Noodling

Tomato and Basil Cold Noodle Soup

I quite like watching documentary films on Netflix such as ones from Animal Planet. I was alarmed by ‘Forks over Knives’ . Can I stick to a plant based diet for the rest of my life?…probably not…the opposition is too great in my household…What can you expect from a farm boy, right? (Not an) As You Wish situation here…and I’m not ready to commit either.

I could make small changes however, ‘eat less’ meat for a number of reasons. Today’s recipe is just that. And the weather is cooperating and this is something easy and refreshing for a meal on a warm summer evening.

Ingredients and Instruction for 2 to 4 servings (Print Recipe Here) 

• 600ml of water
• 1 cube of vegetable bullion , for those who prefer a stronger taste, 2 cubes
• 2 Tablespoons of sake
• 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
• Angel hair pasta (I used half package)  Note: For gluten free recipe, use rice noodle.
• 3-5 tomatoes,stem removed and cut in wedges or chunks
• 6-8 basil leaves, roughly chopped if the leaves are large
• 3 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

1. Pour water in sauce pan, add vegetable bullion, sake and lemon juice bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Leave in a pan until it cools to room temperature then transfer to refrigerator to chill.. Note: You could use ready made vegetable stock/broth in place of water and bullion. 
2. Cook angel hair pasta according to the package. When it’s done, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside
3. Mix tomato and basil with olive oil and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Assemble by piling up pasta in a dish then add tomato and basil mixture on top, don’t  forget to add the liquid left in the bowl, then pour some chilled vegetable soup over and finally top with ground black pepper. More salt and pepper to taste if needed.

 

Our project for last 3-4 weeks – making Fruits Enzyme Extract - basically fermented fruits (in this I used apples, kiwis, oranges and carrots).Three weeks later, it turned to umber color and bubbling… 

Diluted with water is easiest way to use it. I wasn’t sure for food safety though…Here honey, drink it all up! Good, right?

Then my husband used the juice in kefir pancakes…mmmm, not so angry bird!

I used the fruits pulp paste to make ice cream. The texture is quite interesting.

The cook book clamed that fruits enzyme makes you beautiful and look younger from inside (your body). I don’t see that result yet but this is expensive to make. The key ingredient is the special sugar, which cost nearly 10 bucks and you need two bags.  Ah oh! Seems like someone forgot to spell check…’beet’ not ‘beat’ I guess you can beat the argument that the sugar turn sucrose into beneficial glucose in the process which is an energy source for your brain. No I’m not sugar coating the facts.

My husband spent a couple of hours and thinned one Asian pear tree. Three more to go. What? You missed the bucket? With all of them?

Have a happy July!