Food Network Magazine Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles

Summer in Scottsdale is not for the faint of heart. From June to October you can expect the high temperature to be over 100 pretty much everyday. That means I eat a lot of salads and things that do not heat up my kitchen. These cold noodles are spicy and come together with very little prep. Tom has actually been requesting noodle dishes and this one got a thumbs up!


This came from the Food Network Magazine and I didn't have to cut it in half, pretty exciting stuff. Get some water boiling and gather up some ingredients.


You need some carrots, noodles, brown sugar, peanuts, green tea, hot chili sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and some oil. You can top it with cilantro if you are super silly and eat that stuff.


Toss the noodles in the boiling water. I used somen noodles and they cook in no time at all.


While the noodles cook assemble the rest of the ingredients in a blender or use a hand blender like I did.


Blend it up until it is a smooth sauce.


Drain the noodles and get them in a bowl.


Add in the carrots and sauce and give it a good stir.


This is the hardest part of the whole recipe, waiting! Put the noodles in the fridge and let them cool for about an hour.


After an hour or whenever your noodles cool plate them up with some peanuts and nasty cilantro if you want it. I used some green onions instead.

This was spicy and filling and Tom added this to his list of foods he would definitely eat again. I am turning that guy around one dish at a time.

Fry's Walnut Taco Salad

My local grocery store sends out little pamphlets with coupons and recipes a few times a month and they usually have some tasty looking food. I saw this recipe for a taco salad that used walnuts instead of meat, I thought it sounded really interesting and I knew I had some walnuts in my freezer. I am so glad I gave this a try because it ended up being delicious and I didn't have to heat up my kitchen cooking anything.




You will need some walnuts that have been soaking in water for 2-8 hours, cumin and cayenne or taco seasoning, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, tomato, sour cream and some lettuce.


I made my own guacamole, which is super simple. Chop up your tomato and onion.


Mash your avocado with some salt, lime juice and a pinch of cumin. Stir in the onion and tomato and you are done. So easy.


Get your walnuts in a mini chopper or hand chop them and mix with the taco seasoning.


Chop until its kind of a meaty chunky texture.


Put it on top of the lettuce and then add your other toppings.


The recipe said to put the sour cream in a plastic bag and snip off the end. I made too big of a snip and it didn't turn out looking as nice as I'd hoped, but I know now for next time.


All put together and ready to eat. This was surprisingly filling and delicious. The walnuts taste great with the taco seasoning and you will not miss the meat at all.

Singapore-Style Rice Noodles

One of the blogs I enjoy reading regularly is written by Joanne who also contributes to Marcus Samuelsson's blog. She posted a recipe for Singapore Style Noodles and I had to give it a try because Tom has actually been asking me to make him some 'spicy noodles with vegetables'. So to find the recipe, please Click Here. Also click on Joanne's name to visit her site, she is hilarious and makes delicious food.


For this you will need some kind of noodle that you like, I prefer Somen. Onion, cooking oil that can cook at a high temperature (I use rice bran oil), curry powder (or whatever spice blend you like), green pepper, red pepper, cabbage, garlic, green onion, broth, mirin, soy sauce and brown sugar. A lot of ingredients, but this is super easy. Get some water on to boil and lets start prepping!


Chop your peppers. I scored pre chopped green peppers on Manager's special at my grocery store, so I didn't have to worry about those.


Slice the onion.


Chop the cabbage. I used bok choy and I didn't use much because Tom was a little scared of it.


Chop the green onion.


Measure your curry powder. Remember that most important part to a successful stir fry is have everything ready before you start to cook.


Prepare the broth mixture and mince your garlic.


Get everything prepped at the stove so you are not running around.


Drop the noodles and let them cook. Somen noodles only need about 3 minutes.


Bail them out and lets get stir frying!


Get the oil nice and hot and drop in the peppers and onions. The key here is to stir or it will burn. Cook these for 3-4 minutes or until they are soft.


Stir in the curry, garlic, and cabbage. Cook this for about a minute.


Stir in the broth and the noodles and let those cook for about 2 minutes, then stir in the green onion and you are ready to eat.


