Unprocessed: Spicy Peanut Noodles with Broccoli

I just watched the season finale of Top Chef: All Stars. Even though the food cooked on the series is nothing like the food I want to or would eat right now (my mouth waters regardless), I totally and completely connect with the passion and the personalities of the contestants on the show. I was bawling like a baby when they announced the winner, Richard Blais.

Today I present you with the second of Chef A.j.'s recipes from her new cookbook, Unprocessed. Light on calories, this dish is not. Heavy on flavor and texture, this dish delivers. Bring this to a party and you are sure to wow your family and friends. After preparing two of Chef A.j.'s recipes, her disappearing lasagna and now her Spicy Peanut Noodles with Broccoli, I can say that she should be competing on Top Chef! And by preparing Chef A.j.'s recipes, I feel like I can bring the magic of great tasting, special food into my own home, even as a no-added-fat vegan.

Chef A.j.'s Spicy Peanut Noodles with Broccoli

Printable Version

1 pound brown rice noodles (spaghetti or linguine)
1 pound broccoli florets
3/4 cup peanut butter, unsweetened and unsalted
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp low sodium tamari
2 Tbsp date syrup*
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4-1/2 ounce piece of fresh ginger, pressed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
8 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Sesame seeds or chopped unsalted peanuts for garnish (optional)

*To make the date paste: soak 1/4 pound of dates in 1/4 cup of water for several hours until much of the liquid is absorbed (you can do this overnight). In a food processor fitted with the s blade (I used my mini Cuisinart), process dates and liquid until completely smooth. Store extra date paste in the refrigerator.

Cook pasta according to directions on package. Run under cold water when done. Drain and place in a large bowl.

Blanch broccoli and run under cold water when done. Drain and add to pasta bowl along with the scallions.

To make the sauce, combine peanut butter, water, rice vinegar, tamari, date syrup, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk until smooth and cook for about 10 minutes until thickened, turning heat down to low if necessary to prevent overheating. Pour dressing over noodles and broccoli and thoroughly combine. Chill until it becomes cold.

This dish was spectacular, but rich. I was too lazy to make a salad to eat with it, so I know that I overindulged. But how could I not, it tasted so darned amazing!

I don't know if you've noticed but I've been a little distracted lately from blogging. I have something pretty big to report, but that announcement is going to have to wait until my next blog post!

Do you watch Top Chef or other cooking competition shows? If so, which ones?

Is it hard for you to watch t.v. like this when you are trying to protect your own health and waistline? Or can you watch regardless of the types of food being cooked on the show?

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Coconut Curry Kale, Chick Pea and Sweet Potato Stoup



I have officially become my mother.

But don't get mad, Mom. That's not an insult.

I saw a totally healthy recipe here on Mama Pea's blog and I made it EVEN healthier. Mom would be so proud. And thank you to Mama Pea, as this is a pretty genius recipe! My husband said, "This is the best soup you have ever made, it's incredible, it's perfect, it's so delicious. Holy cow. This is sick. This is so good. This is the best soup ever. Holy Shit. How could you ever make anything this good again?"

Nuf said.

Coconut Curry Kale, Chick Pea and Sweet Potato Stoup
adapted from a recipe by Mama Pea over at Peas and Thank You

Printable Recipe
2 cups chopped onion
2 large stalks celery, rough chopped
1 medium head bok choy, rough chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp sweet curry powder
1 tsp hot curry powder (optional if you like heat)
4 cups vegetable broth (1 standard box)
1 14 oz. can light coconut milk
1 14 oz. can diced organic fire-roasted tomatoes (i.e. Muir Glen, Trader Joe's, Hunts all now have this)
2 14 oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
1 large sweet potato, diced medium
1 head organic kale, de-stemmed and chopped into pieces
1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste (or to taste)

Place all ingredients, onion through chick peas, into a crock pot set to 6 hours. At the 4 1/2 hour, add the sweet potato. At 5 hours, remove a ladle full of the broth and pour into a small bowl. Dissolve the 1 Tbsp of arrowroot powder into the broth and return broth to crock pot. Then add the kale. After 6 hours, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

P.S. It seems that more and more doctors are catching on to the plant-strong way of eating as a method of disease prevention. Read about two of them here.

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Curried Sweet Potato Soup

I received a great question from a reader yesterday in the comments section, "Where are the recipes for these beautiful dishes? Tried to click on the names but goes nowhere! Help me please....."

I thought that my answer might be something that all of the HGK reader's should know: I am not (usually) an original writer of plant-strong nutritarian recipes. I am an avid home cook that tests and often tweaks other author's recipes. That means that I do not have the rights to publish the recipes on my blog unless I get permission from the author.

