Kelp Noodles...

...are my latest obsession.

If you're a health freak like me, you know how beneficial adding sea vegetables to your diet is. If you aren't, get this: sea veggies like kelp, nori, wakame, and arame are high in iodine (which can also come from salt but beware: most iodized salt has dextrose, a corn sweetener, added in), iron and vitamin C, and are highly alkalizing in the body. Adding sea veggies to your dishes also reduces the need for excess salt, which is pretty awful for you if you weren't aware!

I've been a big fan of nori (the seaweed used in sushi) for awhile now; I mean shoot, I literally eat it in sheets right out of the bag. My boyfriend called me out on it yesterday ("I don't think normal people eat it like that..." to which I respond "when have I ever been considered normal?"), and my friend Jennifer calls it my sloth food. But my world has been shifted with the addition of another sea vegetable, kelp, in the form of noodles!

The noodles, made by Sea Tangle Noodle Company are made of kelp and sodium alginate (which is extracted from brown seaweed) and water. I've found them at multiple Portland Whole Foods as well as Chuck's Produce here in Vancouver (Vancouver Whole Foods doesn't appear to carry them yet). They are really jiggly and kind of translucent; I'd compare them to like a cooked rice noodle (those ones you find in salad rolls and stuff). But they are so much more nutritious than rice noodles with much fewer calories! I haven't experimented much with cooking them (they are recommended in stir fries and such), but hot damn are they good in salad!

Here's my favorite recipe so far:

Kelp Noodle Salad with Almond Butter/Miso Dressing

1/3 pkg kelp noodles
2 c. fresh spinach, or 1 c spinach and 1 c. romaine lettuce
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
handful of snap peas, chopped

Dressing:

1 tbsp. Almond Butter
1 tsp. unpasteurized brown rice miso paste
1/2 tsp. maple syrup

Whisk dressing ingredients together, adding water until it reaches a salad dressing consistency. Toss veggies and kelp noodles in dressing and enjoy!

Serves 1.

Six Products I'm Loving Right Now

Sorry I haven't written in a while! I've been too insanely busy to try any new recipes and too broke to try any new restaurants so ergo, no new posts. But I came up with this idea this morning, so hopefully you all can stay interested.

For those of us with food allergies, we know its tough to find products we can trust. And while anything not made with our own two hands is never completely trustworthy, these products have never caused problems for me.

1. MaraNatha Organic Raw Almond Butter

For some strange reason, I've been having a hell of a time finding almond butter at the grocery store. Ralphs, the primary grocer in L.A. only carries almond butter that has added sugar in it, so clearly, I don't buy it. I noticed that even the Whole Foods I regularly visit doesn't carry the almond butter I used to eat (which usually contained added salt), so I picked up this stuff, hoping it would do the trick. Turns out, I like it better than anything else I've tried. The best part is, it tastes amazing and the only ingredient is organic almonds! yummmm....

2. Trader Joe's Mediterranean Hummus

This hummus is seriously incredible. My mom got it for us for the first time last summer and I've been hooked ever since. I don't know exactly what makes it so good, between the roasted garlic you can taste or the delicious decoration on top, but it blows every other hummus I've tried out of the water. The only thing is, I tend to finish the whole thing in less than a week, so I'm always going back for more.

3. Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Raspberry

I've been searching all over for a chocolate that magically contained no dairy and no sugar. My friends laugh in my face when I tell them that's what I'm looking for, but now I finally get to say "I told you so". Endangered species dark chocolate is made with cocoa (in fact, the cocoa percentage is clearly marked on the front of the label), soy, and in this case, unsweetened dried raspberry pieces. The best part, though, is that if you buy this chocolate (and it is not cheap, let me tell you) they donate 10% of the proceeds to help support species, habitat, and humanity. And you all know how much I love animals. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of this situation.

4. Rice Expressions Organic Brown Rice

These are the epitome of easy allergy free eating (provided you aren't allergic to rice). They are located in the frozen foods section, most likely at Whole Foods. Each box contains 3 portioned packets of frozen rice that you pop in the microwave for 3 minutes and voila, you have rice. I always add different stuff to it, like my mushroom rice recipe below, or edamame (which I had for dinner last night). It's perfect if you don't have time to cook or are simply just lazy when it comes to cooking, like me.

5. Terra Chips

Since I can't eat potato or tortilla chips anymore, I assumed chips were just out for me for good. Thankfully, these little puppies exist. They are a baked blend of a number of root veggies including sweet potatoes, beets, and taro. They are incredible but beware, they are also extremely addicting. It's truly impossible to have just one. They honestly make me question why I ever ate potato chips in the first place.

6. Lara Bars

These bars make my life. I can't eat any other energy or granola bar, not to mention that most of them taste like crushed up vitamin supplements anyways. Whoever invented these is a genius. There are a bunch of different flavors, and the only ingredients are nuts, dates and sometimes coconut and fruit juice, depending on the flavor. My personal favorite is Lemon Bar, because, I kid you not, it tastes like an actual lemon bar. They are the perfect mid afternoon or post-workout snack.

Those are just a few products I swear by at the moment. There are plenty more, but I'm currently cleaning out my kitchen to go raw for Holy Week/spring detoxing (I'll be documenting that feat on my blog starting next week), so I can't think of any more off the top of my head.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

Live Free