Saturday, May 1, 2010

#CAFB Food Blogger Project Day 5: Peanut Sauce Noodles and How You Can Help

Well here we are. We've come to the final day of the project. The final dish we wanted to prepare is a little more off-the-wall and fun. It may sound like something an intoxicated college student would dream up, but Han and I both remember eating something similar when we were young, making it somewhat authentic I guess.

And besides, all joking aside, price sensitivity is of course something that is common to both college students and people trying to make ends meet, making this an excellent dish to prepare.


Ingredients
  • 2 ramen packages
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • Garlic powder or salt to taste
  • Dried chives
First boil the ramen noodles for 3 minutes. Throw the flavor packages away. Drain the noodles and add back in the pot. Add in the peanut butter and soy sauce while stirring over heat. Add a
few dashes of garlic powder or garlic salt and sprinkle with the chives and you're done. This dish also goes really well with chicken or shrimp.

I liked this dish a lot because it was incredibly tasty. Plus, even though ramen gets kind of a bad rap in the food world, this is a big improvement because you're getting rid of a lot of the sodium by throwing out the rice packets and adding protein through the peanut butter.

So now that the project is over, where do we go from here? Maybe you've been reading our posts this week and want to know how you can help. Lisa Goddard of the Capital Area Food Bank says the biggest help can come in three ways:
  • Donate. Healthy, non-perishable food can be dropped off directly at the Food Bank or any Austin-area Randalls or RunTex. And as wonderful as food donations are, Lisa says that donating money really helps the Food Bank go a long way in terms of managing the types of food that are available to ensure that people are getting food that is fresh, healthy, and balanced.
  • Volunteer. There are a wide range of opportunities to donate your time, everything from sorting donations, to distributing food, even educating people on gardening or nutrition.
  • Contact Elected Officials. Right now there are several pieces of legislation that need support that would help feed families in the area, such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the the Women Infants and Children Program (WIC). If hunger issues are important to you, your elected officials need you to let them know to make it a priority.
Information on all of these and more are available in the Capital Area Food Bank website. And don't forget that the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is coming May 8th. Look for your bag in your mailbox, fill it with healthy, non-perishable food and set it by your mailbox on May 8th to be picked up.