The recipes I share in this space are meant to be part of a web of supports that help you take better care of yourselves and your families. But the thing I don’t talk about much is how these recipes are all of this for my family, too.
These 20-Minute Coconut Noodle Bowls are a recent victory that needed a place to live so I could remember them as a lifeline again and again, so here we are.
Before Leo arrived, I would make somewhat elaborate meals for dinner everynight – so many layers of flavor, texture, intrigue. Special sauces, interesting preparations.
Now that my sweet, amazing son whom I love spending time with has arrived, I’m lucky if I have 30-minutes to make dinner most nights. But, I’m hell bent on making something meaningful. For me, that means something I touched, something I pulled together with raw ingredients. Something that nourished us all, without slaying me. It needs to be something substantial enough to do the job that dinner needs to do in our house. It also needs to be easy enough to deconstruct so that I can pull out the spicy or salady parts for Leo whose not yet sold on these things.
If cooking elaborately on a nightly basis was a tall order, cooking at all on a nightly basis for a busy, active family of three with one person under four is an even taller order.
It’s a task that has brought me to tears so many times as a parent. I understand why families cave into the microwaveable meals, the frozen pizzas, the boxes of mac and cheese everynight. Cooking is a pain in the butt, and sometimes its the last thing I want to do. But I’m determined. I won’t quit. Because cracking open a box of “nugs” feels dead to me. There’s no emotion. No prana. I simply can’t feed that to my growing child in good conscience.
And so, I pull myself into the kitchen. Go fishing around for whatever veggies we have. Use the flavors I know he loves and try to stretch them a little. I don’t want to spend too much time because Leo will come hunting for me and want me to watch him ride his bike, or build a ramp or or or. And if it takes too long, he bonks – we all do.
There have been nights when Leo simply declines what I make. Other nights, he devours it. And when he does, tiny tears come to my eyes because there is nothing I love more than watching him enjoy, hearing his tiny sounds of contentment around something delicious, and knowing that my hands and our farms made the fuel going into his tiny body.
There are other recipes for noodles with a coconut sauce on this site. This, this, and this as examples. And yet, this one is completely different.
First, I love a can of coconut milk. It immediately grounds any recipe, and provides a healthy hit of cooling fat that most all bodies in motion can benefit from – tiny people included. I keep a stash of canned coconut milk on hand at all times for just this reason.
These noodles, unlike others, are simple, savory, SO QUICK, and cool. This is a recipe designed for summer when you truly have no time, but want something delicious, fresh, vegetable forward and nourishing.
I brought this recipe with me to the Hoka WSER Trail Camp in California and couldn’t have asked for a better bowl to satisfy the hunger of 20 ultra-runners. But it’s easy to deconstruct to meet the needs of a picky toddler too. Few recipes rock these different hats so hard.
These noodles are a favorite of my husbands because I’m not spending too much time in the kitchen. He loves a slurpy, creamy noodle, and these deliver. Plus the leftovers are great for lazy lunches when I don’t make him something.
Leo loves the sweetness of coconut milk, and LOVES cooked vegetables. He goes hunting for pink radishes in his bowl, and has come to know kohlrabi because of this dish.
And I love these noodles because, after a big, long day, I don’t have to think that hard about pulling this together. And the finished product is a meal that looks beautiful and delivers easily digestible veggies, grounding fat and protein, and lots of springy greens, which is the kind of meal my body feels best on when the temperatures are high and I’m running my schedule hot.
If I have 10-minutes of forethought, I pick up a rotisserie chicken on the day (as you’ll see in the recipe) I plan to make this superfast recipe. If I don’t we use leftover chicken, or even this addictive tofu.
Try them the next time you’re short on time and big on expectations. They’ll deliver faster than that pizza joint down the street.
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