Homemade Soba Noodle Recipe !

It was fun to make these homemade soba (buckwheat) noodles. I was hungry when I started making them, and really hungry when I finished. They are very healthy and very filling, though. I had made some before, but they turned out much better this time. Tess's Japanese Kitchen gave me the idea to add vital wheat gluten to the recipe. I really think that helped to hold it together better. For this recipe you will need:

• 2 cups of buckwheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached wheat flour
• @ 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup water

First, mix the flours and wheat gluten together.
Then slowly pour in the water a bit at a time.
Then knead, knead, knead. Very important. This helps the dough to blossom.
Once it is mixed together very well, form into a big ball and let rest for at least 15 minutes.
After the resting period the dough will be much different, less sticky and firmer.
Slice your dough ball into 4 pieces, like so:

You will use one of these balls for about 2 servings of soba noodles. Since I was going to be the only one eating them today, I made one and froze the other three to make later.

Now, sprinkle buckwheat onto cutting board:

Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Turn dough over a few times when you are rolling it out to make sure it doesn't stick to the board.

Then, start cutting small sized noodles:

And keep cutting until you are done:

Pick them up and put them into a pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes:

Mix with tasty sauce, refrigerate for at least an hour (longer for flavor to really sink in). And, of course, Enjoy!

Until next time.... God bless!

Tyling Naturals Chinese Noodles Review

These are some of my favorite noodles to use. They are really just fun! I call them squiggly noodles. They hold flavors extremely well. I usually drizzle a little soy sauce and toasted sesame oil on them before I mix them with asian style stir fry veggies. 

They are quite wholesome (& vegan), containing only wheat flour, salt, and water. A serving of these contain 190 calories, half a gram of fat, only 1 gram of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

They can be faithfully found at your local Food Lion in the Chiese/Asian specialty section. They are around 2 bucks. I give them 2 thumbs up and recommend you give them a try! :)

Here is a pic of them just as they are getting done. They only take 3 minutes to prepare!

Zucchini noodles with uncheese basil sauce

This beautiful and tasty dish is raw and vegan. I had it for lunch yesterday and am thinking of making it again today. This recipe will make 4 servings. You will need:

• 2 large or 4 small zucchini, peeled and cut into strips
• juice of half a lemon
• raw pesto uncheese sauce
• grape tomatoes

Once your zucchinis are cut into strips and zested with lemon juice, pour on the sauce and grape tomatoes, and there you have it! A yummy meal!

A note about the zucchini noodles: You can slice the noodles thinly with a knife as I did with most of mine in the picture above. However, for a more flimsy noodle that holds more sauce, use a peeler to peel thin noodle strips.

Enjoy!