Miso + Peanut Noodles

When I lived in Ithaca, there was this awesome shop at the farmers market that sold these delicious peanut lime noodles. And I was absolutely hooked. Saturday morning would come, we’d hop on our bikes to go shopping by the shore of Cayuga lake, and I’d always get those noodles.

It’s funny how when you go through something difficult in life, you resort back to your comforts from old times. Food is a big one for me. I finally got my appetite back (I feel like a new person), I wanted to create something similar in my kitchen. I used to eat these noodles a decade ago, but the flavors are still on the tip of my tongue.

MISO + PEANUT SAUCE

What you’ll need . . .

• 1 large clove garlic
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 heaping tablespoon white miso paste
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• dash ginger powder
• dash red pepper flakes

Method . . .

1. Pulse the garlic to mince in your food processor. Then add the peanut butter, miso paste, and hot water and blend until smooth.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until well incorporated.
3. Alternatively, you can mince the garlic and then whisk together the peanut butter, hot water, and miso paste. Then whisk the rest of the ingredients in until smooth.
4. Store in an air-tight container for up to one week.

// To make the noodle dish:

I simply boiled half a package of Ezekiel 4:9 spaghetti (you can use similar noodles -- even soba would be great -- at around 8 ounces) and shredded a couple carrots and half a small onion. I mixed those tougher and then dumped 5 big spoonfuls of the sauce on top. Eat hot or cold. I even like my noodles super al dente.

Peas, cubed tofu, even raisins would be good add-ins as well.

Serves 2-4, depending on appetite.

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Spicy Basil Stir-Fry

We got another load of basil in this week's CSA basket. Last week, we made a nice batch of Vegan Walnut Basil Pesto. This week, I wanted to do something different. One of Stephen's favorite Thai dishes is Spicy Basil with tofu.

Recreating this restaurant favorite was fun -- and perfect for what we had in the fridge. Don't be alarmed with all the ingredients you see listed. Many of them are just a dash of this and that required to make the sauce. If you don't have something, don't fret.

SPICY BASIL STIR-FRY WITH TOFU

What you'll need . . . for the stir-fry

• 1 cake of tofu, extra firm -- drained well
• 4 cups (loose) napa cabbage, sliced 
• 1 white onion, sliced 
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped 
• 1 large yellow squash, sliced thickly 
• 1 cup red and green peppers, chopped 
• Scant tablespoon chili oil 
• Scant tablespoon olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

. . . for the basil sauce

• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced 
• 2 to 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar 
• 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

Method . . . 

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
2. When your tofu is well drained (here's how), cut into triangles or squares and then fry on all sides until golden. Set aside.
3. Place all veggies on a rimmed baking sheet and top with the oils, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. Roast for 15 minutes. Then stir. Repeat twice, until golden and caramelized.
4. Heat a large, deep pan over medium-high heat on your stove-top. Heat all the basil sauce ingredients together -- EXCEPT the basil. Then toss in your veggies and tofu. Stir a few times, cooking maybe five minutes total.
5. Then turn off the heat and sprinkle in the basil. Let sit for a few minutes until basil wilts.
6. Serve immediately with brown rice.

Stephen always eats his stir-fries with chopsticks. Actually, he uses chopsticks for most any meal you can think of. I shovel mine in with a fork. (What do you do?) However you eat it, though. This is a dish you'll want to make over and over again.

A couple notes: If you don't have sesame oil, use another Asian-y flavored oil, like peanut, perhaps. If you don't have chili oil, use a teaspoon or so more red pepper flakes. No white vinegar? Apple cider vinegar will do the trick. Or maybe more lemon juice instead. And feel free to play around with which veggies you use.

Basically, this recipe isn't pretending to be authentic. At all. I tweaked it as we were making it to see what tasted most like what we've had out.


While we ate our dinner, Ada noshed on some pureed green beans and soft brown rice. She laughed as she ate it, too! PS: If you'd like to check out photos from our 4-day music festival camping adventure, I just posted 'em on Writing Chapter Three!

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So(y) What?

I don't know why we stopped eating soy in the first place, but we did -- picking up a negative vibe some articles we skimmed and reports we caught the tail ends of. What I'm saying is: We didn't form a super strong opinion either way because we were lazy. Then when I learned I was pregnant, I read in several places to avoid soy. I tend to be an extremist, so -- naturally -- I decided to take it out of my diet almost entirely.

After a while, we didn't miss it anymore.

Slowly soy has been making a comeback into our weekly food routine. Once a week, we eat a tofu-based meal. And we have several bags of edamame in the freezer from our CSA share. So, I guess I have some mixed feelings about it. When I became a vegetarian at age 12, I learned to love tofu and soy milk. I gobbled and guzzled a ton of the stuff because, at the time, there were few other substitutions for dairy/etc.

Since then, I've learned a lot. And I'm sure this information is nothing new to most of you.

