This post is sponsored by Best Food Facts.

I actually grew up eating tofu. My mom cooked it all the time. I love it. A couple of years ago, I had crispy tofu tacos at a local Vietnamese fast casual restaurant and I was hooked. I loved getting to recreate this recipe at home!

I love working with Best Food Facts and learning about how we all can work towards sustainability when it comes to food. I participated in a Zoom chat with three registered dietitians: Dr. Ruth MacDonald is a food scientist at Iowa State University, Jennie Schmidt who is a farmer and Amanda Moder, who works for Hy-Vee.

I really enjoyed our conversation and I learned a lot! First, did you know that sustainability when it comes to food, is about more than the environment? Sustainability is the intersection of the environment, health, the economy as well as diversity and cultural sensitivity.

Why should we care about sustainability?

We should care about sustainability when it comes to food because we all want affordable food that tastes good. Some of us eat certain foods for health reasons, some of us value affordability over everything else and that's ok too. Sustainability allows food systems to flourish. Sustainability matters in food and farming because it helps farmers stay in business.

Dr. Ruth mentioned that we as consumers should be more thoughtful about our food choices. We should make informed choices based on science and not misinformation.

The biggest takeaway from our chat for me is how much food waste we have our in country. We all know it's A LOT. And I want to do better about not contributing to food waste. Having so much food waste is NOT sustainable.

And the most interesting point from Dr. Ruth was how if we don't do any processing of food (think canned foods, processed foods like tofu, frozen foods), we contribute to more food waste. Food waste is unavoidable if you only have fresh foods.

This reminded me of being in school and learning about humans utilizing preserving techniques before refrigeration was invented. Do you remember that?

How can we contribute to being more sustainable with our food choices?

Another big takeaway from Dr. Ruth for me was that we can do better and be more sustainable when it comes to grocery shopping by planning our meals.

Do you meal plan? Have you meal planned before?

This was eyeopening to me because I realized in the past when we did plan our meals, we spent less at the grocery store and most certainly wasted less food.

I don't know about you but when we let food go bad and have to throw it out, I feel guilty about. I think about the money wasted and the resources it took to make that produce, that meat or whatever food it was.

We started meal planning again recently and I found it so helpful! I don't plan exactly by the day and I leave a little wiggle room for having leftovers for dinner (which is really sustainable and is less waste!) and doing take out a couple of times a month.

And it makes it easier to solve the age old question, what's for dinner tonight?

You can use a notes app on your phone to meal plan. I use a grocery list app to keep track of things we need. After I plan my meals out, I gather the recipes and check out my pantry and refrigerator. Whatever I don't already have at home, I add it to my grocery list app!

I put together a little printable PDF if you to try your hand at meal planning! You can download it by signing up below. It has two different meal planners, one with a Sunday start and one with a Monday start. I also included a printable for a grocery list that you can print and put on your refrigerator too!

Now let's make these tofu tacos. I show you how to make the crispy tofu, it's so good. It was hard for me to not just pop them into my mouth when I was making them!

Ingredients for Tofu Tacos

• white vinegar
• granulated sugar
• salt and pepper
• carrots
• daikon radish
• cabbage (I used purple cabbage)
• olive oil
• sesame oil
• firm tofu
• cornstarch
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• grape seed oil
• sriracha
• mayonnaise (you can use vegan mayonnaise to make this recipe vegan, if you wish)
• corn tortillas
• cilantro

Can you make Crispy Tofu in the air fryer?

Yes, you can! I actually made it in my air fryer and my Ninja Foodi. I have instructions in the recipe card below for both!

How to make Tofu Tacos

First, make the pickled carrots and daikon. It's the same pickled veggies that you find in a Vietnamese banh mi! I cut the carrots into matchsticks.

And same with the daikon (which is a kind of radish).

Mix carrots and daikon with vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Cover and set aside for at least 2 hours.

