Cold Asian Noodle Salad

During the summer I work a wonderful 4 tens schedule where I get Fridays off.  For those 8 weeks Fridays become Sister Pool Days.  We eat good food, float, talk, have some DRANKS, float, and talk a little more.  Oh, and more dranks too.

We try to have food that isn't supper labor intensive.  We would rather spend our time doing the things listed above than be tied down in the kitchen.  Extra bonus points if the food is refreshing in the sweltering heat of Phoenix. This Cold Asian Noddle salad hits all the points.  It's cool, refreshing, flavorful, and can be made completely ahead of time.  I came with the salad made earlier that morning and we paired it with some spring rolls and dumplings from Trader Joes that could be thrown in the air fryer.  Super easy.

My recipe makes a BUTT LOAD, but in a good way.  It was perfect for feeding a crowd and still having some leftovers.  All the veggies in it really bump it up volume wise. If you don't want quite so much the recipe can easily be halved.  

It's also a great way to work in a bunch of beautiful vegetables into your diet.  I'm always happy when a recipe incorporates vegetables that are incredibly delicious and it doesn't feel like "work" to get them in.  This recipe has at least 15 cups of vegetables in it yet somehow feels like a treat when you eat it.  (Noodles will do that for ya) Check out this picture of the veggies as I was prepping and how pretty they are.  And that's even before I chopped the cilantro and green onions.

I used spaghetti noodles because it's cheap and accessible. But by all means, if you have access to an asian noodle that you prefer than go for it!

Soy sauce brands seem to vary in their saltiness to me, so I suggest you wait to salt to taste until after you combine everything together.  I ended up adding an extra tablespoon of kosher salt to mine which may SEEM like a lot, but remember, this is A LOT of veggies and a whole pound of noodles too.  Lots of things to season.  But adjust it to your taste and enjoy!

Cold Asian Noodle Salad

1 pound spaghetti (or other thin noodle) cooked and cooled

3 cups shredded napa cabbage

3 cups shredded red cabbage

3 cups shredded carrots

2 sweet bell pepper, cut into matchsticks

2 cups shelled edamame

2 cups sliced green onion

2 bunches of cilantro, finely chopped

Sesame seeds, chopped peanuts, or chopped cashews to garnish (optional)

Dressing

3/4 cup neutral oil (light olive oil, vegetable, canola)

3/4 cup soy sauce 

3/4 cup rice vinegar

3 garlic cloves finely minced (or 3 tsp. granulated garlic)

8 tsp. toasted sesame oil (2 TB. plus 2 tsp.)

1 tsp. red pepper flake

Kosher salt to taste (I added a tablespoon)

Carefully toss the vegetables and noodles together.  Add all the dressing ingredients into a jar, cover with the lid and shake to combine well (or use an immersion blender or food processor) Pour dressing over noodle and vegetables and toss lightly to coat in the dressing. Add salt to taste if needed (some soy sauces are saltier than others.  I added a tablespoon) Garnish with peanuts, sesame seeds, or cashews when plating. 

 

Mediterranean Orzo Salad

I absolutely LOVE Mediterranean food.  It's so full of flavor and fresh.  It has a healthy feel where even when I eat my weight of it I never feel all that bad.  Like this dish for example, even though it's pasta I feel like I can eat a mountain of it and I don't feel the need to wallow in self loathing afterward.  I don't know, maybe it's all in my head.  A coping mechanism that allows me to shovel delicious food down my trap with the bright flavors of citrus, vinegar, olives, and garlic all without a second thought.  Whatever it is, it's working for me,  

This dish is perfect for those hot summer days where you need to eat something that feels light and fresh.  And don't be afraid to mix it up a little to your own taste.  If you want to use a different olive or skip them entirely (although I don't know why you would want to do a foolish thing like that) you can sub roasted red peppers.  Arugula would be a tasty swap for spinach and you can go all vinegar or all lemon juice for the dressing.  There's so many ways to customize this dish to your liking.  This is just what speaks to me and what I had in my house at the moment.  

