Hibachi Soup and Sesame Noodles

Yes, I'm still here, alive and well.  Just haven't had a chance to blog for a few days.  Life happens.  I ate a lot of good food this weekend, and visited an awesome Farmer's Market in Williamsburg, VA - and guess how many pictures I have to show for it?  NONE.  I know.  How much does that suck?  What kind of blogger am I?!  No need to really answer that.  My ego is fragile these days.  


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I made sesame noodles and hibachi soup.  Found on Pinterest of course.  I thought the noodles were pretty good, but not as good as this Asian Noodle Salad that I have posted before.  The hibachi soup is similar to that you get at the Japanese Steak House - not identical to what I am used to, but not bad.  Just be sure to taste your soup as it cooks b/c the saltiness increases as it cooks down and I should have added more water/broth before serving.  My kids said it was too salty.  My bad.

Sesame Noodles from Fatsecret.com

• 6 tbsp rice vinegar
• 6 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 cup green onions
• 2 oz whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 3 tbsp sugar 
• 3 6 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (or more, I love toasted sesame seeds!)

Direction

1. Cook the pasta according to package instructions and drain.
2. If your seeds aren't toasted, you can toast them in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven for about 6-8 minutes while your pasta cooks.
3. Place the garlic, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
4. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves.
5. Pour the sauce over the boiled and drained pasta, add the sesame seeds and chopped green onions, and mix thoroughly.

My notes - the sauce was very thin, even after I let it boil for a while.  I thought it would reduce and thicken, but it didn't.  Of course, I also used a little less sugar than called for.  Since it was so thin, it just pooled in the bottom of the bowl.  I'm not sure if it was supposed to be like this or not - but it would be better if the noodles sat for a while in the sauce, to soak up the flavor.

Hibachi Soup adapted from Carrie's Cooking and Recipes (her soup pic looks way better than mine)

1/2 stalk celery, cut into large chunks
1 small onion, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
3 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms  (I omitted. I hate mushrooms)
2 quarts water (8 cups)
French fried onions (omitted) I used green onions as garnish

Directions
In a large stockpot, combine the celery, onion, carrot, ginger,  & garlic, and a few of the mushrooms. Add chicken bouillon, beef bouillon, and water. Place the pot over high heat, and bring to a rolling boil. When the mixture reaches boiling, cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 45 minutes. It can cook for longer, but you will need to add more water if too much water evaporates. *I only cooked mine for 45 mins and it still needed more water added. After it's cooked for at least 45 minutes strain the cooked soup and discard all of the vegetables, leaving the broth. Serve the broth with sliced mushrooms and sprinkle french friend onions green onions on top.

My Notes - other than the soup being salty, it was pretty good.  However, I thought the noodles and soup were just lacking a little something.  I couldn't quite put my finger on it....

then I decided to mix the two together.  

Together, they were AWESOME.  

All the flavors merged together to create a very flavorful, tasty dish.  So, sometimes dumping everything together is a good thing!

I probably won't make these separate dishes again, but I am going to work on a recipe that incorporates both of them together (without having to go through the whole process of making the 2 separate dishes!) b/c like I said, together, they were really good.

I also have a giveaway going on right now that includes a $10 Target gift card, 2 boxes of General Mills cereal, and a free PC download of Atari 80's video games :)  Gotta love the 80's!

link (for those of you on a mobile device!) - http://kim-thislittlelifeofmine.blogspot.com/2012/03/general-mills-80s-targetand-giveaway.html

I'm linking up today with Everything Under the Moon, Homemaker on a Dime, Beyer Beware, Delightfully Dowling, A Southern Fairytale, Skip to my Lou, The Girl Creative, Life as Mom, Things that make you say "mmmmm!", Making the World Cuter, The Sweet Spot, Our Delightful Home  

It's a Blog Party, All the Small Stuff, 33 Shades of Green, Blessed with Grace, From Mess Hall to Bistro