Press the tofu for 20 minutes. I used this tofu press this time but you can also use a couple of plates and some cans. I show you how here where I shared my recipe for vegetarian dumplings.

Make the cabbage slaw but slicing up the cabbage and whisking together vinegar, oils, water, sugar, salt and pepper. You can add a little more pepper on top if you'd like as well!

Mix together sriracha sauce and mayonnaise with a small rubber spatula. Cover and refrigerate. (You can totally add more sriracha if you like it SPICY! I mean who wouldn't love spicy tofu tacos?!?)

Make this recipe vegan by using vegan mayo!

Remove the water from the tofu press and then remove the tofu from the press. Cut up the tofu in half and then continually cut into strips and then into cubes.

In a medium sized bowl or shallow dish, mix together cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. 

Add tofu cubes to the cornstarch mixture.

And make sure each piece of tofu is covered in the cornstarch mixture.

Add grape seed oil to cover the bottom of a nonstick pan. Heat on medium high for three minutes.

Cooking in two batches, add the tofu to the nonstick pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.

Heat tortillas in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil on medium high. Heat them for 1 to 2 minutes on each side.

I know you'll love these tofu tacos! They are so so good with the crispy tofu. Obviously, this is more of an Asian taco recipe. I know your family will love it!

One other thing, if you don't have any corn tortillas, you can make this dish as a bowl and enjoy it that way! So the corn tortillas aren't necessary but the sriracha mayo is!

Print

Tofu Tacos Recipe

Ingredients

Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup carrots cut into matchsticks
• 1 cup daikon white radish, cut into matchsticks

Cabbage Slaw

• 1/4 purple cabbage or green cabbage sliced
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons water
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• dash of salt and pepper

Crispy Tofu

• 14 ounce package of firm tofu
• 7 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Grape seed oil for frying, or if using air fryer, olive oil

Sriracha Mayo

• 1 Tablespoon sriracha or more to your taste
• 1/4 cup mayo
• corn tortillas for serving
• cilantro for garnish

Instructions

Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

• Pour vinegar, water, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix together and then add carrots and daikon. Cover and set aside for at least two hours.
• Remove tofu from the container and press for 20 minutes or put on a plate with sides, place another plate on top and use two 15-ounce cans on top to press the tofu and remove some of the moisture.

Cabbage Slaw

• Prep the cabbage slaw. Whisk together vinegar, oils, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Add cabbage and mix together thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.

Sriracha Mayo

• Mix together sriracha sauce and mayonnaise with a small rubber spatula. Cover and refrigerate.

Crispy Tofu

• In a medium sized bowl or shallow dish, mix together cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cut up the tofu in half and then continually cut into strips and then into cubes.
• Add tofu cubes to the cornstarch mixture and make sure each piece of tofu is covered in the cornstarch mixture.
• Add grape seed oil to cover the bottom of a nonstick pan. Heat on medium high for three minutes. (Look in the notes for air fryer and Ninja Foodi instructions if you want air fry tofu.)
• Cooking in two batches, add the tofu to the nonstick pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.
• Heat tortillas in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil on medium high. Heat them for 1 to 2 minutes on each side.
• Serve the tofu tacos with the cabbage slaw, the pickled vegetables and topped with the sriracha mayo!

Notes

Notes: You can totally cook the crispy tofu in an air fryer too! I use a mister to spray olive oil on the all sides of the prepared tofu cubes. Then, in my air fryer, I preheated it at 400 degrees F. When it was ready, I added in the tofu cubes and then air fried it for 8 minutes. In yours, it could be anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes. Be sure to flip halfway through!

I also cooked crispy tofu in my Ninja Foodi using the Air Crisp function. I do use the Cook & Crisp basket in my Ninja Foodi. Preheat the Ninja Foodi using the Air Crisp function at 400 degrees F for 3 minutes. Once it's ready, set the Air Crisp function again at 400 degrees F and it took 12 minutes to cook my crispy tofu! It can take anywhere from 11 to 13 minutes depending on the size of your Ninja Foodi. You want to be sure to flip these halfway too! Enjoy!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Best Food Facts. I only work with brands that I love and share with you my own opinions.