The spice blend I used was HOT as heck for me, Tom said he could taste the spice but it was not hot. But he said he would definitely eat this again, woo! Thanks for the inspiration Joanne!

Soyrizo Stuffed Portabella

I am still loving the Soyrizo and was brainstorming what else I could do with it when I remembered a great Portobello pizza I made on the blog.

For this I just filled the portobello with about 3 tbs of the soyrizo and popped it into a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. After that I put some mozzarella cheese on top and put it back in for about 10 minutes. I like crispy cheese but if you don't just keep an eye on it until the cheese is melted. When it came out I topped it with some green onion and enjoyed.



You could make a million variations of this and it comes together in no time.

I finally googled to find out why these overgrown cremini mushrooms are spelled Portabella and also Portobello and while I didn't find out the 'why', I found out that the mushroom council has officially adopted the 'a' spelling. Learn something new everyday! Have a great weekend!

The Best Thing I Ever Made - Street Food

One of the best street foods we tried in Amsterdam was Falafel. I know a lot of people are trying to maintain or lose weight so having something that is deep fried isn't an option all that often. So if you want to get your filling of falafel, try this awesome Oven Baked Falafel I made a few years back. They turned out delicious and I need to make them again soon since Tom actually eats this now!



Have you ever made your own falafel at home? Did you bake or fry it?

Egg Bake Obsession

I have been recently obsessed with these simple egg bakes that I put together trying to use up some leftover refried beans. This egg bake is a great way to use up random leftovers in your fridge and have a nice warm breakfast or even dinner.


My standard version contains egg, refried beans, garlic powder and Soyrizo. Soyrizo is a meat free substitute for delicious chorizo, which is a spicy sausage. I have also made this with leftover chicken and some spinach. Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees and grab an oven safe dish.


Spray the dish with non-stick cooking spray and add a layer of refried beans to the bottom.


Squeeze the Soyrizo out of its casing and spread it over the beans.


Carefully break the egg over the top and season with salt and garlic powder. Get this in the oven for 15 minutes and you are ready to eat!


I know this doesn't look all that great, but the flavors all go together so well. When you break the egg yolk it creates a rich and tasty sauce that covers the whole dish.


And just a tip, put the burning hot dish inside of another bowl for easier eating!

So have you tried Soyrizo before and if so do you have any other recipes to share with me?

Spinach Frittata with Salad

January is rapidly disappearing and I am sure a lot of people are still trying to maintain their New Years resolutions. I didn't really have any this year, but I am trying to stick to my low carb better eating deal that I started last fall. I started to get pretty bored with eggs until I realized I could make a fritatta and that it was actually really easy.

I found this recipe in my Everyday Food Light cookbook that my awesome sister got me.



Preheat your oven and get your casserole dishes in to heat up with the oven. Now we gather ingredients.


You need eggs, spinach, cheese, milk, egg whites, and shallot. For my salad I just used some romaine I already had with some home made balsamic vinaigrette. I cut this recipe in half because Tom despises eggs, even the thought of them makes him want to gag. Eggs are one thing that I don't think I will ever be able to persuade him to eat.


Combine your eggs, cheese, egg whites and milk. This is when I realized my mozzarella had mold in it, so I just used cheddar instead.


Looks even better in Pyrex. I had already chopped my shallots, so I am ready to cook.


Cook your shallots for a few minutes until softened.


Stir in your spinach. This looks like a lot but it will reduce down. Please note my dirty stove, this is real life over here in the Dining Alone kitchen.


Stir in the wilted spinach and shallots with the egg mixture.


Pull your casseroles out and spray them with the non stick spray and then pour in the eggs. The eggs immediately start to cook because of the pre-heated casserole dish. Get it back in the oven for about 15 minutes. Mine took a bit longer because I put it all in one dish.


Doesn't this look delicious, and it was so easy! Dress your greens and you are ready to eat.


I only served up half but it was super filling. I love having eggs for dinner but this would be great for breakfast or brunch as well.

Give me some other ideas for frittatas, this is a new favorite for me!