu adds a certain filling factor, so I kept it in. Good thing I am a woman! 😉

This is my submission to Regional Recipes, featuring dishes from Japan, this month’s My Legume Love Affair, hosted by Susan at The Well-Seasoned Cook, to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Abby of eat the right stuff and to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays.

Chilled Soba with Baby Bok Choy, Snow Peas, Spinach and Tofu

The weather has been fabulous for spring so far in Toronto.  A great time to start riding the bike! Warmer weather, though, brings cooler dishes, which is why I loved this dish.  It melds a variety of Asian flavours together with my one of my favourite noodles, soba. The fresh green veggies, including baby bok choy, snow peas and spinach, are lightly steamed, then combined with cool silken tofu in chunks and smothered with a ponzu soy sauce.

But what is ponzu?  It is an Asian  sauce made from mirin, rice vinegar, bonito flakes and kombu, and occasionally soy-based, with a note of citrus tang from yuzu. But what is yuzu?  It is a citrus fruit from East Asia, that looks like a small grapefruit but tastes like  grapefruit and mandarin orange. It is difficult to find yuzu here, so it can be substituted with a blend of juices from other citrus fruits (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, etc).  There are recipes to make your own ponzu sauce as well but I buy mine from the store.

I have discussed other Asian ingredients and where to find them in Toronto, in previous posts here and here, and ponzu sauce can also be found at Asian markets like Bestwin and T&T. I can’t say I’ve seen it at Loblaws and the like, but I haven’t checked. I found it on amazon as well.

Ponzu sauce is nice as a replacement for soy sauce in many Asian dishes and has the added benefit of less sodium. It is also a great dipping sauce for gyoza (Japanese dumplings).

This dish was adapted from Gourmet (July 2008), and despite having a long ingredient list and many directions, is quite simple to prepare but does leave many dirty dishes to clean. However, it is definitely worth it. You can use an assortment of seasonal Asian vegetables, steam them until crisp but retain their colour (blanch them if you are incredibly worried, but I chose not to dip anything into ice water and it was fine). The noodles can be cooked under the steaming vegetables, to save time.  The sauce is nice but the ponzu flavour is not overwhelming. If you cannot find the ponzu sauce, substitute it with a bit more soy sauce, or omit completely. It makes a lot of sauce, which is tasty but could likely also be decreased by 3/4 or more.  The crowning touch is the chilled silken tofu which melts in your mouth and brings that coolness to your palate. I found the dish best when served completely chilled the next day as leftovers, when the sauce is added just before serving.

I am submitting this glorious spring dish to a few places this time: my second submission to Health Nut Challenge 5 featuring Cruciferous Vegetables, hosted by Yasmeen Health Nut, to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Thyme for Cooking and to Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice for Magazine Mondays.

Miso-Butternut Squash Soup with Soba Noodles and Spinach

Here I present an interesting miso soup with butternut squash, spinach and soba noodles. It had been a while since I made a Japanese dish, as I was sidetracked with buttermilk, pumpkin and cranberries, but I was craving a soup. I liked how the sweet butternut squash mixed with salty miso.  This soup was adapted from a recipe in Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas. I have learned that Asian recipes may not be the best from non-Asian sources, but this was pretty good although certainly not authentic Japanese. It attests to the beauty of soups and how hard it is to mess them up. 🙂

The hardest part of the soup was prepping the squash. I found it easy to microwave the squash first, let it cool slightly, then peel and cut the squash for the soup.  Alternatively, you could cut and peel before you microwave it. Roasting it would be easy as well, but takes longer and you are more likely to get soft (roasted) squash.

This is my submission for this month’s Monthly Mingle which is featuring Soups, hosted by Tongue Ticklers (update posted here).