If you try this recipe out let me know how you liked it.  And if you ate half the bowl yourself and don't feel like a pile of shit either.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad 

1 lb Orzo pasta, cooked and cooled

1 English cucumber, small diced

1 cup kalamata olives, sliced

1 pint Grape tomatoes, halved

1 cup Fine diced red onion

12oz Crumbled feta

Spinach, couple handfuls

1 cup Pine nuts

 

Dressing

 

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup red wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tsp. dry oregano

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 cup olive oil

Lightly toss orzo, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, pine nuts, onion, feta, and spinach together. Combine all dressing ingredients together in a jar and top with lid. shake to combine.  Pour over salad ingredients and toss lightly to coat. Serve chilled.

Absolutely Nothing Spanish About It: Spanish Salad

 I'm going to go out on a limb and say that nothing about bottled Catalina dressing, canned ranch beans, and Fritos exactly screams "Spanish" does it?  I have no idea why it's called Spanish Salad it's just what was typed on the recipe card and we went with it.  I don't even know where the recipe came from but it was a family dinner staple growing up, especially in the dead of summer.  This is why it's also the first feature in my Summer Cold Food Series.

The Summer Cold Food Series

Summers in Phoenix are hot.  Actually, hot is an understatement.  Imagine feeling like you're living in a convection oven if you can...just try.  Since we already live in an oven, we try our damnedest not to add additional ovens to the mix.  If you turn on your oven in the summer you'll be paying the price for HOURS...it's just not worth it.   So the more cold meals you can fit into a week the better.  The Summer Food Series will feature a cold meal each week to help you stay cool and keep it interesting.

Now Back to Spanish Salad....

When I do a little Google searching...go figure, nobody calls it Spanish Salad. Most just call it Frito Salad, but there are a few key differences.  A lot of them contain ground beef.  Skipping the beef not only makes it fast, easy, and no heat, but also makes it vegetarian which is perfect for me as I am trying to incorporate a few meatless meals a week.  Several also contain kidney beans (hard pass) or just plain pinto beans and then use Catalina dressing at the end.  

What sets ours apart from the rest was that we marinate a a can of Ranch beans with a small bottle of Catalina dressing.  I like to do it the night before or in the morning to have for later for dinner.  Catalina dressing on it's own is incredibly sweet, almost sickeningly so.  I don't love it on it's own, but paired with the savory, kind of smoky sauce of the Ranch beans it makes for an incredible flavor profile.

As a kid the ingredients were kept simple and cheap. Of course the bean and dressing mixture, iceberg salad mix (the one with the dried out purple cabbage pieces), shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, and Fritos.  That's it.

I will gladly eat it as is, but now that I am a mature, classy, woman in her 30s, (don't laugh) I can't help but jazz it up a little.  Elevation they call it.  Throw in some green or red onion, chopped cilantro, and some sliced olives and you have yourself a bowl of tasty....and it added ZERO heat to your house.

Have you ever had a salad like this before?

Spanish Salad

26oz can Ranch Beans

8oz bottle Catalina Dressing

Chopped romaine

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sliced olives

Chopped cilantro

Red or green onion

Fritos chips

Combine the beans (don't drain!) with the dressing and mix well.  Allow to marinate at least a few hours, overnight is even better.  Build your salad to your taste using the ingredients listed.  Use the bean mixture as your dressing.

Summer Reading Program- the Nostalgia and Recreating it as an Adult

 *The internet seems to f****** HATE story telling on blogs.  Well, best be hoppin’ off this if you do because this whole post is one giant story time

 I LOVED participating in the Summer Reading program they had available at the local library (said in my best PBS kids voice)

It (along with free school lunch) was one of the only ways we got out of the house.  You see, Phoenix summers are like that of the winters back East.  You’re stuck inside but instead of it being from piles of snow it’s because of scorching, deadly heat.  Don’t have a pool?  Well, then you’re extra screwed. We were extra screwed.  It’s part of what has given me my seasonal depression that shows up on cue every spring as I internally agonize over the approaching summer months and god forsaken heat....

