Monday, May 21, 2012

Kelp Noodle Salad


Recipe Redux time! This is one of our favorite posts of the month, in part because of all the other great recipes that we get to see from some of our fellow healthy blogs. This month's theme was a new challenge: we had a choice between creating a new recipe using little fishies--such as anchovies, etc., or to use sea plants, such as kelp or seaweed. We chose the latter.

Americans, in general, could do well to eat more fish and sea products. The kelp noodles we used in this recipe are not only full of iodine and a good source of calcium and other trace minerals, but they are also fat-free, gluten-free, and low in carbs and calories. They have a nice crunch to them--perfect for this salad. But if you're trying to find a noodle to substitute for spaghetti, these are not what you're looking for. And get this--you don't even have to cook them!

In case you're worried about the sea-y, fishy taste, they don't have much of that either. Oddly enough, I've been sitting here munching on some of the noodles while writing this. Plain. Raw. They're kinda satisfying.


Ingredients

Salad
6-8 oz. kelp noodles
1/2 English cucumber
1/4 purple onion 
1 gala (or similar) apple
1/4 yellow pepper
1/4 red pepper
1/2 C chopped carrots
1/4 C chopped almonds
spring salad mix (optional, but very good!)

Honey Mustard Dressing
4 T honey
3 T mustard (just the regular kind)
3 T rice vinegar
pinch of salt and pepper


Directions

1. Boil the noodles for 20 minutes, or until soft. (While the noodles do not have to be cooked, we did for this recipe. We decided afterwards that it would be equally as good not cooked, so this step is optional.)

2. Chop the cucumber, purple onion, apple, and peppers into bite-sized pieces. Mix with the carrots, almonds, and noodles.

3. Mix the dressing ingredients with a wire whisk. Pour over vegetables.

4. Serve salad plain or over a green spring salad.






9 comments:

  1. mmm kelp noodles! thanks for sharing!

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    1. They were a fun thing to add to a salad we really enjoyed them. I think they taste good plain too. :)

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  2. hmmm.... never heard of kelp noodles. Where did you find them?

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    1. They were at Good Earth in the refrigerator section by the vegetables. I had never bought them before either.

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  3. Love the sound of this salad - where do you buy kelp noodles?

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  4. Thanks so much. I went back for seconds. I loved the honey mustard dressing with it. Got them at Good Earth.

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  5. Looks good, I love kelp noodles! Thanks for the recipe. Alex

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  6. I've seen kelp noodles before, but have never tried them. This looks delicious, and I love all your other crunchy additions! Happy ReDux!

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  7. I've never tried kelp noodles but will definitely seek them out after reading your experience with them. And this looks like a great summer salad recipe that can be adapted to whatever produce you get at the Farmers market (or in my case in my CSA share.) Thanks for sharing!

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