Cooking with Tempeh: Miracle Noodle Bowl

As I mentioned in this week's meal prep post, this was my first time cooking with tempeh. Maybe all of you meatless cooking experts already have a ton of go-to tempeh recipes, but I really wasn't sure what to do with it. Luckily, I was able to come up with a few meals that worked out pretty well. 

Tempeh Miracle Noodle Bowl

First, this is the tempeh I used:

Image Source: www.glutenfreecat.com

I really liked the texture and nutty flavor that the flax seed added. Plus, it's flax seed, which I hear is all kind of good for you! I marinated and baked the tempeh before using it in recipes  (check out this week's meal prep post for more details).

For this meal, I also used another trendy food I've been wanting to try out: miracle noodles.

According to Miracle Noodle, the noodles are made of naturally water soluble fiber and have no fat, sugar, starch, calories, or carbohydrates. The noodles are also gluten free and reportedly have health benefits like lowering cholesterol and regulating insulin release. Whether or not they really have any "miracle" properties, the idea of a zero calorie noodle on its own is too good to pass up. Oh, and I also used some Hi I'm Skinny Sticks I impulse bought at whole foods for some added crunch. Looks like this meal was just one big bowl o' trendy foods, but it was also pretty delicious.

Recipe:

Calories: 340 | Fat: 15 g | Cholest: 0 mg | Sodium: 1273 mg | Carbs: 35 g | Fiber: 11 g | Sugars: 12 g | Protein: 18 g

1/4 package baked lightlife organic flax tempeh

1 package angel hair miracle noodles

1 cup mung beans

14 baby carrots

1 small zucchini

17 Hi I'm Skinny Sticks

2 tbsp braggs amino acids (or soy sauce)

2 tbsp black vinegar

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tbsp sesame oil 

Chop the tempeh and veggies into bite size pieces.
Toss the noodles with the amino acids, black and apple cider vinegar, and sesame oil. 
Combine the noodles and veggies and top with some Hi I'm Skinny Sticks if you want some added crunch.

This makes a GIANT bowl of noodles. I may or may not have eaten it out of a mixing bowl. And at only 340 calories, I didn't even feel bad about it. I actually strongly preferred the miracle noodles over the (in)famous tofu shirataki noodles. They still had a fairly strong "aroma" right out of the package, but rinsing and boiling the noodles seemed to take care of that. I liked the texture a lot more than the tofu noodles. They are similar to Asian glass noodles, which went really well with this recipe, but might not work as well for things like mac n cheese.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with my first foray into tempeh recipes, and would definitely use the noodles again for other Asian-inspired dishes.

Q: Have you tried miracle noodles, tofu shirataki noodles, or any other crazy noodle substitutes? What's your favorite trendy food?