Happy New Year take two! I thought that after a month of eating so many sweets and feasts, that this fresh, yummy, and inexpensive dish is a great one to feature. This recipe is fully customizable and centers around the wonderful zoodle. In case you haven’t heard of a zoodle (also known as “zucchini noodles”), it is cooking strips of zucchini to produce a dish that resembles pasta noodles. Zoodles with parmesan is one of the easiest ways to prepare them.
This last year I have been on a bit of a Thai food kick. It’s one of my go-to takeout foods, but I realized that beyond a simple curry, I hadn’t experimented with many Thai-ish dishes. And now, many noodles, stir-fries, salads and peanut sauces later, I have started creating my list of favorites. This Thai Inspired Turkey Basil Stir-Fry, has made the cut.
Pork is usually my go to lean protein. It is affordable, tasty, an enjoyable break from chicken, and it is a great base for a myriad of flavors. I am always on the lookout for new pork dishes, and when I saw this recipe for a Pork Tenderloin with Cilantro and Date Relish on Bon Appétit, I knew it would be amazing. Simplicity that yields rewarding flavors is something I look for.
After a few attempts to recreate the succulent deliciousness of a salad served at a restaurant bar back in Eugene, this is the closest we have gotten. Finally! Sometimes the perfect pick me up in the middle of the week is a sweet, savory, and crunchy salad.
The ingredients are nothing fancy, standard if anything, but that makes this all the better. The addition of spinach to the crunchy cabbage was a trick I learned from my mom, the master of salad making. Cabbage can be a bit bland on its own, but by adding in some greener greens, you get a little extra flavor and extra color. You can also add some shredded carrots which I would have done if I had them on hand…
One thing I like to do when making big salads is adding the crispy sprinkles (uncooked noodles/nuts) once the salad is served on a plate. That means that when you save the leftovers for lunch the next day, you don’t have a salad filled with limp, sad fixings.
