Peanut Sauce with Udon Wheat Noodles, Vegetables and Shrimp

Udon Noodles with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce
Udon Noodles with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce

Depending on how many Spring Shrimp Rolls are made, the amount of peanut sauce prepared could initially seem excessive. It was to me, and that sauce is too delicious to forget and let spoil in the back of the refrigerator. Taking a mental inventory of what’s in the kitchen, I remembered the wheat noodles left over from an incredible Asian soup made a few months ago. In the freezer, was a bag of frozen, precooked shrimp. The CSA share provided plenty of squash and carrots. However, broccoli, carrots, bok choy, bell peppers, water spinach, napa cabbage, baby corn, mushrooms (dried and/or fresh), daikon, snow peas, sugar snap peas, peas, cauliflower, celery, onions, scallions, garlic, ginger, parsnips, radishes, broccoli rabe, edamame, leeks, asparagus, bamboo shoots, and sweet potato all are delicious options to include. Was there a vegetable left out? Let me know, especially if it’s a vegetable not commonly sold in the United States. Read more

Spring Shrimp Rolls with Peanut Sauce and Pineapple Tomato Salad

Spring Shrimp Rolls served with Peanut Sauce
Spring Shrimp Rolls served with Peanut Sauce

Having around the clock hot weather equates to less time in a kitchen. That being written, those fancy spring rolls we adore in many Vietnamese restaurants are simple to make. Unless you’re a restaurant superstar chef, don’t worry if the spring rolls are not perfectly shaped with the shrimp perfectly aligned in the transparent wrapper. Just have fun making them. Perhaps, the carrots can be blanched, for small details do make a difference in contributing to the overall taste. Use small to medium size shrimp that are peeled, deveined and precooked with this recipe to avoid turning on the stove and to save time. The smaller shrimp is sweet, and defrosting them takes a few minutes. Serve them with Peanut Sauce, coconut rice and a Pineapple-Tomato Salad, and this makes a beautiful dish best served cold on a hot day. Read more

Summertime and the Living is Easy Salad

A Summer Salad
A Summer Salad

Summertime, summertime, summertime
and the living is, living is easy
Fish are, I know the fish are jumping
and cotton is so high
Your daddy is so, so rich and your mama good-
she had to be good-looking
so hush, little baby, don’t you cry
don’t you cry, no no, don’t cry
no need to cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
summertime, summertime…
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Baby Potato, Summer Squash and Turkey Bacon Garnished with Basil

Baby Potatoes, Summer Squash and Turkey Bacon Hash

Baby Potato, Summer Squash and Turkey Bacon Garnished with Basil

Summer squash is the antithesis to my love of eating beets. The moment the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share included two pounds of summer squash, my stomach started turning. A deep breath was inhaled. Memories of sauté summer squash slowly unraveled. This is the summer to make peace with this squalid yellow vegetable. Read more