The post Tofu Tacos Recipe appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

As I mentioned before, I’m excited to be working with The National Shrimp Council this year and creating recipes with shrimp to share with you!

I love grilled shrimp and it's perfect for the summer AND al fresco dining. This recipe is so easy…it will take you no time to prepare it!

I prep the shrimp by deveining them and peeling it but leaving the tails on. That's my preference to leave the tails on, it's completely up to you!

Mix the butter and sriracha chili sauce.

Slice one and a half limes into thin slices, like you see above.

Line a baking sheet with Reynolds® Wrap Aluminum Foil. I really like using aluminum foil when I'm grilling because it makes cleaning up so simple!

Then, place shrimp on the skewers, with lime slices folded in half.

You'll have skewers that look like this!

Then, brush the shrimp skewers with sriracha butter.

Now, these are all set for the grill.

You can grill them on a grill or inside on a grill pan, totally up to you!

They cook really fast, you only really need to cook them 1 to 3 minutes on each side.

Be sure to put a new piece of aluminum foil on the baking sheet before putting the grilled shrimp skewers on.

You can serve these with rice or noodles…or they make a great appetizer. So easy to make and only four ingredients!

For more great recipes, be sure to follow the Shrimp Council on facebook and/or pinterest!

Print

Sriracha Lime Grilled Shrimp

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound shrimp deveined and peeled except for the tails
• 3 Tablespoons spreadable butter
• 1 Tablespoon sriracha chili sauce
• 2 limes

Instructions

• Line a baking sheet with Reynolds® Wrap Aluminum Foil and set aside.
• Prep the shrimp and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Pat the shrimp dry.
• Turn on gas grill to high heat and allow to heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Or if you're using a grill pan inside, heat the grill pan on medium high heat for 5 to 6 minutes.
• In a small bowl, mix together butter and sriracha.
• Prep the limes. Cut the limes in half. Cut one and a half limes into slices. Cut the remaining half into wedges for serving.
• Place shrimp on skewers alternating with lime slices. Brush the sriracha butter on both sides of the shrimp. Place the skewered shrimp on the foil-lined baking sheet.
• Reduce the heat on the grill to medium high heat or heat for the grill pan to medium heat. Place skewered shrimp on the grill and cook for 1 to 3 minutes on each side. (Throw away the foil and reline the baking sheet with a new piece of foil.)
• Remove skewered shrimp from the grill and place on the newly lined baking sheet. Squeeze a couple of lime wedges over the shrimp before serving with rice or noodles.

Notes

Note: If you would like your shrimp spicier, you can brush on more sriracha butter while it's on the grill. Just be sure to put some of the sriracha butter in a separate bowl before brushing it on the raw shrimp.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The National Shrimp Council. Reynolds did provide product for the purpose of this post. I always share with you my own opinions and only work with brands that I love. Thank you for supporting the brands that I work with so I can continue to share with you recipes like these!

The post Sriracha Lime Grilled Shrimp appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I have been going to the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival for a few years (at Walt Disney World Epcot Center) and this was Curtis' first year. I have so much to share with you including this recipe for Kalua Pulled Pork Sliders made in a slow cooker (yeah!) that I'm sharing with another post about my favorites overall at the festival.

We went opening weekend, thanks to Disney for inviting us to attend their opening weekend press event…before we left, Curtis said please make the pulled pork sliders. I had been eyeing the Festival cookbook. It's a hardcover edition this year because it's the 20th annual festival…I can't believe it's been going on for 20 year!

Let's talk about the festival. There are so many marketplaces for you to try, so many great food inspired by different countries. When you get inside Epcot, the first thing you wan to do is grab the festival passport and a gift card. Load the gift card to make it easy to pay and use the passport as a guide, it has all of the marketplaces listed along with all of the food and drink you can enjoy!

