Recipe Win: Turmeric Glass Noodles

In the few days preceding pay day, budgets and nerves can become pretty strained, but necessity is the mother of invention, and I have become a boss at dining on literal dimes! Last week was particularly tight, and although stressful in many ways, I enjoyed taking on the challenge of creating tasty meals within the confines of my pantry.  On Thursday night, my latest culinary adventure birthed a new family favorite: Turmeric Glass Noodles.

Not many families may have glass (or mung bean thread) noodles in their pantries, but as you know, I'm Asian, so I grew up around this stuff.  And at $.79 for eight bunches of these delicate noodles, you betcha I stock up on 'em whenever I'm at an Asian market!  Between Asian grocers, Trader Joe's, and Aldi, my budget-conscious grocery lists are always covered.

So, back to the noodles.  As you may have noticed, I've been obsessed with ground turkey lately, because it's pretty lean and crazy cheap!  Our local Aldi carries it for $1.99/roll (about 1 lb.), and one roll is all this recipe takes.  I'm also a huge fan of Trader Joe's Cruciferous Crunch Mix, a bag of already-shredded cabbage, kale, and brussels sprouts that costs around $3.  All of the other ingredients are pretty usual suspects (garlic, minced onion, soy sauce, vegetable stock, turmeric, and coconut sugar), and are always in residence in my kitchen anyway, so we'll just count those as $0.  When all is said and done, this dinner fed two hungry adults, with enough left over for my wife's lunch on Friday, at a total cost of $6, or $2 per meal. Yeah, baby!

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Turmeric Glass Noodles
Ingredients:

• 1 full bag of mung bean thread noodles
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 TBS minced onion to taste
• 1 lb. ground turkey, chicken, beef, or tofu crumbles
• 1 bag Cruciferous Crunch Mix shredded vegetables (or 1 lb. of shredded vegetables of your choice)
• 1 cube vegetable or chicken bouillon 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (or more, to taste)
• 1-2 TBS turmeric powder
• 3 tsp. coconut sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Begin boiling water for noodles
2. Brown the ground turkey with garlic and onion, and drain excess fat when cooked
3. Dissolve one bouillon cube in one cup of hot water
4. Simmer browned turkey in vegetable stock, soy sauce, turmeric, and coconut sugar (if you want) until half has evaporated
5. Add the full bag of Cruciferous Crunch Mix, stir, and cover skillet to wilt the vegetables over medium-low heat
6. Once the water is boiling, remove from heat and place glass noodles in hot water. These will cook up fairly quickly, and are best when not overcooked, so I like stirring them in hot water, rather than boiling them, until I'm happy with the consistency (usually around 5 minutes or so) 
7. Add the newly softened noodles to the skillet containing the turkey-vegetable mixture, and mix thoroughly to soak the noodles in the rich yellow "sauce"
8. Enjoy your life.

I hope this easy, tasty, and cheap recipe finds its way onto the screens of people who need it. 

Happy, healthy, and affordable eating!
Sarah