{Spicy} Chicken Shrimp Yum-Yum Soup

This soup is kind of perfect for flu and cold season with its ginger, onions, garlic and spice.  With an Asian flare from the cilantro, ginger and soy and the homemade bone broth, this soup was rich, warming and delicious. I made it up as one of us in the house is sniffley right now.  I only wish I had a name for it...hmm...

Spicy Chicken Shrimp Yum-Yum Soup

Ingredients:

8-9 cups (a whole pot) of organic homemade chicken stock (or 2 boxes of stock plus a little water)
1/2 package rice stick noodles
1/2 lb (about a cup) of cleaned raw shrimp - I used Argentinian Red shrimp
1/4 c shredded chicken, which came right off the bone when I made the stock
1/2 white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T chopped cilantro
1/4 c dried shiitake mushrooms (or use fresh)
1 medium chunk of ginger, minced - approx same amount as garlic
1 jalapeno, sliced thinly
1/2 T soy sauce
2 T shredded sea dulse or other sea veggies, optional

Directions:

Make the chicken stock, which I did, or buy a couple of store bought boxes.  In a large pot, heat up a ladle or so of the stock and sautee your garlic, onions, ginger and jalapeno until fragrant.   Toss in shrimp and sautee until slightly pink.  Add the broth, mushrooms, soy sauce, sea dulse, shredded chicken and let simmer for 20 minutes.   Now add cilantro and rice stick noodles.  Give it about 10 more minutes and you're done.

FOOD RENEGADE!

Maifun Noodles {Gluten Free}

Many people range from sensitive to highly allergic to gluten, the protein found in wheat.   It's in everything from cookies & cakes to crackers, cereal, bread & pasta.   Allergic or not, gluten really gums up the system. Have you ever tried mixing water & flour?  The combination turns into a pasty glue, which coats the inside of your digestive tract & intestines.  I limit my consumption of anything wheat (pita bread, cookies, pasta, etc.) to a few servings per week and am always on the look-out for wheat-free alternatives to pasta.  To be fair, white rice can have the same affect (although less people are allergic to rice), so I also limit white rice to only once a week or so.

As far as gluten-free alternatives to wheat (semolina) pasta, we've tried everything from soba, (buckwheat), to brown rice pasta to white rice stick noodles to quinoa pasta to glass noodles (mung beans) to konjac noodles to corn noodles. Some are better than others.  Quinoa noodles come out al dente.  Brown rice noodles tend to cook well on the outside, but stay a little chewy/hard on the inside.  The konjac noodles have an odd smell...  Soba are good but very hearty.

Today in the "Exotic Foods" section at Meijer (probably my favorite aisle), I discovered Maifun, or thin white rice vermicelli noodles.   Really, it's nothing new, I've had white rice noodles plenty of times, just never this tiny and never with shrimp scampi.  YUM.

They look exactly like angel hair pasta and are very mildly flavored.  They only need to be soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, which saves you the time of boiling them (although I actually did warm my filtered water on the stove because I am anal about tap water, especially when it is hot and cloudy).  Debating whether to make an Asian stir fry creation or go the scampi route, I let Matt decide.  This is not a tough decision for an Italian. ;) I served the scampi with a super flavorful & colorful Greek salad.

1 lb Argentinian Red Shrimp (wild caught) sauteed in organic butter (3-4 tbsp), olive oil, 2 minced cloves garlic, juice of a lemon, sea salt, fresh pepper, big handful of parsley.  (Toss the rice noodles with the shrimp for several minutes).  Check the flavor & adjust.  :)

Favorite kind of salad....Greek!  Organic baby spinach, carrots, steamed yellow beet, kalamata olives, gorgeous avocado.  Best Quick Greek Dressing EVER:  equal parts red wine vinegar &olive oil, pinch of salt, sumac & a clove of garlic. Whisk or shake until really well mixed.  In the summer I add fresh herbs and steep them in there. It lasts weeks on my counter.

Whether you're gluten sensitive, have celiac disease or are just wheated down, I definitely recommend trying Maifun noodles!