It's grillin' Mickey!

The Festival cookbook got an upgrade this year for the 20th anniversary, it's a hardcover edition and there are tons of recipes I want to try. I'm so glad I bought it the last time I attended the festival.

And there's the pulled pork sliders. You can get in the Hawaii marketplace. I also got the poke tuna and Curtis Kona Brewing beer too.

It was such a pretty weekend! Love the clouds.

All of the marketplaces are well-decorated according to themes from the countries or areas they represent.

And a lot of the greenery that the festival organizers use have to do with the produce they use in the dishes too!

We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn which is within walking distance to Epcot Center. I love the decor of the hotel.

After a fun and food-filled day, the walk back to the Boardwalk is so pretty!

Turn down service! I love that they leave taffy on your pillow at night.

Now back to these pulled pork sliders. I'm so glad Curtis suggested I make these at home. They are so wonderful. We even froze half of it in the freezer for a dinner later on…because it made so much!

Curtis actually picked up a bone-in pork shoulder so I removed the bone.

Just add salt and pepper and put it in the slow cooker. We couldn't find banana leaves so that's it. I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Cut the red pepper into thin strips and then dice. That's how you can get a small dice on veggies.

Add the ingredients for the chutney into a pot.

And bring to a boil and cook down.

Add all of the ingredients for the spicy mayo (I love sriracha!) and whisk.

It's a beautiful thing!

Make these and go to the Epcot Food & Wine Festival…you'll thank me later.

Print

Kalua Pulled Pork Sliders with Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayo Recipe

In the cookbook, there's a recipe for the brioche buns they are served with at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. I opted to use store-bought Hawaiian sweet rolls to make this recipe an easy weeknight meal!

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 hours hours

Ingredients

Kalua Pork

• 1 4-pound boneless pork shoulder (also called boneless pork butt)
• 1 large organic banana leaf cut in half widthwise, optional
• coarse salt freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Pineapple Chutney

• 1 pound diced pineapple I used canned tidbits, partially drained
• 1 large sweet yellow onion diced
• 1/2 small red bell pepper diced small
• 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic about 3 cloves
• 1 Tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• coarse salt to taste

Spicy Mayonnaise

• 6 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons Sriracha Asian hot chili sauce
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• coarse salt to taste
• Brioche Rolls or Hawaiian sweet rolls

Instructions

Kalua Pork

• If you bought a bone-in piece of pork, cut out the bone. Cut pork into two pieces and season with salt and pepper and wrap each piece in a banana leaf half. (I omitted this since I couldn't find banana leaves near me.)
• Place pork in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on the lowest setting for 8 to 10 hours, until meat shreds easily with a fork.
• Remove the meat from the slow cooker, reserving drippings. Discard banana leaves, if using. Shred meat, adding drippings as needed to moisten.

Pineapple Chutney

• Combine all of the chutney ingredients in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil.
• Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until pineapple starts falling apart and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Allow to cool and then refrigerate in a sealed container until ready to serve.

Spicy Mayonnaise

•  Whisk together all of the ingredients for the spicy mayo in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve

• Cut rolls in half. Place warm pulled pork on bottom of the roll. Place pineapple chutney on top and drizzle spicy mayo over the chutney. Top with second half of the roll and repeat.

Notes

Notes: I made the Kaula Pork a day ahead and refrigerated it along with the drippings and it tasted awesome! I recommend doing this to make your prep and cooking super easy for say a weeknight or many weeknight meals!

from Epcot International Food & Wine Festival: Recipes & Stories Celebrating 20 Years by Pam Brandon and The Disney Chefs

Disclosure: I was hosted by Walt Disney World as a media guest for the opening weekend of the Festival. The opinions I share are always my own and always share with you what I love.

