Let’s talk about a healthy snack that is blowing my mind recently: CRISPY DRY ROASTED EDAMAME.
Yes, edamame as a snack. Can you get into it?
I know I can. I love edamame in any form – even frozen – and I always sneak a few handfuls when I’m cooking with them. What is it with frozen legumes? I just love them.
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This was originally supposed to be a soba noodle salad.
The other day at work, I got really fixated on making one. I just knew it would be perfect with the various leftover veggies lurking in my crisper. I wouldn’t even have to go to the store! Major success.
Then I got home and found we had no soba noodles. Major failure.
So I went to the grocery store. AND THEY ALSO HAD NO SOBA NOODLES.
What. The. Hell.
So back home I went, dug wayyyy to the back of my (very deep) cabinet, and pulled out some ramen noodles. Cha-ching! Salads with ramen noodles are totally a thing. I know because my mom and grandma make one, and that makes them official. And also delicious. A few minutes later, I was digging into this!
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Not gonna lie, after Monday’s events in Boston, it still doesn’t feel right to post a recipe.
Boston is my hometown, and most of my friends and family are there. Nate has run Boston several times and has lots of friends in the Boston running community. Marathon Monday is one of my favorite days of the year in Boston, and I was seriously bumming on Monday morning not to be there… and then I was quickly very happy that Nate didn’t run this year and that we were thousands of miles away.
All our friends and family in Boston are safe, thank goodness. But I’m very sad for those who were injured and killed, their families, and the Boston community. And I can’t just carry on with a guacamole recipe without mentioning how sad and shaken up I’ve felt. So, love to everyone from home – glad you are safe!
Now that I’m thoroughly depressed, let’s talk about food.
Guacamole is always a crowd-pleaser, especially when the crowd includes those of us who can eat enough guacamole for the rest of the crowd. And this guacamole is extra-special because it has two secret ingredients. Of course, I’m not good at keeping secrets, and I already gave away one of them in the title of this post.
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Good morning and happy Wednesday!
I wouldn’t be so chipper (I feel morning chipperness is generally uncalled-for), but just look at all these colors. Food like this makes me happy to be alive.
(If you’re still half asleep and don’t feel like eating sushi yet… I apologize. I kind of have a thing for colorful food.)
In case you missed it, this is Pantry Week here at Coffee & Quinoa: a week of me attempting to simultaneously clean out my cabinets and teach myself to put a meal together without a trip to the store.
This dish is a random weeknight creation that truly belongs in my pantry series. Pawing through the fridge after work one night, I found some leftover veggies and cooked spelt, plus some cauliflower with only a few more days of life left in it. For some reason my sweet potato sushi bowl came to mind. I decided to go for it, but was pretty doubtful as I whipped up the dressing… an Asian dish with cauliflower and spelt, really?
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Good morning. How was your weekend?
Mine was SNOWY.
We got over a foot of snow here in Salt Lake, and about 4 feet up in the mountains! That means skiing next weekend for sure. Hooray!
Friday night Nate and I braved the storm to go out for dinner at Sage’s Cafe, our favorite vegan restaurant (slash only vegan restaurant we’ve tried) in Salt Lake.
We ate so much food! We split the bruschetta to start. This is my entree, the picadillo vegetariano. It was delicious and full of spices – I will definitely be recreating it at home sometime soon. Nate got a pasta ragout special that was also yummy. And then we had dessert – brownie and ice cream with peanut sauce for me, chocolate raspberry cake for Nate. We should have split a dessert… mine put me over the edge!
It snowed pretty much the rest of the weekend, so I holed up inside and cooked and baked up a storm. So much fun! And also very tiring. But it means I have plenty of food to share with you this week! Luckily I did bundle up and make it to yoga and the gym, although it was still probably not enough activity to offset all the sampling I did while cooking :)
Speaking of cooking, let’s get to the recipe part of this post.
These noodles actually weren’t part of my weekend cooking extravaganza; I made them last Thursday night. Healthy, tasty, and ready in 20 minutes flat – if that’s not a recipe for weeknight success, I don’t know what is! They are my favorite thing to whip up when I get home in the dark after work and yoga and we have no leftovers and I am HUNGRY. And the best part is that while I’m at it, I get to use up any extra vegetables that are lurking in my crisper causing guilt.
There’s really no wrong way to make this dish. I usually aim to have about equal parts noodles and vegetables. You can throw any veggies you like in here, and even better if they are ones that often appear in Asian dishes (I happened to have broccoli, carrots, a red pepper, and some frozen edamame this week). You can also add cubed tofu in for protein, which I usually do but forgot this week. Roasted peanuts and green onions on top are also yummy if you have those lying around. But what reallllly makes this dish is the sauce! I love love love peanut sauce and could eat it on pretty much anything. Thank goodness Nate feels the same way!
