Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles

I cannot believe how fast this summer is flying by! I've tried two new recipes recently that I loved and I'm excited to share them with you. :) You'll get the first recipe today and the next one will be coming soon!

This first recipe is a yummy Asian noodle recipe-- Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles. I modified the original recipe in a couple ways.  First, I added bean sprouts! From making Pad Thai I learned that you can add a ton of bean sprouts and when they cook in with everything else it is essentially impossible to distinguish them from the noodles. What this means is that you can get a large serving of what looks like just noodles, but it's actually half bean sprouts! More nutritious without you even noticing. Also, the original recipe called for udon noodles which I couldn't find so I used lo mein noodles and they worked great. So the lesson is that the exact noodle you use is flexible.

The black pepper sauce has lots of flavor but isn't overly spicy. If you are craving a big bowl of Asian noodle comfort, go for this. It comes together relatively quickly and it's quite tasty! 

Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles

serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:
Black Pepper Sauce:

• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper (or freshly ground black peppercorns)-- [tablespoon is not a typo!]
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 tablespoons water

Stir Fried Noodles

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 8 ounces udon noodles (or lo mein noodles or rice noodles... even linguine if necessary)
• 1 bag of mung bean sprouts (mine was 12 ounces but  you could use a bit more or less depending on what you find)
• about 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1 pound extra firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut into cubes (make sure to get out as much water as possible) [Note: You can substitute chicken if you prefer]
• sesame seeds for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for just a few minutes. They should be soft but not at all done. They will continue cooking later with the rest of the ingredients and you don't want them to end up over-cooked. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Place all sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large cast iron skillet (or nonstick skillet) over medium heat. Once hot and shining, add tofu. Cook tofu, turning occasionally, until all sides are lightly brown. This will probably take about 10 minutes. At this point add about 1 tablespoon of the sauce, 1 tablespoon of water, and 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil to the pan. Stir or shake the pan around to coat the tofu in the sauce. Because the pan is hot, the added sauce/water/oil should pretty much immediately sizzle and coat the tofu as you stir it around. Transfer the tofu to a bowl and set aside.
4. Heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil in the skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add noodles, bean sprouts, and remaining black pepper sauce. Use tongs to help move the noodles and bean sprouts around so they are all getting coated in sauce. Cook, stirring frequently (you want to avoid the noodles/sprouts sticking to the bottom of the pan), for about 5-10 minutes until noodles and sprouts are cooked through and soft. Add small amounts of water as necessary to help everything cook and to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat.
5. Add the spinach leaves and cooked tofu and stir to combine. The spinach leaves should wilt pretty quickly from the heat of the noodles.
6. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse [Fast and Healthy!]

Since seeing this recipe a little over a month ago, I've already made it three times! This chocolate peanut butter mousse is rich and delicious with a wonderful smooth texture. It also takes literally 1 minute to put together, which makes it perfect for Friday night when you want dessert but are too tired for anything complicated.

So what makes this healthy? It's full of protein, healthy fats, and natural sweeteners. The fats and protein help to make it taste rich and satisfying. The natural sweetener gives it enough sweetness to make it dessert, but doesn't make it taste overly sweet. There are only 4 ingredients in this little gem of a dessert-- cocoa powder, peanut butter, maple syrup, and silken tofu. Yes, tofu! If you are not a tofu fan don't worry, you can't taste it in the end result. 

If you are looking for a new healthier dessert to try, and you are a chocolate peanut butter fan, please try this! Let me know what you think. Also, if you want to try more tofu pudding, try my recipe from last summer for banana pudding!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse [Fast and Healthy!]

serves: 4-6

Head to A Couple Cooks for the recipe and beautiful photos: Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Recipe 

Kaitlyn's Notes:

• You can definitely taste this straight out of the blender, but I do think it's better if you let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  
• I've kept this in the refrigerator for three days and it still tastes just as good to me on the third day. With the tofu, not sure I'd keep it longer than three days.
• Mark liked this too! (though he won't choose this over ice cream ;) )

Indian Style Tofu and Bean Sprouts

I enjoy tofu as a protein source for dinner every couple of weeks.  I already have two favorite tofu recipes, but I always keep my eye out for others.  One of the great things about tofu is that you can cook it FAST and you don't have to worry about dealing with raw meat.

This particular recipe stood out for a couple of reasons:

• not many ingredients and not much ingredient preparation 
• uses bean sprouts which Mark particularly likes (I like them too!)
• different from my typical tofu recipes because it's not spicy

Mark and I love spicy food, but not everyone does, so it's nice to have a good tofu suggestion for those of you out there who are not spicy fans!  This tofu dish has a pleasant mild coconut flavor.  When cooked, the bean sprouts to me taste like noodles.  I served this over brown rice but that really isn't necessary.  This would be great plain with more vegetables on the side.  The original recipe had a few ingredients that I did not have and did not feel like venturing out to find, so I had to modify the recipe to include more standard spices.   If you serve this without rice, you can get this meal together in under 30 minutes- perfect for a busy weeknight!

Indian Style Tofu and Bean Sprouts

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 15-oz package extra firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced (Note: the heat of a jalapeno comes from its seeds, so by taking out the seeds you are not adding very much heat at all to the dish.)
• 12-16 ounces bean sprouts (my bag was 12 ounces)
• 1 cup light coconut milk (from a can--- if you serve this with rice, I recommend using the rest of the coconut milk from the can as some of the cooking liquid for the rice)

DIRECTIONS:

1) Drain the tofu and press with towels to remove as much liquid as possible.  Cut into small cubes and set aside.

2) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Once hot, add all spices and jalapeno.  Mix for about 30 seconds. 

3)  Add cubed tofu and mix so that the spices coat the tofu.  Cook the tofu, flipping occasionally, until it is lightly browned on most sides.  This should take about 10 minutes.

4)  Add the bean sprouts and coconut milk and stir to combine.  Cook for about 2 minutes until the bean sprouts are wilted and the coconut milk is mostly absorbed (you can cover your skillet for this if you have a cover).

5) Serve hot with cooked brown rice if desired.

(recipe adapted from Veggie Belly)