The post Kalua Pulled Pork Sliders from Epcot Food & Wine Festival appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Snacks…snacks…snacks…I have to have them around, in my purse or carry on bag when I travel because I'm always hungry. I actually annoy the heck out of Curtis all the time because I'm always hungry. Hehe

When I came home from a fun trip with blogger friends in Utah, where Land O Lakes shared this wonderful Snack Mix with Roasted Almonds and Coconut…I knew I had to make it and of course make a version that's spicy!

Before I talk about trip, I wanted to announce that I relaunched my portfolio site at juliedeily.com. I'm sharing some of my work there as well as blog posts about social media and blogging. I'm so excited to share that with you!

Maria and Heidi organized this wonderful retreat for a few blogger friends and we stayed at this wonderful house at Deer Valley Resort.

I spent some time with these lovely ladies: Gina, Maria, Ali, Shelly, Kelley, Rachel, Sommer, Lindsay, Heidi, Jenny, Sandy, me (haha), Dara and Amanda!

I feel so fortunate to have great blogging friends, who I call my co-workers and peers and never want to come across as bragging (just want to be clear) but when you love what you do and get to spend time with your friends while doing it, that's pretty fortunate, right? I hope I never take it for granted. We had a blast…

Breakfasts, lunches, dinners and SNACKS all provided by wonderful sponsors; such as Almond Breeze, Blue Diamond, Land O Lakes, DeLallo, Whole Foods, Tillamook and President Cheese. We were spoiled.

The first night we had dinner at RiverHorse on Main…it was amazing…including this quince margarita with black sea salt…it was out of control…and the food. We had Utah wild trout…after that, I kind of wanted to move to Utah.

I inserted a photo of flowers from the retreat because I love them. I buy flowers once a week now and arrange them in jars…one jar in the kitchen and one on my desk. Flowers make me smile! If you love flowers, treat yourself to them, you don't have to ever wait for someone else to buy them for you.

Have you tried Tillamook's greek yogurt yet? I'm a fan! Especially of the cinnamon hazelnut one!

Umm, we had an ice cream bar too…

Complete with cookie ice cream sandwiches. Swoon! I really am sad that I can't get Tillamook ice cream in Florida! I wish they did a mail order program…the hazelnut & salted caramel is to die for. I love strawberry and the marionberry pie flavors (with actual pie crust pieces in them!) and we got to try some new yet to be released flavors too! Seriously, if you can walk into your grocery store and buy Tillamook ice cream, I'm completely jealous of you.

Snack alert! We had these amazing brownie pops dipped in chocolate and salted caramel made by one of the pastry chefs at Deer Valley. (Lindsay's my model!)

The Land O Lakes team made us an amazing dinner all made with Land O'Lakes Saute Express! Some new recipes I want to add to the rotation!

Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies – these were amazing!

And those amazing snacks…that I had on my flight home.

The next day, we had an amazing speaker named Courtney Carver who really spoke to me and inspired me tremendously. She's amazing and I'm so thankful to Heidi for having her speak! I had an amazing epiphany when she spoke and it's helping me shift gears and set new goals for 2015. Not sure Courtney or Heidi knows how thankful I am! And Katie Waltman, amazing jewelry designer let us pick out charms and she made necklaces for us. So obsessed with my necklace. You should check her out on instagram too!

We had lunch at Park City's Grocery Cafe and go to taste of their new menu items…Roasted Pork Loin Baguette…was amazing. The pork loin was roasted and then sliced super thin. This makes me want to buy a meat slicer, is that crazy? Don't answer that.

And the views from the cafe…breathtaking.

Sigh…

A couple of hours later, we had snacks…surprise surprise. Wonderful goodies from Whole Foods, President Cheese and the DeLallo Foods salami…soo soo good!

Dinner to end the retreat was at The Brass Tag…this amazing cocktail was called the Stargazer with gin, cucumber, mint and lime. It was lovely and…and so was the 15 course meal we had!

It's too embarrassing to show you all of the food we had, so I'll show you some of it. These chimichurri chips…I want chimichurri on everything.

