The Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle Salad

I don't diet.  I'm not a health fanatic.  Let me just mention that there's nothing wrong with dieting or choosing to eat a certain way.  It's just not for me.  Sure, I know that I could certainly improve my eating habits, get fit, feel healthier, but I don't really believe that depriving myself of the food I enjoy is the proper way for me to do that.  It just seems to be a little tortuous.  I'd rather practice portion control (eventually) and still enjoy what I eat.  That being said, I would rather prepare my own food and use as many fresh ingredients as I can because I do love fresh food.  Also, I sleep better at night knowing that I know exactly what goes into the food that I'm eating.  It's difficult to do all the time, but I do try to do it on a consistent basis.

That's why I love The Pioneer Woman.  She is amazing.  Have you seen her kitchen from her cooking show? Absolutely fabulous.  I enjoy her "homemade" recipes.  Yes I know they aren't the healthiest, but my tastebuds like to be entertained.  She can make something ordinary taste extraordinary.  And again, she makes most things herself like salad dressings and I love that.

Last night I made her Asian Noodle Salad.  Droooooool.  I am still salivating from the leftovers.

Here's what it took:

Sorry for the poor lighting.  My kitchen is dim and I take all my pictures on my phone.

Salad:

• 1 box of linguine--cooked, rinsed and cooled off
• 1/2 of a head of napa cabbage
• 1/2 head purple cabbage
• 1/2 bag of baby spinach
• 1 red, yellow and orange bell pepper
• 1 package of bean sprouts
• Cilantro
• 3 whole green onions
• 3 cucumbers

Dressing:

• 1 lime, juiced
• 8 tbsp EVOO
• 8 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/3C brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp ginger, minced
• 2 whole jalapeños, chopped
• Cilantro, chopped

Directions: 

• Cook your pasta
• Slice all your veggies.  Slice the cabbages.  Thinly slice the peppers.  Chop up your cilantro and scallions. 
• Toss all the salad ingredients together
• Prep all the ingredients for the salad dressing.
• Whisk all the salad dressing ingredients together
• Plate a serving of the salad and pour some dressing over it.  Best to do it in a medium sized mixing bowl.
• Toss the salad with the dressing.  You can use tongs.  I used my hands.
• Eat and enjoy. 

Look at how pretty it is! All the colors are just so amazing together!

My review: 

I love this salad.  It is delicious.  The dressing is fresh and vibrant and I love all the crunchy textures of the veggies combined with the noodles.  I've never really had linguine or that family of noodles in my salad before and let me say how much I enjoyed it! Seriously I think I can never go wrong with her recipes.  The prep time took about 30 minutes.  I cooked my pasta as I was preparing all my veggies.  

What I really appreciate about this recipe is that you don't need everything to make this salad.  I know there are a lot of components, but if you didn't have all the peppers or any cucumbers that would be okay.  I also didn't use as much cilantro as the recipe calls for.  You can just tweak it and make it your own.  

I also didn't pour the dressing over my entire salad.  I mixed the dressing in a mason jar so I could store it after our meal.  I poured a little over each serving to preserve the salad over night.  

Let me just say that the recipe creates a HUGE salad.  Big C and I ate 5 servings of it and I still have two more left!  You can definitely eat it over and over again though.  It's that good! 

It's fresh, fun and simple.  If you're not much of a cook in the kitchen, don't let this recipe scare you.  There may be a lot of components but it's just chopping here and there and then stir it all together and BOOM, dinner.

I added some pan fried chicken breasts to make it seem like a meal, but this is VERY vegetarian friendly.  I know that a lot of vegetarian dishes are bland, but this one is not.  The dressing.  My goodness.  I want to make that dressing and sell it.  Or just drink it all. 

Here's the link to the original recipe and the more beautiful photos:

Eat this salad now

Until next time.