Udon Noodle Soup

It's been ridiculously hot out, so why am I making soup? Because I needed it. For days, I was aching for some Udon soup and no place nearby is kind enough to make some that isn't terrible. The obvious solution was to make it myself. Never having done so, however, it was a bit of a challenge.

If you don't make Japanese or Chinese food often, you'll probably have to pick up a few more ingredients than I did. You can find dashi in the ethic section of your grocery store or an Asian market. If you can't find any easily, you can use a seafood soup base with similar results.

Udon Noodle Soup
Adapted from Bon Appetit
makes 2 servings

What You'll Need:
1 Tbs dashi (powdered soup base)
1 Tbs reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp lime juice
2 tsp rice wine
2 tsp sesame oil
1 shiitake mushroom, sliced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 cups spinach, cut up
2 carrots, sliced
8 ounces udon noodles, fresh if available (I could only find dried)

The Process:
Boil the noodles according to the directions on the package. If you have dry noodles, the instructions are in Japanese, and you can't read Japanese (which is what happened to me), then boil 4 cups of water and cook the noodles for 12-13 minutes, until the center is tender.
While the noodles cook, put 3 cups of water into a pot and heat to a boil, adding the dashi, soy sauce, lime juice, rice wine, sesame oil, carrots, green onions, and mushrooms. Turn heat down to medium and simmer until the noodles finish cooking. Divide your chopped spinach between the two bowls. Once the noodles are done, using tongs, divide them in half and put into serving bowls. Ladle the soup over top and serve immediately.

I used spinach and carrots as my vegetables but you could swap them out for any number of things: snow peas, green beans, asparagus, mini corn, etc. Unless you don't like mushrooms you should keep them in because they add a nice depth to the flavor. The texture of mushrooms skeeves me out, so my solution is to make it with the mushrooms and then put all of them into Hubby's bowl.

It can get a little spendy on the dashi, sesame oil, and rice wine if you don't have them already, but they keep for a while and they're also used in tons of different Asian recipes, so you can get a lot of mileage out of them. Or, if you're not as adventurous, you could just make this recipe over and over.

Restaurant Magic Revived At Home

No matter how good you are at cooking or how much you enjoy it, sometimes it's nice to just go out to a restaurant and leave all the cooking (and cleanup) to someone else. Casey and I went out to PF Chang's last night, and like most restaurants, their portions are huge. As you can imagine, we took quite a bit of food home with us.

Leftovers are great, since you get a little more for your money. Sadly, they are often disappointing when you reheat them the next day. I have a couple of tricks to help you get the most out of your leftovers, and therefore the most bang for your buck.

Almost as good as it was last night!

First, you must resist the urge to microwave your leftovers. This is a recipe for disastrously lame food. Even for homemade leftovers, I rarely microwave them because you're often left with dried out, unevenly heated food. Instead, break out a small frying pan and turn it to medium-low.

Here's where the fun begins. You're going to want to add a little liquid to the pan. For the Mongolian beef (pictured above), I added about 1/4 cup of water and a bit of soy sauce. For the Honey Chicken, I added that same 1/4 cup of water, but also a little honey. Water is a good choice for meats, just make sure to only add a little water, you don't want to make it soggy.

If you have some pasta leftovers instead, say with a nice creamy Alfredo sauce, adding a little milk is the ideal choice. Alfredo sauce is always the worst to microwave, because the oil separates from the sauce. To avoid this problem in the pan, make sure you just keep a nice low heat. Stir your leftovers for 8-10 minutes, until thoroughly heated and the liquid is absorbed.

When adding some extras, like the soy sauce I added to the beef, follow your instincts. Anything used in the original recipe is always a good choice to help freshen up the dish. A little Parmesan cheese will go a long way in that Alfredo sauce and do wonders. But don't be afraid to get a little creative and add something else, like the carrots I sliced up.

Your dish will never be quite as good as it was when fresh, but this will help you get the best results you can.

Meatless Monday: Fall Pasta Primavera

It's been a while since I did anything special for Meatless Monday, so tonight I thought I'd step it up a notch and make this one a follow-along tutorial. Tonight, I made tri-colored pasta primavera with fall vegetables. Generally speaking, primavera is all about spring veggies, but it's Autumn so I thought I would give it a little fall twist. I found an acorn squash at the market today, and I knew it would be perfect.

Most  primavera recipes call for chicken broth to form the body of the sauce, but since this is a Meatless Monday selection, I opted to use vegetable broth instead, and it worked out just as nicely.

Fall Pasta Primavera
Makes 4 servings

What You'll Need:
    2 cups dried pasta of your choice
    1 acorn squash
    1 zucchini
    1/2 butternut squash (I cheated and used pre-cut)
    1/2 can vegetable broth
    3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
    2 garlic cloves, minced
    2 Tbs minced dried shallots
    1 Tbs crushed sage
    1 Tbs crushed rosemary
    1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
    Cracked pepper and sea salt to taste

That basil? Pretend it's sage. I grabbed the wrong one for the photo.

Creamy Mac & Cheese

I love fall because it gives me an excuse to make this mac & cheese every week. I love it. It is also an awesome Meatless Monday recipe. I shamelessly stole the original recipe from Paula Deen, but I have made this one many times and after lots of tweaks it has become a completely different thing.

Look. At. That.

The big difference between my recipe and Paula's is that mine is baked. I tried it a number of times in the slow cooker, but it's just not the same. I really prefer the baked top with the breadcrumbs.

Creamy Mac and Cheese

What You'll Need:

1 box pasta, preferably rotini
1 10oz block of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 of a 10oz block medium cheddar cheese, or colby jack, grated
1 can cheddar cheese soup
2 cups milk
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp dry mustard (or two tsp liquid mustard)
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper to taste
breadcrumbs of your choice (plain, Italian, panko)

Butternut Squash Ravioli and Maple Cream Sauce

While the weather may not agree, I've decided it's now time for all things fall. Amid my mission for my usual Costco staples yesterday, I came across the most wonderful looking raviolis. Now, I will probably have to make these from scratch at some point, but I haven't made my own pasta before so I wasn't about to start with one that has a filling. I snapped these babies off the shelf as if they were the last ones in the world.

I was wondering what I would serve them with when I remembered that Hubby-to-be and I have decided to start a Meatless Monday campaign. There are myriad reasons people do meatless Mondays, but chief among them for us was meat is expensive and being healthier is something we both can use. And so, the raviolis became a meal unto themselves instead of a side dish.

Be kind, this is my first food photo.