keeping things casual

noodles, new cookbooks & meal planning

Mar 26, 2022

You know when’s a great time to write ya northern sub’scrap?

When you’re waiting patiently for that afternoon’s temperature to rise a whopping ten degrees for an exciting high of twenty-something (F) before a sunny afternoon stroll.

What a keen time to share my notes from this week in meal planning!

We did our grocery run to Fairbanks just last week, with a bonus return to town for an appointment & chiles & Thai basil & our first visit to the chilly but flooring World Ice Art Championship showcase between then & now. Our first date out in…years?!?

Here’s to longer days and no longer eating dinner in the dark. Wow.

As usual, my meal planning + brainstorming includes Thai, Chinese, Mexican (esque), lentil soup and…BREAD, although there was one mortifying absence I’ll have to remedy: Italian! What the FUDGE!?!, I mean, CANNOLI!?!

Crisis immediately over – find me a pen to update that list above – and a requisite caramelized radicchio pasta can remedy that whole mess. It always makes things better.

I feel as though I barely knew what I really, really liked to eat until truly bitter chicories entered my life (and garden, seriously).

This week-ish in meal planning:

thai red + yellow curry noodles
montreal bagels
grits, sautéed collards, molasses baked beans (instantpot), v. sausage
red chile-marinated tofu-potato-corn hash, quesadillas, miso agave cabbage-carrot slaw [this one is clearly nachos adjacent, right!?!]
orange chickin’, jasmine rice, garlicky broccoli
pad kee mao w/ thai basil
red lentil harissa stew w/ roasted acorn squash

And as these things go (aka life), I asked my spouse for any dinner-time suggestions and the refrain remains the same:

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“NACHOS! PIZZA BREAD! NO. NACHOS!”
– jules

Look, we have nachos every now and then.

I fell off Team Nacho, it’s true.

The (pretty good) bar food days are on a long hiatus.

We did pick up a massive bag of organic tortilla chips from Costco last week, and I do have chipotles for queso and an extra jalapeño or two to pickle. Lots of beans. TVP.

It’s getting closer.

(It’s just…not something I’ve craved in the past decade…plus) <3

coincidentally, I watched contestants on the GCBS make montreal-style bagels hours after making these

Cooking goals:

Cook + eat satisfying, well-rounded food. Hello, protein + real vegetables + grains, etc.
Assess what produce is up first, what can make it another week – or two, and what will just make our meals…better. This has me eyeballing the Thai basil, baby bok choy, fresh chiles and broccoli.
Keep things interesting!!!
And…have a back-up plan in case of A) power outage B) frozen pipes C) lack of propane D) general global/personal life exhaustion + heavy days E) a mix of any of the above. That means being able to throw together a hearty instantpot soup, reaching for a jar from the home canning + pickling archives, my ever-more-precious Korean ramen, and the boxes of “emergency” chickin’ nugz crammed into the freezer (which lately, are the Simulate brand - warning the website has a disturbing human image – more on this another time, perhaps).
Okay, okay, okay. Yes to something resembling nachos ; )

in related news, we restocked on grits *and* a friend sent me homemade wood-smoked hot sauce - it’s swell

red + yellow curry noodle bowl w/ thai basil

Stray thoughts:

Did I prep everything for pad kee mao last night (albeit we had thin rice noodles vs. wide)? Yes! Did I forget my original intentions for making it - the Thai basil that actually looked GOOD at the store? Totally!! (Was it tasty regardless and more of a pad see ew, YES, but will I make that or another Thai basil stir fry tonight? Yup!)
Roasted yellow peppers - surprise purchase, courtesy of a $1 produce bag at the store. Sauce? Bisque? Tbd or freezer with the remains of the last round!
Two jars of homemade stock for one or both of these soups that come to mind…
Melty cheddar from Artisan Vegan Cheese, check

& there’s room for inspiration + more, thanks to two stops at the Fairbanks library within mere days:

Sheesh, two pasta-specific reads in there!

This is the second time I’m flipping through Vegetable Kingdom, and I know it’ll be painful (in light of my less glamorous access to the glory of seasonal produce these days), but I can’t resist. Contemplation, indeed.

The cookbooks are a plus, and the noticeable price increases of flour, tofu, dried pasta, olive oil, imported Asian products, and sugar to name the quick few that caught my eye – ahem, “price gouging” is INCREASINGLY more like it – are a downer.

Never enough noodles, a returning mantra from my childood, twenties & once again.

Quick Thai Noodle + Sauce Scenario:

1) Prepare rice noodles for two servings, rinse in cool water and toss with a teeny bit of oil. Prepare noodles = soak slowly in room temp water OR quickly in hot water.

2) Stir together the sauce: 1-3 tablespoons vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce ➕ 1-2 tablespoons light Thai soy sauce ➕ 1 tablespoon mushroom soy sauce OR dark soy sauce ➕ 2 teaspoons brown sugar ➕ 1 tablespoon water ➕ 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar ➕ pinch of crushed chili flakes

- Adjust to taste - this should be umami-rich & sweet.

- Thai fermented yellow bean sauce is also great here as a stir-fry base, swapped for the oyster sauce and/or some soy sauce.

3) Break out your wok or a large cast iron pan. Sauté 2-3 cloves of minced garlic & minced or sliced fresh chiles until just golden over high heat. Quickly add in 1-2 cups of prepped vegetables, cook for less than a minute, toss in the noodles & sauce, and continuously toss until the noodles/sauce begin to char a bit and everything is well dispersed. Turn down the heat.

4) Mix in any cooked tofu/whatever and fresh Thai basil (if using) - whatever type you can get!

5) Garnish with fresh lime, more basil/cilantro, fresh or pickled chiles, scallions, chili oil, etc.

Relevant Links + Recent Reads:

Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner
Broken bread – avert global wheat crisis caused by invasion of Ukraine, Nature March 22, 2022
Healthy Boy Brand, Thai Groove
Montreal Bagels, King Arthur Baking
On Nugz, scone archives
Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska

scone archives