Veggie Peanut Butter Noodles

Posted on May 31, 2011 by kzookitchen

Sound strange? Yes.

Cheap to make? Yes.

Super simple? Yes.

A little ghetto? Yes.

Taste amazing? ABSOLUTELY!!!

I first made these noodles a few months ago and have made them pretty much every week since. They are a hybrid of a few recipes from a few different places. Very similar to a Thai Peanut Noodle dish, anyone can make these, even if you are not a cook.

First, take some regular old Top Raman. Yes, the kind you buy for $0.30 at the store. Ditch that MSG flavor filled spice pack and cook to package directions.

Then take a bag of frozen veggies. Yes, these are the frozen veggies that you can get for $1.80 or so a bag at the store.

Put them in a wok or saute pan and cook them until they are hot (or a little brown if you so choose).

Grab your favorite peanut butter and hot sauce. When the veggies are done, turn the heat to low and add a tablespoon (or three) to the veggies and start stirring. It will get real creamy like.

When the noodles are done, dump them in with the veggies along with a bit of the cooking water. Stir real good to mix it all together. If you add too much water, don’t worry, it will absorb into the mix.

Flavor with your favorite hot sauce to give them a kick. I like Cholula, Tapatio or Sriracha Chili Sauce, but any will do.

I make a double batch, because it reheats so nicely. The Boyfriend eats it with cubed chicken, but you can add shrimp or even beef. I always think when I’m eating it how wonderful it would be topped with some peanuts. The options are limitless!

Enjoy it however you want, but know this – it’s cheap, it’s easy and it’s DELICIOUS!

When in doubt, throw it out

Posted on April 20, 2011 by kzookitchen

I read somewhere a long time ago that to live a healthy life, you shouldn’t eat items which don’t spoil within a few days of being left out or without refrigeration. I think that it comes from the fact that anything not natural (from the earth) has preservatives and preservatives = bad.

I’ve tried to adopt a natural lifestyle as of late. Grocery shopping consists of only shopping in the aisles in the perimeter of the store. That’s where the freshest items are housed. No boxed, packaged or prepared food in this house. We are moving to organic products and I am leaning toward vegan (greek yogurt is my downfall).

This no preservative lifestyle means constant trips to the grocery store. I don’t want to contribute to the 14% of food purchased which is discarded by American households every year. Not only is it a waste of money, but a useless step in my carbon footprint and waste of resources.

I came across this article earlier and promptly went to the fridge and discarded everything past expiration. All condiments (thank you very much). Whether or not expiration dates are scientific or a guesstimate, I’d hope that someone, somewhere made a educated decision on when you should dump an item. Personally the fact that they have a date at all scares me. Our forefathers knew things were bad when they smelled funky or molded. So these chemically engineered foods won’t spoil ‘naturally’ but should rather be tossed after a specific date? I don’t like that at all.

Like the article asks, “what is your life worth?” After suffering from digestive problems for so many years, you can’t put a price on it. When I’m in doubt, I throw it out.

Forging through winter as a Vegetarian

Posted on March 9, 2011 by kzookitchen

When you walk into the grocery store and see something as beautiful as this, how can you not be a vegetarian? Admittedly it’s not always this easy (or pretty), to have vegetables be the mainstay of your diet, especially this time of year.

A friend of mine who lives in a more remote part of Michigan (in a town I can barely pronounce – Dowagiac (də-WAH-jak)) decided that she was going to give up meat for Lent. I know how hard it is for me to find fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year in Kalamazoo, so I can only imagine what it’s going to be like for her. After encouraging her to make the changes in her diet, I knew that I wanted to find some healthy vegetarian recipes using frozen veggies. So I will develop and post some ideas over the next few days and weeks which are made with ingredients which can truly be found anywhere.

In the meantime, I am often surprised that no matter where I go there are meatless options. The tastiest bites have been at ethnic restaurants. A few weeks ago we hit up a Gyros shop in Grand Rapids. Expecting to be eating another salad (which is fine and I love), I found this amazing plate on the menu. Salad, hummus, dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables) and falafel – it was an amazing fare!

Even in Kalamazoo it’s easy to find great options when eating out. The University Roadhouse has an amazing Seared Ahi Salad (pictured left). It is pan seared blackened Ahi Tuna, mixed greens in a thai peanut vinaigrette served with a warm bleu cheese wonton. Talk about delicious! I am definitely going to use this as inspiration for a salad soon. My mouth is still watering for that blue cheese wonton.

While not eating meat in the dead of winter in the middle of the Midwest isn’t easy, I have learned to work around it. I am confident that my friend Erin and all of you meatless eaters out there will do the same.