Shirataki Noodles

I'm going to start this post with an unappetizing announcement that peri-menopause is kicking my tail.  I realize that blogposts are supposed to be light & fluffy & positive, but keeping it real here.  I have steadily been packing on the pounds the last year and a half with no amount of exercise making a difference.  I can still crank out a 5 mile run with no difficulty, but that hasn't made a whit of difference to my waistline.  With the exception of the 5lbs lost to the flu a couple weeks ago, the scale refuses to budge.  So I've found myself glued to the tv when Dr. Oz announces that he has the "secret" to blasting away belly fat.  Sad, I know.  One of those secret magical foods is Shirataki Noodles.

These things are made with Tofu and Yam flour.  And are only 20 calories per serving while delivering 2grams of fiber and 1 gram of protein.  They are packed in water.  The first thing you have to do is drain them and rinse them thoroughly.  When you open the package the smell is gag worthy, just keep rinsing.

I use these like I would a typical rice noodle.  The package says to parboil for 2-3 minutes, so I thought they'd be perfect for a soup dish.  There's no real recipe here, this was just some sauteed onion, garlic, and ginger, chicken broth, rice wine vinegar, seseme oil, shredded chicken, celery, bean sprouts, and cilantro.  An on the fly what's-in-the-frig type lunch soup.

Used in a noodle soup like this, they were pretty good.  The texture was what you would expect from a rice noodle and despite what they smelled like coming out of the package, there was no off-taste.  It's too early to report any magical loss of muffintop, but I'd recommend these for anyone willing to try them.

Thanks for popping in and trying something new with me.  I'm linking up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.