And this amazing romaine and kale salad with blueberries and the rolls on the sides are a lemon ricotta…must steal this idea for a salad!

Again, the views. My first time visiting Utah, other than the airport…

And I loved it!

Thank you to Heidi and Maria for organizing a great time for all of us.

Above are my can't leave home while traveling essentials! I'm completely addicted to the Blue Diamond Salt ‘n Vinegar Almonds!

Now, I'm sure you have been wondering about the recipe.

Super easy, just melt the Land O Lakes® Garlic & Herb Sauté Express® squares, add brown sugar and sriracha and mix well.

Add the snack goodies and make sure everything is well coated.

Bake for 30 minutes.

And you have spicy, sweet, snack goodness!

Print

Sweet & Spicy Snack Mix Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 Land O Lakes® Garlic & Herb Sauté Express® squares
• 1 Tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons sriracha chili sauce
• 2 cups oven-toasted rice squares cereal
• 2 cups small pretzel twists
• 1 cup unsalted Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds
• 10 crisps or crackers broken up

Instructions

• Heat oven to 250°F.
• Melt Sauté Express® squares in a nonstick skillet at medium heat. Add brown sugar and sriracha chili sauce. Stir until mixed well.
• Add rice cereal, pretzels and Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds and crisps. With a rubber spatula, toss until mixture is evenly coated.
• Pour onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway.
• Cool completely and then store in a tightly sealed container or bag.

Notes

Inspired by Land O'Lakes' Snack Mix

This is not a sponsored post. I was honored to be invited to attend this retreat organized by Maria and Heidi, with no expectation of writing this post. I covered my own travel to Utah. All opinions and brand mentions are my own and I only share with what I enjoy and love!

The post Sweet & Spicy Snack Mix appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Noodles and oodles, this recipe was inspired by a trip to New York City to visit friends.

Friends are the family we get to choose. So true, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for my family. But I'm also thankful for my friends. I don't know what I would do without my friends. And if you have those great friends who cheer you on, who let you vent and who love you for you…be sure to tell them how much you appreciate them.

My friend, Joanne, invited me and a few other friends to visit her in New York City. I couldn't pass this up because 1. I love the city. 2. I love spending time with friends.

No huge agenda, just hanging out, cooking, eating and more eating. It was a blast! She actually visited me earlier this year and we had said we need to do this thing more often.

Spending time with the people you care about is so important for your soul. Do me a favor, if there's someone you care about that you haven't seen in a long time or talked to for that matter, add to your to do list this week to call them or meet up for lunch or dinner with them soon!

We cooked. She was so sweet and planned a menu of food from our blogs. We had my grilled flank steak with chimichurri butter.

Quinoa Cakes courtesy of Lindsay.

Zucchini & Arugula Salad courtesy of Joanne.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars courtesy of Brenda.

All amazing. And it was super fun to cook together!

We walked all over. My Fitbit was so happy. One day we even walked 10 miles! Here's the group before dinner one night (Joanne, me, Gina, Lindsay and Brenda). I heart all of these ladies…authentic, lovely, funny and just all around good people. Seriously.

We had dinner at Buddakan and had one of the tasting menus. Worth. it. These edamame dumplings. Yes! This udon noodle salad was actually inspired by a similar dish we had at Buddakan.

We had cronuts. Macarons. I had a wonderful, lovely boba (I'm obsessed with boba tea drinks) and lunch at Cafe Boloud. amazing. And The Clam. So many places I need to return to when I visit again.

And here's a random picture I took accidentally because I left my camera on while it was around my neck. I'm officially old. LOL But the photo is great right? Most of the other ones are blurry and make no sense. I have a new little Panasonic Lumix camera (with this lens) that I'm obsessed with…bought it a few months ago and it's the perfect size for travel. I literally talk about it all the time.

Now for the noodle salad! Yes, I do buy these noodle packages. 85% of the time, I throw the spice packets away and make my own broth. This time, you definitely want to throw the packet away, you just need the noodles for this!

