Udon noodle goodness!

In many parts of the world it's still winter. It's cold, rainy, snowy, all those things and more. But, here in lovely Arizona we are experiencing spring like temperatures. Most days we've been in the 70's with some 80's. This week it dropped a bit but we'll be right back in the 70's in no time. I do love AZ weather. The summers get quite hot but luckily I work indoors and swim often when outdoors. That can keep a mom cool. Last summer we started J in swim lessons and she'll be right back at it this year. She loved the pool last year!

With spring and summer just around the corner it's time to start thinking about quick summery type meals. Things that aren't too heavy and don't take much effort. With all the heat of summer who wants to exert a lot of effort, right? I know I don't!

I made an Udon Noodle Salad the other night. Light, refreshing, simple, yummy!



I used a recipe from this cookbook (one of my favorites, you should check it out if you haven't!)
The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook: 125 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Jump-Start Weight Loss and Help You Feel Great

I was able to find udon noodles at my favorite Asian food market, Kimpo but I'm sure you can find them anywhere really. This recipe called for bell peppers, cucumber, green onion, sugar snap peas (it actually called for snow peas but I had sugar snap), and carrots. The dressing was rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, agave nectar, and chili paste. Very simple dressing. It was very crisp, a sort of "clean" meal. It felt as such anyway.

I did make a side of miso soup which can be time consuming. There are a lot of components to making it but you could easily find a starter at places like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. I just happened to have all the ingredients to make my own.

I also cut some tofu into slices and baked them. I marinated in some soy sauce (Bragg's Amino Acids), hoison sauce, chili paste, ginger and garlic. I eyeballed that and let them sit for about 30 minutes before baking. They were very good. Huge hit with my nearly 1 year old, J.

Cheers and happy eating!