Tonight’s dinner was really fun to make. I knew that we had all the ingredients to make a stir-fry, and I was in the mood for a stir-fry, but I was trying to think of a new, more exciting way to prepare it. We had asparagus and carrots in the fridge and, tired of the same ol’ roasting or steaming methods for these two vegetables, I decided to use a vegetable peeler to make each carrot and asparagus stalk into ribbons. Spiralizing your vegetables is all the rage these days, so I guess this was just a lower tech and a less trendy version of that. But it was really fun.

It struck me that if my veggies were all transformed into cute little thin ribbons, almost translucent and perfectly light, I think I could manage a raw diet! They really didn’t need to be cooked at all in that form. Just add some salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and you’d have a fantastic raw salad. I taste tested a few of the ribbons as I was peeling and I could barely detect that they were carrots and asparagus – perfect for getting kids to eat their veggies! I was having too much fun with these ribbons. Who said we aren’t allowed to play with our food?!

To fill out the meal, I used soba (buckwheat) noodles as my base and grilled tofu as my protein, and whipped up a quick stir-fry sauce for flavor. The whole process took maybe fifteen minutes. Even though we’ve had stir-fry countless times with these same ingredients, hubby and I were both amazed at how fun and interesting this meal felt. I highly recommend trying it.

Instructions
First off, I put a medium saucepan of water on to boil. Next, I pressed and cubed my tofu block. I peeled and discarded the skin of few carrots, and then used the vegetable peeler to continue thinly “slicing” the carrots into ribbons. For the asparagus, I cut off the bottom 1 inch of the stalks and discarded, and also chopped on the top of the stalks and set aside for later. I repeated the process with the peeler, creating ribbons from the stalks. Next, I sliced a half of a yellow onion, and made a sauce by mixing soba noodle soup base, soy sauce, A1 sauce, maple syrup, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper flakes. When the water came to a boil, I added a bundle of dried soba noodles to the water to cook for 5 minutes (or until tender). Meanwhile, I grilled the tofu cubes on medium high heat in a dry pan, turning regularly for an even browning on each side. When the tofu was all golden brown, I transferred the cubes to a plate, and added olive oil and the onions and the heads of the stalks to the hot pan. I quickly sauteed until the onions were softened and slightly brown, and then added the drained noodles, tofu, ribbons, and sauce, and mixed it all together. I let it all warm through before serving.

Ingredients
Soba noodles (a bundle about 1 1/2 in diameter)
2 carrots
6-7 asparagus stalks
1/2 yellow onion
1/4 cup soba noodle soup base
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp A1 sauce (or brown sauce)
1 tsp maple syrup
dash of garlic powder and crushed red pepper flakes

Serves 2