Fast Udon Soup

You get home from work, take care of bills, play with the kids (if you have them), say hi to the dog or cat and before you know it, it's 7pm. Oh no! What to do for dinner?

Udon noodle soup is very tasty and, yes, it's healthy. This recipe adds diced tofu. You don't have to put tofu in it. Chicken or beef works, too. This recipe literally only takes about 10 minutes from start to eat. This soup provides a hearty meal and warms you up on a cold day.

Tofu Udon Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces udon noodles
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth 14 ounces firm tofu, diced
• Salt 
• 4 handfuls baby spinach leaves 
• 5 scallions, thinly sliced 
• 1 teaspoon hot sesame oil, plus more for serving

Cook udon noodles in salted boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. (You can find udon in the Asian section of most grocery stores.)
Bring vegetable or chicken broth to a boil. Add tofu and udon. Bring broth back to a boil. Stir in spinach and cook just until heated through. Add scallions and sesame oil.
Add a few pinches of salt and/or drops of sesame oil to taste.

This recipe is courtesy of Whole Foods. Serves 4.

Awesome Asian Slaw

When you think of cole slaw, what comes to mind? Mayonnaise? Oil? Fast food chicken restaurants?
All of those may be the case...BUT...there are lots of other ways to make slaw. Slaw that won't give you your entire daily calorie intake in one sitting.

I got the latest issue of Vegetarian Times magazine in the mail, found this recipe for Asian slaw and decided to try it. It is delicious...AND...healthy. Yay!

Asian Slaw

Here's what your finished product will look like.

Prep only takes a few minutes and this recipe uses ingredients you probably have in your pantry. If you don't have some of these items, buy them and you'll find yourself using them again and again.





Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbs. no-salt-added creamy natural peanut butter (I only had chunky PB and it was fine)
• 5 tsp. natural cane sugar (most dark brown sugar is this)
• 2 Tbs. rice vinegar (you'll use this a lot if you make sushi rice)
• 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil 
• 1 clove garlic minced
• pinch of black pepper
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 4 medium carrots, julienned (mandolin slicer with julienne attachment works amazing for this)
• 2 medium zucchini, julienned (use mandolin slicer if you have one)
• 1/4 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts (these are totally optional)

Natural Peanut Butter going into soy sauce mixture

Whisk together soy sauce, peanut butter (warm it for a few secs in the microwave if it's too tough to mix), sugar, vinegar, oil, garlic, pepper and cayenne in a bowl. Stir in carrots, zucchini and peanuts. Chill in fridge for about 1 hr.

This tasty slaw makes a wonderful and delectable side dish, or an alternative to your traditional salad.