Udon and Veggie Ginger Thai

We have been loving sesame oil dishes lately!  It's a great way to get healthy fat in your diet and give your food fantastic flavour.
I found this recipe on foodgawker.com, one of my favourite websites to just browse through.  It's like pinterest, but just with food.  There are some really cool recipes on there!
The original recipe called for soba noodles, which in my humble opinion are gross and overpriced, so I used brown rice udon noodles instead.  I also added a ton of veggies and some cashews and tweeked the sauce a bit. It was a hit! We will definitely be having this again! I think that the sauce would be super good to add to any stirfry or put on rice, too!

Udon and Veggie Ginger Thai

• Udon noodles (2 servings-- about 200g)
• Sesame oil-- 1 tsp
• Green onion- 2 stalks
• Ginger, minced-- 1 Tbsp
• Garlic, minced-- 1 clove
• Cilantro, rubbed-- 1 tsp
• Red pepper flakes-- 1/4 tsp
• Soy sauce or aminos-- 1 Tbsp
• Rice vinegar-- 1 Tbsp
• Honey-- 1 Tbsp
• Salt and pepper-- to taste
• Cashews, chopped-- 1/4 cup
• Chopped veggies-- 3-4 cups (I used 1 small zucchini, 1/2 yellow squash, 2 julienned carrots, and snow peas. Water chestnuts, mushrooms, peppers, or bamboo shoots would be awesome too!)

Bring water in a medium saucepan to a boil, then add noodles and cook according to directions.  In the meantime, heat oil in a skillet.  Cook the ginger and garlic until tender/browned. Add vegetables and cashews.  In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and then pour over veggies once tender and noodles are done.  Drain noodles and add to skillet, stirring to combine.  Serve hot, with additional cilantro and cashews for garnish if desired.

Pita Pockets

I had no idea that making pitas was so easy.  I thought you would have to do all of this fancy rolling and pinching or something to make them hollow.  They really take hardly any work, and very little time!  They tasted fantastic (warm, fresh bread? Always great) and I like to know what exactly is in my food.  This recipe made 12 pitas, which was too many for just the two of us, so I would probably half or third this next time (and there will definitely be a next time!)

I used the great silicone baking mat Jennifer and co. gave me for Christmas to make them perfectly even!

They just puff right up!

Perfection.

Pita Pockets

• 1 package yeast
• 1 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 cups flour (I used half white, half wheat)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp oil

Combine water and yeast in a large bowl.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.  Add flour(s), sugar, salt, and oil.  Mix well.  Knead dough until soft.  Divide dough into 12 equal parts.  Roll each part into a ball and then flatten into a 6 inch circle.  Place dough circles on floured surface and let rest for 40 minutes or until slightly puffy.  Place on ungreased jelly roll pans (I needed two large ones).  Bake at 500F for 4-8 minutes, flipping halfway through baking.  Stack pitas in 2-3 piles and cover loosely with a dish towel to let steam escape.  Slice in half with a serrated knife.

I loved these with Justin's Maple Almond Butter, egg white/spinach/cheese scramble, and Greek salad.  So good!

One of the best things I've made.

Not going to lie, I felt very proud of myself as I took the first bite of this sammich.  It rocked. It's also healthy. And fresh. And you can do some of the work ahead of time so that it doesn't take so long.  And leftovers taste great with chips. Or tortillas.
There are really four recipes involved to make this big thang, but you can definitely add/take things away.  I think that grilled veggies or a slice of pepperjack would also be great to add (but there is already a lot of goodness involved, so good luck keeping it all together on the bread).

Mango Salsa

• 2 roma tomatoes
• 1 mango
• 1/2 cup total of chopped bell peppers (I used a combination of red, orange, and yellow)
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• juice from 1 lime
• dash of ground chili powder (to desired spiciness)

Chop up your vegetables, then combine everything! Easy! You could also add chopped onion, but we don't like onions and it tasted great without them.  This stores well in an airtight container in the fridge.

