Guac Noodles with Miso Pesto

This recipe comes largely courtesy of Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbook’s Instagram feed. She mentioned restocking her freezer after a move and the outline of what she calls Winter Green Miso Paste and it sounded fabulous, so I decided to make my own version.

And boy am I glad I did. This stuff is versatile! I served it with shiritaki noodles, a neutral guacamole, roasted broccoli & batch cooked ground chicken, but it would also be fantastic baked with salmon, swirled into soup, piled into or onto root vegetables, or thinned a bit and used in place of chimichurri to dress up red meat.

Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, low carb

Guac Noodles with Miso Pesto

First, make the pesto by whizzing:

1/2 c. yellow miso
3/4 c. your favorite oil
6 large cloves garlic
3 Tbsp. fresh rosemary
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch parsley
16 garlic chives
2 inches fresh ginger
2 tsp. vinegar
Salt & pepper

Then, the noodles:

1 pack shiritaki or kontjac noodles
2 tsp. stock powder (I used Ina Parman’s chicken, which is strangely vegan)
2 tsp. your favorite oil

Drain and rinse noodles. In a medium pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the noodles and stock powder and cook until noodles are dried.

While the noodles are working, make a neutral guacamole by smashing:

1 avocado
Juice 1/2 lemon
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
Salt & white pepper

To serve, combine and eat as-is or round out with roasted broccoli and/or ground chicken.

Makes a bunch of sauce – enough to freeze, enough guac for days, and 1-2 servings noodles

January 18, 2019

Aaaand today I *only* took good snaps. Doing good, January, doing good.

January 17, 2019

The only pic that wasn’t of food I managed to snap today:

January 16, 2019

No hover boards!

And I’m happy to say, I now have a license to drive 😄

January 15, 2019

Lebanese for breakfast

January 14, 2019

Sleepy snuggles

January 13, 2019

Yep, still live in a desert. We have these, too.

January 12, 2019

Checked out the Marmi Festival today – caught a couple junior Peregrine Falcon v Pigeon races. Wasn’t quite sure what was going on all the time, but it was interesting and the announcer sounded crazy excited.

Dairy-Free Potatoes Au Gratin

So. Freakin. Good. Such a 💩 picture.

I haven’t had potatoes au gratin for years, and I’m happy DH requested it for Christmas dinner, and that I found a dairy-free version online to riff on. This was fantastic, and my guests had no idea it was dairy-free until I told them.

You can’t taste the coconut at all.

Note: I used lactose-free sharp cheddar cow cheese. This doesn’t bother my stomach, but if you’re vegan, I’ve really liked the Daiya shredded cheeses.

gluten-free, vegetarian

Dairy-Free Potatoes Au Gratin

3.5 lbs. potatoes, sliced 1/8 in. thick
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 – 3 shallots (about 3-4 c minced)
2 tsp. olive oil
14 oz. coconut cream
1 c. unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
Salt & pepper
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
Shredded lactose free cheddar

Preheat your oven to 200C.

Grease your pan if you’re not using a disposable – you want something rectangular.

In a large pan, sautée the shallot and garlic in the oil until softened and starting to brown.

Add the coconut cream, almond milk, spices, salt & pepper and bring to a gentle boil.

Boil 10 mins. While that’s working, slice the potatoes and add to another large bowl – covering with cold water so the potatoes don’t brown.

To the coconut mixture, add a slurry of the chicken broth & cornstarch. Stir vigorously to thicken the sauce.

To assemble, make a slightly overlapping layer of the potatoes, top with sauce and cheese and repeat until you run out of potatoes. You want the top layer to be potatoes followed by a generous layer of cheese.

Cover with foil and bake 60-75 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle meets no resistance.

Remove the foil and bake 5-10 minutes or until the cheese browns. If your oven has a broil function, more the better.

Serves a bunch

January 11, 2019

A little (very sore) cardio to start the day – too windy for doggie obedience class.