• "The quality of soy protein is rated as high as milk protein and egg, and higher than beef protein. As with all plant foods, soy has no cholesterol." (iVillage.com)
• "Soy's greatest advantage may lie in it being a rich source of isoflavones - plant hormones that have been linked to several health benefits. For example, researchers believe a soy-based diet could account for Asia's low rate of heart disease." (About.com)
• However, "Soy protein inhibits absorption of iron, making soy foods a poor source of available iron even though they contain this nutrient." (Savvy Vegetarian -- great article!)
• "Too much soy is harmful to infants, interferes with thyroid function, and may cause cancer." (The Globe and Mail)

Like with most things, I imagine the real answer is that anything in moderation is OK. I think that's how we'll treat it. We have switched to almond milk and soy-free Earth Balance, etc.

Regardless, here's a tasty new baked tofu recipe that we're chowing on tonight (steamed asparagus and brown rice on the side).


BAKED SESAME GARLIC TOFU WITH LEMON

What you'll need . . .

• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 cake of tofu, pressed and cut into cubes or triangles

Method . . .

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Spritz a baking pan with olive oil. Set your tofu slices inside.
2. Whisk all ingredients together. Pour over tofu.
3. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Mixing around every 20 or so minutes until the flavors are absorbed.
4. Eat right away or chill -- works great on salads, too.

We'd love to know your thoughts on the matter. Do you avoid soy? Do you love it and eat it often? Have you ever even thought about it? Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Healthy Lunch . . . In Bulk

Stephen's back at work today. To start his week off right, I spent some time in the kitchen creating a delicious lunch for the both of us. Not only is this recipe healthy, but it also makes enough good stuff for two adults to have lunch for three days (or two, depending on your appetite, cough, STEPHEN, cough...).

I also made some low-fat, low-sugar pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that tasted great but TURNED GREEN (GREEN!!!) overnight in the refrigerator. But more on that fiasco another day.

SESAME COUSCOUS SALAD

What you'll need . . .

• 10 ounces (1-1/4 cup) Israeli couscous
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 small yellow squash, chopped
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• Spritz olive oil and capful of lemon juice to cook
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tangerines, juiced
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

Method . . .

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the couscous with 2-1/2 cups water and a tablespoon of olive oil. Bring to a boil and then lower heat slightly and mix every now and again until all the moisture is absorbed.
2. While that's cooking, heat a spritz or two of oil into a frying pan (my mind is blanking, but the kind with tall sides -- or even a wok). Toss in the sweet potatoes, lemon juice, some salt and pepper and cook until almost softened.
3. Toss the squash into the pan and cook for a few minutes. Season with some salt.
4. Turn off the heat and toss in the couscous and kidney beans. Add the sesame oil, tangerine juice, sesame seeds, and soy sauce.
5. Divide into containers for a quick grab-and-go lunch.

Thanks for all of your easy healthy food ideas from yesterday's post. It's already difficult to stop eating so much sugar, but I know it'll be worth the struggle.

And if you'd like to see what Ada was up to in her sixth week of life, check out (never home)maker, baby!

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Soy-Glazed Salmon

For whatever reason, I craved salmon on Saturday evening. Stephen didn't complain. And since I have decided to just go with trying fish when the mood strikes, we decided to pick up a couple fresh pieces at Wegmans.

Mine's the smaller one, of course.

We all know I'm not terribly familiar with cooking fish. I go with what I know. I've heard the phrase "soy-glazed salmon" more than a couple times in my life. So, when we got home, I got to work looking for a glaze recipe. I quickly found one made by Martha Stewart.

Then I tweaked it to match our preferences/in-house ingredients.


We prepared the brown rice first, since that takes almost an hour. Then, while the oven was preheating, I whisked together the glaze. I substituted sesame oil for olive oil at the last minute, and I think that was a tasty decision.

Also: I absolutely adore blood oranges, they're so pretty!


After 20 minutes, the fish was done baking. The aroma was certainly more intense than when we had the Orange-Cayenne Baked Tilapia several weeks ago. I had expected that. Along with the smell, something about salmon looks incredibly meat-y.

It was a lot to take in. So, I didn't go crazy trying to get fantastic photos.


I slathered my 3-ounce piece (which is pictured above, because I couldn't eat the entire 6 ounces -- even this small bit seemed like a ton) with some of The Peanut Butter Co's "The Heat is On" peanut butter whisked with a little almond milk.

I thought maybe it would help me dig in.


After lots of procrastination, it was time to eat. Yikes!

Just like last time, I kept asking Stephen if it was cooked properly. If it was done the whole way through. Thankfully, the peanut butter sauce DID help. It went extremely well with the soy glaze and fish.

Who knew?


Final impressions: Salmon is definitely fish. I tasted the sea while eating it. I'm still not totally enthusiastic about seafood, but I'm still willing to give it a few more tries.