Black Bean Spread

• 1/2 can black beans
• dash of hot sauce
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt, pepper, and chili powder (to taste)

Run all ingredients in a food processor until it reaches a hummus-like consistency

Basil Lime Spread

• 1/4 cup light miracle whip (or mayo)
• juice from 2 limes (or 2-3 Tbsp lime juice)
• 1 tsp basil

Stir all ingredients together. Taste, and add more basil or lime juice as desired.

Lime Grilled Chicken

• 2 Tbsp cilantro
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbsp lime zest (use additional lime juice if you don't have enough zest from your limes you used with the other recipes!)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

Whisk together all ingredients except for chicken.  Place in a large ziploc bag.  Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.  Place in bag with marinade and evenly coat.  Let sit at least an hour (or overnight).

Cook in a non-stick skillet until done.

To make the sammich (I prefer mine open faced)

• Toast, bean spread, lime basil spread, cooked chicken, salsa, spinach. You can also serve with chips and extra salsa and bean spread.

Perfection.

Spicy Thai Spaghetti Squash

This recipe is super easy, fast, healthy, and tasty!  It's probably my favourite way to eat spaghetti squash. Enjoy!

Spicy Thai Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash, cooked (about 2 or 3 cups)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or aminos
• salt and pepper to taste
• green onions, chopped roasted peanuts, and toasted sesame seeds

Heat oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet.  Stir in honey and soy sauce. Add spaghetti squash and mix together.  Season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with green onions, peanuts, and sesame seeds.  

Makes about two servings (depending on if its a side or meal :)

I had to double check how old I am now.

I've been 22 for almost a week, but I still haven't posted about that joyous transition!

The week before my birthday the White fam took us to Bombay House at my request :)  None of us had ever been there, but Sam and I had been wanting to try it for a long time.  Let me just say that it is FAN-freaking-TASTIC!  We all ordered a dish and kind of shared family style.  My favourites were Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Coconut Kurma, along with the garlic Naan bread.  The rice is also fantastic, and you get an endless supply!  So if you went with just you and a friend you could definitely order a dish (plus bread!) and share it. I seriously recommend trying this place.  I'm a pretty light eater most of the time, but I was very disappointed when I started getting full and had to stop eating ;) Afterwards Sam and I ran home to tidy up the apartment and Whites brought over an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Thanks family, for coming to celebrate with us!

The week of my birthday I was doing a presentation for a  class, and there happened to be a portion of the lesson that could better be illustrated by having cupcakes.  So naturally I made some fancy Valentines cupcakes.  I'm very sad at my horrible picture taking skills that really don't do them justice, but they were super cute!

For my birthday, I had class until 6pm.  Fun stuff, right?  It's better than last year when I had to write an American Heritage test, though!  Sam came to pick me up after class with some pretty flowers and a choice of two different dates- "In" or "Out".  Given the fact that good ol' Provo was understandably a gong show, we decided to save going out for another night.  We ordered food from a local family deli, picked up some Sour Patch Kids, and watched a movie.  Totally perfect!

This weekend we did the "Out" date.  We went to Carrabba's for dinner, where Sam had some kind of tasty chicken and I got lobster ravioli.  It was dang good. Afterwards we went to the Tin Tin movie, which was surprisingly hilarious!  I definitely recommend it.  I am notorious for falling asleep in movies, but I stayed awake the whole time ;)

Well, that pretty much catches things up with what we've been doing (other than my running and both of us doing homework).  We've mostly just been plugging along, looking forward to graduating!  Soooooon. Soon.

Adorable things.

It's almost birthentines day!  Sam asked me what I want, and I said to be woken up like this, but with puppies:

He started laughing and I don't understand why.

Also, this would 100% be me:

For reals. 

Also I have googled the phrase "where can I hold a koala?".  

Also, oh my gosh:

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Oh man, is this sweet loaf good!  My sister Jennifer just posted the recipe, and I highly recommend that you head on over to her blog and try it out!  I would post it here, but her page includes pictures of her cute kids, and I can't compete with that!

I just so happened to have a crate of blueberries and half a zucchini hanging out in the fridge, so I jumped on making this.  The only difference between ours is that I used lime juice instead of lemons.  She also gives a great tip on keeping the colour from the blueberries from bleeding that I had no idea about!  Check it out!

PS: I really want to try this with slivered almonds!