Miso Peanut Pasta Salad

Aah Pasta Salad - the official food of summer and my favorite way to pack a huge amount of veggies into a meal.  I have made this a few times and my favorite way to eat it is cold, but Joseph preferred it warm (right after I am done making it), but it delicious at room temperature as well. 

That makes it perfect to take to any summer gathering. 

With all the yummy goodness of my favorite peanut noodles, the addition of the Miso makes it extra special. If you aren't familiar with Miso, I suggest you try it immediately. I can find it at my local grocery store in the Asian section. It comes in a paste. The white is much milder than the red. It is a fermented soybean paste and is most often used in cooking to add that sweet / salty / spicy Umami goodness. (it is the salty)

You could pack this pasta salad with even more veggies as it would be delicious with bell peppers, snow peas or green peas, bean sprouts, broccoli florets, cabbage or spinach. Add whatever veggies you have on hand. 

Cucumber and Carrots Thai Noodle Salad

I made this salad and it was so good that I put it away towards the back of the fridge, so I wouldn't have to share it. (yes, I'm that kind of person)

Well a few hours later, Joseph shows up with a bowl of it, crunching and Mmm mmmm ing along, Wow! this is really really good, he says to me. 

I Know! That's why I hid in in the fridge.

Yes, I spiralized the veggies and honestly, It was a lot of work. they were really fun to eat, but you don't have to do things that way for this salad to be incredible. 

If you are looking for long "noodles", you can just make ribbon / strips with your vegetable peeler. Or go ahead and chop them up. 

While the noodles were super fun to eat, it did make it hard to eat the beans and peppers because veggie noodles and chickpeas are hard to get on the same fork - I didn't even attempt chopsticks. 

You add the marinate to the onions, beans and peppers first because the vinegar and lemon juice acid will essentially "cook" your onions making them sweet and mild. Don't let that extra step in the recipe scare you away or feel like it is a lot of work. 

This is a great fun salad - it's a real show-stopped with the spiralized veggies, but you do not have to make it that way if you don't have the tools or skills. I'm going to make it again and I'm pretty sure I am going to be doing ribbons. They seem like a good compromise to me. 

Beef and Broccoli Pasta

Ever since I can remember when my dad gets Chinese food, he orders Beef and Broccoli. I don't think anybody even asks him what he wants anymore. We just order him Beef and Broccoli. 

Anything that classic and that somebody loves that much deserves to be made at home, right? 

This recipe takes less than 15 minutes to get on the table. Your longest cooking time will be boiling your pasta, but you cook the broccoli in the pasta water and stir fry the meat at the same time. So you are really using your time to your advantage. 

My kids loved this and so next time I make it, I am going to double the amount of broccoli that I added. Bonus - More Veggies and a bigger meal at a low cost.

This would also be a great recipe to use up any leftover steak or beef roast and just heat it up in the wok before adding your pasta and veggies. 

Easy Baked Orange Chicken

Chinese food is Joseph's kryponite. If I want a guaranteed night out, all I have to do is casually suggest that Chinese food sounds good.  Sometimes, I don't use those powers for good. It's true. 

But it is oh so bad for you. I really try and not label foods as "bad" but it is pretty hard to rationalize Chinese food as fitting into a healthier lifestyle. So we've been experimenting with making our own at home. We have tried buying the freezer chicken (and weren't too happy about the price or the quality). But I really feel like this is a great recipe that gives you the texture and flavor that we were looking for without making it full of sodium, sugar and deep fried fats. 

The trick with this recipe is to use corn starch instead of bread crumbs or flour to coat the chicken and also to do it in reverse order than we are used to doing it in, - with the dry ingredients first and then the beaten eggs. This is what gives the recipe that batter-fried texture that we are used to having without the deep fried saturated fats and calories. 

Curried Chickpeas with Spinach

I made this so fast for a quick and healthy lunch this week. I wasn't expecting much, but since it was healthy, low cost and really fast, I figured that was good enough reason to make it. 