Cut up the veggies.

Put together the sauce ingredients.

And whisk it all together. I have a mini whisk that I'm in love with. I take this thing out of my gadget drawer at least 10 times a week.

And there you go, it's super quick. Super satisfying…crunchy from the cauliflower (I'm in love with raw cauliflower) and spicy from the sriracha. Love love love!

Print

Spicy Udon Noodle Salad Recipe

Prep Time 13 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes minutes

Resting Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

Noodle Sauce

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon grape seed oil
• 1/2 Tablespoon sriracha chili sauce
• 1/2 red pepper cut into strips and halved
• 1/4 of a head of cauliflower cut into florets
• 2 green onions sliced thin at an angle
• lime
• 1 7-ounce package of udon noodles

Instructions

• Cook udon noodles according to package instructions but DO NOT use the spice packet (throw it away). Drain noodles and allow to cool.
• Whisk together sauce ingredients in a medium bowl. Toss together all vegetables, noodles and noodle sauce. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before serving with lime.

Disclosure: This trip to visit friends in New York was NOT sponsored. There are a couple of affiliate links in this post.

The post Spicy Udon Noodle Salad appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

It seems kind of wrong, right? But it's so wrong in a good way. I have been so obsessed with sriracha lately, especially since I made these spicy shrimp and grits and my sweet & spicy wings. I have been thinking of other ways to use sriracha…so when I made tempura-fried sushi for my friends (I'm still trying to perfect that recipe and will share when it's ready ) along with a sriracha mayo dipping sauce…I knew I had to make more stuff I could so I could dip in the mayo…so these were born.

Well, kind of. Todd & Diane made BLT spring rolls a while back and I have always wanted to try them! I did it a little differently by using rice noodles like most spring rolls have and made the wonderfully easy sriracha mayo dipping sauce to go along with it. <3!

This is my family's absolute favorite spring roll wrappers! They are thick and pretty durable. I have step by step photos on how to wrap a spring roll.

As far as making bacon, I have given up on doing it on my stove top a long time ago. We microwave it in this bacon grill from Nordic Ware. You can buy it here and here with the lid or as a whole set.

It's super easy to use and we wash it in the dishwasher. I usually microwave the bacon in two 90 second intervals and then additional 30 seconds if needed. If I need to make more than one batch, I drain the bacon fat into a glass bowl and then use it again. Then, it goes into the dishwasher. No mess and no wasting paper towels to microwave it on a regular plate.

These are so easy to wrap up – check out my post on how to wrap a spring roll. And a word of warning, these are so addictive. The first time I made these, I ate 8 of them. Did I just admit that? Haha and the dipping sauce…oh man!

Print

Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Spring Rolls with Sriracha Mayo Dipping Sauce Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8 to 10 spring rolls

Ingredients

Sriracha Mayo Dipping Sauce

• 2 teaspoons sriracha
• 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• rice vermicelli noodles
• 8-10 pieces of bacon cooked
• red or green leaf lettuce
• spring roll rice paper
• tomatoes sliced and then cut strips

Instructions

• Measure out sriracha and mayonnaise into a small mixing bowl. Whisk until completely combined. Cover and place in the refrigerator.
• Place a pot of water on your stove and bring to a boil. Boil rice vermicelli noodles according to instructions. Be careful, it usually only takes 3 to 4 minutes to cook the noodles. Drain noodles in a colander. Run cold water over the noodles while mixing it. Rinsing the noodles will keep them from sticking together. Shake colander and drain as much waster as possible, place colander on a plate and set aside.
• Cook bacon.
• Wrap spring rolls and serve immediately. (You only need to wet the rice paper for a few seconds-- for full instructions on how to wrap them, visit this.)

Notes

Inspired by White on Rice Couple

Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato (BLT) Spring Rolls with Sriracha Mayo Dipping Sauce appeared first on The Little Kitchen.