Green Tea Noodles with Bok Choy

First official post!

Today was not a pretty day in Philly, 53 degrees and raining. This is perfect weather for spending the entire day alternating between Pinterest, Hulu, and fake cleaning in my bedroom, but alas, I had to work from 9am-1pm, thereby losing 4 perfectly good hours of procrastination.  Frittered away most of the afternoon, finally got some reading finished, and now it's time to use dinner as a study break. But due to the fact that I wasted so much of the day (and it's on-campus recruiting time as well), it's hard to not rely on pre-packaged food.

But I am A. on that work-study income and B. craving something fresh and green, even if the weather says otherwise. So although ravioli from scratch and 3 hour farmers market visits are not wise this week, I'm trying to remain true to my commitment to not eat crap and to keep trying new foods! Up this evening are soba noodles, a Japanese noodle made of buckwheat and wheat flour. Nutritionally, they seem pretty on point with most wheat pastas. However, I lucked out and was able to find Cha Soba at my grocery store, which have added green tea powder!

Delicious. The taste definitely isn't strong, just very fresh with a great texture! I used my noodles in a really quick stir fry with some bok choy, fake beef, and a light dressing that didn't obscure the lightnessof the dish. I actually love good fake beef, even though I'm not even a vegetarian. It's super healthy, heats up quickly, and more convenient than dealing with raw meat. All in all, super easy- it took less than 25 minutes from prep to the first bite!

Cha Soba Noodles with Vegan Beef & Sesame Sauce
(for 1)

(The secret to these stir-fry type meals [and basically everything else] is to make sure everything is everything is ready to go before you start cooking. That means chopped, washed, opened, etc, because when things are only cooking for a few minutes, fumbling around with the wrapper on your sesame oil is not the way to go)

You will need...
Soba noodles (1/3 of small package)
Baby bok choy- 3 heads chopped into big chunks. Separate the stems from the leaves.
Fake beef strips- 1 handful
spray oil

For the sauce...
Garlic- 1 clove, minced
Fresh or powdered ginger
Rice Vinegar- 1 Tablespoon
Soy Sauce- 2 Tablespoons
Sesame Oil- 1 Tablespoon
Red Pepper Flakes- to taste


Directions
1. Put a small pot of water on the stove to boil.

2. Pour the vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a small cup and whisk with a fork. Add the minced garlic, as well as a shake of dry ginger or a small bit of grated ginger. Ginger is strong, so be wary. If you like, add a shake of red pepper flakes as well. Mix again, and put aside so the flavors can blend.

3. Add your soba noodles to the boiling water, making sure to stir them once or twice so they don't stick. They cook very quickly, in about five minutes, so keep an eye on them. When they're done, strain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

4. Heat up a small skillet over medium heat to medium/low heat. When hot, add your bok choy stems, since they will take longer to cook than the fragile leaves. I just used some spray oil in the pan, since the leaves were damp from when I washed them.

5. After about two minutes (or whenever they start to brighten and look less raw), add the bok choy leaves, beef strips, and sauce and stir.

6. I put the lid on my skillet for a minute or two to keep the steam in and wilt the bok choy. Then I removed it, and tossed the cold noodles back in, stirring constantly to reheat everything.

7. You're done! Pour into a bowl and NOM HARD.


I know it's simple, but it ain't bad for a Sunday night when I'm tired/lazy anyway! Very glad I didn't settle for jarred sauce dumped on a big plate of refined pasta. I'm feeling more nourished than bloated, and maybe even energized enough to finish that paper...