Soba Noodle Salad with Asian Dressing and Prego Pic

Yesterday I wanted to make an easy dinner because my husband had to be on the road to school at 5:30, which meant dinner had to be ready by 5:00 pm at the latest.  I decided to make soba noodles. We don't have pasta very often in this house, but it makes for quick prep, and if I make soba noodles, I feel better about it.  Soba noodles are made out of buckwheat, hard winter and hard spring wheat flour, and sea salt (of course, being Celiac, I don't eat them).  They contain 8 grams of protein per serving, 3 grams of fiber, and 10% of the daily value for iron. 

Since soba noodles are great for Asian meals, I set out to make an Asian salad.  In went Romaine lettuce, green onions, celery, chopped almonds, and cucumber.  My intention was to include cabbage, but I forgot....of course :)  Tofu would even work well as a topping.  Lastly, I needed an Asian dressing, but all of the recipes online included some type of vinegar, which I didn't have.  So I played around with some ingredients and came up with this dressing.  It's pretty creamy for an Asian dressing, so you can thin it with water if you'd like.


Vinegar-Free Asian Dressing

1/2 c olive oil

1/4 c roasted sesame oil
1/4 c wheat-free Tamari (or other soy sauce)
1/4 c sliced green onion
1/8 cup lime juice
2-3 cloves garlic (I used 2 very large cloves)
2 T freshly grated ginger root

2 T Sucanat (unrefined, dehydrated cane juice)

This is my 26 weeks prego pic.  Only 14 weeks left!!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

I've been friends with many of the same girls since preschool.  A few additional girls fell into our little group in elementary.  A few more in junior high.  And a few more in high school.  If I actually told you the extent of our awesomeness in high school you probably wouldn't believe me.  The stories?  Would blow your pants off.  We were a force to be reckoned with.  And you wanna know something cool?  We still are.  Of course everyone's lives have changed a bit over the past 14 years (has it really been that long?), but somehow we've remained close.  

Last month since several of the "out of staters" happened to be in town, we decided to have a vegan/vegetarian party.  No surprise it ended up being more of a laugh until you pee party, but there was food there.  And it was mostly vegetarian or vegan.  My extremely fabulous vegan friend named Sondra (you can call her, "Sonie") made some vegan peanut butter cups that left us making out with our plates.  I asked her if I could post the recipe on this blog and she was all, "Hellz yeah you can".  Because that's just how she rolls.  Check out her blog and you'll see what I mean.  She's wicked funny, not to mention beautiful and super duper sweet.  But the thing I love the most about her is her authenticity.  She's absolutely who she is.  No fronts.  No facades.  Most people could learn a thing or two from her.  She so totally rocks.

SONIE'S VEGAN CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

1/2 cup Earth Balance (or other Vegan brand) butter
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (preferably unsweetened and unsalted)
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used Annie's bunny grahams)
1/4 cup maple sugar or other granulated sweetener (I used cane sugar)
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 cup soy, rice or nut milk (I actually used coconut)
1/4 cup chopped pecans, almonds or peanuts


Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar and mix well.  Remove the mixture from the heat.  Evenly divide the mixture, approximate 2 tablespoons per cup, among the muffin cups.  Combine the chocolate and milk in another pan.  Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.  Spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture.  Top with chopped nuts.  Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours before serving.


*I cut the sugar in 1/2 when I made these and they turned out great.  Even my 10 year old (who would live off of Oreo's and gummy bears if I let him) ate them.  


See?

One more thing.  While these aren't exactly the healthiest of morsels, I'm a firm believer in not depriving myself or my family.  I can't live without some "go to" dessert recipes.  It's important to me to provide my kids with some sweet treats for special occasions (since when is Tuesday not "special").  And let's face it, these are a hell of a lot better for you than anything with the words "Hostess" or "Sara Lee" printed on the box.  

Winner Winner Tofu Dinner

The winner of the SIBU serum/moisturizer pack???

The winner of the SIBU facial exfoliant?

The winner of the SIBU body cream?

Email me your mailing addresses (Jinii, I've got yours) and I'll get those out to you STAT!  annielewis@mac.com


Thanks for playing ya'll.  Our next giveaway is coming up soon so stay tuned.

Got SIBU???

Gimme an S!  Gimme an I!  Gimme a B!  Gimme a U!  What does that spell?  A word you've probably never heard of and the name of the company my husband works for so yes this might be a little bit self serving but let's try to look past that and say it all together anyway...SIBU!!!  