 

Back to book reading.  Trips to the library were a joyous reprieve from the monotony of the day, as well as a welcomed venture into a HIGHLY air conditioned building that we could relish in for an hour....or more.  Please, more. (who can afford a library low thermostat at home in Phoenix...certainly not us)  I loved going and picking up my pamphlet from that folded out into a game type board and having the librarian explain the program to me.  I know we live in a modern digital world, but I looked it up and in my area the program seems to be entirely online now.  I tell myself it’s good for the environment (less paper) and now more accessible to kids who don’t go to the library often....but I gotta admit it also bums me out.  I always felt so official leaving the library with my “paperwork” in hand.  It was exciting!  Kids these days could probably care less that they don’t get a an official board but I’ll just be sad enough for both of us about it.

 

The program was taken VERY seriously in my family.  Each square on the board was 20 minutes worth of reading so my mom would set a timer to ensure we were meeting our marks.  We even included some of our neighborhood friends in it.  I have vivid memories of all of us in our living room reading our books in a different chair or corner in such an odd silence for a group of elementary aged kids.  Then, my mom’s circa 1980s digital timer would go off signaling the moment I was always waiting for.....marking off a square on the board .

 

Yes, I was incredibly pumped about it.  I now understand where my love of lists and marking things off stems from.  Pretty sure it was from this very moment.  I’m the type of person who writes lists of things I’ve already done JUST to get the satisfaction of crossing it off *bliss*  Everyone had their preferred method of marking their squares, mine was this:

 

90s kids know how badass these were.  How could I possibly use any other method?? A lame ass X just wouldn’t do.

 

Along the way on your board you would hit certain checkpoints where you got a prize.  Here’s the odd thing:  Normally I have a steel trap for these kinds of details (if you couldn’t tell) but I can’t remember many of the prizes.  I’m pretty sure I remember pencils, bookmarks, maybe some stickers.  But honestly I can’t remember much else.  I guess marking my squares was prize enough for me.  I asked some people what prizes they remember but the replies were slim.  Someone said there were coupons for a free milkshake, another said a personal pizza from Pizza Hut....but  HELLOOOOO....that’s Book It program....pssshhh.

 I remember one year the entire board was Arizona Diamondbacks themed (probably in 1998 when the team was formed) and I THINK the grand prize that year was tickets in the nosebleed seats (don’t quote me though)  I don’t think I ever went back for those but my parents wouldn’t have taken me anyway so it didn’t really matter.  I may not remember the prizes very well, but what I do remember was the feeling of badassery that came with coming back to the library with my marked up board to collect.  Yeah, I read like a boss ass bitch, what of it?!?

 

Between the fond feelings of nostalgia I have for summer reading and my 2021 goal of reading 12 books (that isn’t going so well...at all) I decided to make my own summer reading program complete with tracking board AND prizes.  Just like my childhood, each square is 20 minutes and the goal is to hit 1,000 minutes by August first.  That’s over 16 ½ hours which sounds like a lot for someone like me who isn’t in the habit of reading.  But breaking it up into 20 minute chunks over the course of 60 days will make it more manageable and help me meet that book goal for the year.   The adult themed prizes will be fun too.  And by adult I don’t mean XXX, but by all means if that’s the kind of prize you’d like, you do you guurrrl!  Mine are things like scratcher tickets, giving myself permission to shop for Christmas décor in the summer, and the grand prize of a massage...yea!

But I also have a blank board that you can customize to your own prize tastes.

Here is  link to the blank document if you want to print it off for your own use:

Board with blank prizes 

Did you participate in the summer reading program as a kid?  And what kind of prizes would you put on your board now?