I had some leftover brown rice that I was looking to top and this was a super easy option.

So I assembled it nice and quick and left it simmering on the stove while I finished up cleaning the kitchen. It smells pretty good and I was looking forward to lunch.  I tested it with a small spoon to check the seasonings. I didn't want it to have a huge Curry flavor, so I had been a little stingy with the curry spice and when I use plain tomato sauce, I sometimes feel like things need a bit more salt after they have simmered for a while. 

So I checked the seasonings with a small spoonful of sauce -  Holy Cow!  It was amazing! I couldn't believe how good it was. How could something with so few ingredients, not really anything "special" and put together so quickly taste so Fantastic!  I don't know, but it sure does. 

Moroccan Sweet Potatoes

I am really enjoying discovering spices and all the new flavor adventures that I am having. Although this sounds really adventurous, I actually had all these spices in my cupboard and am really familiar with all of them, It was just a new combination to add the cinnamon in a savory way. I really enjoyed it. 

You can eat this as a yummy vegetable side dish, or you could eat them with some Tzatziki sauce and some grilled chicken. I even had a little bit left over after a few days and I tossed them into a tortilla and had a "Taco" - Wowie, it was fun and different!

Golden Lentil and Rice Soup

It is almost a guarantee that if a recipe calls for ginger, it becomes one of my favorites, and I am starting to feel that way about Turmeric. The base and familiar taste of the basic curries that we love, it is becoming very popular around the natural / health food scene.  I just think it tastes good, if it is going to be good for me as well, that just makes it a win-win!

I made this soup for a lunch meal and planned on taking half to my parents, since it was so heavy in the "bean" dept, I didn't plan on giving Joseph any of it at all. But as it was cooking, he began to wander into the kitchen, "whatcha making?"  code for  - -  "I think I want some of that"

I said, "Lentil and rice soup, but don't worry, you don't have it eat it".  I guess once the pressure was off, that made it okay to try. So after I blended it smooth (and I did the entire soup, not just half), I dished him up a bowl with a scoop of brown jasmine rice (also brown rice isn't his favorite).  There was no way he was going to like this soup - absolutely no way. 

(Which are the last words of every kitchen chef who thinks that they know everything)

He LOVED it, he kept saying to me, "We need to eat like this All the time" 

For a vegetarian soup, it is very hearty and creamy. With the addition of the brown rice, you won't need a huge bowl to feel really full. And you'll stay full and have tons of energy that lasts without having that "Oh my gosh!, I am So full" feeling.  

If it is too thick for you once you have it blended, go ahead and add a bit more water to thin it out, of you can add chicken or vegetable broth if you want.  

Coconut Curry Quinoa Served Over Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I love all things curry. I should move to India or perhaps more realistic, Great Britain. There isn't anything that you can't toss into the pot and make it taste incredible! You can pack these dishes full of veggies and you never miss the "meat". 

This recipe started as an experiment of things left over in the fridge and a craving and it turned out so amazing, I just had to share it with you.  Don't be afraid to take your Food Sense Creates skills and let loose in the kitchen and make what you like. 

Fast Curried Chickpeas

This might be my new favorite quick comfort food.  I just love a good curry and this one I have been serving over veggies and adding more veggies to like sweet potatoes and bell peppers. It is a great recipe base to begin a lot of fun experiments with.   

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 med yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
2 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 20 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro


Directions

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Cook the onion and garlic in a large pot with olive oil over medium heat until softened (3-5 minutes).

Drain and rinse the canned chick peas and add to the pot. Also add the tomato sauce, water and curry powder. Stir the pot until everything is evenly mixed. Bring the mixture up to a simmer over medium heat.

While the chick peas are simmering, rinse the cilantro and pull the leaves from the stems. Roughly chop the leaves and add them to the pot. Give everything a stir and continue to simmer until the sauce has reduced to a thick consistency (about 20 minutes total).

Stir the pot every few minutes to prevent the sauce from burning and sticking to the bottom.

Serve over rice, or with Naan bread