For real though, I've been using their skin products for about a year now and my skin, is like buttah.  They have several products that would rival ANY department store product.  They offer body cream, cleansing bars, exfoliating face wash, facial serum, facial moisturizer, night cream, oil capsules, and a supplemental juice, all of which can be purchased online or in stores (Whole Foods carries it).  The main ingredient in all their products is called sea buckthorn.  It's a tiny berry that grows in the Himalayas and it's nutritional content is un-freaking-believable!  Omega's 3, 6, 7, and 9, vitamin C up the wazoo, carotenoids, natural antibacterial properties, antioxidants, and vitamin E just to name a few.  


So here's your chance.  You can be the lucky recipient of a SIBU facial serum (retails for $39.95) and facial moisturizer (retails for $20.95).  Just leave us a comment.  Doesn't matter what it says.  You could say, "Hi",  you could say, "Wazup",  You could say, "Mazel tov".  Doesn't matter.  One week from today we'll draw a number.  If you were that number of commenter, we'll send you this ridiculously fabulous prize, compliments of SIBU!  And maybe we'll draw a second number and send that winner some body cream.  Just for kicks.


Okay people.  Work that commenting mojo.  You know you want to.

*Thanks hun.  You da man.

Quinoa...the Bomb Diggity

Yesterday I was talking to a few friends about protein.  That led to a discussion about quinoa.  Somehow the conversation ended on the topic of angry sex, but I can't remember exactly how we got there.  Anyway.  Quinoa.  My one friend was saying that she doesn't have very many good quinoa recipes.  So being the fine citizen that I am, I ran to the nearest telephone booth, changed into my spandies and emerged ready for action.

People, quinoa is the beez kneez!  I make it at LEAST once a week.  I have so many fantastic quinoa recipes and I don't know why I haven't posted them yet.  So thank you to Jinii (my fabulous friend) who reminded me that the world is a better place when it's inhabitants have many a quinoa recipe at their finger tips.

    

 BLACK BEAN MANGO QUINOA SALAD

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons rice vinegar 

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 small mango, diced

1 small red bell pepper, diced

1 cup black beans, rinsed

2 green onions thinly sliced

Toast quinoa in small dry saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it crackles and becomes aromatic, 4-6 minutes.  Transfer to a fine sieve and rinse throughly.  Return the quinoa to the pot and add water.  Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to maintain a simmer.  Cover and cook until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 15-20 min.

Meanwhile, whisk orange juice, cilantro, vinegar, oil, ginger, salt, and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.  Add mango, bell pepper, beans and scallions; toss to coat

When the quinoa is finished cooking, add the mango mixture and toss to combine.

*I served this on a giant leaf of rainbow chard and garnished with a few slices of avocado.  I also added more salt and pepper.  No utensils required.  Just roll up the leaf and go for it.

A Pea in My Pod and DIY Nut Butter

 Let me start by explaining the title.  You see, although this post sounds like it's all about food, it's not...

Yes, I am full of prego-ness with #3 :)  Annie and I are officially baby machines.  This is me at 20 weeks, which was about 3 weeks ago because I took pics, and then left my camera at my sister-in-law's house.  Those who know me, know that I have to leave at least one thing everywhere I go.  It's my thing. 

So in about 4 months we will add one more dramatic (and also sweet) little girl to our family. I must admit, it makes me a tad bit nervous because although I grew up with four sisters, and only one brother, I haven't had to deal with girl drama in a while.  But my little 3 year-old is giving me not only a taste, but a big bite of it these days. So maybe I'll be ready for the next hormonal (can I blame it on hormones yet?) munchkin-ette.

On another note, I have figured out how to make the creamiest almond (and other nut) butter ever! This has been a work in progress...I used to make it with my BlendTec with added oil, then I tried putting a blank on my juicer and running almonds through.  That turned out more like almond flour than almond butter.  So then I put the almond flour in the food processor and combined it with a little oil.  Needless to say, I am so glad that the author of the Rawmazing blog turned me on to her way of making almond butter.  It's really easy; there is one step:  1). Run nuts in the food processor (I use a Cuisinart) for about 20 to 30 minutes.  That's all!!

At first, the nuts will grind to a powder. I rarely have to scrape down the edges, although sometimes the processor gets in a funk where it can't catch the powder.  If that happens, scrape.

As the minutes pass, the oils will start to release and the nuts will become more "sticky" or clumpy.

Then, a ball will form and that will whirl around for a while.

The ball will slowly turn into a rich, creamy nut butter as the oils are totally released.

 If you can tell, the pics switch between almond and cashew butter.  I don't know what happened to the pics of the almond butter in the middle of the process, so I had to sub cashew butter pics :)

With your raw almond butter, you can make Wowie Zowie dip or these brownies from The Spunky Coconut blog.

With cashew butter, I love to make these chocolate chip cookies from the Diet, Dessert, and Dogs blog.