Making dinner for myself often goes something like this:
Scout out the produce section of the grocery store, throw at least three impulse buys into my cart, and arrive home with absolutely no clue how to use it all. So I randomly add things together and hope for the best! Even on the rare occasion I actually do have a recipe to follow, I pretty much ignore the recipe anyway. With today’s green noodles, I’d initially planned to follow a recipe from Vegetarian Times. However, by the time I’d finished substituting and adding ingredients, the results were something completely new… and really delicious!
Green Noodles
- 1/4 cup minced garlic
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, loosely packed
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vegetable or coconut oil
- 15oz canned coconut milk, lite or regular (If allergic, you can use cashew cream)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp sweetener of choice, or 20 NuNaturals stevia drops
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 5oz raw baby kale or spinach (or 1 box)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 3 tbsp soy sauce (or gluten-free)
- 2 tbsp water
- 6 cups broccoli, cut small (480g)
- 2 servings soba noodles (80g uncooked)
- avocado, optional for garnish
In a blender, puree the first 10 ingredients until completely smooth, then transfer to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower and simmer 15 minutes. In a sauté pan, sauté the kale and 2 tbsp garlic in a little oil or oil spray until kale begins to wilt. Add the soy sauce, 2 tbsp water, and the broccoli. Cover and cook on medium 3 minutes. Meanwhile, put a pot of salted water on to boil for the noodles. When the three minutes are up, turn off the heat on the kale/broccoli but keep covered until the noodles are ready. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain fully, and pat dry. Now combine everything together. Stir well. Serve with sliced avocado if you want even more green! (Technically you can leave the 1 tsp oil out, but it helps to coat the pasta with sauce so I recommend leaving it in.) I cannot vouch for the recipe with carton coconut milk or any other type of milk, so try that substitution at your own risk. Makes 3 large servings, each the size of the servings in the photos.
 
Question of the Day:
When making dinner for yourself, do you more often follow a recipe or just make something up?
Link of the Day: No Bake Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Awesome! I will be having these leafy nommies tonight!
That looks wonderful, Katie. From the sound of it, I shop and cook like you — making things up as I go. I’m going to try to follow this recipe, though, except I’ll leave out the…
Oh, love all the garlic and ginger!
I always end up making something ‘off the cuff’ for dinner
Please don’t take the following too too personally.
For a healthy dessert blog, I was very surprised at how high in sodium this recipe was. Don’t get me wrong, except for the sodium, this dish seems healthy and delicious, but I find it a bit strange that you allowed that much sodium into a recipe. Is there any way to reduce it, while still preserving the flavor?
Try low sodium soy sauce and omit the added 1/2 tsp of salt?
Thanks. I’m not trying to bash Katie, her blog, or her recipes, I’m just trying to resolve an anomaly.
Oh Katie this looks delicious! Definitely going to try it. Have you come around to the deliciousness of cilantro? I remember that you never really liked the taste of it!
I am not very good at cohesive dinners, I usually make it up as I go along and/or it ends up being a collection of snacks :). However, I just started making stir-fry wok dinners which I really enjoy!!
Always in search of more vegan/vegetarian dinner ideas. Excited to try this one!
I’m a relatively new cook, so I dove in and committed to this recipe blindly. I’m also from a small town with very little variety in selection for groceries. My experience:
1. Carton coconut milk does not work for this at all.
I ended up with a drastically different ratio of broth to everything else. Far too much.
2. A little warning about the garlic would have been nice.
I thought it might mellow out once everything was combined, but it didn’t. My eyes won’t stop burning and watering, and I’m airing out my house now.
Yum! Your green noodles look delicious! I don’t think I could ever live on my own because when I am home alone for tea I more than often end up having a bowl of cereal or some toast! As much as I love cooking, when it’s just me, I really don’t have the motivation! But I love this recipe so will definitely be giving it a go!
Mmmm this looks really delicious!!!