I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone loves noodles. Hot noodles, cold noodles, soup noodles, pasta noodles, all the endless noodle eating possibilities. The problem with noodles is that most of the time they are considered to be an empty starch. Usually when looking at a meal in all its nutritional glory the noodles are not what stands out. However, we now live in a world where health products have become abundant. It’s easier for us to enjoy some of our favourite dishes in a new and healthier way. The only downside being that not all “healthy” noodles are created equally.
When I create a new meal for Fit Camp the first thing I think of is flavour. I choose the flavour palate, possibly a particular dish, that I want to create or recreate. For this particular dish I reached back into my childhood. My parents had a restaurant in Victoria, where I grew up. They made incredible food. The food was fresh and generous. You could tell that everything that was made there was made by people who love food. And their love of food became my love of food. What I also adopted was a love for nutrition. I love a fresh and crunchy salad, but it’s got to be good for me to make it a meal. When I looked back at some of their old menu items I remembered this incredible noodle salad that they made. While it wasn’t unhealthy it also didn’t fit the bill for today’s health conscious consumer.
In order to revamp this salad I wanted to first get some nutrition into those noodles. The hard part with “healthy” noodles is that they don’t tend to sit well. Most rice pastas or chickpea pastas I have eaten taste great hot, but once cooled can become a rather mushy texture. After searching and taste testing through several noodle brands I found this one Lotus Foods Brown Rice and Millet Ramen Noodles. They were perfect. Completely organic, no added fillers, no preservatives or gums and best of all they taste great! I chose four vegetables for the salad. I wanted to choose veggies that were low in calorie but high in fiber. Purple cabbage for an antioxidant punch, carrots for their vitamin A and fiber, snap peas for Vitamin C and red bell peppers for Vitamin C as well as an immunity booster. I added peanuts on top because yum, and well that’s what my parents used in their original recipe. Then the dressing. Our spicy Thai dressing the star of the show. I kept the flavour much like the original, but because I wanted to make it sugar free and gluten free it required a few Fit Camp approved tweaks.
The result, a Fit Camp best seller. It’s packed with vitamins and good carbs to keep you full for hours. The rice vinegar in the dressing helps with fast and easy digestion and the size of the salad allows for you enjoy it as an entire meal. This has become a favourite of our clients and ours too. It’s gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free, but the best part about this salad? It’s the flavour that keeps you coming back.
