Oooooodles of Noooooodles

So as most of you know, and can relate to, I'm an avid HungryGirl.com reader. Lisa (HG herself) is the goddess of guilt free cuisine and makes brilliantly witty observations and reviews about new products and old ones that might have slipped your mind. I mean, thanks to her...most of my bowls of old fashioned Quaker oatmeal are chock full of 100% pure pumpkin. But the one product that really intrigued me that she RAVES about is Shirataki Noodles by House Foods. Of course, because its something I want to try, there's no store in the Toledo area that I can find them at. UNTIL NOW.

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through the natural food section at Kroger on Holland Sylvania. Went over to the tofu and meat substitute refrigerator area, where a normal spread of House Foods tofu is usually on the shelf. Imagine my surprise and EXCITEMENT when i saw the noodle shaped Shiratakis on the end of one shelf!!! Thankfully, there were no employees or consumers standing next to me because I think I might have blindsided them with a David Lee Roth style jump kick. I snapped up 4 pkgs of the suckers (didn't want to buy them out all at once) and took them home to let the science experiments begin.

So far, the only thing I can say is every rant that HG made about these noodles are 100% justified. Once they're rinsed and patted dry, you can pretty much do anything with them. Furthermore, because they're tofu...they take on any flavor that you put with them. So far, I've made my own version of Skyline Chili by covering the noodles with Boca Chili, put them with stirfried veggies, and made a cold pasta salad out them. I've also created my own spin on one of my mother's comfort foods 'Beefy Goulash,' by using Shirataki instead of egg noodles. I don't have that particular recipe in front of me right now...but I can post my version compared to the old version tomorrow.
I've also used them in an HG approved recipe for a great breakfast casserole type dish. Peach & Cottage Cheese Cinnamon Kugel. Its basically:

1 pkg Shirataki Noodles (rinsed, drained, and dried)
1/2 c fat free cottage cheese
3 tbsp egg whites (i use two large egg whites)
1 large peach
1 tbsp Splenda granular
Cinnamon to taste

you preheat the oven to 425, combine all ingredients, and bake it for about 25 minutes until the top is a nice golden brown.

Now because of my limited resources (ie - the fact that Kroger here only has the noodle shaped Shirataki) I had to change from the HG original recipe. She used the fettuchini shaped ones in her version. I think that substitution might have led to the small amount of liquid that I have at the bottom of my Kugel when its done baking. I found its also imperative to use a peach that's slightly underripe. The mushier ones tend to leave more liquid after cooking too. I thought it might be a good thing to try to soak up a bit of that moisture left at the bottom by adding a box of Golden Raisins to the mix (overall, it only adds 90 calories to the entire recipe). While it good, it doesn't soak up everything. But you'll be all set if you simply use a slotted spoon to serve this dish out. Its got a mildly sweet flavor that the cinnamon really compliments well and a strata like consistency to it. In all honesty, with the egg whites and the cottage cheese, it really reminded me of the innards (not taste wise of couse) to fayater. Light and airy. In fact, I might just try a spin on this recipe and make it savory using spinach, onion, egg substitute, and a bit of feta and hot sauce. Can you tell its almost dinner time here? Haha.

Next on my list of HG Shirataki recipes to try are her Zucchini Pancakes. And I might attempt a Swedish Meatball-y experiment with the Shiratakis, soy crumbles, and Laughing Cow light cheese. Or sautee up Cabbage (it is just about St Pats Day after all) and have cabbage and noodles...I'll let you know how those test runs go as soon as they're done.

Overall, these noodles get two BIG thumbs up from me. If you're lucky enough to find them around you, pick up as many as you can and just have fun! Here they seem to be perpetually on sale for under $1 per package.
If you're wondering, the entire 8 oz package only runs about 40 calories total. Think about all the calories you're saving compared to 8 oz of regular pasta. As long as Shiratakis are around and readily available...I'll never eat boring spaghetti again!

On a completely unrelated note, I've also made HG's very own Blueberry Scones...another great recipe. I was concerned about baking them because they went in a little watery (next time I might decrease the amount of light soy milk). But they turned out lovely! Perfect for ladies who brunch.

I wrote an email yesterday to Lora Brody, the author of 'Basic Baking' among other titles. That very same day, I got a nice response from her thanking me for the email and asking me to send her best to Christopher Papagni when I get to the FCI. I'm totally going to pass the message along.

Tonights an egg night. Until tomorrow....