What's something new you've tried recently? Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Tassajara Pungent Cucumbers

When I hear the word "pungent" I don't exactly salivate or crave food. Instead, that word is quite possibly one of the worst to describe edibles (well, except for "moist," which is equally as awful, if not far worse). But on Sunday -- when I got all excited about making pickles (in the Edible Perspective style) and realized I basically had nothing I needed -- I started searching through my cookbooks for pickling cucumber uses.

The Tassajara Cookbook is one of my favorite because it has so many tasty sauces, marinades, and healthy meal ideas. My particular "take" on this recipe was far from creative. I just used what we had in the kitchen that most closely matched the stuff on the ingredient list. Then I added lime juice because, well, I love lime juice. What resulted is definitely tasty and unique. Definitely a keeper.


These pickle-like half moons go well on sandwiches or on their own (think SALADS). And I was so surprised how after only a couple hours of sitting in the marinade . . . they turned slightly crisp. They started to get that authentic crunch that pickles have. Very cool.


TASSAJARA PUNGENT CUCUMBERS -- the (never home)maker version!

What you'll need . . .

• 4 large pickling cucumbers, sliced into half rounds
• 2 small sweet peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 quart boiling water
• 2 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon toasted walnut oil
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup sugar

Method . . .

1. Combine cucumber and sweet pepper slices. Place in a colander and then pour boiling water over them . . . let drain.
2. Heat oil with ginger and red pepper flakes, then remove from the heat. Combine with the balsamic vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and lime juice.
3. Toss with the cucumbers and red peppers. Let marinate for up to six hours. I placed everything in a brownie dish -- you may use to use bell jars. Etc.
4. Serve at room temperature. Serves 4-6.

Pssst: Don't forget to enter our SHUTTERBUG GIVEAWAY! A super cute carrot trivet is up for grabs -- perfect for snapping gorgeous foodie photography.

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Everything but the Kitchen Sink Dinner

What do you do when all you have in the fridge are last week's rejects? I mean, how can you make a dinner out of a few green peppers and a couple tablespoons worth of peanut butter and . . . 1 cup of coconut milk? Don't forget the 1/3 of an onion hiding in there. Oh. And there are some pieces of portabella mushrooms. Parsnips? Goodness!

Yeah. That's right. You suck up your food lust for other tasty treats and get creative with all that stuff. It's definitely the budget friendly way to go. Certainly a way to improve your kitchen cred. And, of course, is far less wasteful than letting all that good produce rot until your husband hangs his head in shame, upset you've "done it again."

Oh, sorry. That last part is all about, well, me. I do that. Often. I'm trying desperately to stop. And our quest to lower our groceries bills (which is going extremely well, thank you) has been helping out. I imagine some of you other foodies out there fall victim to the whole always-wanting-the-absolute-freshest-most-interesting-(and abundant)-ingredients, too.

This recipe should help. Just use all those ingredients up. Slather them in a fun sauce. And call it dinner.


What you'll need . . .

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 to 1 large green pepper, sliced
• 1 to 2 medium parsnip, skinned and sliced
• 1/2 to 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 to 1 large portabella mushroom, chopped
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 to 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• Soy sauce, to taste
• Garlic powder and pepper to taste
• Honey, again, to taste

Method . . .

1. Over medium-high heat, cook onions in a little olive oil until glassy.
2. Add in the green pepper and parsnips and cook until soft.
3. Add portabella mushrooms and chickpeas. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Then whisk together the coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic powder, and pepper. Again -- it's all to your taste. Some people like it more soy-ish, others less. You may even wish to sweeten it a bit with some honey. The key is adding it all in small amounts. Go teaspoon by teaspoon with the extras.
5. Then pour this mixture over the stir-fry and cook until nice and bubbly.
6. Serve with a gorgeous grain like red quinoa.

"Ashley. That is a rather lax/lazy/sorry excuse for a recipe." I know, I know. The measurements are all weird. The sauce formula is far from set in stone. But I share this recipe with you, friends, to make a point. We get lots of emails asking us if it's OK to substitute this ingredient in for that ingredients. And what I want you all to know -- those of you who aren't comfortable cooking up a storm in the kitchen -- is that experimentation is more than OK, it's fantastic. It's the only way you can come up with good eats on your own.

Once you start letting go. Once you stop measuring out every little thing, you'll definitely have some awful creations on your hands. Yes. But you'll laugh about them and PRETEND you enjoy them. Other times, you'll come up with something so incredibly delicious, you'll wish you had written it down (keep that in mind -- I keep a pen and pad of paper in one of our drawers). Cooking need not be a scary venture. Instead, it's just another outlet for your imagination (and cravings) to run wild.



I'd also like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate my brother on his graduation. He's the reason I'm posting less this week (thanks a lot, little bro!) -- all weekend was spent down in Bloomsburg, PA, sitting in the wind, waiting to hear his name be called so he could receive his diploma. So, employers: If you or anyone you know needs a college grad with a degree in marketing (and mad guitar skills -- I'm just sayin'), Ryan's your man!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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