One Local Summer: Tomato Juice, Stir Fried Noodles, Green Beans and Mushrooms
This week’s edition of One Local Summer includes stir fried noodles. Local ingredients include peas, carrots and brocolli. I’m going to make an allowance regarding local ingredients. That is, I will not purchase local noodles even though its available because of the cost. I am not willing (or ready) to part with money to buy local bread-y ingredients like pasta.
The string beans and mushroom dish here are leftovers from a week ago which is why they look a bit sad. However, they taste much better than they did when I first made them. I guess its like kim-chi…tastes better the longer it lies around. The recipe I used is from Vegan with a Vengence.
I’ve been trying to get my husband to quit buying tomato juice and it seems like the concoction I put together here worked well. I blended tomatoes, cilantro, raspberries together and added a bit of red chilli powder and lemon juice. The cilantro and lemon was not local. Husband liked it well enough to agree that he wouldn’t drink the store bought stuff anymore. So a win here. 
Wow! So much for not being adventurous in the kitchen! Beany, this all looks wonderful!
I’ve heard there is some local pasta in the Austin are, but it’s $8 a pkg. Ouch. Yeah. I’m not sure I can do that. I’m not much of a pasta eater, but I’ve been thinking about trying to make noodles once, just to say I’ve done it. Who knows. Mabye it’ll be easy, and a year from now, I’ll think Ii was crazy for never having done it. In the meantime, I’ve been buying plain organic pasta for my hubby.
P.S. Is there a sauce on those noodles? They look great!
Comment by Heather @ SGF — June 29, 2008 @ 7:25 am
Thank you!
The instructions for making noodles do seem simple, I just haven’t gotten around to doing it. I’m sure I took will wonder why I didn’t do it sooner once I do make it the first time.
No sauce on noodles. Its just mixed in with the veggies cooked separately and I added a dash of sesame oil.
Comment by Beany — June 29, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
I wouldn’t have thought of adding raspberries to the tomato juice! Is the taste very prominent? How many tomatoes does it take to make a glass of juice (I’m wondering how the cost compares to buying it from the store)?
Comment by melissa — June 29, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
I didn’t add too many raspberries..so there was only a hint of raspberry flavor. I added it more for the color than the taste.
And cost isn’t the reason I wanted to make the switch. The reason was reduction of waste. While the juice bottles are recyclable I’m trying to get both my trash and recyclables down to a minimal level.
However I’ve been thinking about running some calculations like the ones Amy Dacyczyn did in her newsletters just to satisfy my own curiosity. I’m thinking of running the numbers and comparing it with generic food and organic store bought food with the assumption that the time spent has no value (just to make my calculations simple). I’ll start doing this from now onward.
Comment by Beany — June 30, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
You are the most amazing and creative cook. Those beans look delicious - I just boiled and blanched mines with rice vinegar and sesame oil - nowhere near as good very bland and tough.
And the noodles look so delicious. I’m so impressed by your kitchen creativity!
Comment by sfordinarygirl — July 1, 2008 @ 2:12 am