Rebecca Davis 7/20/17 Rebecca Davis 7/20/17

Sweet potato peanut noodles

I love love love peanut noodles, sesame noodles, and basically any noodle with a creamy, nutty, salty sauce, as does my child. He likes to pretend he can use chop sticks (he's actually pretty good, considering) and make a huge mess. It's adorable.

I swapped out the soba or lo mein noodles that are the usual base for this dish and used swoodles instead and they're fantastic. A little bit crunchy and just a tiny bit sweet to balance out the salty sauce. Yum. The toddler agrees.

I like to saute the noodles briefly with a little olive oil and a hot pan. Really, you just need a few minutes to take away the rawness of the sweet potatoes. I don't look for any color, just a slight opaqueness. You aren't really cooking the noodles, just making them not raw, if that makes any sense. I'm guessing you could eat them totally raw and it would be fine, I just haven't done it. I also feel like swoodles beat zoodles in a "could this pass for pasta" contest, hands down. If you don't have a spiralizer, you could just use a vegetable peeler to make long, thin noodles.

I've tried many different recipes and have winged it many times in making peanut noodles, but I always come back to Smitten's recipe. It's a little lighter than your typical peanut sauce because Deb swaps in some tahini for peanut butter. I always want to add tahini to this dish, but never seem to get the right balance when adapting other recipes. I add one more Tbsp of peanut butter and use an even 4 Tbsp of soy sauce because I really like peanut butter and salt. I also use half of the sugar because the sweet potato noodles are already sweet, but other than that, I use the recipe as written. I love it.

This base is also perfect with just some crisp cucumbers on top, but you could also add edamame, leftover protein, dried seaweed, toasted sesame seeds, and ANY other raw, steamed, or roasted veggies. You could kind of use this as a base for a noodle bowl.

Sweet potato peanut noodles

1 extra large sweet potato (about 1 lb), peeled and spiralized
1 Tbsp avocado or other neutral oil
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp peanut butter
4 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
½ Tbsp brown sugar
1-inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
1 medium garlic clove

Heat 1 tbsp of avocado or other neutral oil in a pan over medium flame. Add the sweet potato noodles and sauté for 5 minutes until the potatoes are slightly opaque. Flip the noodles and cook for about 5 minutes more. Let cool.

In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients from sesame oil to the garlic and blend until smooth.

Toss the noodles with the sauce and serve. Also, this dish lasted for quite some time in the fridge and maintained its crunch and freshness for at least 1 week.

Yield: about 4 servings

Rebecca Davis 7/11/17 Rebecca Davis 7/11/17

Chimichurri meatballs

These easy, quick meatballs get some extra zing from vinegar-y, herby, garlicky chimichurri. #meandthemoose #chimichurri #cilantro #parsley #meatballs #quickmeals #easyrecipes

This herby, vinegar-y Argentinian sauce perfectly cuts through fatty meats like beef, pork, chicken thighs, and even salmon. Here, I’ve added the sauce directly to the meatballs to give them a bit of extra zing.

Take me to the recipe!

I'm writing this from a Starbucks while M is at his first day of drop-off camp. Drop off. As in, I bring him to camp and then leave and go live my life for two hours while he lives his. WWWWHHHAAAATTTT?????? I mean, this is literally the goal while raising kids: You want them to be able to function without you and eat and breathe and play and learn and share and manage their emotions, but oh my god, how can he be able to function without me ALREADY???

But I know this is totally normal. He's such an independent kid that I know he'll be okay without me. And thinking of him going to his own place to do his own thing reminds me that I, too, am a separate person who exists outside of my role as a mother.

If I was a smart person, I would be posting today about nut-free lunch packing because that's one challenge we're encountering for the first time. Buuuut, I'm not. Instead, I'm posting about a good way to get M to eat protein: Fill it with the strong flavors of garlic, lime, and cilantro. Actually, this is a good way to get anyone to eat protein.

A few notes about this recipe: I tried to make this one into a Whole 30/Paleo recipe by using almond meal in place of flour, but the texture never felt totally right. They were delicious, but a little softer than I wanted. However, if I were to do another Whole 30, I would definitely make these with almond meal and just deal with it because the flavor is great. I used homemade bread crumbs here because we had some stale whole grain bread, but store bought would work just fine. I made these meatballs huge because I wanted them to be sliders and a good, hearty meal, but one could absolutely make them smaller. I served them with more chimichurri on the top and bottom and a whole wheat slider bun. These would also be great over some zucchini noodles or with roasted veggies like fennel and potatoes.

Chimichurri meatballs

Time: 40 minutes (10 minutes of prep, 30 minutes of cooking)
Yield: 9 large meatballs

Chimichurri
1 small shallot
3 large garlic cloves
3/4 cup fresh cilantro
3/4 cup fresh parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/3 cup red wine or sherry vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until everything is combined.

Note: I always use the stems as well as the leaves of the cilantro and parsley. Pack down the herbs into the measuring cups as much as possible- this sauce requires A LOT of herbs.

Meatballs
1 lb ground beef, turkey, or bison
½ cup chimichurri
1 cup bread crumbs or panko
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 400.

Make the chimichurri sauce.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix just until everything is combined. Try not to over mix.

Using your hands or a large spoon, form into palm-sized balls (about the size of a lacrosse ball).

Bake in any oven-safe pan, but preferably a casserole or pie dish with higher sides to keep the balls in place, for about 25-30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 160.

Rebecca Davis 6/12/17 Rebecca Davis 6/12/17

Shrimp rolls

Shrimp rolls are a cheaper alternative to the classic lobster roll and scream NEW ENGLAND SUMMER! just as much.

Take me to the sandwiches.

How is it already mid-June? Things are changing so fast around here that the spring slipped away and now it's almost summer (though spring is doing its best summer impersonation as I sit outside writing this in 93 degree heat). We're also at the two-month mark in our countdown to leaving NYC...it's finally happening: We're moving to the burbs. I've lived here for 15 years, so it feels weird and exciting to live somewhere else. And to have a HOUSE! What are we even going to do with more than three rooms?

We're heading north to a great town in Connecticut and I'm excited to be a New Englander! In that spirit, here are some shrimp rolls that we make a lot during the summer. If you use pre-cooked shrimp, this is a no-cook dinner that screams summer at the beach (even sans beach). The fresh tarragon is pretty key to this concoction, but if you don't have any I would use fresh basil instead of subbing in dried tarragon.

Shrimp rolls

Time: 20-30 minutes, mostly active
Yield: 4 large rolls with about 1 cup shrimp mixture in each roll

2 lb raw shrimp (if using cooked shrimp, skip the butter; defrost overnight in the fridge or in lukewarm water, if needed)
2 Tbsp butter (plus 1-2 tsp for frying tarragon, if desired)
½ cup chopped celery (2 large stalks, minced)
2 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped (with a few leaves left over for frying at the end)
½ cup mayonnaise
1.5 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
½ tsp old bay seasoning
large pinch salt
4 large brioche or potato hotdog buns

In a large skillet, melt the butter over a medium flame.

Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink throughout, about 5-8 minutes (longer if you start with frozen shrimp).

Chop the shrimp, celery, and tarragon and combine with the mayonnaise, lemon zest, lemon juice, old bay, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Toast your hotdog buns and fill with shrimp mixture.

Melt another tsp or two of butter and fry whole tarragon leaves. Top the shrimp rolls with a few leaves and some more old bay seasoning. Serve immediately.