However, if I change the recipe enough and rewrite the instructions in my own voice, I can provide a recipe. It's a fine line that we bloggers walk and I try hard to maintain my integrity here and the intellectual property of others.

What does that mean for my readers? Well, we have to break it into the following two categories:

(1) RECIPES FROM COOKBOOKS

If I change the recipe enough or get the permission of the author, I can reprint the recipe. That was the case with yesterday's posting. The recipes were all from Terry Walter's Clean Start cookbook and I didn't change anything, so I cannot reprint the recipes. I did not ask Ms. Walter's for permission to reprint her recipes. In the cases where the recipes are from The Engine 2 Diet and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, both Rip Esselstyn and Anne Esselstyn were incredibly generous to grant me permission to republish their recipes, and you will find many of them here on HGK.

I photograph and write about dishes that are successful for me and that I am enthusiastic about. I don't bash recipes or cookbook authors here. If it's a flop for me, you'll never hear about it! With no recipe what I hope I am providing is honest recipe reviews and hopefully, inspiration. Not just inspiration to make a particular recipe but inspiration to surround yourself with delicious, nutritious, beautiful plant-strong food. And maybe that cookbook that I keep talking about starts to call your name and you purchase a copy!

(2) RECIPES FROM BLOGS

This category is a lot less complicated because I will always provide a link back to the original recipe along with my photos and review. If I tweak a recipe enough, I will also publish the recipe for my tweaked version right here on the blog.

Here's a perfect example of this. Yesterday, I made a Curried Sweet Potato Soup from Melody over at http://melomeals.blogspot.com/. I really like Melody's blog because she is a very creative chef. But, many of her recipes do not fit into my eating choice box, so I can either tweak them to fit the no-added oil vegan style or just move on. I happened to be particularly intrigued by her Curried Sweet Potato Soup (remember I said I was Indian in a past life . . .) and I was not disappointed by this vegan cup of heaven!

Melody's Curried Sweet Potato Soup. Get the recipe here.

I did tweak this recipe a little. I eliminated one of the two tbsp of coconut oil, the cilantro (just because I didn't have any), the 1-3 tbsp of Sriracha and the additional salt and pepper (it was already spicy and so flavorful I didn't think it needed it) and the sour cream or yogurt (for obvious reasons).

Both my husband and I loved it. I would be proud to serve this to guests who like spicy food, but certainly not anyone and everyone. It was thick and rich and the flavors were so very complex. I could see it served as an appetizer at a posh party in shot glasses. I pulled out a Saki cup from my pottery days for the photo above and I totally enjoyed sipping it that way. It's an incredibly satisfying soup. Thanks Melody!

Thoughts? How do you feel about my nutritarian recipe review style of blogging?

If you yourself are a food blogger, what are you personal views on this subject?

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Chinese No Chicken Salad

First I want to thank everyone who commented on my green smoothie post in the last two days. As any blogger will tell ya, it's the comments that make it all worthwhile! That, and getting shout outs on other people's blogs, which is why I was so excited when I woke up today to find out that Roni over at http://www.ronisweigh.com/ and http://www.greenlitebites.com/ had given Healthy Girl's Kitchen a major shout out! CHECK IT OUT HERE. Thanks Roni!

Roni's been blogging about weight loss and Weight Watchers for a long, long time, but she had never tried a green smoothie, not once. It's my major concern about Weight Watchers, that they are not impressing upon their members the importance of nutritional excellence when striving to attain a healthy weight. So I was really jazzed up that Roni, a very popular and public Weight Watcher, decided to try her first green smoothie, and blog about it to a very large audience, as a result of my encouragement. Go Roni!

I leave you with something near and dear to my heart. The Asian No Chicken Salad. As a longtime fan of Chinese Chicken Salads (having lived in Los Angeles for 9 years), I long for the yumminess (for lack of a better word) of them. So I frequently make a no chicken version and I don't miss the chicken at all!

Healthy Girl's Asian No Chicken Salad
serves a crowd

1 package of 3 hearts of romaine, sliced thin and washed and dried
3 cups shredded cabbage
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 5 oz. can water chestnuts, chopped
1 15 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained
1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup raw sliced almonds
1/8 cup raw sesame seeds
2-3 peeled and shredded carrots
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Place all ingredients in large bowl and toss with dressing.
Healthy Girl's Asian Low Oil Dressing
adapted from a recipe from http://www.drfuhrman.com/

1 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil, toasted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard



Lastly, here's a fun article about how veganism is becoming mainstream. How awesome is that?

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