Review: Explore Asian Pastas

I was recently sent a box full of gluten-free, organic pasta products courtesy of Explore Asian.

Although we aren't gluten-free, I was immediately hooked by the great nutritional profile of the first pasta package I opened. The edamame and mung bean fettucine provides 24 grams protein, 10 grams fiber, and 30% RDA iron. It contains only three ingredients: edamame, mung beans, and water.

We had the fettucine with tofu and broccoli in peanut sauce, above, and also served it to the kids with marinara sauce, below. It was great both ways. I love its toothsome, chewy texture. Tony also loved it and suggested I start buying it regularly.

All of the pastas had that same great texture, although they're made from various ingredients. The elbow pasta is made from Thai red rice. I used it to make the Mac and Trees with Buffalo Tempeh from Appetite for Reduction. The red rice pasta isn't quite as nutritionally mighty as the fettucine, packing only 4 grams protein, 1 gram fiber, and 2% iron.

The soybean spaghetti, however, contains a whopping 23 grams protein, 11 grams fiber, and 40% iron. It was delicious with some marinara and sauteed zucchini.

Finally, the brown rice vermicelli, fantastic in a stir fry with snow peas, zucchini, red pepper, cilantro and sesame seeds.

Big thanks to Explore Asian for allowing us to sample all of these healthy pastas. I will definitely be buying them again -- Tony insists!

Cooking for Paleo and Gluten-Free Eaters

My friend Abby recently had a baby, and I wanted to bring her some food. However, in addition to me being vegetarian and not knowing how to cook meat (or having any desire to), Abby has a few dietary restrictions of her own that made cooking for her a bit of a challenge -- albeit a fun one. First, her husband cannot tolerate gluten, so the whole family eats gluten-free. Second, she is on the paleo diet to lose her baby weight.

I didn't know anything about the paleo diet. Apparently, the idea is that you should eat like our caveman ancestors ate -- lots of meat, fruit and veggies, but no grains, legumes, or dairy.  Many of the meal suggestions I came across were heavy on the meat. But, you can find just about anything on the internets, and I was eventually able to find a few recipes that fit the bill of being vegetarian and gluten-free and paleo.

Apple pie bars, to help the nursing mama keep up her energy levels.

Sun-dried tomato broccoli soup...when cooking for an omnivore, vegetable soup is something I often turn to.

Grain-free chocolate chip cookies.

After delivering all the goodies and cuddling with a sweet two-week-old (new baby smell! ahhh!), I came home and fixed a simple dinner. I made the tamarind quinoa from Appetite for Reduction. I love its exotic, sweet/spicy flavor! Gotta remember to bookmark that recipe for sure. I served sauteed garlicky kale on the side.