A Little Spice & Everything on this Week’s Menu

Happy Sunday all!  Today was the perfect balance of everything starting off with my Weight Watchers meeting and a little shopping, spending some time cooking two new delicious vegan recipes in the kitchen and relaxing with The Husband with my feet kicked up watching The Game. 

After two days of Japanese Food, I totally avoided the scale this week at weigh in because I knew all that sodium would not be a good thing.  I did make sure I started off my week back on track.

Tall Nonfat Decaf Latte with Caramel Drizzle on top. (SF) – 3 points+

Recipe #1 ~ an incredibly easy Sesame Noodle Salad I have been thinking about every since the folks at Nasoya asked me to try out their Pasta Zero Noodles.  This noodley salad is packed with crisp, crunchy, veggies, thick noodles, a little spice and everything nice….lol…I couldn’t resist….ok, let me try that again.

This refreshing Asian Noodle Salad works well as a side dish or a main course.  The thick “rice” noodles and crunchy veggies add great texture while the spicy, sesame, peanut dressing will make your taste buds want to keep going back for more.

SPICY SESAME NOODLE SALAD (PRINT IT!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 oz. Shirataki Noodles
• 1/2 cup red cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup snap peas, chopped
• 1/4 cup green onions, diced
• 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced, optional
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp. cup Ponzu or low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 tsp. sriracha, optional
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Prepare the noodles according to the packaged instructions.  Combine the noodles with the cabbage, carrots, snap peas, green onions and jalapenos, set aside.

2.  Whisk together the rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, peanut butter and sriracha, if using.  Pour over the vegetable noodles, toss and chill 1 hour.  Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.

Makes 4 servings, 1 cup each, 3 points+, Simply Filling + 1 WPA

Nutritional information per serving calculated at caloriecount.com

I will be the first to admit I have never really been a fan of Shirataki noodles because I have such a hard time getting past the smell when you open the bag to rinse the noodles.

I really do love Nasoya products (hello my won ton fetish!) so when they told me they has an all new Pasta Zero, I agreed to give it a try and help create a recipe for them.

The entire package is 1 points+ so it’s pretty hard to pass that up.

The “secret” to get rid of the stink is to bring a pot of water to simmer.  Then, open the noodle bag, dump it into a colander and rinse for about 1 minute.  Add the noodles to the simmering water and par boil for 2-3 minutes.  Drain and rinse.

While the noodles “cook”, prepare all the veggies and the dressing.

Add the noodles to the veggies.

Drizzle with the dressing and toss.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chill for an hour before serving. 

Recipe #2 was prepared in my new kitchen tool ~ the Vitamix!  My Farm Fresh To You box last week contained leeks and cauliflower.  After pondering ideas all week of what to make, I settled on making a recipe to one my co-worker described to me that she loves.  I kicked up the recipe with a little spice and….stopping there

I combined 1 head of cauliflower with two leeks, 5 garlic cloves, 1 tsp. curry, 1 tsp. old bay, 1/2 tsp. oregano and 1/4 cup olive.  Then, I roasted everything at 425 for 20 minutes, stirring half way through.

Added 3 cups of broth to the Vitamix, clicked to the Hot Soup button and let it whirl away.

6 1/2 minutes later ~ incredibly, rich, thick, creamy curried cauliflower soup with a kick.  I still cannot get over how smooth the Vitamix makes things like this soup ~ no cream is ever needed.

This soup will definitely warm you up from the inside out.  The curry and Old Bay really add a nice warm, heat to this soup that brings out the sweet roasted cauliflower and leeks.

CAULIFLOWER CURRY SOUP (PRINT IT!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cauliflower head, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 leeks, sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp. yellow curry
• 1 tsp. Old Bay spice
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Combine the cauliflower, leeks, garlic, curry, Old Bay, oregano and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.  Toss and pour onto a cookie sheet.  Roast for 20 minutes at 425, stirring half way through.

2.  Add the broth and roasted vegetables to the blender and puree until smooth.  Enjoy as is or with a sprinkle of toasted nuts or hot chili oil.

Makes 8 servings, 1 cup each, 2 points+, 100% Simply Filling

Nutritional information per serving calculated at caloriecount.com

Lunch involved a little salad and a little soup as noted above.  The Husband put in a special request for dinner since he wasn’t feel well and it didn’t involve me cooking at all!

Hello Chipotle ~ how I’ve missed you!  You can determine the points+ of anything you put in your bowl by visiting Chipotlefan.com. My entire bowl is 8 points+. I may or may not have stole a couple of The Husband’s chips with guacamole.

I count this bowl as Simply Filling because everything in it ~ is!

• romaine
• fajita veggies
• chicken
• 2 types of salsa ~ corn & pico de gallo
• I skipped the cheese, beans and rice because I didn’t “need” them

HERE IS WHAT IS ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

• Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork with Asian Slaw
• Taco Cups, Salad
• BLTA’s
• Grilled Thai Turkey Salads
• BFD ~ Breakfast for Dinner

Night all!